International
Health Experts Push Back Against Growing Decisions To Pause AstraZeneca Vaccinations in Europe
Published
4 weeks agoon

- Several European nations are halting the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine amid concerns over it causing blood clots.
- There is no concrete evidence that links the two, and an extreme minority of patients have had blood clots found post-vaccination.
- Government officials paint the decision to pause vaccinations as a precautionary measure, although health experts, including the E.U.’s top drug regulator and the WHO, agree the vaccine is safe and said the blood clots were detected because of increased monitoring.
- This pause in vaccinations means the E.U. will likely not meet its goal of vaccinating 70 million people by September since AstraZeneca’s is the bloc’s main vaccine.
Cascade Reaction in Europe
A growing list of European nations are facing backlash among health experts after deciding to pause the use and rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine amid reports that people who took the vaccine found blood clots shortly afterward.

This has led to a cascading effect, as nation after nation has enacted precautionary measures over the vaccine, despite concrete evidence the two issues are linked and instead of people watching their health more closely. Experts note that the first people to get vaccinated are among the most vulnerable and thus are already susceptible to bad health conditions like blood clots.
The decision to suspend the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe and other countries is widely considered by health professionals to be premature. Particularly because it’s unclear if it was even at-fault for causing ANY blood clots. When Denmark suspended its use last week (the first nation to do so, its health authority said that as of that moment “it cannot be concluded whether there is a link between the vaccine and the blood clots.”
The evidence currently available points to the AstraZeneca vaccine being as safe as any other, with only a tiny percentage of the population experiencing any adverse effects. When reviewing data from the 17 million doses given, AstraZeneca found 37 instances of blood clots. Those findings were backed by the U.K. (which uses this vaccine for their vaccination efforts), who said that among the 11 million doses of the vaccine given so far, there were only 11 instances of blood clots. those numbers represent figures far less than what you’d expect among the general population. Additionally, neither one could conclusively tie the blood clots to the vaccine.
No Serious Concern For Drug Regulators
The European Medicines Agency, the E.U.’s top drug agency, said on Monday there is “no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions,” and that it will continue to monitor data as it comes in. It added that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine far outweigh any potential side effects. To date, the only negative health effect noticed in some patients with a plausible link to the AstraZeneca vaccine is low platelets in the blood, which can cause bruising.
The WHO’s chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, wanted to make sure that any concerns about AstraZeneca’s vaccine aren’t extrapolated to any unrelated and different vaccine from other brands, noting that out of the 300 million doses of coronavirus vaccines given globally, “there is no documented death that has been linked to a COVID vaccine.”
Halting the use of this vaccine of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is the one most European countries hoped to use, means that it’s even further behind in meeting its goal of vaccinating 70% of its population by September.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has yet to be approved by U.S. regulators, although that’s to be expected as it never sought emergency authorization.
See What Others Are Saying: (Associated Press) (Washington Post) (The New York Times)
International
Greta Thunberg To Skip U.N. Climate Change Conference, Citing Vaccine Inequality
Published
1 day agoon
April 9, 2021
- Young environmental activist Greta Thunberg will not attend the U.N.’s climate change conference set to take place in Glasgow, Scotland this November.
- “Inequality and climate injustice is already the heart of the climate crisis. If people can’t be vaccinated and travel to be represented equally that’s undemocratic and would worsen the problem,” the 18-year-old tweeted Friday, adding, “Vaccine nationalism won’t solve the pandemic. Global problems need global solutions.”
- Since rollouts began late last year, 40% of vaccines have been administered in wealthy and Western countries, according to The Washington Post.
- Scientists have warned that the longer the virus continues to circulate widely, the more chances it will have to change and potentially develop vaccine resistance.
Thunberg Points To Vaccine Inequality
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has said she is skipping the UN’s climate change conference.
The COP26 summit is set to take place in Glasgow, Scotland in November, but 18-year-old Thunberg told BBC she won’t attend because she’s concerned about the impact COVID-19 will have on attendance.
In a Twitter thread Friday, she responded to a headline about her plans to miss the summit.
“Of course I would love to attend…But not unless everyone can take part on the same terms. Right now many countries are vaccinating healthy young people, often at the expense of risk groups and front line workers (mainly from global south, as usual…),” she wrote.
