Rocky

AstraZeneca may offer longer-lasting immunity than other vaccines, scientists have said amid claims that the jab has helped Britain avoid the latest Covid wave in Europe. Pascal Soriot, the chief executive of AstraZeneca, said the decision to give the Oxford vaccine to older people in Britain could be one of the reasons the UK was not seeing not "so many hospitalisations relative to Europe" despite a high number of cases. The Telegraph understands that the pharmaceutical company is preparing to release data showing that its jab offers long term T-cell immunity for older people even after antibodies wane. Mr Soriot said the immunity provided by T-cells may be "more durable". Several countries – including France, Germany, Spain and Belgium – restricted the AstraZeneca vaccine to under-65s in the early stages of their rollouts, claiming there was not enough data to prove it worked for older people. In France, daily infections passed 30,000 for the first time since August on Tuesday, with an increase of 63 per cent in a week. Germany confirmed it was planning to make vaccination mandatory for soldiers. The seven-day average of Covid deaths in the country is now twice that in Britain. "European leaders had all these unfounded concerns about AstraZeneca and its use in older people," a senior government source said. "If you look at the data, you can see us using it early has been incredibly helpful in terms of protecting older and vulnerable people from this disease for longer." British experts said Mr Soriot's claims were "plausible" and may be the reason why hospitalisations and deaths have been relatively low even though cases are high. Dr Peter English, a former editor of Vaccines in Practice who previously chaired the BMA public health medicine committee, said: "People whose immune systems have produced a strong T-cell response but a weaker antibody response might be more likely to be infected in the first place but more likely to be able to fight the infection, and they will be much less likely to develop severe disease." Commenting on the UK's high infection but low hospitalisation rates, he said: "It is plausible that this generated an excellent T-cell response, which means that while people can still be infected and infectious, they are unlikely to be seriously unwell." Prof Matthew Snape, of Oxford University, who was chief investigator on booster jabs trials, said: "The best T-cell responses seem to come if you give a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine followed by Pfizer." Steve Baker, the deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-septic Tory MPs, criticised European politicians for snubbing the jab and called for AstraZeneca's data to be made public. "Serious politicians ought not to need reminding that what they say and what they do is often a matter of life and death," Mr Baker told The Telegraph. "Once more, it looks like political condemnation from Europe of AstraZeneca may have cost lives. "I hope we will see the data and find the facts. If the Government and AstraZeneca have the data, it would be helpful to get it into the public domain." Mr Soriot told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the ability of the AstraZeneca jab to stimulate a long-lasting T-cell response in older people "could be" the reason Britain was faring better than Europe. "We haven't seen many hospitalisations in the UK – a lot of infections for sure – but what matters is are you severely ill or not, are you hospitalised or not?" he said. "And we haven't seen so many of these hospitalisations in the UK. "The antibody response is what drives the immediate reaction or defence of the body when you're attacked by the virus, and the T-cell response takes a little longer to come in, but it's actually more durable – it lasts longer and the body remembers that longer." Although Covid cases in Britain are rising again, with 42,484 recorded on Tuesday, deaths are down 5.5 per cent and hospitalisations by 9.5 per cent since last week. Ahead of the booster vacciness programme decision, several members of the Oxford/AstraZeneca team, including Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, said third jabs may be unnecessary because two doses offered such good long-term protection. Eleanor Riley, professor of immunology and infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh, said a growing number of trials had shown that AstraZeneca initially gives higher levels of T-cells, even if mRNA vaccines like Pfizer are better at producing antibodies. "Since the AstraZeneca vaccine is slightly better at inducing these T-cells, the implication is that it may provide longer term protection against hospitalisation and death," she added. Earlier this month, a team of researchers from University College London published data showing that some people already have T-cell protection against Covid as a result of previous infection with a different coronavirus such as a common cold. Experts also said high levels of infections in the summer and early autumn meant many people in Britain had gained natural immunity to the virus. New estimates from the Office for National Statistics and the Covid Infection Survey show that over nine in 10 adults across the UK have antibodies to Covid.

