WORST WEEK EVER A DIGEST
AstraZeneca to reduce EU Covid vaccine deliveries following production problems

Issued on: 15/03/2021 - 

A picture shows empty phials of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center at the University of Western Brittany on March 12, 2021 in Brest, western France. 

© Fred Panneau, AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES

The European Union is facing further shortfalls in its coronavirus inoculation programme after pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said production problems and export restrictions would reduce planned deliveries of its vaccine.

The Anglo/Swedish firm's image has already taken a hit with several countries suspending the rollout of its vaccine over blood clot fears, even as the World Health Organization said there was no reason to stop using it.

It is just the latest blow for the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is the cheapest vaccine aimed at fighting back against a pandemic that has claimed more than 2.6 million lives worldwide.

Germany has already reported adverse effects due to the delay, the state of Thuringia cancelling appointments and suspending a pilot project for general practitioners to administer the vaccine.

>> How the EU’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout became an ‘advert for Brexit’

The head of the country's disease control agency Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, meanwhile warned that "the third wave has already started in Germany".

Despite the worrying signs, thousands joined protests in German cities on Saturday against anti-Covid measures.

France on a 'razor's edge', says PM

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said his government still expected to exceed its target of 10 million vaccinated by April 15, though he said some labs were not respecting delivery deadlines.

Castex defended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine despite precautions taken by other nations.

>> New strain of Covid-19 tripled infections despite UK lockdown

"I would not allow myself to send poison to my fellow citizens," he said during a visit to a vaccination centre.

He also did not rule out a new lockdown in the Ile-de-France region, which is home to the capital Paris, saying he was ready to take "additional measures" if necessary.

"We are on a razor's edge," he told Le Monde newspaper, as the first three intensive care patients were moved from Ile-de-France to nearby regions on Saturday to relieve the pressure on overwhelmed hospitals in the capital.

Hospital in Jordan runs out of oxygen

The United States, the country hit hardest by the pandemic, has ramped up its vaccination programme after a shaky start.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 100 million doses had been administered so far, just less than a third of the total given worldwide so far.

Tunisia and Ethiopia both launched vaccination campaigns on Saturday, with Ethiopian officials flagging an alarming rise in cases.

There was outrage in Jordan after at least seven Covid-19 patients died on Saturday when a hospital ran out of oxygen.

"I have submitted my resignation to the prime minister," said health minister Nazir Obeidat, adding that he took "full moral responsibility" for what happened.

WHO: No link between AstraZeneca jab, blood clotting

Several countries suspended the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine this week, with Norway reporting an "unexpected death from a brain haemorrhage" after receiving the shot.

Norwegian officials added on Saturday that the country had "received several adverse event reports about younger vaccinated people with bleeding under the skin" after getting the shot.

It also said it had received "three more reports of severe cases of blood clots or brain haemorrhages in younger people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine".

The World Health Organization, which said its vaccines advisory committee was examining the safety data coming in, has stressed that no causal link has been established between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clotting.

"Yes, we should continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said Friday, stressing that any concerns over safety must be investigated.

AstraZeneca insisted its jab was safe, adding there was "no evidence" of higher blood clot risks.

Italy and Austria have banned the use of jabs from separate batches of AstraZeneca, and Thailand and Bulgaria said this week they would delay their rollout.

Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Latvia meanwhile called for EU talks to discuss "huge disparities" in vaccine distribution, according to a letter published on Saturday.

"If this system were to carry on, it would continue creating and exacerbating huge disparities among member states by this summer, whereby some would be able to reach herd immunity in a few weeks while others would lag far behind," the letter said.

Italy on Friday announced tough new restrictions, with schools, restaurants, shops and museums ordered to close across most regions of Italy, including Rome and Milan from next week.

(AFP)

Germany, Italy, France suspend AstraZeneca shots amid safety fears, disrupting EU vaccinations

By Thomas Escritt, Stephanie Nebehay

3/15/2021

BERLIN/GENEVA (Reuters) - Germany, France and Italy said on Monday they would suspend AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots after several countries reported possible serious side-effects, but the World Health Organization

Teacher, Rene Kirstein, receives his first dose of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Susanne Kugel, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Grevesmuehlen, Germany, March 5, 2021. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

(WHO) said there was no proven link and people should not panic.

Still, the decision by the European Union’s three biggest countries to put inoculations with the AstraZeneca shot on hold threw the already struggling vaccination campaign in the 27-nation EU into disarray.

Denmark and Norway stopped giving the shot last week after reporting isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and a low platelet count. Iceland and Bulgaria followed suit and Ireland and the Netherlands announced suspensions on Sunday.

Spain will stop using the vaccine for at least 15 days, Cadena Ser radio reported, citing unnamed sources.

The top WHO scientist reiterated on Monday that there have been no documented deaths linked to COVID-19 vaccines.

“We do not want people to panic,” Soumya Swaminathan said on a virtual media briefing, adding there has been no association, so far, pinpointed between so-called “thromboembolic events” reported in some countries and COVID-19 shots.

The moves by some of Europe’s largest and most populous countries will deepen concerns about the slow rollout of vaccines in the region, which has been plagued by shortages due to problems producing vaccines, including AstraZeneca’s.

Germany warned last week it was facing a third wave of infections, Italy is intensifying lockdowns and hospitals in the Paris region are close to being overloaded.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that although the risk of blood clots was low, it could not be ruled out.

“This is a professional decision, not a political one,” Spahn said, adding he was following a recommendation of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, Germany’s vaccine regulator.

France said it was suspending the vaccine’s use pending an assessment by the EU medicine regulator due on Tuesday. Italy said its halt was a “precautionary and temporary measure” pending the regulator’s ruling.

Austria and Spain have stopped using particular batches and prosecutors in the northern Italian region of Piedmont earlier seized 393,600 doses following the death of a man hours after he was vaccinated. It was the second region to do so after Sicily, where two people had died shortly after having their shots.

The WHO appealed to countries not to suspend vaccinations against a disease that has caused more than 2.7 million deaths worldwide. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said systems were in place to protect public health.

“This does not necessarily mean these events are linked to COVID-19 vaccination, but it’s routine practice to investigate them, and it shows that the surveillance system works and that effective controls are in place,” Tedros said during a virtual media briefing in Geneva.


RELATED COVERAGE
EU regulator to meet on Thursday to discuss AstraZeneca vaccine

He said an advisory committee meeting on AstraZeneca would be held on Tuesday.

The United Kingdom said it had no concerns, while Poland said it thought the benefits outweighed any risks.

The EMA has said that as of March 10, a total of 30 cases of blood clotting had been reported among close to 5 million people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot in the European Economic Area, which links 30 European countries.

Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said the decisions by France, Germany and others looked baffling.

“The data we have suggests that numbers of adverse events related to blood clots are the same (and possibly, in fact lower) in vaccinated groups compared to unvaccinated populations,” he said, adding that halting a vaccination programme had consequences.

“This results in delays in protecting people, and the potential for increased vaccine hesitancy, as a result of people who have seen the headlines and understandably become concerned. There are no signs yet of any data that really justify these decisions.”

Italian medicine agency Aifa’s general director, Nicola Magrini, told a radio station that several European countries preferred to suspend the vaccine “in the presence of some very recent and very few cases of adverse events” in women and young people.

“...Those who have already had the vaccine can and must remain safe,” she said. “I feel like saying the vaccine is safe, even having reviewed all the data.”

‘UNUSUAL’ SYMPTOMS

AstraZeneca’s shot was among the first and cheapest to be developed and launched at volume since the coronavirus was first identified in central China at the end of 2019, and is set to be the mainstay of vaccination programmes in much of the developing world.

Thailand announced plans on Monday to go ahead with the Anglo-Swedish firm’s shot after suspending its use on Friday, but Indonesia said it would wait for the WHO to report.

The WHO said its advisory panel was reviewing reports related to the shot and would release its findings as soon as possible. But it said it was unlikely to change its recommendations, issued last month, for widespread use, including in countries where the South African variant of the virus may reduce its efficacy.

The EMA has also said there was no indication the events were caused by the vaccination and that the number of reported blood clots was no higher than seen in the general population.

The handful of reported side-effects in Europe have upset vaccination programmes already stumbling over slow rollouts and vaccine scepticism in some countries.

The Netherlands said on Monday it had seen 10 cases of possible noteworthy adverse side-effects from the AstraZeneca shot, hours after putting its vaccination programme on hold following reports of potential side-effects in other countries.