“Inequality and climate injustice is already the heart of the climate crisis. If people can’t be vaccinated and travel to be represented equally that’s undemocratic and would worsen the problem.”
“Vaccine nationalism won’t solve the pandemic. Global problems need global solutions,” the teen continued.
Inequality and climate injustice is already the heart of the climate crisis. If people can’t be vaccinated and travel to be represented equally that’s undemocratic and would worsen the problem.
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) April 9, 2021
Vaccine nationalism won’t solve the pandemic. Global problems need global solutions.->
Thunberg went on to say that if the summit is delayed, it doesn’t mean urgent action should too.
“We don’t have to wait for conferences nor anyone or anything else to dramatically start reducing our emissions. Solidarity and action can start today,” she added before noting that digital alternatives for the conference would also be insufficient.
“High speed internet connection and access to computers is extremely unequal in the world. In that case we would lack representation from those whose voices need to be heard the most when it comes to the climate crisis,” she wrote.
And a digital solution is of course far from optimal. High speed internet connection and access to computers is extremely unequal in the world.
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) April 9, 2021
In that case we would lack representation from those whose voices need to be heard the most when it comes to the climate crisis.
Data on Global Vaccine Distribution Efforts
According to The Washington Post, nearly 20% of people in the United States are now vaccinated, but many other countries are unlikely to hit that same metric by the end of the year, even with international assistance through the Covax program.
Current projections predict it could be years before developing countries distribute enough doses to come close to herd immunity, which scientists say requires inoculating around 70-80% of a population.
Since rollouts began late last year, enough shots have been distributed to fully vaccinate about 5% of the world’s population, but The Post reported that the vast majority have been administered in wealthy and Western countries.
Around 40% of vaccines have been given in 27 wealthy nations that include only 11% of the world’s population, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.
That’s pretty concerning because scientists also warn that the longer the virus continues to circulate widely, the more chances it will have to change and potentially develop vaccine resistance.
Thunberg’s comments are a blow for U.K. organizers, who have already postponed the conference once from last November because of the pandemic. Even now, there has been speculation that it could be delayed again this year.
Thunberg would not play a formal role at the conference but her decision not to attend is a significant symbolic moment.
At COP25, the young climate change activist gave a headline speech and she typically attends major climate events of this nature. On top of that, reports say this summit was slated to be one of the most consequential climate conferences since the 2015 Paris accord.
On the agenda for this year’s conference discussions were country-level plans for cutting carbon emissions, along with progress on the Paris agreement and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
See what others are saying: (Insider) (CNBC) (The Washington Post)
International
Japan To Explore Plans for Releasing Fukushima Power Plant Water Into Ocean
Published
2 days agoon
April 8, 2021
- Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide is reportedly planning to meet with officials and agencies soon to discuss how to dispose of about a million gallons of radioactive water from the Fukushima power plant.
- The supply of water used to cool down fuel rods is stored on-site, and the government has spent a decade decontaminating it, only leaving a naturally occurring isotope in it that scientists recognize as safe for people and the environment.
- Local businesses, particularly fisheries, are still concerned about the release of the water because of ensuing headlines that might lead to public distrust in their products, but Suga insists the water needs to go to make way for safely storing the far more dangerous nuclear fuel rods.
Editor’s Note: The Japanese government has asked Western outlets to adhere to Japanese naming conventions. To that end, Japanese names will be written as Family Name followed by Given Name.
Dangerous Water or Scary Headlines?
As early as next week, Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide will hold a ministerial meeting to discuss the likely release of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.
The decision to release the water isn’t sudden, as the recommendation to do so has been around for over a year by various government agencies. Regardless, the decision has consistently faced backlash from local groups, particularly fisheries, over how the move will affect their livelihoods, not because the water is radioactive but because the headlines would look bad and cause fear that their products aren’t safe.
While the water is radioactive, the government has spent the last decade decontaminating it, and now it only contains a trace amount of the isotope tritium. That isotope is common in nature and is already found in trace amounts in groundwater throughout the world. Some scientists, like geological disposal of nuclear waste expert James Conca, have pointed out that “no harm has ever come to humans or the environment from tritium, no matter what the concentration or the dose.”
Delay, Delay, Delay