What If You Weren’t Such a Know It All? You’re smart. You went to college. You’ve read lots of books. You’ve seen a thing or two. So you know a lot. When people have questions, you’ve got answers. When stuff happens, you’ve got opinions. When there are problems, you’ve got solutions. This is great, right? Maybe. Epictetus reminds us that “it’s impossible to learn that which you think you already know.” To the Stoics, particularly Zeno, conceitedness was the primary impediment to wisdom. Because when you’ve always got answers, opinions and ready-made solutions, what you’re not doing is learning. What you’re not doing is looking at things objectively, clearly, with fresh eyes. You’re just relying on instinct and preconceived notions. Ego is the enemy for a reason. It blinds us. It distracts us. It puffs us up and prevents us from learning. The less of a know it all we are, the more we can actually get out and discover. The more open we’ll be. The wiser we’ll become. Remember, the key to Socrates’ philosophy was his admission of ignorance. It was his desire to ask questions, his willingness to be proven wrong, his interest in having conversations—with anyone about anything. He was smart because he was humble, not conceited because he was smart. This is a skill we have to practice. We have to prevent ego from cutting us off from wisdom.

Joshua Eugene Harris is an American author and former pastor. Harris' 1997 book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, in which he laid out his ideas concerning a Biblically-based Christian approach to dating and relationships, helped shape purity culture for many Christian millennials.[1] Harris was lead pastor of Covenant Life Church, the founding church of Sovereign Grace Ministries, in Gaithersburg, Maryland from 2004 until 2015. In 2018, Harris disavowed I Kissed Dating Goodbye and discontinued its publication. The following year, Harris announced that he was separating from his wife, had "undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus" and was not a Christian.

This TED Talk is applicable to LOTS of what we've been through as former wayfers... including covid19 and the vaccines, however indirectly.

As if there's any other way to read the article? Btw, since when are YOU in Japan?

I take what the Guardian says as well documented and lacking bias as much as possible. My (first) cousin (once removed) is a covid ICU nurse in Rochester, NY. She has been saying the same thing for months.

Pretty succinct way to summarize the situation.

All American adults now approved for the BOOSTER.

This is definitely for you Allan.

Thank you for being compassionate in the face of all of that.

I've had that kind of test three times in the last year and a half. Negative every time. Congrats.

I would also hope somewhere out there in cyberspace someone is compiling DATA (FACTS) on that very idea. I have to figure someone probably is doing so.

Yikes!

Intriguing data that would be good to know. Alas, dear Allan eschews data/facts.

You are factually incorrect. The graphIC (it wasn't a graph) was a complete statement of fact. Your narrative from the beginning of this thread has been wrong, even if some details may have been right. You OPPOSED and DEFIED rationality, logic and FACT.* IF you had any reasonable level of communication skill, you would have been able to look in the mirror, or inside yourself, to realize that it's okay to have questions about the interpretation of FACTS and formulated a narrative to incorporate those questions to actually add to discussion in this thread. *Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), is a pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behaviour, and is one of the most prevalent disorders from preschool age to adulthood. ODD is marked by defiant and disobedient behavior towards authority figures. ** I am NOT a medical professional and am not attempting any kind of diagnosis of anyone. However, your consistently inappropriate interaction on this thread has not added to any kind of uplifted group understanding of the issue at hand. I am describing the interaction as potentially mimicking ODD.

Do you know anyone with ODD? Oppositional defiant disorder?

And I simply redirected your pointless ramblings such that if you have QUESTIONS about the facts presented, IF you have even one iota of intellectual honesty or curiosity, you would/could pursue answers to said questions. Nothing more, nothing less. The graphIC presents DATA. DATA = FACT. If more FACTS are necessary to address your questions, I showed you where to direct those questions.

I address this to whoever reads this. Obviously, the graphIC shows ONE point in time. The things the Aussie claims the graphIC tells him are NOT facts. They are his false assumptions. IF he had even one iota of intellectual honesty or curiosity, he WOULD articulate his assumptions rather as questions and then seek out the answers to those questions. The graph presents FACTS. The Aussie claims things that are neither specified, articulated, nor implied by the FACTS presented in the graphIC. If anyone wants to find more facts or information to answer questions the reader may reasonably formulate based on the FACTS presented in the graphIC, I provided links to the healthcare facility so that any such questions can be directed to those at said facility who may provide additional insight.

And yet, you've "wasted" days and days arguing into the abyss onto this thread where nearly everyone is able to recognize there is ZERO substance to your arguments. Will you ever get that time back?

Cheyenne, Wyoming DATA = FACTS Recent Public health DATA from Cheyenne in the graphic in my post above.

By what authority do you demand anyone respond to your inane, misleading questions?

Then again, Allan discounts data as non-factual and biased.

2016? HA! In data science, five year old narratives are archaic and anachronistic. Nevertheless, you disavowed reliance on data for credible decision-making. You added a dismissive emoji as if you had proven anything? Sure, Poindexter.

How can you critically assess what's fact and what's disinformation? Hint: since you disavow DATA, you can't.