Norway halts AstraZeneca vaccine as homeless prioritised for jab, Hancock says

Norway has suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, health authorities said.

“This is a cautionary decision,” Geir Bukholm, director of infection prevention and control at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, told a news conference.

The decision follows a similar decision by Denmark, which paused its AstraZeneca programme for two weeks after reports of cases of blood clots forming, including one death.

The European Commission will formally authorise Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine shortly, European health commissioner Stella Kyriakides has said, after the EU’s medicines regulator recommended granting it conditional marketing approval.

“This marks another key step towards ensuring that all citizens can access safe and effective vaccinations as soon as possible. EU Commission authorisation will follow shortly,” Ms Kyriakides wrote on Twitter.

The approval of Johnson & Johnson’s single dose vaccine follows authorisations in the United States and Canada.

The proportion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic NHS staff who reported experiencing discrimination at work rose in 2020, according to a survey of more than half a million NHS workers in England.

A total of 16.7 per cent said they had been discriminated against by a manager, team leader or other colleague in the last 12 months, compared with 14.5 per cent in 2019.

The NHS Staff Survey 2020 also found that Black and minority ethnic staff were more likely to report working in coronavirus settings than white staff –  47 per cent compared with 31 per cent of white workers.

Meanwhile, the proportion of Black and minority ethnic staff who said their organisation offers equal opportunities fell from 71 per cent in 2019 to 69 per cent in 2020. A total of 87 per cent of white staff said it provided equal opportunities.

Denmark’s decision to pause its AstraZeneca Covid vaccine programme is a “precautionary measure” and people should continue to get their jab, the UK regulator has said, adding that blood clots occur naturally and are “not uncommon”.

Danish authorities have temporarily halted their rollout of the jab after a small number of blood clots and one death were reported, though they have said a connection to the vaccine has not been confirmed.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said evidence had not confirmed the vaccine caused the problems, and said people should still go and get their Covid-19 vaccine when asked to do so.

Dr Phil Bryan, MHRA vaccines safety lead, said: “Vaccine safety is of paramount importance and we continually monitor the safety of vaccines to ensure that the benefits outweigh any potential risks. It has not been confirmed that the report of a blood clot, in Denmark, was caused by the Covid-19 vaccine (from) AstraZeneca.

“The Danish authorities’ action to temporarily suspend use of the vaccine is precautionary whilst they investigate.

“Blood clots can occur naturally and are not uncommon. More than 11 million doses of the Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca vaccine have now been administered across the UK.”

He said that the number of reports of blood clots received so far are not higher than the number that would have normally occurred in the vaccinated population.

Covid infection rates are continuing to fall across all regions of England and among all age groups, Public Health England’s latest weekly surveillance report shows.

The highest rate was recorded in Yorkshire and Humber, where the rate of new cases stood at 97.6 per 100,000 people in the seven days to 7 March. This compares with 115.6 in the previous week.

The East Midlands recorded the second highest rate at 84.0, down from 122.9.

South-west England recorded the lowest rate, with just 32.3 new cases, a fall from 43.9.

Infection rates are also continuing to drop among all age groups, with the highest rate recorded among 30 to 39-year-olds at 88.9 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to 7 March – a decrease from 123.6 the week before.

Among 20 to 29-year-olds the rate fell from 113.9 to 78.9, while for 40 to 49-year-olds it dropped from 103.7 to 72.7.

For people aged 80 and over, the rate fell from 66.6 to 44.2.

“Sixty-two per cent of [drug dealers] said they had adhered to the two-metre rule – a rate higher than the general population at the time. And like supermarkets, many dealers wouldn’t accept cash, preferring instead bank transfer or PayPal to minimise Covid transmission.”

In case you missed it, here’s Ian Hamilton’s piece on lockdown’s effect on drug dealers and users:

Four new cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil have been discovered in England, Public Health England said, taking the UK’s total number of known cases to 10.

Three of the new cases have been found in South Gloucestershire and are said to be close or household contacts with the two cases previously discovered in the area.

The other case was found in Bradford, West Yorkshire, after the person tested positive late last month having travelled back from Brazil via Paris on 14 February.

A PHE statement said: “Contact tracing teams have followed up close contacts of the individual and advised them to isolate and get a test.”

The new cases bring the number of cases of the variant, named P1, detected in the UK to ten - seven in England and three in Scotland.

A total of 62.7 per cent of social care staff in England working in independent Care Quality Commission-registered younger adult care homes and domiciliary care providers have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, NHS England said.

For social care staff working in other settings in England, including non-registered providers, the figure is 62.0 per cent. Both estimates are for first doses given up to 7 March.

All care home staff were offered a jab by 15 February, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.

The Stormont Executive has cancelled plans to take primary school pupils in Northern Ireland back out of classes for the week of 22 March.

The original plan was aimed at minimising the impact on community infection rates as secondary school students in key exam years return.

Ministers have now agreed that the pupils, in P1 to P3, should stay in classes for that week. They were the first cohort to return to face-to-face learning on Monday after the lockdown was eased.

Peter Weir, the education minister, also proposed that all remaining primary school children - P4 to P7s - return to the classroom on 22 March and all other secondary school children, in years 8 to 11 - go back after the Easter holidays on 12 April.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has refused to answer whether he profited from the rise in the share price of the vaccine manufacturer Moderna, leading a Labour MP to accuse him of being “opaque”.

Appearing before the Commons Treasury Committee, Mr Sunak was challenged by Labour MP Angela Eagle to say whether he had benefited as a “potential owner” of Moderna shares.

Mr Sunak replied: “All my register of interests are disclosed to the Cabinet Office in the normal way and are available transparently for anyone to see there. All my disclosures are in accordance with the Cabinet Office guidelines and have been gone over rigorously, and are published in the normal way.”

Ms Eagle accused the chancellor of not being transparent, saying: “So, you are not prepared to add that extra bit of information for us today whether you have benefited personally? I think that is about as opaque as it comes.”