UK grants 1st Covid vaccine emergency approval

That Was Quick! | Lockdown Sceptics - Jonathan Barr:

December 3, 2020 - "News broke yesterday that the UK has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for widespread use, becoming the first country in the world to do so. The regulator, Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has said the jab offers 95% protection against COVID-19 and is safe. The NHS plans to begin the rollout as soon as next week.... 

"This is a medical breakthrough and, on the face of it, good news. Nonetheless, many Britons are not yet convinced that the vaccine is safe. MailOnline has more:

One fifth of Britons are still unsure the Pfizer vaccine is safe while two thirds said Health Secretary Hancock should be given the jab live on air, according to a new survey by YouGov. Researchers asked more than 5,000 adults in Britain how confident they were that the new Pfizer vaccine is safe. In response, 20% of those asked said they were either not confident at all or not very confident that the vaccine would be safe. Just over a quarter, 27% of people said they are “very confident” it will be safe while 43% said they are “somewhat confident'....

"Of course, it hasn’t been definitively proved that the vaccine is safe. But then again, it can’t be proved, categorically, that it would be safe to end all Government-mandated restrictions tomorrow and we don’t regard that as a good reason not to do so. It’s about a balance of risk and we should apply that same calculus here. Provided it is left entirely up to the individual about whether to take the vaccine or not, and no efforts are made to compel people to take it, either directly or indirectly, we welcome it.

"Nonetheless, there are some important concerns that need to be addressed. Not least those in the petition by Professor Yeadon and Wodarg which we reported on yesterday:

• The formation of so-called 'non-neutralizing antibodies' can lead to an exaggerated immune reaction, especially when the test person is confronted with the real, 'wild'” virus after vaccination. 
• The vaccinations are expected to produce antibodies against spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2. However, spike proteins also contain syncytin-homologous proteins, which are essential for the formation of the placenta in mammals such as humans. It must be ruled out that a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 could trigger an immune reaction against syncytin-1, as it may otherwise result in infertility of indefinite duration in vaccinated women.
• The mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech contain polyethylene glycol (PEG). 70% of people develop antibodies against this substance. This means that many people can develop allergic, potentially fatal reactions to the vaccination.
• The much too short duration of the study does not allow a realistic estimation of the late effects. As in the narcolepsy cases after the swine flu vaccination, millions of healthy people would be exposed to an unacceptable risk if an emergency approval were to be granted and the possibility of observing the late effects of the vaccination were to follow.

"There are also the practical issues raised by Ross Clark in his Spectator article: 'While the trials have proved that the vaccine can provide immunity against COVID-19 for the person who has been vaccinated, they were not designed to show whether the vaccine stops someone transmitting the virus to others. Nor do we know how long immunity might last'.... 

"There’s another consideration: If you’ve already had COVID-19, what’s the point of getting vaccinated? At present, the Government recommends everyone getting the jab, including those who’ve had the virus. But why? Matt Hancock was asked this by Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain yesterday .... The health secretary says that it’s because you can’t be sure, having had the disease, that you won’t get it again. The obvious question – if having antibodies doesn’t prevent you from getting re-infected, what’s the point of getting vaccinated? – was left unasked.

"Finally, and the point most obvious for lockdown sceptics: For the majority of the population, COVID-19 presents little or no risk. Far from being a death sentence, there is ~99.75% chance of surviving it. More, if you believe the data emerging from Norway, where the infection fatality rate is just 0.12%. It’s partly because the IFR of the disease is so low that the cure has been so much worse. We hope that the vaccine isn’t rolled out in such a way that it adds to these costs, particularly when it comes to the further erosion of our liberties. Any hint of coercion must be completely ruled out."

Read more: https://lockdownsceptics.org/2020/12/03/latest-news-212/#that-was-quick