Denmark reported “highly unusual” symptoms in a 60-year-old citizen who died from a blood clot after receiving the vaccine, the same phrase used on Saturday by Norway about three people under the age of 50 it said were being treated in hospital.

“It was an unusual course of illness around the death that made the Danish Medicines Agency react,” the agency said in a statement late on Sunday.

One of the three health workers hospitalised in Norway after receiving the AstraZeneca shot had died, health authorities said on Monday, but there was no evidence the vaccine was the cause.

AstraZeneca said earlier it had conducted a review covering more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and the UK which had shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.

Long-awaited results from AstraZeneca 30,000-person U.S. vaccine trial are currently being reviewed by independent monitors to determine whether the shot is safe and effective, a top U.S. official said on Monday.


Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat in BANKOK and Andreas Rinke and Paul Carrel in BERLIN, Angelo Amante in ROME, Christian Lowe in PARIS, Toby Sterling in AMSTERDAM, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in COPENHAGEN, Kate Kelland in LONDON, Emilio Parodi in MILAN, Nathan Allen in MADRID, Emma Farge in GENEVA and Stanley Widianto in JAKARTA; writing by Philippa Fletcher; editing by Nick Macfie and Mark Heinrich

WHO gives statement on safety of the Astra Zeneca vaccine after some countries stop using it

Coronavirus vaccine: WHO statement on Astra Zeneca jab safety

By Aidan Barlow @ArgusAidan

Crime Reporter

VACCINE LATEST
Suzie Shakespeare, Senior Immunisation Nurse, prepares a dose of Oxford/Astra Zeneca Covid-19 vaccine, during a mass vaccination of members of the public at Robertson House, Stevenage. Picture date: Tuesday February 9, 2021. PA Photo. Photo credit


COUNTRIES should continue to use the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

The WHO said there was no indication of a link between the jabs and blood clots.

It comes after Thailand said it will delay use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after several European countries temporarily suspended the jabs following a small number of reports of health problems.

Speaking via videoconference in Geneva, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “As countries roll out Covid-19 vaccines, WHO is continuing to keep a close eye on their safety.

“WHO is aware that some countries have suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccines based on reports of blood clots in some people who have received doses of the vaccine from two batches.

“This measure was taken as a precaution while a full investigation is finalised.

“It’s important to note that the European Medicines Agency has said there is no indication of a link between the vaccine and blood clots and that the vaccine can continue to be used while its investigation is ongoing.”


He said the findings and any change to the organisation’s recommendations following the investigation will be relayed to the public “immediately”.

His comments echoed earlier remarks made by WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris, who described the vaccine as “excellent”.

Yong Poovorawan, an adviser to Thailand’s vaccination programme, said the delay, pending an investigation into the cause of reported side-effects, will not have a big impact on the rollout.

It came as AstraZeneca released a new statement saying there is no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis with the vaccine.

It said that, in fact, the occurrence is “significantly lower” in those who have been vaccinated than what would be expected among the general population.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said there is no evidence to suggest the vaccine causes blood clot problems, and that people should still get their Covid-19 jab when asked to do so.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has also backed the jab’s safety and said there have been 30 reports of blood clots among close to five million people given the vaccine across Europe.

It said in a statement: “The position of EMA’s safety committee… is that the vaccine’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing.”

On Thursday, Denmark, Norway and Iceland said they were temporarily halting all AstraZeneca vaccinations to investigate reports of blood clots among people who have had the jab.

Italy also followed Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Lithuania in banning jabs from one particular batch of one million AstraZeneca vaccines, which was sent to 17 countries, after reports of a death.


AstraZeneca said in a statement on Friday: “An analysis of our safety data of more than 10 million records has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country with Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.

“In fact, the observed number of these types of events are significantly lower in those vaccinated than what would be expected among the general population.”

Earlier this week, the EMA reported that one person in Austria was diagnosed with blood clots and died 10 days after vaccination, but stressed there is “currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions”.

Another person was admitted to hospital with pulmonary embolism (blockage in arteries in the lungs) after being vaccinated.

Dr Phil Bryan, MHRA vaccines safety lead in the UK, said on Thursday: “Blood clots can occur naturally and are not uncommon.

“More than 11 million doses of the Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccine have now been administered across the UK.

“Reports of blood clots received so far are not greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in the vaccinated population.”

Dr Bryan said the safety of the public always comes first and the issue is being kept under close review, “but available evidence does not confirm that the vaccine is the cause”.

Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said: “Vaccine safety is critically important.

“Our UK regulator, the MHRA, reviews all reports of adverse events for both vaccines as they are reported.

“The public should have confidence that both vaccines used in the UK vaccination programme are safe and highly effective at preventing severe disease, including the prevention of blood clots caused by Covid.”

Here's Why Countries Are Halting the AstraZeneca Shot, Explained

The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization say the data available do not suggest the vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunized

By Maria Cheng • Published 5 hours ago • Updated 3 hours ago

Karwai Tang | Getty Images
The Oxford-AstraZeneca covid vaccine.

In recent days, countries including Denmark, Ireland, Thailand, Germany, France and Italy have temporarily suspended their use of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine after reports that some people who got a dose developed blood clots, even though there's no evidence that the shot was responsible.

The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization say the data available do not suggest the vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunized. Here's a look at we know — and what we don't.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Denmark was the first country to halt its use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine last week after reports of blood clots in some people, including one person who developed multiple clots and died 10 days after receiving at least one dose. Danish health authorities said the suspension would last for at least two weeks while the cases were investigated, even as they noted that “at present, it cannot be concluded whether there is a link between the vaccine and the blood clots.”

Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Thailand, and Congo soon followed suit. On Saturday, Norwegian authorities reported that four people under age 50 who had gotten the AstraZeneca vaccine had an unusually low number of blood platelets. That could lead to severe bleeding. On Sunday, Ireland and the Netherlands announced that they, too, were stopping their use of the AstraZeneca vaccine temporarily.

On Monday, Germany, France and Italy also temporarily suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Authorities in the Netherlands — like those elsewhere — said their suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine was strictly precautionary.

“We must always err on the side of caution, which is why it is sensible to press the pause button now as a precaution,” said Hugo de Jonge, the Dutch health minister.

Still, several other countries have stuck with the vaccine.

In response to the suspensions of its vaccine, AstraZeneca said it had carefully reviewed the data on 17 million people who received doses across Europe. It said there was “no evidence of an increased risk” of blood clots in any age group or gender in any country.

IS THERE ANY PROOF THE VACCINE IS RESPONSIBLE?

No. The European Medicines Agency says there is “no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions." The EU regulator said the number of reports of blood clots in people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine was no higher than for those who hadn't gotten the shot.

In Britain, where 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered — more than any other country — there have been reports of about 11 people who developed blood clots after getting a shot. None were proven to have been caused by the vaccine.

Some doctors pointed out that since vaccination campaigns started by giving doses to the most vulnerable people, those now being immunized are more likely to already have health problems. Experts say that could make it difficult to determine whether a vaccine shot is responsible.

More Coronavirus News

Germany, France, Spain and Italy Become Latest Countries to Suspend AstraZeneca Vaccine Over Blood Clot Fears

SO WHY DID THEY STOP VACCINATION?

Any time vaccines are rolled out widely, scientists expect some serious health issues and deaths to be reported — simply because millions of people are receiving the shots and problems would be expected to occur randomly in a group so large. The vast majority of these end up not being connected to the vaccine, but because COVID-19 vaccines are still experimental, scientists must investigate every possibility that the shot could have some unforeseen side effects. The shots are considered experimental because the vaccines were only developed in the last year, so there is no long-term data for any of them.

“People die every day, and we have more than 300 million people globally who have been immunized who will die of other causes,” said Dr. Mariangela Simao, an assistant director-general at WHO.

IS THIS A CONCERN WITH OTHER COVID-19 VACCINES?

The EMA is currently examining whether COVID-19 shots made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca might be causing low levels of blood platelets in some patients, a condition that could lead to bruising and bleeding.

4:04 Yes, It's Safe! Combatting COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Black and Brown Communities

Here’s Why Countries Are Halting the AstraZeneca Shot, Explained – NECN

Vaccine hesitancy in the Black and brown community is giving many of those in the most vulnerable populations pause before signing up for a COVID-19 vaccine. Physicians Jubril Oyeyemi and David Hayes-Bautista discuss how to combat vaccine fear in those communities.

HAS ASTRAZENECA RUN INTO OTHER TROUBLE?

