7 ms·

Seems to be working just fine in the UK, US, India, Hungary, so I don't think any of the issues are to do with Astrazeneca. But the politics of it, absolutely.

• te_chris 6y ago
  It’s not authorised in the US and the federal regulators keep raising their eyebrows at the data.
  • kmlx 6y ago
    this is something i don’t get: if it works all around the world why aren’t the federal regulators simply fast tracking its approval? are they not allowed to do that?
    • dtf 6y ago
      Observational studies are a lower standard of evidence than randomised controlled trials. Countries with higher levels of vaccine skepticism (eg the US) seem to be erring on the side of doing things by the book. The UK, by comparison, enjoys a high degree of trust in its healthcare system and can afford to be a little more gung-ho.
      • kmlx 6y ago
        interesting thanks. how long would a randomised controlled trial take?
        • dtf 6y ago
          The AstraZeneca US phase 3 trial took about 7 months. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04516746 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04516746 In this case, US regulators took issue with the company's press release, rather than the results of the trial itself.
    • levosmetalo 6y ago
      Who says AZ works around the world? It's the vaccine of the last resort, people will get it only if they can't get anything else because it's still better than nothing, at least for now. And "better than nothing" is just temporary because AZ is very to completely ineffective against all virus mutations that are currently spreading. If Russian and Chinese Sputnik and Sinovac vaccines were approved in the EU, we could save so many lives, but politics will rather try to force AZ than accept that they failed.
      • kmlx 6y ago
        > Who says AZ works around the world? all the authorities that have approved it? all the people that got it? we're talking tens of millions of people and authorities across the planet.
        • levosmetalo 6y ago
          and those authorities approved it because it's good and effective, or because it's the only one available on the market?
    • tinus_hn 6y ago
      Because normally they can get away with a drawn out process that takes years, and if in one country some medication is curing cancer and in another country is not approved, nobody bats an eyelid. It’s a big bunch of fiefdoms that all want to do their own checks and it is a political minefield. Witness the ridiculous situation with the vaccination shutdown last week. Has nothing to do with science, everything with public image and politics. And it’s setting themselves up to fail as well because in this situation if a manufacturer has contracts with countries A and B and A pays more, they’ll just focus on approval for country A and delay approval for country B, so it’s perfectly defensible to only deliver to country A and not the country who isn’t going to use it anyway. Unfortunately this is all smoke and mirrors that goes way over the head of the general public so there’s no backlash for failing.
• rsynnott 6y ago
  AZ has had severe production issues. AZ's working in the UK because they're getting most of the production, but they've delivered only a small fraction of what they said they would in the EU. They've also had _two_ botched trials now, leading to delays in approval (a couple of months for the EU, nearly six months for the US). And now this.
  • varispeed 6y ago
    Aren't the issues created by over-regulation and bureaucrats throwing their spanners everywhere to cover their own incompetence?
    • Denvercoder9 6y ago
      There's no evidence supporting that claim, and there have been no such problems with the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson vaccins which had to comply with the same regulations.
      • varispeed 6y ago
        These other vaccines are produced for profit so there is money to be made under the table for bureaucrats, whereas AZ does not have this potential. If bureaucrats can stamp out this vaccine they can make more money pushing the others. Have you not seen the fake news about blood clots and other scare mongering to make people want to use other vaccines?
        • Denvercoder9 6y ago
          Hanlon's razor. Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence. There's absolutely no evidence at all supporting your allegations.
          • varispeed 6y ago
            Would that be a coincidence then that only vaccine made not for profit has such problems? Strange news coming? Allegations? I think this may be both incompetence and corruption. We'll see - I hope this will be properly investigated including the bureaucrats involved in the decisions and their financial affairs.
• micdr0p 6y ago
  The AZ shot hasn't been approved in the US yet. They also released a study there where they're suspected of cherry-picking data to make it look good https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/niaid-statement-astrazeneca-vaccine https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/niaid-statement-astraz...
• kmlx 6y ago
  just last week AZN told the UK gov to not expect large quantities due to manufacturing issues in their UK plants.