Guest essay by Eric Worrall
WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris wants rich nations, including the US, to let some of their populations die so that more vaccines can be diverted to poor nations so they can “catch up”. However, following Harris’ advice could significantly increase the number of deaths among young people.
WHO urges the UK to halt Covid shocks after treating vulnerable people
Nadeem Badshah
Sat 30 Jan 2021 22:57 AEDT
Moving would help poorer countries get vaccines, says the World Health Organization
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A WHO spokeswoman, Margaret Harris, said she wanted to reach out to the people of the UK and tell them “You can wait” because ensuring a fair global distribution “is clearly morally the right thing”.
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When asked if the UK should help elsewhere after vaccinating its top nine priority groups, Harris told BBC Breakfast: “We ask all countries to do so under these circumstances. Wait, wait for the other groups.
“We will also be addressing everyone in the UK – you can wait.
“We will ask the countries as soon as you have them [high-risk and healthcare worker] Groups, please ensure that whatever offering you have access to is made available to others
“While it is morally clear to do the right thingIt is also right economically.
“There have been a number of very interesting analyzes to support this Just vaccinating your own country and then sitting there and saying we’re fine isn’t going to work economically.”
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/30/who-urges-britain-to-pause-covid-jabs-after-treating-vulnerable
I couldn’t find any video / audio for this interview. Note that people outside the UK will not be able to see BBC iPlayer links.
The problem with discontinuing vaccination, as the WHO describes it, is People who are vaccinated may not get sick, but there is a chance they can spread the virus anyway for other people who have not been vaccinated – the vaccine may not completely prevent infection.
Does the AstraZeneca vaccine also stop Covid transmission?
ADAM ROGERSSCIENCE
11/25/2020 3:41 pm
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The problem is, A Covid-19 vaccine that only prevents disease– what do you mean, symptoms –may not prevent infection with the virus or transmission to other people. In the worst case, a vaccinated person could still be an asymptomatic carrier. That could be bad. More younger people tend to get the virus, but more older people tend to die from it. Socio-economic status and ethnicity also affect the death rate. Some people have relatively mild symptoms; other people have symptoms that last for months. And perhaps most importantly, a vaccine is the only way to achieve herd immunity without a bloodbath. As politicized as the term has become, herd immunity is essentially the sum of direct protection – what you could get if you are vaccinated – and indirect protection, security from the fact that people around you do not pass the disease on to you, because either they already had the disease themselves or because they were vaccinated against it. If vaccinated people can still be asymptomatic spreaders, it means less indirect protection for the herd.
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That will almost certainly not be the case. The vaccines are all likely to have some impact on transmission. But at the moment nobody knows how muchor which is better or for whom – because so far only AstraZeneca even has a reference to data investigating the problem.
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(How good is this data? Well, on this: Ann Falsey, a physician at the University of Rochester Medical School who leads the US portion of the AstraZeneca vaccine study, emailed me: “The Oxford press release Study suggested some transmission dates, but I have no privilege on those dates so I really don’t have much to offer. ”A few hours after this story was first published, Falsey emailed her study and the Oxford- Study “funded and conducted separately.” AstraZeneca spokespeople have not returned my requests for further information. Neither does Moderna. Jerica Pitts, a Pfizer spokeswoman, has done so but has nothing to report yet. “In the coming months, we will be testing participants’ blood samples for antibodies that recognize a portion of the virus that is not in the vaccine. If fewer participants in the vaccine group than in the placebo group develop such antibodies, we have evidence that the vaccine can prevent both infection and disease“Pitts emailed me,” We don’t have these dates yet. “)
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Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/does-the-astrazeneca-vaccine-also-stop-covid-transmission/
There is a good chance the vaccine will prevent asymptomatic infection and keep people from getting sick. But nobody really knows.
Young healthy people are far less susceptible to Covid-19 than older people. However, unless the vaccine prevents asymptomatic infection or does not increase the risk of the vaccine becoming asymptomatic carriers, discontinuing vaccine distribution to meet WHO demand can lead to a significant burden of increasing deaths in people who have not been vaccinated .
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