The vaccine has been approved for use in adults in more than 50 countries and has been proven to be safe and effective in research done in Britain, Brazil and South Africa. But there have been concerns raised about how the vaccine data have been released, and some European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have questioned the vaccine's effectiveness.

Britain first authorized the vaccine based on partial results that suggested the shots were about 70% effective. But those results were clouded by a manufacturing mistake that led some participants to get just a half dose in their first shot — an error the researchers didn’t immediately acknowledge. When it recommended the vaccine be licensed, the EMA estimated the vaccine's efficacy to be about 60%.

The data on whether the vaccine protected older adults were also incomplete, leading some European countries to initially withhold the shot from older people.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration suspended a study in 30,000 Americans for an unusual six weeks, as frustrated regulators sought information about some possible side effects reported in Britain.

“All the data we have seen about the AstraZeneca vaccine suggests it's very safe and is saving people from dying of COVID," said Dr. Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. “But this may be more of a perception problem because every time there is a vaccine issue, we hear the name ‘AstraZeneca’ soon after.”

SO WHAT ARE EXPERTS TELLING PEOPLE TO DO?

The WHO and the EMA — as well as regulators in several countries — say people should continue to be immunized and that the risk of getting vaccinated far outweighs any potential harm.

“The safety of the public will always come first," said Britain's drug regulator. “People should still go and get their COVID-19 vaccine when asked to do so.”

 you are here: science media centre > roundups for journalists > expert reaction to reports that ireland has suspended the use of the oxford-astrazeneca vaccine

MARCH 14, 2021

Expert reaction to reports that Ireland has suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine

There have been reports that the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been suspended in the Republic of Ireland following reports of blood clotting events in Norway.

 

Dr Peter English, Retired Consultant in Communicable Disease Control, Former Editor of Vaccines in Practice Magazine, Immediate past Chair of the BMA Public Health Medicine Committee, said:

“When a vaccine is administered to millions of people, it is inevitable that some adverse events – that would have happened anyway – will happen shortly after vaccination. When deciding whether the events are a coincidence, or caused by the vaccine, you have to consider biological plausibility and whether there are more events than you would expect without vaccination. We refer to the number of events observed after vaccination as O, and the number you would expect in that population without vaccination, as E (Observed and Expected). If the ratio – O/E – is not greater than 1, then the vaccine is not likely to be the cause of the events.

“Authorities in various countries have carefully considered the evidence, and concluded that there is no excess of clotting events in people who have been vaccinated – even with the increased awareness of the possibility of such events (and the increased likelihood of reporting them if they should occur that inevitably follows such increases in awareness.)

“It is most regrettable that countries have stopped vaccination on such “precautionary” grounds: it risks doing real harm to the goal of vaccinating enough people to slow the spread of the virus, and to end the pandemic.”

 

Prof Stephen Evans, Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

“It would seem the move has been done following reports of serious blood clotting events in adults in Norway.

“These events were said by the Norwegian Institute responsible for delivering vaccines to be “they have had a reduced number of blood platelets. Blood clots and subsequent brain haemorrhages are a rare condition.”

“However, what these authorities do not make clear is that these coagulation disorders are very common in patients with Covid-19. Unless we are sure that those who suffered these unfortunate events very definitely did not have COVID-19 then it would seem to be premature to suggest it was the vaccine that caused these events.

“It has been well known for over a year that coagulation disorders, both clotting causing strokes, and bleeding (thrombocytopenia, which is a reduced number of platelets in the blood), are very common in patients with COVID-19.  Early reports from China noted over 30% of patients reaching hospital had thrombocytopenia.

“It is also a principle of regulatory action that when action is taken in regard to a particular product, that the alternatives definitely do not have the same problem. There was a case of thrombocytopenia in the US trial for the Pfizer vaccine, but detailed investigation made it clear that the vaccine was not the cause. The publicly available information on the AstraZeneca vaccine lists a total of 35 cases of thrombocytopenia reported on “Yellow Cards” in the UK up to 8th March 2021. This is a very small proportion of the yellow card reports which total over 54,000 in the context of nearly 10 million vaccinations delivered. For the Pfizer vaccine there are a total of 22 reports of thrombocytopenia out of 33,000 reports and well over 10 million vaccination doses. It is clear that the proportion of reports for this bleeding disorder is not different in the two vaccines.

“Covid definitely causes coagulation disorders and each of the vaccines prevents Covid disease, including more severe cases. Therefore, it is extremely likely that the benefit of the vaccine notably outweighs any risk for coagulation disorders and the vaccine prevents other consequences of Covid including deaths from other causes.

“It is entirely reasonable that detailed studies are done on the vaccines in regard to coagulation disorders, but it seems a step too far in taking precautions that would stop people getting vaccines that would prevent disease.”

 

Prof Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics, University of Bristol, said:

“Given the clear evidence we now have of real-world effectiveness of this vaccine against severe COVID-19 and against SARS CoV2 infection and the continuing widespread circulation of the virus in most if not all European countries, the potential public health consequences, both direct and reputational, of taking a stop-start approach need to be considered very carefully. In order to use vaccines effectively to help gain control over the pandemic there needs to be vaccine supply, vaccine delivery and vaccine acceptance. Getting all three lined up and in place at the same time is not easy and cannot be taken for granted while the need for rapid progress is obvious. If clear evidence of serious or life threatening side-effects emerges that will have important consequences. However so far it hasn’t and it’s highly undesirable to disrupt a complex and urgent programme every time people develop illnesses after receiving vaccine that may be coincidental and not causally related. Making the right call in situations like this is not easy but having a steady hand on the tiller is probably what is needed most.”

eg. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56391818

Declared interests

Dr Peter English: “No interests.”

Prof Stephen Evans: “No conflicts of interest.  I am funded (one day per week) by LSHTM.  They get funding from various companies, including Astra Zeneca and GSK but I am not funded by them, I have no involvement in obtaining funding from them and I am not an investigator on any grants obtained from them.  I am the statistician to the ‘meta-Data Safety and Monitoring Board’ for CEPI.  I am paid for my attendance at those meetings and will be paid expenses for travel if that occurs.  I am a participant in the Oxford/Astra Zeneca trial, and on 13th January 2021 learnt I had received the active vaccine.”

Prof Adam Finn: “AF is an investigator in clinical trials of the Oxford AZ vaccine and other COVID-19 vaccines.  He is a member of JCVI, member of WHO SAGE working group on COVID-19 vaccines and chair of the WHO Euro technical advisory group of experts on immunization.”

Related Video: WHO assessing AstraZeneca vaccine

AstraZeneca vaccine rollout suspended after blood clot reports, Ireland’s medical chief says

Irish Department of Health says programme ‘temporarily deferred’ while European Medicines Agency investigates

“Since we know with great certainty that the vaccine prevents Covid-19 with its attendant disease, and we are almost totally uncertain that the vaccine can have caused this problem, the risk and benefit balance is still very much in favour of the vaccine ...”

Tom Batchelor@_tombatchelor
3/14/2021

The rollout of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine has been suspended in the Republic of Ireland following a recommendation by Irish health officials after reports of blood-clotting incidents elsewhere in Europe.

Serious blood-clotting events have been recorded after inoculations in Norway, where the AstraZeneca vaccine programme has been paused. Denmark and Iceland have also suspended the rollout pending an investigation.

In an email to The Independent, a spokesperson for the Irish Department of Health said administration of the AstraZeneca jab had been “temporarily deferred” as of Sunday morning.

“The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is already investigating a number of reports of thromboembolic (blood-clotting) events following vaccination with Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca,” the spokesperson added. “Further information is expected from the EMA in the next few days, which will include a review of these additional events.

Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) also confirmed it would not be further administering the AstraZeneca vaccine until advised to do so. Other vaccinations are unaffected.



The decision came after Ireland’s National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) said the rollout should be paused.

Ireland’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, said: “This recommendation has been made following a report from the Norwegian Medicines Agency of four new reports of serious blood-clotting events in adults after vaccination with Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.

“It has not been concluded that there is any link between Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca and these cases.

“However, acting on the precautionary principle, and pending receipt of further information, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee has recommended the temporary deferral of the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca vaccination programme in Ireland.”

A vaccinator in Dublin prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca jab
(Reuters)

Professor Karina Butler, chair of the NIAC, called it a “precautionary move” and said Irish health authorities would “continue to monitor the situation and if we can be satisfied that these events are coincidental and not caused by this vaccine we will reassess the situation”.
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She added: “This vaccine is proven to be very effective against severe Covid-19 disease, which is associated with a risk of clotting events. We have taken this step out of an abundance of caution.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it was “aware” of the action in Ireland.

