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‘Katie Did Not Need the Vaccine’: AstraZeneca Victim Was ‘Doing Her Bit’ to End Lockdown
Katie Lees was a fit and healthy young actor who “didn’t need the vaccine,” but took it to “do her bit” to end a brutal lockdown that she feared was wreaking havoc on people’s mental health. Thirteen days after her first dose of AstraZeneca, the 34-year-old’s family gathered around her ICU bed at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.
Mr. Lees said while his daughter’s death was “soul-destroying,” the “toughest bit after that” was the skepticism due to the intense polarization around vaccines at the time. “We’d say to people our daughter died from the AstraZeneca vaccine and they’d say, ‘Oh really? How do you know?’”
Ms. Lees’ parents described how “every morning, our first thought is how Katie died and the sinking feeling that we were used and discarded by our government, by AstraZeneca and by our society” in a public submission to the federal government’s COVID-19 Response Inquiry.
Ms. Lees’ cause of death was vaccine-induced thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), one of the deadly blood clotting disorders associated with AstraZeneca in small numbers of people who get the jab.
EU to Secure 40 Million Avian Flu Vaccines for 15 Countries — Officials
The EU will sign a contract on Tuesday to secure over 40 million doses of a preventative avian flu vaccine for 15 countries with the first shipments heading to Finland, EU officials said on Monday.
The deal secures up to 665,000 doses from vaccine manufacturer CSL Seqirus and includes an option for a further 40 million vaccines for a maximum of four years. The vaccines will be jointly procured by the Commission’s emergency health arm HERA and 15 countries in the EU and the European Economic Area.
The doses are intended for those most exposed to the virus, such as poultry farm workers and veterinarians. The United States, Canada and Britain are also in the process of securing preventative vaccine doses.
The Commission, through HERA, has already secured 111 million doses from GSK and Seqirus of pandemic influenza vaccines, which can be adapted to any prevailing flu strain.
FDA Approves First RSV Vaccine for Use in At-Risk Adults Over 50
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved an expansion of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for use in at-risk adults over the age of 50.
GSK, the vaccine’s maker, announced the approval Friday, making it the first vaccine rubber-stamped for adults ages 50-59 to protect against the virus.
The pharmaceutical company requested the expansion in early February, saying their trial showed an immune response and acceptable tolerability profile in adults in their 50s. Now, GSK needs the vaccine to get a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) immunization advisory committee for those in that age group.
Other than GSK, Moderna and Pfizer also produce RSV vaccines that are approved for adults older than 60 years. The FDA approved Moderna’s RSV vaccine late last month, making it the third vaccine greenlighted to fight against the disease, behind GSK’s Arexvy and Pfizer’s mRESVIA.
Moderna’s Combination COVID, Flu Vaccine Is More Effective Than Existing Shots in Late-Stage Trial
Moderna on Monday said its combination vaccine that targets both COVID-19 and the flu was more effective than existing standalone shots for those viruses in a late-stage trial. The biotech company is the first to release positive phase three data on a COVID and flu combination shot, giving it a potential lead over rival vaccine makers Pfizer and Novavax.
Moderna plans to file for regulatory approval for its combination jab this summer in the U.S. and hopes it can enter the market in 2025, the company’s CEO Stephane Bancel said in an interview.
Moderna’s messenger RNA combination shot, called mRNA-1083, is made up of both the company’s vaccine candidate for seasonal influenza and a newer, “next-generation” version of its COVID shot. Both of those experimental vaccines — mRNA-1010 and mRNA-1283 — have shown positive results in separate phase three trials.
Moderna is also developing a combination shot targeting the flu and RSV, and another vaccine targeting all three respiratory viruses: COVID, flu and RSV.
Whooping Cough: Doctors Urge Chinese Authorities to Review Vaccine Strategy as Cases Surge
Doctors in China are urging a rethink of the government’s whooping cough immunization strategy as cases of the highly contagious bacterial infection surge to historic highs.
In April China recorded 91,272 cases of whooping cough (pertussis) and seven deaths, showing a monthly update on notifiable diseases released on May 31 by the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration. That figure was up from 27,078 cases in March with no deaths and from 17,105 in February with eight deaths. China recorded more cases in the month of April than in any full year since 1985.
Pertussis outbreaks tend to occur every five to seven years, and the current resurgence in Europe, the U.S., and Australia was “overdue,” delayed by pandemic measures, said Vitali Sintchenko, a public health microbiologist at the University of Sydney.
Top Law Firms in U.S. Opioid Lawsuits to Get Hundreds of Millions in Fees
A court-appointed panel on Friday recommended how to divvy up a pool of $2.13 billion in legal fees from nationwide drug industry settlements over the U.S. opioid crisis, with top firms set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars.
The panel gave national firm Motley Rice the largest share, with 18.6% of the funds, or $396 million. Other firms with large shares include New York-based Simmons Hanly Conroy, with 11.4%, or $244 million; California-based Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, with 8.2%, or $174 million; and California-based Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, with 5.65%, or $120 million.
The $2.13 billion fee pool comes out of settlements totaling more than $46 billion that drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies have reached to resolve lawsuits by local and Native American tribal governments accusing them of fueling an epidemic of opioid addiction.
The fees stem from settlements with drugmakers Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), AbbVie (ABBV.N) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA.TA); distributors Cencora (COR.N), McKesson (MCK.N) and Cardinal Health (CAH.N); and pharmacies CVS (CVS.N), Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA.O) and Walmart (WMT.N).
They do not include a settlement of up to $6 billion with bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, which is funded by that company’s Sackler family owners in exchange for a shield from future lawsuits. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing whether that settlement is legal.
As More Young Men Use a Hair Loss Drug, Some Doctors Caution About Rare Side Effects
More young men are taking a medication to prevent hair loss, prompting some concerns that the oral drug has been linked to rare but potentially long-lasting side effects. A report by Epic Research, conducted on behalf of NBC News, found that the number of men in the U.S. with finasteride prescriptions increased nearly 200% in the last seven years.
Part of the rise in prescriptions could be linked to telemedicine companies such as Hims, Keeps and Ro that promote the drug on billboards and online ads, said Dr. Maria Colavincenzo, an associate professor of dermatology at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, who has been in practice for a decade.
The most commonly reported side effects of finasteride include decreased sex drive, difficulty maintaining erections and a decrease in the amount of semen. These adverse sexual side effects are typically seen in less than 5% of men on the drug.
There is also a link to mental health effects, including depression. However, it’s unclear how common those are and if the drug itself is to blame.
Lilly’s Alzheimer’s Drug Faces Delayed Reckoning
The outlook for the latest experimental drug shown to delay Alzheimer’s disease will come into focus Monday when Food and Drug Administration advisers review an application from Eli Lilly that’s been held up by questions about the design of clinical trials and safety risks.
Why it matters: Their conclusions could influence how the FDA treats future drugs that target proteins in the brain known as amyloid plaques that are believed to contribute to the development of the dreaded neurological condition that afflicts nearly 7 million people in the U.S.
Friction point: Lilly had expected FDA approval to come early this year, but the agency in March unexpectedly called for an outside review of donanemab after some patients enrolled in a clinical trial experienced brain swelling, bleeding and other adverse events.
