'One mistake after the other.' How AstraZeneca went from pandemic hero to villain

[dalton99a]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/25/business/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine/index.html

'One mistake after the other.' How AstraZeneca went from pandemic hero to villain
By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business
Updated 7:07 AM ET, Thu March 25, 2021

London (CNN Business) After teaming up with Oxford University, AstraZeneca produced a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine in just nine months, a huge achievement that will help end the pandemic. But a series of missteps along the way has led to scathing criticism from policymakers and health officials, tarnishing the company's image as a hero of the coronavirus era.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker mistakenly gave some volunteers a half dose of the vaccine during clinical trials, and it has been criticized for omitting crucial information from its public statements. US regulators have questioned the accuracy of its vaccine data, and severe production delays in Europe have resulted in a political firestorm and a breakdown in relations with EU leaders.

"What we have with AstraZeneca is a company that is not straightforward, that cannot be relied upon," Philippe Lamberts, a Belgian member of the European Parliament, said in a radio interview with the BBC on Wednesday.

AstraZeneca's (AZN) failure to deliver tens of millions of promised doses to the European Union, which is struggling to roll out vaccination programs, led the bloc to impose export restrictions that have already prevented at least one shipment of vaccines to Australia. Leaders could move to make the restrictions even tighter Thursday.

[gab13by13]

1. I believe that AstraZeneca,

was one of the companies that took Trump's Warp Speed money.

[dalton99a]

3. Indeed. $1.7 billion.

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, collaborated with the DoD, to provide around $486 million to AstraZeneca for two Phase III clinical trials and related development activities, including a large-scale manufacturing demonstration project and supply of AZD7442 doses in the USA. This adds to a $1.2 billion award from the BARDA for COVID-vaccine supplies. The company’s American shares traded up 1.3% to $55.45 after-hours.

[JohnSJ]

2. What I think of was the arrogance of Oxford last spring even before anyone had

received any vaccine in a clinical trial.

They were having interviews on CNN and other networks bragging everything was great, and how successful it would be in curbing the virus and released within a very short period of time to the public.

It was a PR disaster, and one problem surfaced after another.

While the vaccine has shown to be effective, it did not live up to the expectations it set, and its rollout has been less than stellar.

(Start rant)

The biggest challenge we have right now in the world is vaccine hesitancy, and none of this helps. Add to that people on social networks pushing misinformation about the vaccines, along with various media personalities.

At the end of January 2021, Bill Maher had his guests Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying who resigned their posts at Evergreen State College in protest of "minority-appreciation day". These two guests were suggesting that they would not recommend the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, because it was "too new", and pushing that the Oxford vaccine was the way to go because it was based on "tried and true" technology. It was a totally irresponsible display of misinformation, without anyone to rebuttal it.

That interview also allowed him to push his "cancel culture" theme, saying his guests resigned because their views were not accepted favorably at Evergreen State College.

Those guests went on pushing the Bannon/trump conspiracy without evidence, that COVID was man-made, and escaped from a lab in Wuhan. Obviously, this satisfied Maher's xenophobic anti-Chinese claims that he made in April 2020, justifying the use of trump terms, referring to it as the "China virus", etc.

No wonder a couple of weeks ago he was so quick to agree with the mass killer of mostly Asian women in Atlanta, by more than willing to accept this wasn't a hate crime.

(end rant)