AstraZeneca is pulling its Covid-19 vaccine from the UK market less than four years after its debut, citing a “surplus” of vaccines targeting newer strains and declining demand.

On Wednesday, AstraZeneca stated that while it was “proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global pandemic,” the company would no longer manufacture or supply the medicine due to a “surplus of available updated vaccines.”

The decision marks the end of the road for the vaccine, which was developed in partnership with experts at Oxford University within months of the pandemic’s breakout. It was authorized in the UK in late 2020, and over 3 billion doses have been distributed since its debut.

Unlike rivals Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna, AstraZeneca initially used a non-profit approach for its vaccine, selling it “at cost” as part of an agreement with Oxford. The medication was critical in ending the epidemic. However, its deployment was marred by rare cases of blood clotting and disagreements with the European Union over access to medicine.

“According to independent estimates, over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone,” AstraZeneca stated, adding that additional COVID-19 vaccines have since been produced, reducing sales of its own medicine.

First Vaccine Approved in the UK

The announcement comes after the pharmaceutical company sought in March that the European Union withdraw its marketing authorization for Vaxzevria, which was granted on Tuesday.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been supplanted by mRNA-based vaccines produced by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna, which are now the most widely used worldwide.

According to the company’s full-year figures, AstraZeneca’s jab generated only $12 million in sales in 2023, compared to nearly $4 billion in 2021. In late 2021, AstraZeneca signed its first for-profit arrangements, claiming the pandemic had entered an “endemic phase.”

The vaccine was approved in the United Kingdom in December 2020 and the European Union in January 2021, but it was never approved in the United States, where authorities criticized the company’s presentation of data on vaccination efficacy.

Overall, the vaccination was safe and effective, but confidence in it dipped in 2021 following a string of rare blood-clotting occurrences, prompting European authorities to restrict its use among younger people.

Jamie Scott is suing the firm, alleging that taking the vaccine caused him to develop a major blood clot. If held accountable, the UK government’s vaccine damage payment plan would compensate for any damages. The business stated that the removal was unrelated to the uncommon blood clotting incidences.

AstraZeneca stated: “We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a global pharmaceutical corporation based in Cambridge, England. It develops and manufactures various medications to treat various medical ailments. During the COVID-19 epidemic, the business earned headlines for its collaborative efforts to create a vaccine with Oxford University.

Vaxzevria COVID-19 vaccine was one of the first vaccines approved for emergency use worldwide. Despite initial issues with efficacy data and worries about potential adverse effects, the vaccination proved successful in preventing severe illness and death from COVID-19. It was essential in vaccination campaigns throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

Their line of pharmaceuticals extends beyond the COVID-19 vaccine to include cancer, cardiology, respiratory, and metabolic illnesses. The corporation invests substantially in R&D, hoping to bring breakthrough therapies to market. It operates in over 100 countries and employs tens of thousands worldwide.

AstraZeneca has experienced numerous controversies and legal challenges, including litigation involving drug pricing and marketing activities. However, it remains a key player in the pharmaceutical sector, strongly emphasizing scientific research and global health programs. The company’s response to the COVID-19 epidemic has strengthened its position as a major contributor to global public health efforts.

Source: The Financial Times

 

Prince Harry made a rare public appearance in Britain on Wednesday, attending a Thanksgiving service to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. His poor relationship with his family dominated the headlines.

Prince Harry, 39, King Charles’ youngest son, lives in California with his American wife Meghan and their two children. After criticizing them and the institution in his recent memoir, interviews, and television programs, he has grown distant from the other royals.

Although he paid a quick visit to see Charles when Buckingham Palace confirmed that the 75-year-old king had been diagnosed with cancer in February, the father and son will not meet again on his recent trip.

“It will not be possible due to his majesty’s busy schedule,” stated a representative for Harry, Duke of Sussex. “The duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”

While Harry attended the Invictus Games service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, the monarch hosted the annual garden party at Buckingham Palace with other senior royals.

The king was also scheduled to appear at a military training base on Thursday.

Harry was the only royal present at St Paul’s to commemorate the worldwide sporting event he launched in 2014 for military troops injured in action.

Harry, who arrived alone, smiling and waving to a crowd outside, performed a reading while actor Damian Lewis spoke a poem to the church, which included veterans and wounded service members.

Footage from the service showed Harry meeting guests inside the cathedral, shaking hands, and briefly conversing with some of the applauding crowds outside before leaving.

After departing Britain, Prince Harry will travel to Nigeria with his wife Meghan, who did not accompany him to London.

Prince Harry hit with a setback in the US.

Meanwhile, a royal analyst says Prince Harry has suffered another setback in the United States. The prince had hoped to get a trademark in various categories for his 2006-founded charity, Sentebale.

However, royal analyst Richard Eden stated that the charity had “fallen into trademark difficulties in the USA – thwarting, for now at least, plans to expand its operations in America.”

Sentebale collaborates with young people in Lesotho and Botswana to develop long-term solutions addressing health, income, and inequality challenges.

Harry hoped to trademark several areas under his foundation, including “mental healthcare services,” “psychological and mental counselling services,” and “immunisation provision.”

The categories “Organizing conferences, seminars, courses, workshops, and other events” and “production of audio and/or video recordings” were added to the list.

Eden stated, “But the US Patent and Trademark Office, while acknowledging that it has discovered ‘no conflicting [trade] marks’, has given the application the thumbs down.”

“In a detailed ruling, it points out that many, if not quite all, the categories are inadequately defined.”

The Duke must address the flaws the US Patent and Trademark Office raised and make a second try within six months.