“We are closely reviewing reports but, given the large number of doses administered and the frequency at which blood clots can occur naturally, the evidence available does not suggest the vaccine is the cause,” the body added.

Dr Phil Bryan, its vaccines safety lead, said people "should still go and get their Covid-19 vaccine when asked to do so".

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) said it had received a small number of reports associated with blood clots following vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

They were not as serious as those described in Norway and the number involved was extremely low.

A spokesperson for AstraZeneca said: “An analysis of our safety data that covers reported cases from more than 17 million doses of vaccine administered has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia with Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.

“In fact, the reported numbers of these types of events for Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca are not greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in the unvaccinated population.

“In clinical trials, no trends or patterns were observed with regard to pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, or events possibly related to thrombocytopenia.

“A careful review of all available safety data including these events is ongoing and AstraZeneca is committed to sharing information without delay.”

The recommendation comes after Irish authorities had been pressing the pharmaceutical firm to speed up its supplies to the Republic. More than 117,000 AstraZeneca doses have been administered so far in Ireland.

The EMA reported that one person in Austria was diagnosed with blood clots and died 10 days after vaccination, but it stressed there is “currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions”.

Italy has followed Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Lithuania in banning jabs from one particular batch of 1 million AstraZeneca vaccines, which was sent to 17 countries, after reports of a death.

Later on Sunday, the Netherlands also suspended its AstraZeneca rollout. The Dutch government said in a statement the vaccine will not be used until at least 29 March and it was reported that health authorities would be forced to cancel more than 40,000 appointments.

Another person was admitted to hospital in Austria with pulmonary embolism (blockage in arteries in the lungs) after being vaccinated, while one death involving a blood clot was reported in Denmark.

SPECULATION NOT FACT
A 50-year-old man is also thought to have died in Italy from deep vein thrombosis (DVT), while there has been an unconfirmed report of another death in Italy.

Commenting on the decision to pause the AstraZeneca rollout in Denmark and Norway, Stephen Evans, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said earlier this week that it was a “super-cautious approach based on some isolated reports in Europe”.

He added: “Since we know with great certainty that the vaccine prevents Covid-19 with its attendant disease, and we are almost totally uncertain that the vaccine can have caused this problem, the risk and benefit balance is still very much in favour of the vaccine in my view.

PRESS RELEASE

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Update on the safety of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca

PUBLISHED 14 March 2021

Following a recent concern raised around thrombotic events, AstraZeneca would like to offer its reassurance on the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine based on clear scientific evidence. Safety is of paramount importance and the Company is continually monitoring the safety of its vaccine.

A careful review of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union (EU) and UK with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country.

So far across the EU and UK, there have been 15 events of DVT and 22 events of pulmonary embolism reported among those given the vaccine, based on the number of cases the Company has received as of 8 March. This is much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar across other licensed COVID-19 vaccines. The monthly safety report will be made public on the European Medicines Agency website in the following week, in line with exceptional transparency measures for COVID-19.

Furthermore, in clinical trials, even though the number of thrombotic events was small, these were lower in the vaccinated group. There has also been no evidence of increased bleeding in over 60,000 participants enrolled.

Ann Taylor, Chief Medical Officer, said: “Around 17 million people in the EU and UK have now received our vaccine, and the number of cases of blood clots reported in this group is lower than the hundreds of cases that would be expected among the general population. The nature of the pandemic has led to increased attention in individual cases and we are going beyond the standard practices for safety monitoring of licensed medicines in reporting vaccine events, to ensure public safety.”

In terms of quality, there are also no confirmed issues related to any batch of our vaccine used across Europe, or the rest of the world. Additional testing has, and is, being conducted by ourselves and independently by European health authorities and none of these re-tests have shown cause for concern. During the production of the vaccine more than 60 quality tests are conducted by AstraZeneca, its partners and by more than 20 independent testing laboratories. All tests need to meet stringent criteria for quality control and this data is submitted to regulators within each country or region for independent review before any batch can be released to countries.

The safety of the public will always come first. The Company is keeping this issue under close review but available evidence does not confirm that the vaccine is the cause. To overcome the pandemic, it is important that people get vaccinated when invited to do so.

COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, formerly AZD1222
COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca was co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company, Vaccitech. It uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein. After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, priming the immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus if it later infects the body.

The vaccine has been granted a conditional marketing authorisation or emergency use in more than 70 countries across six continents, and with the recent Emergency Use Listing granted by the World Health Organization accelerates the pathway to access in up to 142 countries through the COVAX Facility.

AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of diseases in three therapy areas - Oncology, Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolism, and Respiratory & Immunology. Based in Cambridge, UK, AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. Please visit astrazeneca.com and follow the Company on Twitter @AstraZeneca.

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 Europe 02:49, 16-Mar-2021

Fear banning 'safe' AstraZeneca jab will set back Europe's COVID-19 fight

Thomas Wintle

CGTN

03:16

 

Experts have cautioned that while we shouldn't be "too worried" about taking the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine, governments should be concerned that a ban on the jab may cause more long-term vaccine hesitancy. 

The warning comes as a slew of European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and France, suspended the UK-made jab after reports the drug was linked to "serious blood clotting in adults." 

However, Lawrence Young, a professor of molecular oncology at Warwick University, told CGTN Europe that despite the reports, there was little to worry about: "I don't think any of us actually have any concerns that this is a dangerous vaccine." 

"We've seen all the data that's come out from the clinical trials that demonstrate this vaccine, along with others, is safe," he said, pointing to the fact the UK and the EU's regulators had already signed off on the jab. 

"It's inevitable that there are going to be some bumps in the road and, of course, one has to be always concerned about safety and monitoring safety," he said. But stressed: "I don't think we should be too worried." 

European nations initially started suspending single batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine in early March. However, after several reports of blood clotting and deaths in people who had taken the jab, some countries started enforcing a temporary ban.

More and more European countries are suspending the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after reports of unexpected possible side effects. /Joel Saget/AFP

But Young, an internationally renowned virus specialist who has recently been developing tests to detect COVID-19 antigens and antibodies, said it was vital to compare any adverse effects of vaccines with those that normally occur in the general population.

That was particularly true, he said, when blood clots were already a regular complication of COVID-19 and even prior to the pandemic, were "sadly, very, very common." 

"In the UK alone, there are at least 3,000 reported cases of blood clot-associated diseases a month," said the professor. "When you're vaccinating millions of people, you're going to see a similar trend in those individuals."

However, he expressed concern that the decision to suspend AstraZeneca could cause serious problems, given the fact that in Europe "there are many folk who are vaccine hesitant." 

He added: "I think it's really important that we report these differences, these adverse effects responsibly, but also stress the fact that overall, the safety data for this vaccine and the other vaccines are very, very good indeed."

Our current COVID-19 vaccines are "much safer than lots of over-the-counter drugs that people take every day," he added, saying that if AstraZeneca's bad PR didn't stop, it would negatively impact Europe's vaccine programs.    

"This is one of the front-runner vaccines, not least because it's cheap, and also we know it's very effective," said Lawrence.  

"We've heard a lot through the pandemic about 'none of us are safe until all of us are safe,'" he added in reference to the need for mass-vaccination.

The House Has Proposed An Excellent Broadband Bill. Telecom Lobbyists Will Make Sure It Never Passes.

Broadband

from the round-and-round-we-go dept

Mon, Mar 15th 2021 5:30am — Karl Bode

Last week the House unveiled (a previous version of this story incorrectly stated the bill had been passed) the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act. The bill, which died last year after Mitch McConnell's Senate refused to hold a vote on it, includes a lot of great things, including spending $94 billion on expanding broadband into underserved areas. There's a ton of other helpful things in the proposal, like boosting the definition of broadband to 100 Mbps down (and upstream), requiring "dig once" policies that deploy fiber conduit alongside any new highway bills, and even a provision requiring the FCC to create rules forcing ISPs be transparent about how much they actually charge for monthly service.

A summary (pdf) of the bill offers some additional detail, such as the fact the bill includes a mandate that the government (specifically the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth within the NTIA) more fully study the impact of affordability on broadband access. In the wake of allegations that the FCC's subsidy auction process is a corrupted and exploited mess, the law also lays down a lot of groundwork to make the subsidization of broadband access more transparent, equitable, and accountable to genuine oversight with an eye on affordability (instead of exclusively focusing on access, which is the DC norm):

"The section also establishes certain requirements for projects funded under the program, including offering broadband service that provides at least 100/100Mbps with sufficiently low latency, offering broadband service at prices that are comparable to, or lower than, the prices charged for comparable service, and offering an affordable service plan. All bidders must meet objective, transparent criteria upfront that demonstrates technical and operational capacity to implement winning projects."

