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Covid jab compensation claims soar in Australia
17 Nov, 2021 15:15
February 22, 2021. © Reuters / Sandra Sanders
Australia’s government could be forced to spend tens of millions in payouts after receiving more than 10,000 compensation claims from people who suffered side effects and loss of income due to Covid-19 vaccines.
Under its no-fault indemnity scheme, eligible claimants can apply for compensation amounts between AU$5,000 (US$3,646) to AU$20,000 (US$14,585) to cover medical costs and lost wages as a result of being hospitalized after getting the shot. The scheme’s online portal is scheduled to be launched next month.
Official figures suggest, however, that over 10,000 people have already indicated their intention to make a claim since registration opened on the health department’s website in September. If each claim was approved, the government could face a bill of at least AU$50 million (US$36.46 million).
There were around 78,880 adverse events to Covid-related vaccination in Australia as of November 7, according to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which regulates national health products. The majority of side effects were minor, including headaches, nausea, and arm soreness.
Only people who experienced a moderate to significant adverse reaction that resulted in a hospital stay of at least one night are eligible for coverage under the government’s scheme. Those seeking $20,000 or less have to provide proof their claims are vaccine-related – although there has been no information as yet on exactly what evidence would be acceptable.
“Adverse events, even though they happen to a tiny proportion of people, for the people it does impact it’s really quite devastating,” Clare Eves, the head of medical negligence at injury compensation firm Shine Lawyers, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Among the adverse reactions covered are the blood clotting disorder “thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS)” linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine and the “myocarditis and pericarditis” heart conditions associated with the Pfizer vaccine. Other reportedly accepted side effects are Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological condition, and immune thrombocytopenia (excessive bleeding due to low platelet levels).
Claims for over $20,000, including those for vaccine-related deaths, will be assessed by an independent legal panel of legal experts and compensation paid on its recommendations. Nine people have reportedly died after an adverse reaction to one of the three vaccines in the country.
Eves told the Morning Herald that her firm was representing a number of litigants over the vaccine side effects, including several who are not eligible for the scheme.
FBI & CDC investigate ‘smallpox’ vials at big pharma facility – media
17 Nov, 2021 03:43
© Robert Koch Institute / Hans Gelderblom
The FBI and CDC have launched a probe after several “questionable vials” labeled as “smallpox” were discovered in a freezer at a lab near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to an alert obtained by Yahoo News.
The 15 mysterious vials were found on Tuesday night at a Merck laboratory, according to an unclassified alert sent to the Department of Homeland Security and seen by the outlet. Five of the ampules carried labels reading “smallpox,” while another 10 were said to contain “vaccinia” virus, the source for the modern smallpox immunization.
The vials were reportedly “secured immediately” and the facility was briefly placed on lockdown. While that has since been lifted, federal law enforcement, as well the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have opened investigations, which are ongoing.
The CDC is set to take possession of the vials sometime on Wednesday, according to the alert, which also noted that no Merck staff were exposed to the materials.
While it remains unclear exactly where the containers were found, Merck runs two major facilities in Pennsylvania – one in West Point, its largest pharmaceutical manufacturing site, and another in nearby Upper Gwynedd, a 90-acre campus housing a research lab.
Smallpox is a deadly infectious disease caused by the variola virus, which carries a mortality rate of around 30%, according to the FDA, though the agency said that some less common forms of the illness are “usually fatal.” While the last naturally-occurring case of smallpox was recorded in the 1970s, with the disease largely eradicated through global vaccination campaigns, two labs are still authorized to store samples of the pathogen for research purposes, including a site in Siberia, Russia and another at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
This would be really interesting if I thought the feds and CDC would actually reveal the truth about the purpose of the virus being in Philly. Perhaps there just aren't enough people dying from Covid-19.
AstraZeneca reveals what’s more effective over time than its own vaccine
18 Nov, 2021 16:31
AstraZeneca has announced that its preventative antibody cocktail offers 83% protection against symptomatic Covid-19 for at least six months, making it more effective than its own vaccine.
In a statement on Thursday, AstraZeneca cemented its lead in the race to develop and market a preventative Covid-19 drug, which is delivered as a shot in the arm.
The drug, named AZD7442, reduces the risk of symptomatic Covid-19 by 83% over the course of six months, according to data from a trial in which participants were given one 300mg dose. There were no deaths or severe infections recorded within the trial group, it said.
A separate trial showed the drug reduced the risk of severe Covid-19 or death by 88% when administered within three days of the onset of symptoms.
So, there were some deaths and severe cases in the other trial.
“These new data add to the growing body of evidence supporting AZD7442's potential ... We are progressing regulatory filings around the world and look forward to providing an important new option against SARS-CoV-2 [Covid-19] as quickly as possible,” AstraZeneca Executive Vice President Mene Pangalos said in the statement.
