“It seems increasingly clear that manufacturers will have to adjust to the evolution of the virus, taking into account the latest variants for future shots, including boosters”, says @DrTedros at @WHO presser. “We have to be ready to adapt vaccines so they remain effective."
@DrTedros @WHO "These developments highlight why it's so important to scale up manufacturing and rollout vaccines as quickly as possible and as widely as possible to protect people before they're exposed to new variants”, says @drtedros.
@DrTedros @WHO “We need to do everything we can to reduce circulation of the virus with proven public health measures”, says @DrTedros. "Several countries are succeeding in suppressing transmission including those where new variants are circulating."
@DrTedros @WHO Everyone can help protect vaccines, says @DrTedros. "Every time you decide to stay at home, to avoid crowds, to wear a mask or to clean your hands, you're denying the virus the opportunity to spread, the opportunity to change in ways that could make vaccines less effective."
@DrTedros @WHO Now, @ProfAbdoolKarim explaining South Africa’s decision to delay immunizations with AstraZeneca vaccine after the results presented yesterday (see here: sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/s…).
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim South Africa has been assessing lab data on how well antibodies induced by vaccines do against 501.Y.V2, says @ProfAbdoolKarim. Some vaccines showed little change. “With other vaccines, such as the AstraZeneca vaccine we saw very substantial reductions in neutralizing activity."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim "We don't fully understand what those laboratory results mean, so we need clinical data”, says @ProfAbdoolKarim. "Fortunately, three of the vaccines have been tested in South Africa where the 501Y.V2 variant constitutes about 80 to 90% of the circulating virus”.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim Yesterday’s AZ results are concerning, says @ProfAbdoolKarim. "Not because we were not expecting some diminished activity, but it was the level to which it was diminished. And so now we are unclear and uncertain about the efficacy of the vaccine” in preventing severe disease.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim South Africa is delaying rollout of AZ vaccine to think about options, says @ProfAbdoolKarim. "We don't want to end up with a situation where we vaccinated a million or 2 million people with a vaccine that may not be effective in preventing hospitalization and severe disease."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim South Africa may go for a stepwise immunization campaign with AZ to collect some real-world data, says @ProfAbdoolKarim. “One proposal that's currently being considered is to roll it out initially, just in a state where the first step, includes about 100,000 individuals."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim Several lessons to take from recent events, says @GaviSeth: "The first is that manufacturers must be prepared to adjust to #COVID19 viral evolution, including potentially providing future booster shots and or adaptive vaccines, if found to be scientifically necessary."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth "It's also clear that trials have to be designed and maintained to allow efficacy to be assessed over time, and to be of sufficient scale and diversity to enable clear interpretations of the results”, says @GaviSeth.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth "We know that we need much better global genomic surveillance and that has to be backed by rapid sharing of data to allow for the global coordination of response”, says @GaviSeth.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth “Priority needs to be given to vaccinating high risk groups everywhere to ensure maximum global protection against old and new strains and to minimize as best as the vaccine can the risk of transmission”, says @GaviSeth.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth "Everybody's looking at the data right now”, says @Kate_L_OBrien of Astra Zeneca results. While there is evidence of reduced efficacy against 501Y.V2, "the retention of meaningful impact against severe disease is a very plausible scenario for the product."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth @Kate_L_OBrien SAGE met today to discuss AZ and guidance should come soon. “There was a very positive view about proceeding with the use of the vaccine including in settings where variants are circulating with a big emphasis on collecting information that would really help”, says @Kate_L_OBrien
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth @Kate_L_OBrien In South Africa, “we anticipate that that initial start date of vaccinations will be largely unaffected or at most affected by a few days, but instead of rolling out AstraZeneca vaccine we'll be rolling out the Johnson and Johnson vaccine”, says @ProfAbdoolKarim.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim South Africa is delaying rollout of AZ vaccine to think about options, says @ProfAbdoolKarim. "We don't want to end up with a situation where we vaccinated a million or 2 million people with a vaccine that may not be effective in preventing hospitalization and severe disease."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim South Africa may go for a stepwise immunization campaign with AZ to collect some real-world data, says @ProfAbdoolKarim. “One proposal that's currently being considered is to roll it out initially, just in a state where the first step, includes about 100,000 individuals."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim Several lessons to take from recent events, says @GaviSeth: "The first is that manufacturers must be prepared to adjust to #COVID19 viral evolution, including potentially providing future booster shots and or adaptive vaccines, if found to be scientifically necessary."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth "It's also clear that trials have to be designed and maintained to allow efficacy to be assessed over time, and to be of sufficient scale and diversity to enable clear interpretations of the results”, says @GaviSeth.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth "We know that we need much better global genomic surveillance and that has to be backed by rapid sharing of data to allow for the global coordination of response”, says @GaviSeth.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth “Priority needs to be given to vaccinating high risk groups everywhere to ensure maximum global protection against old and new strains and to minimize as best as the vaccine can the risk of transmission”, says @GaviSeth.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth "Everybody's looking at the data right now”, says @Kate_L_OBrien of Astra Zeneca results. While there is evidence of reduced efficacy against 501Y.V2, "the retention of meaningful impact against severe disease is a very plausible scenario for the product."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth @Kate_L_OBrien SAGE met today to discuss AZ and guidance should come soon. “There was a very positive view about proceeding with the use of the vaccine including in settings where variants are circulating with a big emphasis on collecting information that would really help”, says @Kate_L_OBrien
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth @Kate_L_OBrien In South Africa, “we anticipate that that initial start date of vaccinations will be largely unaffected or at most affected by a few days, but instead of rolling out AstraZeneca vaccine we'll be rolling out the Johnson and Johnson vaccine”, says @ProfAbdoolKarim.
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth @Kate_L_OBrien People should not conclude "that this vaccine doesn't work at all”, says @doctorsoumya of AstraZeneca. “What we've seen is data from a small study. It's indicative. It is telling us we need to collect more data, we need to study it more.”
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya Available evidence suggests AZ as well as other vaccines reduce hospitalization and severe disease, says @doctorsoumya. "And that's our goal for the first part of this pandemic, is to reduce mortality, to end all preventable deaths. And so we must continue to scale up vaccines."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya “It's absolutely crucial to use the tools that we have as effectively as we possibly can”, says @DrRHatchett. “That may mean, ultimately, when vaccine supplies increase, thinking about deploying certain vaccines to certain geographies. We don't have that luxury yet."
@DrTedros @WHO @ProfAbdoolKarim @GaviSeth @Kate_L_OBrien @doctorsoumya @DrRHatchett “Ideally we would like to develop broadly protective COVID and even coronavirus vaccines”, says @DrRHatchett. Critical to continue funding R&D "so that we understand the tools that we have, we optimize them, and we develop the new tools that we will need for the future"
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