There's several other common sense proposals in the bill, like giving schools and libraries more leeway to use E-Rate funding to help shore up broadband access during the pandemic. I remain nervous about throwing billions in additional subsidies at the industry when the government still can't accurately map where broadband is or isn't available. Many of the same folks who view subsidization as a silver bullet (Democrat and Republican alike) still can't even acknowledge that the two major contributors to US broadband sucking is monopolization, and state and federal corruption. Problems we seem intent on barely acknowledging, much less addressing.

Still, this is a genuinely good bill that includes a lot of common sense solutions for a problem that has taken on greater urgency during a public health crisis. Much like the last time the bill is likely to pass the House, then get blocked in the Senate. It seems unlikely this would win a straight 60 vote majority without demolishing the filibuster or burying it in some broader, much larger infrastructure bill, which seems increasingly possible.

For one thing, broadband monopolies will fight tooth and nail against any effort to increase the standard definition of broadband, just like the last few times the FCC has considered it. Sharing more data on pricing, and boosting the definition of broadband to symmetrical 100 Mbps will only highlight how feckless regulators and monopolization have muted competition, resulting in spotty coverage, high prices, and slow speeds. Make that data far more transparent and accessible, and somebody might just get the kooky idea to genuinely do something about it, and we can't have that.

There's several other things included in the bill that the telecom lobby will simply never allow, like a more competitive and transparent grant and subsidy process, which might (gasp) result in more federal funding going to smaller competitors. There's also some language that requires paying a competitive rate and not scuttling unionization efforts the industry (and its congressional BFFs) will never tolerate. I guess the Democrats assume that because Covid is adding historic pressure on lawmakers to do more about broadband, they can somehow get the GOP (and centrist Democrat) votes needed to push this across the finish line.

But that seems to ignore forty years of history showing that the GOP --and more than a few Democrats-- are opposed to absolutely anything that genuinely holds trusted intelligence partners like AT&T accountable, anything that brings transparency to advertising or pricing, anything that genuinely protects consumers from monopoly harms (be it privacy violations or net neutrality), or anything that even remotely risks hurting incumbent revenues and regional dominance by driving more competition to market. I don't see that suddenly changing here, though I'd love to be surprised.

NFT — Everything you need to know about non-fungible tokens
 By Malcolm Owen | Mar 14, 2021

The $69.3 million sale of digital artwork using non-fungible tokens — or NFT — has generated interest in the relatively new technology. Here's what you need to know about what the tokens are, and how they are being used to bring digital art sale dollars in line with paintings and sculptures.

On March 11, auction house Christie's sold a lot from artist Mike Winkelmann, known as "Beeple," for $69.3 million. As Christie's is a major auctioneer that deals with highly valuable art, this isn't out of the ordinary until you realize that the sale wasn't for a traditional artwork.

The sale of "Everydays - The First 5,000 Days" is claimed to be the first for a purely digital work of art via a major auction house. A collage of Beeple's daily digital art production, the work shows the artist's progression over multiple years, including changes in technique and style.

The auction winner was identified as "Metakovan," the anonymous chief financier of the NFT-centric fund Metapurse. For their $69 million, the winning bidder acquired the non-fungible token (NFT) linked to the artwork.

Beeple's art also earned the distinction of being the most expensive NFT ever sold, as well as the third-most-expensive artwork sold at auction by a living artist.

A portion of onlookers may be asking themselves what happened, and more importantly, what an NFT is in the first place.

What are non-fungible tokens

The work "token" in the phrase refers to a digital token, a cryptographic certificate for an object or item. Owning that token can infer ownership of something, be it one unit of a bitcoin or some other currency.


The "Non-Fungible" element refers to the token being completely unique and having properties that cannot be easily changed for another token that can be similar, but still different.

For example, a bitcoin is a fungible token as a person could sell one and buy another and it retains the same relative value of one bitcoin unit. More simply, if you change a $10 bill at a bank to two $5 bills, you still have $10 dollars on hand.

In the case of NFT, since the token is unique and there's generally only one available, it cannot be switched out with another of a comparable value.

This is the equivalent of having a magazine cover signed by Steve Jobs. Sure, you could trade with someone for another cover for the same magazine, but the one you would receive won't be the same as the one you traded away.

Since it's unique, there is no defined value to the NFT at all. While one bitcoin may be worth one unit of bitcoin or one dollar may always be worth one unit of dollars, the NFT can easily change in value and will always be priced based on other monetary systems, like dollars.

The ultimate value of an NFT can change over time, and in theory, become more valuable.

Blockchain keeps NFT unique and secure

People may be familiar with the term "blockchain," which is effectively a ledger of transactions.

For bitcoin and other digital currencies, the blockchain keeps track of token sales. This helps keep order in the digital currencies, as the log of transactions confirms the number of tokens in use, and potentially provides evidence of ownership to specific owners.

Due to the cryptographic nature of blockchains, any attempts to change one block will be spotted. This ultimately keeps blockchain secure.

In the case of NFT being associated with a blockchain, this can allow for parties to check the validity of the NFT. Typically this is built on top of one of the existing blockchains, such as Etherium.

The idea of an NFT can be applied in many different ways. For example, the sale of a ticket to an event could use an NFT for each ticket, which can help prevent it from being misused by others by keeping logs on the blockchain.

Digital artwork ownership: a problem is NFT trying to solve

While the sale of artwork has been a concept that has been around for centuries, it has pretty much existed only in the physical realm. Unlike a physical artwork sale where the original painting or sculpture can change hands, it is impossible to do the same thing with digital artwork.

Due to its very nature, it is relatively trivial to make an exact copy of digital artwork.

Though you can make prints based on a physical painting, the buyers of those prints know full well they aren't buying the original at all. This cannot be done with digital artwork using the original files, as those same files could easily be duplicated and sold again.

Since major art sales typically involve the original work, the last thing that a buyer wants is for the perceived value of their purchased artwork to be diminished. A second identical artwork lessens the value of the original as it's no longer unique.

NFT tries to work around that by effectively acting as a certificate of ownership for the artwork. While the digital artwork could be copied and distributed widely, there will only be one or a few valid NFTs that apply to the artwork.

Prints of the Mona Lisa may be hung up in frames around the world, but only one entity owns the real thing.

NFT "Ownership"

While the discussion of ownership is fairly straightforward for physical art pieces, the same cannot be said about NFTs. While the NFT infers the holder "owns" the artwork as presented, there's more to it than just that.

For a start, the NFT owner will be granted specific usage rights for the digital file from the artist, defining how it can be presented to the public, if at all. This can include limitations on venues where it can appear, or bans preventing it from being used in certain ways.

Artists may also elect to hold onto the ability to reproduce the artwork themselves despite selling the NFT, and can retain the ultimate copyright of the artwork too. It's even possible for the artist to earn a cut from a resale of an NFT beyond the original sale, depending on how the NFT is set up.

Furthermore, the ownership of an NFT may not necessarily translate to "ownership" of an entire work.

Logan Paul sold NFTs of Pokemon card images that included his face, and video stream highlights.

For example, YouTuber Logan Paul monetized a video stream where he unboxed Pokemon cards. Video clips of highlights were created, along with NFTs for each, and were sold off.

Each NFT would represent effective ownership of a specific video clip, but not the entire stream.

There's also the issue of uniqueness, as the artist doesn't have to create just one NFT. Instead, they could mint multiple unique tokens at the same time, with a limited number in circulation that won't be increased.

Using Logan Paul as an example again, he sold $504,990 in NFTs, which consisted of digital Pokemon cards using his likeness. The collection consisted of 945 "cards" with four levels of rarity.

Ultimately, buyers of NFTs through exchanges like Nifty Gateway or OpenSea receive an NFT they can store in a compatible cryptocurrency wallet, potentially an image or a copy of the digital file, and the knowledge that they "own" a creative asset.

Copyright and trust issues

Since NFTs can be generated based on practically anything digital, and that digital items can be easily copied, there's the potential for abuse. Specifically, there's nothing stopping anyone from creating their own NFT based on digital items generated by other people.

In one example reported by Decrypt on March 13, artist "Weird Undead" has found people stealing digital artworks from their tweets. The images were used to generate NFTs and were sold on an NFT marketplace, sales that the artist has tried to halt.

Weird Undead refers to the practice as "insane and pointless copyright infringement," one which only benefits the marketplaces and the people taking the images, not the artists themselves.