The issue of the contaminated water has been kicked down the road for years, and Suga wants to resolve it because space is running out on the grounds of the plant. The water storage facilities house over a million gallons of water, which is constantly being added to as some of the stores have rainwater and groundwater seep into them.
The water is considered safe to people but takes a huge amount of space that the government wants to use to store damaged radioactive fuel rods that still need to be extracted from the plant. Unlike the water, the rods are dangerous if not properly stored.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the plan to get rid of the water is sound and meets global standards. Dumping treated water into the sea is completely normal for a nuclear power plant, even in non-emergency situations.
Regardless, Suga reportedly recognizes that it’s a lose-lose situation, with Kishi reporting that he said, “It is inevitable that there would be reputational damage regardless of how the water will be disposed of, whether into the sea or into the air.”
The sentiment that the headlines would hurt local industries is likely right because even to this day, eleven countries and regions still ban many products from the Fukushima prefecture, despite massive clean-up efforts that have seen people returning to live in the area.
See what others are saying: (Kyodo News) (The Mainichi) (Japan Today)
International
Chile’s Government Gave Out Faulty Birth Control. Now At Least 150 Women Are Pregnant
Published
3 days agoon
April 7, 2021
- At least 150 women across Chile became pregnant after taking faulty birth control manufactured by local subsidiaries of the German pharmaceutical company Grünenthal.
- In many cases, mismarked packaging made consumers unclear of when to take the medication. In other instances, pills were put in the wrong spots or contained insufficient active ingredients.
- The country’s public health agency acknowledged the problem, issuing some recalls and guidelines for how to properly take the medication, though it’s still facing backlash for leaving widespread information campaigns to local clinics.
- Many women claim they never received any information about their faulty birth control until they went back to the clinic weeks later for routine checkups.
Defective Birth Control, Real Consequences
Family planning centers in Chile gave out faulty birth control medications to women across the country, resulting in at least 150 pregnancies, though many experts believe the number of pregnancies caused by the issue could be higher.
At the center of the controversy are two subsidiary plants of the German pharmaceutical company Grünenthal, which designed multiple birth control pills. Both Chilean subsidiaries, Labortorios Silesia and Andrómaco, have a history of messing up their pills.
In 2018, Silesia mismarked the packaging on their contraceptive Tinelle, which made it confusing for patients to know when to take certain pills. That caused the product being taken off the market and then re-added once the packaging was fixed.
2020 saw a huge spike in production issues from both Silesia and Andrómaco. On August 24, 139,000 packs of the contraceptive Anulette CD were recalled after a family planning clinic found that multiple packets from the same batch had their active and placebo pills switched. Then on September 3, another 137,000 packs of Anulette CD were recalled after the same issue was found in another batch of the product.
In response, the ISP (Chile’s public health authority) suspended Silesia’s license to manufacture drugs. Only four days later, it reversed that decision after it claimed that the issue was easily noticeable on the packaging and that clinics should contact their patients to let them know. A month later, Andrómaco had to issue a recall after its two contraceptives, Minigest-15 & 20, were both found to not contain enough of the active ingredients to actually work. Andrómaco maintains that the products would work fine under normal shelf-life circumstances and only failed tests because conditions at the laboratory were unideal. It’s currently unknown just how much of it was recalled.
In November 2020, Silesia got their license to produce contraceptives back, followed by a roughly $92,000 fine in February 2021.
Blame Game
The government is facing widespread criticism over how it handled the situation, particularly because the only public information given out about the faulty birth control came when the ISP sent out a tweet that led to more information on August 29, just days after the first recall of Anulette. Beyond that, there were few efforts to make the public more aware of the recalls.
Additionally, the agency’s decision to allow the faultily marked packets to stay on the market was even more controversial. It left the job of disseminating information about how to properly take the mismarked pills to local clinics, which failed in their own right to inform the public. Many women didn’t even know about the issue until they went in for checkups and had been taking the medications incorrectly for weeks or months.
ISP is also facing scrutiny for only recalling two batches of Anulette, even though they received 26 complaints about 15 different batches. The ISP has pushed back against the claims, saying that not every complaint needs a recall to resolve the issue.
In the end, the federal government has blamed local clinics and the manufacturers for not disseminating information abut the recalls and new guidelines for the vaccine, while others blame the national government for failing to properly release the information and engage in long-term awareness campaigns.
See what others are saying: (CNN) (El Diario) (New York Times)

