Rare public questions about AstraZeneca vaccine data likely to fuel more COVID-19 skepticism
NYC municipal offices set to reopen to workers by early May; sharp surges underway in Europe amid warnings same could happen in USA.
The top story:
Questions raised about AstraZeneca’s press release data: In a highly unusual step, the federal government issued this statement reporting that the Data Safety Monitoring Board overseeing the AZ clinical trial had “concerns” about the company’s press release claiming 79% efficacy. “AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data,” the statement said.
In a television interview this morning, NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “This is very likely a very good vaccine, and this kind of thing does … nothing but really cast some doubt about the vaccines and maybe contributes to the hesitancy.”
At issue was whether the company included both “possible” and “confirmed” COVID-19 cases in its analysis.
Similar (but technically different) case definition issues contributed to confusion over the comparative efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine against the two mRNA vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer.
We will be hearing a lot more about this, especially given the issues that arise in AZ’s UK clinical trial, when there were discrepancies in the doses evaluated. Al;l of this is why FDA scientists and its outside advisors scrutinize the data before even emergency use is considered.
Other news of note:
More evidence that monoclonal antibodies are effective COVID-19 treatments: Regeneron reported that its two-drug “cocktail” cut hospitalization or death by 70% when given to patients before they were severely ill. The drug also cut symptoms from 14 days to 10 days, on average. It already has been approved for emergency use in the United States. Other data indicate that one of the drugs in the cocktail is less effective against variant strains.
European nations have gone into much more restrictive “lockdowns” as the number of new COVID-19 cases has rapidly surged, especially in France, where leaders are rushing to speed up vaccinations. The variants make this surge a “new pandemic,” says German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to NPR.
For now, the USA is doing better than many other nations, including our European neighbors. This in-depth report, which aired on NPR, explains the differences - and why the US remains at risk of new surges.
New York City is bringing city workers back to their offices over the next two months.