The practice isn't just limited to artworks. There have also been issues with people tokenizing tweets by others as NFTs and selling them. Again, the practice doesn't involve the person who wrote the original tweet, who would ultimately own the copyright for the text.

While it is entirely plausible for an artist or the creator of media to sue under existing trademark and copyright laws, the nature of how blockchain operates can make it difficult to find out who originally infringed to create the NFT.

There's also the problem of which marketplace to trust in the first place.

Multiple blockchain services could each claim they have records that a specific NFT is unique, and that they are the authority for the work. This is the equivalent of two auction houses claiming they are the venue of sale for a unique piece of art.

At this time, it seems that there is some cooperation between major marketplaces on the subject, though there is no guarantee things will stay that way in the future.

Add in that it is possible for people to set up their own marketplaces on blockchains, and it becomes harder to police the NFTs being put up for sale.

These are problems that will have to be addressed at some point, both to protect the livelihood of artists and to keep the sales of NFTs legal. For the moment, these problems haven't blunted the appetite for well-heeled buyers.

Why are NFTs popular?

The high-concept for using NFT is to provide a way for digital items to become sellable with ownership comparable to physical item sales. It accomplishes this by introducing a form of scarcity of ownership.

Just as there's only one original Mona Lisa that you can feasibly acquire, there are only one or a few NFTs for a digital artwork available to purchase.


As with ther areas where there's only so much of a resource available, people potentially see value in an item and may acquire it.

Beanie Babies were extremely sought after at one point.

This concept has surfaced countless times, with the rarity of items increasing their value over time, especially in areas where there are many things that could be collected. Examples include Beanie Babies, comic books, playing cards, and more famously, sneakers.

Naturally, this behavior can lead to enterprising individuals acquiring a commodity for future sale down the line. Much like art can be acquired as an investment, so can NFTs.

The difference here is that it effectively allows some ownership of a token connected to a work of digital art, an item that doesn't offer any guarantee of scarcity. This ownership, an effective certificate of ownership of digital art, is seemingly worth paying for by some people.

The value of an artwork is in the eye of the beholder, or realistically the eye of the market at large. If there is a perceived value, then that can translate into a transaction that gives the art actual value.

So far, it seems that NFT may be viable as an item for trade and retrade, and for profit, much like existing art.

An earlier NFT sale by Beeple for the artwork "Crossroad" fetched $66,666 originally. However, collector Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile sold it a few months later for $6.6 million.

Elsewhere, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey auctioned off his first tweet for $2.5 million. Companies are also capitalizing on the trend, with Taco Bell offering 25 NFT tokens, benefiting the Live Mas Scholarship.

Evidently, there is some value seen in NFT.

Given its flexibility and potential use on many different types of digital artworks and other content, it may be one that will stick around for quite some time. Its relative newness also makes it prime to grow, but only if its patrons continue to see future value in it.


NFT — Everything you need to know about non-fungible tokens | AppleInsider

ABBOTT DOES RON JOHNSON ONE BETTER

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claims election reform bill passed by House could result in Democrats 'using cocaine to buy votes' through ballot harvesting

Abbott claimed Barack Obama knew of ballot harvesting during his presidency

Abbott's comments come in response to H.R.1 passing through the House

The bill, which would overhaul voting, has not been introduced in the Senate

The Texas governor also criticized border policies of the Biden administration

By HOLDEN WALTER-WARNER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 14 March 2021 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott fears Democrats could use 'cocaine to buy votes' if an election overhaul bill passed along party lines in the U.S. House were to become law.

While appearing on Fox News, Abbott said the bill would 'institutionalize voter fraud in the United States of America.'

Abbott was responding to the passage of H.R.1, which made it through the House of Representatives with only Democratic support on March 3.

The bill has not been introduced in the Senate yet, which is split evenly along Republicans and caucusing Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding a tiebreaking vote.

Abbott relayed a story from his time as attorney general of Texas that involved what he said was the buying of votes.



Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appeared on Fox News on Sunday morning, where he claimed an election reform bill would allow the use of 'cocaine to buy votes'

'It was Barack Obama himself who knew about the dangers of ballot harvesting in the state of Texas,' Abbott said.

'Because under his administration, he sent his U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas as well as the FBI to south Texas to arrest and to prosecute people who were involved in ballot harvesting that were using cocaine to buy votes through the ballot harvesting process in the state of Texas.

Ballot harvesting is when a third-party is allowed to drop off a mail-in ballot on behalf of another individual.

Abbott didn't relay any additional details of the alleged harvesting.

'It is a way to commit voter fraud and it cannot be allowed,' he said

Maria Bartiromo, who was interviewing Abbott, called the story 'absolutely extraordinary.'

Abbott said H.R.1 would 'institutionalize voter fraud in the United States of America'

H.R.1 includes several voting rights efforts that have largely been rejected by Republican politicians, including the expansion of mail-in balloting.

It would also make Election Day a federal holiday across the United States.

Mail-in voting was a central target of Donald Trump's accusations of voting fraud during the 2020 presidential election, despite a lack of evidence tying fraud to mail-in voting, which was expanded due to the coronavirus pandemic.


Abbott claimed Barack Obama was aware of ballot harvesting in Texas during his presidency

A poll by Data For Progress shows that 67 percent of Americans are in favor of passing H.R.1.

That includes 77 percent Democratic support and 56 percent Republican support.

Biden has already signed an executive order to expand access to voter registration, improve ballot tracking for those overseas, and make certain provisions for jailed voters and citizens with disabilities.

According to Fox News, Biden said he will sign H.R.1 if it makes it past the Senate.

Abbott's reference to cocaine related to his argument against 'open border policies' supported by President Joe Biden.

H.R.1, which has passed the House of Representatives but hasn't been introduced in the Senate, would reform voting laws in the US, including the expansion of mail-in balloting

'The Border Patrol officers told me that the Biden administration and policies, they are enriching, they are empowering the drug cartels in Mexico who make money off of the people that they assist in smuggling into the state of Texas,' Abbott said during the interview.

Abbott has launched Operation Lone Star, which puts National Guard troops and Texas Department of Public Safety officers on the border to prevent further migrant smuggling.

Abbott also accused the Biden administration of failing to disclose the number of migrants at the border who have tested positive for COVID-19.

'We expect that data and we expect the Biden administration to step up and assist the state of Texas in being able to respond to that imported challenge, imported only because of the change in policies by the Biden administration,' Abbott stated

Fortescue sees green revolution, pushes for net zero emissions by 2030

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group, the world’s fourth-largest iron ore miner, has set an ambitious plan to become carbon neutral by 2030, bringing forward the target by 10 years as it aims to start producing green hydrogen as soon as 2023.


FILE PHOTO: The logo of Australia's Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) can be seen on a bulk carrier as it is loaded with iron ore at the coastal town of Port Hedland in Western Australia, November 29, 2018. Picture taken November 29, 2018. REUTERS/Melanie Burton/File Photo

Fortescue Chairman Andrew Forrest predicted the world’s conversion to green energy and green products would occur “almost violently” compared to most forecasts, which assumed hydrogen produced from renewable energy would only become commercially viable in the 2030s.

“As of today’s announcement, all those calculations will have to change,” Forrest told reporters in a media call on Monday.

Fortescue gave no cost estimate for achieving its goal and said it was still working to calculate how much hydrogen it would need to meet the carbon neutral target. Forrest said the company would only use carbon offsets as a last resort to help meet the goal.

“Fortescue is now firmly leading corporate Australia with this commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2030, without reliance on offsets,” the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility said in a statement.

“However, the commitment has not set a target for the Scope 3 emissions from steel production, which is easily the largest part of its carbon footprint.”

Unlike its peers, Fortescue does not disclose estimates of customer emissions, so-called scope 3, arguing that would be double counting under the United Nations framework, which mandates nations take responsibility for emissions within their borders.

Fortescue Future Industries aims to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia which would help it replace 1 billion litres a year of diesel at the miner’s own operations while also creating clean fuel alternatives for others, including steel makers who use metallurgical coal.

“I don’t think there’ll be a coal-fired blast furnace in operation by 2050, period,” Forrest told reporters.


Green hydrogen is a zero-carbon fuel made by using renewable power to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. It is increasingly promoted as a way to decarbonise emissions-intensive heavy industry and long haul transport.

The announcement comes as peers Rio Tinto and BHP Group step up their drive towards renewable energy, and investors increasingly press firms to disclose, track and meet emissions targets.

