@AstraZeneca “expressed confidence that the vaccine would offer protection against serious cases, because it created neutralising antibodies similar to those of other coronavirus vaccines.”
Nevertheless the preliminary findings, first reported by the Financial Times and since confirmed by AstraZeneca, do suggest the vaccine offers only limited protection against mild and moderate disease caused by the variant.
The study is due to be published tomorrow.
The @UniofOxford told Reuters it was working with AstraZeneca to optimise the pipeline in vaccine production if it needed to adapt to a change in the virus.
It has said a new vaccine to work against mutated versions of the virus could be ready to deploy in the autumn, if needed.
Today’s reported UK first vaccine dose figure falls fractionally short of the half million mark - but it’s still slightly up on the equivalent figure from one week earlier.
The total rises to almost 11.5 million first doses administered.
1. There are still some people that believe the COVID threat is exaggerated by the @PHE_uk "Deaths within 28 days of a positive test" measurement.
However, deaths are separately recorded and logged by mentions on death certificates, and both counts are shown here.
2. It’s important to remember that a doctor can certify the involvement of COVID-19 in a person’s death based on symptoms and clinical findings.
A positive test result is *not* required.
3. A few other important things to mention here. First, there’s a lag in reporting of at least 11 days for data based on death registrations, and this is likely to affect the Christmas period in particular.
I fully expect the @ONS line to follow the recent @PHE_uk upward slope.
Clinical trial results showed tocilizumab and sarilumab reduced the relative risk of death by 24%, when administered to patients within 24 hrs of entering intensive care.
Most data came from when the drugs were administered in addition to a corticosteroid, e.g. dexamethasone.
Patients receiving these drugs, typically used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, left intensive care 7 to 10 days earlier on average.
“The rollout of these treatments could therefore contribute significantly towards reducing pressures on hospitals over the coming weeks and months.”
Coronavirus has had a significant impact on jobs in the UK. The most recent unemployment rate - for June to August - was 4.5%, up 0.4% on the previous three months. That equates to 1.5 million total unemployed. bbc.co.uk/news/business-…
The real picture might be worse - between March and September the number of people claiming benefits for being out of work rose 120% to 2.7 million.
The young have been hit particularly hard by all this. 156,000 fewer 16-to 24-year-olds are employed versus three months before.
In August the @bankofengland forecast unemployment to rise to 7.5% by the end of 2020 (2.5 million).
That was before @RishiSunak unveiled his Job Support Scheme, which aims to protect jobs, but only those that will be ‘viable’ in the spring.