Matt Gaetz Reportedly Venmo’d Accused Sex Trafficker, Who Then Sent Money To Teen

Netflix Strikes Deal for Rights To Sony Movies Following Theatrical Releases. Yes, That Includes Spider-Man.

Greta Thunberg To Skip U.N. Climate Change Conference, Citing Vaccine Inequality

What The Khloe Kardashian Leaks Really Expose, PewDiePie, MrBeast, COVID Scammers, Biden & More News

Biden Announces Executive Actions on Gun Violence

Japan To Explore Plans for Releasing Fukushima Power Plant Water Into Ocean

United Airlines Dispels Complaints That Safety Will Be Compromised By New Pilot Diversity Initiative

Restaurants Across America Face Ketchup Packet Shortage

Regé-Jean Page Seemingly Reacts To Reports That He Was Not Cast as Superman’s Grandfather Because He Is Black

I Lied BUT I Can Explain… Valkyrae, Pokimane, America’s Religion “Problem”, & More News

Chile’s Government Gave Out Faulty Birth Control. Now At Least 150 Women Are Pregnant

Mia Khalifa Shuts Down Death Rumors, Sparks Conversations About Plastic Surgery and Adult Film Industry

Cosplay Instagram Star Belle Delphine Trolls Followers With PornHub Account

Instagram Users Tell Skai Jackson to Stop Posting About Cameron Boyce

Billie Eilish Fans Call Out Twitter User for Sexualizing the Underage Singer

Ace Family’s Austin McBroom and Team Accused of Rape

YouTuber MrBeast Responds to Criticism of Massive Tree Planting Project

Man Kills 17-Year-Old Bianca Devins and Posts Photos Online

Joe Rogan Denies Spotify Censorship Rumors, According to Alex Jones

Netflix Apologizes and Changes Marketing Materials for “Cuties” After Backlash

YouTuber Coffee Break Accuses Kurzgesagt of Being Untrustworthy, Founder Responds

Why Twitter Tried to Cancel Lil Nas X

What The Khloe Kardashian Leaks Really Expose, PewDiePie, MrBeast, COVID Scammers, Biden & More News

I Lied BUT I Can Explain… Valkyrae, Pokimane, America’s Religion “Problem”, & More News

WOW! Stokes Twins Exposed After Disgusting Prank, Lil Nas X Hit, Wasted Vaccines, NFTS, & More News

What The Trisha Paytas James Charles Controversy Exposes, PizzaGaetz, Biden Infrastructure News

PLEASE YOUTUBE DON’T DO THIS!… More James Charles Accusations, Vaccine Passports, & More News

WOW! Lil Nas X Exposed, Montero, Satan Shoes, David Dobrik Fallout, Derek Chauvin Trial, & More News