Fortescue said it would incorporate carbon emission targets into its short- and long-term pay incentives across the company.


Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Sonali Paul and Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Jacqueline Wong

PERMANENT ARM$ ECONOMY

SIPRI: Saudi Arabia largest importer of arms, US biggest exporter

Over a third of the global weapons sold worldwide during the past five years came from the United States. About half of US arms transfers went to the Middle East



About 50% of weapons sold by the US went to the Middle East


The US accounted for 37% of global arms sales during the 2016-2020 period and sold arms to 96 countries. Almost half of its sales went to the Middle East, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report on Monday. US exports increased 15% compared to the 2011-2015 period.

International deliveries of arms were flat in the period 2016-2020, ending more than a decade of increases, SIPRI said. It was the first time since 2001–2005 that the volume of deliveries of major arms between countries — an indicator of demand — did not increase from the previous five-year period.

The United States, France and Germany — three of the world's biggest exporters — increased deliveries but falls in exports from Russian and China offset the rise, SIPRI said.

Russia is the world's second-largest arms exporter, while France stood third, according to the report. Russia's sales were dented by a drop in imports from India.

Saudi Arabia tops as largest importer

Middle Eastern countries accounted for the biggest increase in arms imports, up 25% in 2016–20 from 2011–15.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest arms importer, increased its arms imports by 61% and Qatar by 361%.

The United Arab Emirates recently signed an agreement with the United States to purchase 50 F-35 jets and up to 18 armed drones as part of a $23 billion package.

Asia and Oceania were the largest importing regions for major arms, receiving 42% of global arms transfers in 2016–20. India, Australia, China, South Korea and Pakistan were the biggest importers in the region.

"For many states in Asia and Oceania, a growing perception of China as a threat is the main driver for arms imports," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at SIPRI.

COVID impact too early to tell

SIPRI said that it was too early to tell whether a recession stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic could slow down arms deliveries.

"The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could see some countries reassessing their arms imports in the coming years. However, at the same time, even at the height of the pandemic in 2020, several countries signed large contracts for major arms," said Wezeman.

am/sri (dpa, Reuters)

Global Arms Trade Plateauing Amid COVID-19 as Sales Gap Between US, Russia Widens – SIPRI

 

Global Arms Trade Plateauing Amid COVID-19 as Sales Gap Between US, Russia Widens – SIPRI

Lance Cpl. Juanenrique Owings

MILITARY & INTELLIGENCE

06:13 GMT 15.03.2021Get short URL

by Igor Kuznetsov

 

Substantial increases in arms sales by three of the top five exporters (the US, France, and Germany) were largely offset by declining Russian and Chinese exports, as the COVID pandemic is yet to take its economic toll on nations and affect their arms procurements.

International trade in major arms has levelled off over the past two five-year periods, with the exception of the Middle East, where there has been a sharp increase, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute SIPRI has said in a fresh report.

Nevertheless, global arms trade has remained close to the highest level since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed. Whether there has been a break in trends on the global arms market, SIPRI's researchers are still hesitant to say.

"It is too early to say whether the rapid growth of arms transfers in the last two decades is over, Pieter Wezeman of SIPRI's research programme for weapons and military spending in the city of Solna, told national broadcaster SVT.

SIPRI, however, did not rule out the coronavirus pandemic possibly affecting the statistics for an entire five-year period.

"The economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may, for example, cause some countries to re-evaluate their arms imports in the coming years. At the same time, however, several countries have signed major arms contracts in the midst of a burning pandemic", Wezeman said.

With 96 client states, the US remains the world's largest arms exporter, increasing its global share of arms exports from 32 to 37 percent. Almost half (47 percent) of US arms transfers went to the Middle East. Substantial increases in transfers by three of the top five arms exporters (the US, France, and Germany) were largely offset by declining Russian and Chinese arms exports, SIPRI noted.

One major outlier is the Middle East, which clearly went against the trend and greatly increased its arms procurements by 25 percent during the same period. The spike is mostly due to major acquisitions by Saudi Arabia (up by 61 percent), Egypt (up by 136 percent) and Qatar (up by 361 percent).

"Ongoing wars in Yemen and Libya, rivalries between countries in the Gulf region, threats against Iran, and rising tensions over oil and gas reserves in the Mediterranean are important drivers of demand for weapons in the region", Pieter Wezeman commented.

Based in the Swedish capital, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute was founded in 1966 to provide data, analysis, and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditures, and arms trade as well as disarmament and arms control. Their research is based on open sources and is directed at decisionmakers, researchers, the media, and the public.

To avoid statistical glitches, the researchers compare five-year stretches. This model has been in use since 1981, when the superpowers were locked in the Cold War and armed themselves to unprecedented levels.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

Pakistan: Conspiracy theories hamper COVID vaccine drive

Pakistan is aiming to vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of this year, but conspiracy theories, myths and disinformation are impeding the mass inoculation drive.



Experts urge the government to counter misinformation about COVID vaccines

The Pakistani government launched its COVID-19 vaccination drive in February, starting with frontline health workers. After successfully inoculating 37,289 by mid-February, the authorities started registering other civilian groups.

The government hopes the COVID vaccine will be able to contain the spread of the coronavirus, but not everyone is willing to get a shot.

Conspiracy theories related to the vaccine abound in the Muslim-majority country. According to a report published by Gallup Pakistan, 49% of the population is reluctant to get vaccinated even if the vaccine is offered free of cost.

Experts say that misinformation and religious beliefs are responsible for people's mistrust of the vaccine.

Pakistan, a country of 220 million people, has so far recorded over 600,000 coronavirus cases and 13,430 related deaths.

Myths and misinformation

Many people in the country believe the pandemic does not exist. Rumors are also rife that Western countries want to insert a "surveillance microchip" in the human body through vaccine shots.

Watch video 01:33 Coronavirus: Anti-vaxxers pose major public health threat in Pakistan

Salman, who drives a cab in Karachi, told DW he doesn't trust the vaccine. The mass vaccination drive could be an attempt by global powers to spy on the world population, he said. He is also concerned about the vaccine's side-effects.

"Who knows what the vaccine can do to our bodies? It may even alter our DNA," the 30-year-old said of thedebunked claim.

Some Pakistanis say the vaccine is "haram" (forbidden in Islam) due to false claims it contains pig gelatin and human fetus tissues.

The main source of misinformation about COVID vaccines is WhatsApp, which is used by 39% of the country's population. Unsubstantiated claims about vaccines are also circulating on YouTube and Facebook.

Naila Tariq, a professor of pathology at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Hospital in Karachi, says the misinformation on social media poses a challenge to health officials in educating people about the vaccines.

Vaccine politics

Pakistan so far has secured 17 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The country has also approved China's Sinopharm and Russia's Sputnik V vaccines.

"Some people are skeptical of the Sinopharm vaccine because it is made in China. Some don't want the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, as it is being manufactured in India," Tariq told DW.

Zoraiz Raiz, the founder of Corona Recovered Warriors, a group that coordinates plasma donations for COVID-19, said Pakistan's geopolitical relations also play an important role in the people's perception of the vaccines.

Watch video12:06 COVID-19 Special: Spreading conspiracy theories

"Pakistan doesn't have good relations with most of its neighbors, especially India, whereas cultural differences with China play a role in disinformation campaigns," he told DW.

Noor Baig, who works at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, says that even educated people in the country believe in vaccine myths. "Everyone is exposed to media. When educated people search for information about COVID vaccines on the internet, they come across false studies and become misguided," he told DW.

The medical expert believes it is the responsibility of politicians and religious leaders to dispel myths about COVID vaccines and educate people about its safety and efficacy.

"If politicians and religious leaders spread misinformation about the vaccine on media and say it is a plot against humanity, people will hesitate to get vaccinated," Baig asserted.

Dr. Tariq urges the government to take steps to counter misinformation about COVID vaccines. Health experts also say that authorities should coordinate their awareness-raising efforts with the international community and the World Health Organization.

The story behind Albert Einstein's most iconic photo

It’s been 70 years since the genius physicist stuck out his tongue at pesky reporters. The photo turned him into an icon. But what's the story behind it?
The photo of Einstein sticking out his tongue is world-famous

It was March 14, 1951, the day Albert Einstein turned 72. The famous physicist, who was born in Ulm, Germany, had already been living in the United States for many years. At the time, he was working at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. A birthday celebration was held in his honor at the research center.

The paparazzi were lurking outside the venue when he left, hoping to hear one of the world-famous professor's witty quips about the global political situation — and to take the perfect birthday photo.