According to the office: “‘An application must specify, in an explicit manner, the particular goods and services on or in connection with which the applicant uses, or has a bona fide intention to use, the [trade] mark in commerce.”

Furthermore, statements submitted to the Charity Commission show that the American Friends of Sentebale Foundation’s donations to the charity have been cut in half in the last year, from £1.2 million to £610,000.

Britain’s Prince Harry Formally Confirms He is Now a US Resident

Britain’s Prince Harry Formally Confirms He is Now a US Resident

Kibbutz Mefalsim, Israel — When Hamas fighters entered southern Israel on October 7, the Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip carried out the worst attack against Jews since the Holocaust.

So this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins on Sunday evening in Israel, bears greater significance for many Jews around the world.

The tragedies of October 7 motivated Judith Tzamir, a Holocaust survivor from Germany who emigrated to Israel in 1964, to celebrate the melancholy anniversary by making a journey to Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp in Poland, which she had previously avoided.

Tzamir, whose kibbutz fended off Hamas attacks on October 7, will march alongside 55 other Holocaust survivors from throughout the world, as well as over 10,000 others. The event recreates the 2-mile (3-kilometer) march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, where Nazi Germany murdered an estimated 1 million Jews.

Now in its 36th year, the event often attracts thousands of attendees, including Holocaust survivors, Jewish students, leaders, and politicians. This year’s march will include Israeli captives who have been released from captivity in Gaza, as well as families whose relatives are still held captive.

A Holocaust Survivor Will Mark That History Differently After The Horrors Of Oct. 7

“I’m not sure if the world will listen, but it’s important to me,” said Tzamir, who has previously declined invitations to visit Auschwitz. “To remember that there’s still antisemitism around, and there are still people who will kill just for religious reasons.”

Holocaust Remembrance Day observed on the anniversary of the commencement of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, has traditionally been a moment for Israelis to assemble and hear testimony from survivors.

It is one of the most solemn days of the year, with a two-minute siren that stops traffic and causes people to stand at attention in remembrance of the victims. Memorial services are held throughout the day, and the names of the victims are read aloud. While Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, strives to avoid politics, this year’s event has an empty yellow chair in solidarity with the Israeli captives still held in Gaza.

When Tzamir was 4 1/2 years old, her parents dressed her in a light blue frock, black shoes, and white socks and took her to a plaza in Berlin. She recalls clutching her doll, Yula, as they revealed that they were not her parents and that the woman standing in front of them was her biological mother.

Tzamir’s mother served in the German Wehrmacht during World War II, concealing her Jewish origins. She gave birth to Judith in 1943 at a nun-run hospital, then abandoned her to save her own life. At the time, Tzamir, known as Donata, was placed in a foster household. She didn’t know she was Jewish until she met her mother.

Tzamir traveled to Mefalsim, a kibbutz in southern Israel on the Gaza border, through a student exchange program sixteen years later while in college. Following her studies, she returned to Mefalsim, fell in love with a new immigrant from Argentina living on the kibbutz, and stayed to have four children.

A Holocaust Survivor Will Mark That History Differently After The Horrors Of Oct. 7

On October 7, Tzamir faced the danger of losing her home again. Hamas militants crossed the border from Gaza and targeted cities, army bases, and a music festival in southern Israel. Mefalsim was fortunate compared to many other kibbutzim in the area, where militants torched homes and caused widespread devastation.

That day, the militants slaughtered over 1,200 individuals, the majority of whom were civilians, and kidnapped another 250. The incident precipitated Israel’s invasion of Gaza, in which the death toll has risen to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials, and over 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have fled their homes. The high death toll and humanitarian catastrophe have generated genocide claims against Israel before the International Court of Justice, which Israel vigorously denies.

Hamas has stated that their attack was intended at the Israeli occupation and blockade of Gaza, while pro-Palestinian groups have denied any antisemitic motivations in their opposition to Israel’s military offensive. For most Jewish Israelis, global rallies calling for boycotts of Israel and challenging the country’s right to exist frequently devolve into antisemitism.

On the day of the attack, Mefalsim’s emergency readiness squad managed to keep the majority of the Hamas terrorists outside the kibbutz fence. Many inhabitants remained in secure rooms for nearly 24 hours before the Israeli army was able to remove them the following day.

Although no one was killed at Mefalsim, the town’s approximately 800 residents, as well as more than 120,000 Israelis who resided within a few kilometers of the Gaza and Lebanon borders, were ordered to evacuate. Mefalsim, Tzamir’s constant anchor after a turbulent upbringing, was no longer a haven.

Many Mefalsim residents have been living in a hotel north of Tel Aviv for the past seven months, unsure of their next steps, but Tzamir and others plan to return to the kibbutz in June.

Tzamir said the October 7 attack brought back memories of her childhood trauma. She was able to function during the day, but when she went to bed, her dreams were filled with blood, death, and fire, reminiscent of the bombs she watched as a child in Germany.

A Holocaust Survivor Will Mark That History Differently After The Horrors Of Oct. 7

Tzamir is one of about 2,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel who were forced to flee their homes due to the conflict in Gaza, according to Israel’s Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs. The government believes that 132,000 Holocaust survivors exist in Israel.

Tzamir has known every resident of her kibbutz for 13 years, having served as its director. She stated that some families may never return to Mefalsim within one mile (1.4 kilometers) from the Gaza border. Explosions from Gaza ricochet throughout the buildings, and a sense of security is difficult to regain.

But that was never a question for her, she explained.

“I’m 80 years old, and I don’t want to lose my home again,” Tzamir remarked as her husband Ran worked on a garden brimming with succulents and flowers just before their journey to Poland. “We are coming back.”

SOURCE – (AP)