The Anglo-Swedish firm has agreed to supply the US government with 700,000 doses of AZD7442 if the Food and Drug Administration grants it emergency use, which AstraZeneca requested on October 5. The firm has similar agreements with other nations.
The drug is created using a combination of two antibodies originating from immune B-cells donated by a recovering Covid-19 patient.
The treatment could be used in people who are known not to respond well to vaccines, such as cancer patients. Around 2% of people are considered to be at risk of not creating enough antibodies following the administration of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Based on the numbers, the drug appears to be more effective than the firm’s first-generation Covid-19 vaccine. Britain’s Zoe Covid study showed the effectiveness of the vaccine dropped to around 67% after four to five months.
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Pfizer gets new $5.3bn boost over Covid
18 Nov, 2021 14:58
(FILE PHOTO) © Pfizer/Handout via REUTERS
US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has agreed a $5.29 billion deal with the American government to provide 10 million doses of its new Covid-19 oral antiviral drug, Paxlovid.
“This promising treatment could help accelerate our path out of this pandemic by offering another life-saving tool for people who get sick with Covid-19,” Xavier Becerra, secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, said on Thursday.
Under the deal, Pfizer is to deliver some 10 million courses of its antiviral drug for the treatment of Covid-19 at a cost of $5.29 billion to the US taxpayer. The company says it cuts the chance of hospitalization or death for adults at risk of severe disease by 89%.
The pharma giant expects to manufacture 180,000 courses of the treatment by the end of December, and intends to produce at least 50 million by the end of next year.
In a statement released after the deal was announced, US President Joe Biden said courses would be available from the end of the year. “My administration is making the necessary preparations now to ensure these treatments will be easily accessible and free,” he added, but reiterated that “vaccines remain our strongest tool” against the virus.
The Biden administration has also signed a $2.2 billion deal with Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics for their Covid-19 pill. However, that drug, Molnupiravir, is not as effective as Pfizer’s oral treatment, only halving the chance of dying or being hospitalized in patients susceptible to serious illness.
How do we decide who gets the MRB pill and who gets the Pfizer pill?
On Thursday, Anglo-Swedish healthcare giant AstraZeneca stated that its preventative Covid-19 drug, delivered as a shot in the arm, offered 83% protection over six months, providing a further boost in the fight against Covid-19.
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Another European country imposes Covid lockdown for unvaccinated
18 Nov, 2021 14:55
© Reuters / Radovan Stoklasa
Slovakia has become the latest European country to implement lockdown restrictions on people who haven't had the Covid vaccine, as it seeks to prevent a resurgence in infections and hospital admissions over the winter.
Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced the new measures in a press conference on Thursday, declaring a “lockdown for the unvaccinated” after the country reported a record number of new cases.
The new restrictions in Slovakia, which come into effect on Monday, will require people to have been vaccinated or have recovered from Covid in the past six months to enter restaurants, non-essential shops, or public events.
In the past few days, the European nation has seen record numbers of new infections, including over 8,000 on Tuesday, with hospitals running out of space to treat Covid patients.
Slovakia has one of the lowest rates of vaccination in the European Union, with over 50% of individuals still not jabbed. The country of around 5.5 million has so far only inoculated 2.5 million people against the virus.
Earlier this week, Austria became the first nation to impose restrictions on unvaccinated individuals, as it sought to limit pressure on hospitals and emergency care units. The move came into effect at midnight on Monday for anyone aged 12 and older who has not received their Covid vaccine or recently recovered from the virus.
The German state of Bavaria and the Czech Republic followed Austria in restricting access for unvaccinated individuals. Only people who can show proof of vaccination or that they have recently recovered from Covid will be allowed to enter public spaces, such as restaurants and shops.
Scientists mystified, wary, as Africa avoids COVID disaster
By MARIA CHENG and FARAI MUTSAKA
today
People are seen at a busy market in a poor township on the outskirts of the capital Harare, Monday, Nov, 15, 2021. When the coronavirus first emerged last year, health officials feared the pandemic would sweep across Africa, killing millions and destroying the continent’s fragile health systems. Although it’s still unclear what COVID-19’s ultimate toll will be, that catastrophic scenario has yet to materialize in Zimbabwe or much of Africa. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — At a busy market in a poor township outside Harare this week, Nyasha Ndou kept his mask in his pocket, as hundreds of other people, mostly unmasked, jostled to buy and sell fruit and vegetables displayed on wooden tables and plastic sheets. As in much of Zimbabwe, here the coronavirus is quickly being relegated to the past, as political rallies, concerts and home gatherings have returned.
“COVID-19 is gone, when did you last hear of anyone who has died of COVID-19?” Ndou said. “The mask is to protect my pocket,” he said. “The police demand bribes so I lose money if I don’t move around with a mask.” Earlier this week, Zimbabwe recorded just 33 new COVID-19 cases and zero deaths, in line with a recent fall in the disease across the continent, where World Health Organization data show that infections have been dropping since July.