WHO IS LYING?! Viral Cinnamon Toast Crunch Saga Goes Very Very Wrong, Cody Ko, Liza Koshy, & More

What David Dobrik’s New Apology Exposed, We Need To Talk About Colorado, 03/22/21, & More News

WOW! The David Dobrik Scandal just got Worse, Jeff Wittek Exposes Himself, Krispy Kreme Vaccines, &

What The Zack Snyder Justice League Controversy Really Exposes & Review, ACE Family, Utah Ban, &

Let’s Talk New Disgusting David Dobrik Durte Dom Accusations & This Horrifying Situation in Georgia

David Dobrik Breaks Silence on Vlog Squad Misconduct and Sexual Assault Allegations

David Dobrik Leaves Dispo, Loses Sponsors Following Vlog Squad Rape Allegations

Khloe Kardashian Sparks Conversation About Beauty Standards After Unapproved Bikini Photo Circulates Online

Mother Arrested for Making Deepfakes of Daughter’s Cheer Squad Rivals

Lil Nas X Responds To Outrage Over New Music Video and Satan Sneakers: “i hope u are mad”

Suspect Charged With Murder After Killing 8 in Atlanta Spa Shooting Spree

New Streaming Metrics Highlight Staggering Gap Between Male and Female Gamers

Asian Woman Attacked in San Francisco To Donate All Funds Raised for Her

New Healthcare Benefits Available To Tens of Millions of Americans Starting April 1

[Updated] NCAA Called Out for Disparities Between Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament Accommodations

Celebrities Join Michelle Obama To Support Sweeping Voting Rights Bill

Matt Gaetz Reportedly Venmo’d Accused Sex Trafficker, Who Then Sent Money To Teen

Netflix Strikes Deal for Rights To Sony Movies Following Theatrical Releases. Yes, That Includes Spider-Man.

Greta Thunberg To Skip U.N. Climate Change Conference, Citing Vaccine Inequality

What The Khloe Kardashian Leaks Really Expose, PewDiePie, MrBeast, COVID Scammers, Biden & More News

Biden Announces Executive Actions on Gun Violence

Japan To Explore Plans for Releasing Fukushima Power Plant Water Into Ocean

United Airlines Dispels Complaints That Safety Will Be Compromised By New Pilot Diversity Initiative

Restaurants Across America Face Ketchup Packet Shortage

Regé-Jean Page Seemingly Reacts To Reports That He Was Not Cast as Superman’s Grandfather Because He Is Black

I Lied BUT I Can Explain… Valkyrae, Pokimane, America’s Religion “Problem”, & More News

Chile’s Government Gave Out Faulty Birth Control. Now At Least 150 Women Are Pregnant

What The Khloe Kardashian Leaks Really Expose, PewDiePie, MrBeast, COVID Scammers, Biden & More News

I Lied BUT I Can Explain… Valkyrae, Pokimane, America’s Religion “Problem”, & More News

WOW! Stokes Twins Exposed After Disgusting Prank, Lil Nas X Hit, Wasted Vaccines, NFTS, & More News

What The Trisha Paytas James Charles Controversy Exposes, PizzaGaetz, Biden Infrastructure News

PLEASE YOUTUBE DON’T DO THIS!… More James Charles Accusations, Vaccine Passports, & More News

WOW! Lil Nas X Exposed, Montero, Satan Shoes, David Dobrik Fallout, Derek Chauvin Trial, & More News

WHO IS LYING?! Viral Cinnamon Toast Crunch Saga Goes Very Very Wrong, Cody Ko, Liza Koshy, & More

What David Dobrik’s New Apology Exposed, We Need To Talk About Colorado, 03/22/21, & More News

WOW! The David Dobrik Scandal just got Worse, Jeff Wittek Exposes Himself, Krispy Kreme Vaccines, &

What The Zack Snyder Justice League Controversy Really Exposes & Review, ACE Family, Utah Ban, &