When the coronavirus first emerged last year, health officials feared the pandemic would sweep across Africa, killing millions. Although it’s still unclear what COVID-19’s ultimate toll will be, that catastrophic scenario has yet to materialize in Zimbabwe or much of the continent.
Scientists emphasize that obtaining accurate COVID-19 data, particularly in African countries with patchy surveillance, is extremely difficult, and warn that declining coronavirus trends could easily be reversed.
But there is something “mysterious” going on in Africa that is puzzling scientists, said Wafaa El-Sadr, chair of global health at Columbia University. “Africa doesn’t have the vaccines and the resources to fight COVID-19 that they have in Europe and the U.S., but somehow they seem to be doing better,” she said.
Fewer than 6% of people in Africa are vaccinated. For months, the WHO has described Africa as “one of the least affected regions in the world” in its weekly pandemic reports.
Some researchers say the continent’s younger population -- the average age is 20 versus about 43 in Western Europe — in addition to their lower rates of urbanization and tendency to spend time outdoors, may have spared it the more lethal effects of the virus so far. Several studies are probing whether there might be other explanations, including genetic reasons or past infection with parasitic diseases.
On Friday, researchers working in Uganda said they found COVID-19 patients with high rates of exposure to malaria were less likely to suffer severe disease or death than people with little history of the disease.
“We went into this project thinking we would see a higher rate of negative outcomes in people with a history of malaria infections because that’s what was seen in patients co-infected with malaria and Ebola,” said Jane Achan, a senior research advisor at the Malaria Consortium and a co-author of the study. “We were actually quite surprised to see the opposite — that malaria may have a protective effect.”
Achan said this may suggest that past infection with malaria could “blunt” the tendency of people’s immune systems to go into overdrive when they are infected with COVID-19. The research was presented Friday at a meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Christian Happi, director of the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases at Redeemer’s University in Nigeria, said authorities are used to curbing outbreaks even without vaccines and credited the extensive networks of community health workers.
“It’s not always about how much money you have or how sophisticated your hospitals are,” he said.
Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said African leaders haven’t gotten the credit they deserve for acting quickly, citing Mali’s decision to close its borders before COVID-19 even arrived.
“I think there’s a different cultural approach in Africa, where these countries have approached COVID with a sense of humility because they’ve experienced things like Ebola, polio and malaria,” Sridhar said.
In past months, the coronavirus has pummeled South Africa and is estimated to have killed more than 89,000 people there, by far the most deaths on the continent. But for now, African authorities, while acknowledging that there could be gaps, are not reporting huge numbers of unexpected fatalities that might be COVID-related. WHO data show that deaths in Africa make up just 3% of the global total. In comparison, deaths in the Americas and Europe account for 46% and 29%.
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, the government has recorded nearly 3,000 deaths so far among its 200 million population. The U.S. records that many deaths every two or three days.
The low numbers have Nigerians like Opemipo Are, a 23-year-old in Abuja, feeling relieved. “They said there will be dead bodies on the streets and all that, but nothing like that happened,” she said.
On Friday, Nigerian authorities began a campaign to significantly expand the West African nation’s coronavirus immunization. Officials are aiming to inoculate half the population before February, a target they think will help them achieve herd immunity.
Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups, suggested Africa might not even need as many vaccines as the West. It’s an idea that, while controversial, he says is being seriously discussed among African scientists — and is reminiscent of the proposal British officials made last March to let COVID-19 freely infect the population to build up immunity.
That doesn’t mean, however, that vaccines aren’t needed in Africa.
“We need to be vaccinating all out to prepare for the next wave,” said Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist at South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal, who previously advised the South African government on COVID-19. “Looking at what’s happening in Europe, the likelihood of more cases spilling over here is very high.”
The impact of the coronavirus has also been relatively muted beyond Africa in poor countries like Afghanistan, where experts predicted outbreaks amid ongoing conflict would prove disastrous.
Hashmat Arifi, a 23-year-old student in Kabul, said he hadn’t seen anyone wearing a mask in months, including at a recent wedding he attended alongside hundreds of guests. In his university classes, more than 20 students routinely sit unmasked in close quarters.
“I haven’t seen any cases of corona lately,” Arifi said. So far, Afghanistan has recorded about 7,200 deaths among its 39 million people, although little testing was done amid the conflict and the actual numbers of cases and deaths are unknown.
Back in Zimbabwe, doctors were grateful for the respite from COVID-19 — but feared it was only temporary.
“People should remain very vigilant,” warned Dr. Johannes Marisa, president of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association. He fears that another coronavirus wave would hit Zimbabwe next month. “Complacency is what is going to destroy us because we may be caught unaware.”
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