Not a fan of media hype, and growing weary of being a spokesperson, Einsteinwas annoyed by their presence. Yet there he was, stuck in the back seat of a limousine, sandwiched between the institute's former director, Frank Aydelotte, and his wife, Marie, unable to escape the flashing bulbs. "Enough is enough..." he is said to have repeatedly shouted at the pushy reporters. "Hey, Professor, smile for a birthday photo, please," one shouts.

In a gesture of annoyance, the unconventional free spirit stuck his tongue out at his pursuers — a moment that was captured by photographer Arthur Sasse. The picture quickly circulated around the world, becoming an iconic image.

The image elevated Einstein to pop icon status

A famous snapshot

The absent-minded professor with disheveled hair, who often forgot to put on socks, yet whose theory of relativity is still understood by only the world's most brilliant minds, was elevated to a mythical figure during the course of his own life. The cheeky snapshot also earned him pop icon status.

The iconic photo has been reproduced frequently, as shown here on an Easter egg

However, it was not the photographer who helped the photo achieve worldwide fame, but Einstein himself. He ordered numerous prints and cropped it so the Aydelotte couple could no longer be seen. He sent dozens of the photos to colleagues, friends and acquaintances. "The outstretched tongue reflects my political views," he wrote to his friend Johanna Fantova. In 2009, an original signed copy was sold for $74,324 (€62,677) at auction, making it the most expensive photo of the genius ever.
Einstein on human stupidity

Einstein, who was Jewish, had fled Nazi Germany and knew what it felt like to be the subject of a government-led witch hunt. Thus, he did not condone the Cold War and the search for alleged communists instigated by Senator Joseph McCarthy, in which many politicians, intellectuals and artists were accused of being "un-American." 

The photo was even reproduced in a corn field in Germany, as seen here

Einstein had a lot to say about such human stupidity: "The ruling of the dumb people can't be overcome because there are so many of them, and their voice counts as much as ours" reads an Einstein quote translated from German. "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. But I'm not quite sure about the universe yet," goes another of the professor's quips.

Einstein met this stupidity with genius — and a dash of humor.

Since it was taken on Einstein's birthday in 1951, the photo of him sticking out his tongue has been reproduced millions of times: on posters and t-shirts, greeting cards, mugs and murals. And even today, decades after his death, the revolutionary thinker and genius professor still has numerous fans, from young to old.

This article was translated from German by Sarah Hucal.

Monthly Review | Why Socialism? BY ALBERT EINSTEIN

Million-tree mission hopes to fix reforestation flaws

Mika Vanhanen has overseen the planting of 30 million trees across the globe via a network of 10,000 schools he recruited over two decades

 Alessandro RAMPAZZO AFP/File
Issued on: 15/03/2021 - 
Joensuu (Finland) (AFP)

It's an environmental policy embraced by heads of state, multinational businesses and even leading climate sceptic Donald Trump: plant more trees to help the planet and slow global warming.

But experts claim some recent mass tree-planting schemes have failed to reduce greenhouse gases when not done properly, and even harmed the environment.

Now a pair of Finnish environmentalists believe they have created a reforestation initiative that will avoid these problems and allow for millions of new trees every year, tracked by a smartphone app.



Former schoolteacher Mika Vanhanen has overseen the planting of 30 million trees across the globe via a network of 10,000 schools, the result of two decades work.

But "some of the trees died because we didn't have the resources to care for them", Vanhanen, founder of tree-planting charity ENO, told AFP in his hometown of Joensuu, eastern Finland.

Last year Turkey's forestry trade union said almost all of the 11 million trees planted during the country's National Forestation Day in 2019 had died after just a few months.

And in Chile, a study found landowners were taking advantage of financial tree-planting incentives by cutting down established, carbon-absorbing forests and replacing them with new ones.

- 25-year tree care -

So last year Vanhanen teamed up with "environmental technology" expert Pekka Harju-Autti to launch an innovative model for large-scale tree-planting with the emphasis on sustainability.

Their "TreeBuddy" scheme invites businesses and individuals to "buy" one or more trees, for instance as a gift to customers, employees or friends.

But unlike other initiatives, the consumer also pays for the upkeep of the tree for up to 25 years.

"When they plant a tree, locals take a photo which is geo-positioned and get one euro for the community. After one year ... they make a status update of the tree with another photo and they get again one euro, the same after five years and 10 years and so on," Harju-Autti told AFP.

The euro covers upkeep during the year, with care ranging from watering to, in Tibet for example, protecting the trees from yaks and wild horses.

A smartphone app enables users to keep track of their own "virtual forest", but most importantly the maintenance payments incentivise communities to keep their forests alive, Harju-Autti said.

CLICK ON TO ENLARGE

This map shows the total land available that can support trees across the globe (total of current forested areas and forest cover potential available for restoration). Credit: ETH Zurich/Crowther Lab

- Millions a year -

With each community seeing 7,000 to 10,000 trees planted, the sums add up over time.

"One reason the Amazon is burning is that locals do not always feel they get economic benefits from their forests, so some not-so-wise decisions are made."

So far TreeBuddy has seen 30,000 trees planted in the Philippines, Tibet and India, and has secured investment to scale up to "millions a year" in the near future, across Asia, Africa and the Americas.

Vanhanen and Harju-Autti say that because they already have a relationship with their 10,000 tree-planting communities around the globe, the scheme should also avoid problems such as introducing non-native species or damage to the existing ecosystem.

In January, a British study set out 10 'golden rules' of tree-planting to avoid the failures of some large-scale schemes, including for local people to be at the heart of projects and for the natural regrowth of forest to be prioritised wherever possible.

"We are getting questions from tree-planting organisations all over the world that would like to adopt the TreeBuddy model," Harju-Autti said, adding that he expects the focus to move away from planting towards "giving locals their fair share for efforts to preserve their trees".

This map shows the land available for forest restoration (excluding deserts, agricultural and urban areas; current forestland not shown). Credit: ETH Zurich/Crowther Lab

VIDEO AND MAPS FROM:

The Weather Network - Planting billions of trees could help save the climate, study finds

FILM

Wolfgang Petersen, director of 'The NeverEnding Story' and 'Das Boot,' at 80

He's one of the most successful German filmmakers in Hollywood. Wolfgang Petersen's "Outbreak" also gained renewed popularity during the pandemic.

11 FILMS BY GERMAN DIRECTOR WOLFGANG PETERSEN

Overwhelming success: 'Das Boot'

Wolfgang Petersen's war epic "Das Boot" was a spectacular movie success in the 1980s — first in Germany, and then in the US. Moviegoers got a strong adrenaline rush through this claustrophobic German submarine mission set in 1941 in the Atlantic Ocean. The film was nominated for six Oscars.

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When the COVID-10 pandemic broke out a year ago, many people turned to movies depicting the outbreak of a mysterious, deadly illness.

Wolfgang Petersen's Outbreak from 1995 was one of those titles that suddenly reappeared on the list of most-watched movies, ranking for instance as the fourth most popular film on Netflix in the US on March 13, 2020. Featuring an all-star cast, including Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland, the medical disaster film was packed with action, helicopter chases and explosions.

But things turned out to be comparatively quiet in real life; the film director who was born on March 14, 1941 in the seaport city of Emdem, in north-western Germany, spent the past year mostly isolated in his Los Angeles home.

Vaccinated against COVID-19 shortly before his 80th birthday, he now feels "really free," he told German press agency dpa, describing the experience of getting the shots as an "amazing" one. He was among the people vaccinated at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, a vaccine super site, with 12,000 cars driving through every day and passengers getting vaccinated without even leaving their vehicle.

 

An unknown deadly illness hits the fictional small town of Cedar Creek in California: Here, Rene Russo in 'Outbreak'

The director of cult films 'Das Boot' and 'The NeverEnding Story'

Wolfgang Petersen's films combine solid skills with art — at least often enough to secure the northern German filmmaker a place of honor among Hollywood's foreign directors.

No other German director, apart from Roland Emmerich, has worked so successfully in the US since the end of World War II.

It all began with television, where Petersen learned the trade. At some point producers realized that the friendly young director held more promise than simply creating solid TV fare — and asked whether Petersen might be interested in filming the lengthy war novel Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. He said yes, and the rest is history: Das Boot was a huge success at home and abroad when it was released in 1981. The German film was even nominated for six Oscars.

In 1984, Peterson completed his next film, The NeverEnding Story — the most expensive film in German film history back then — back home in Germany. Just a year later, he was already working for an American studio, albeit in a film studio in Munich, where he shot the sci-fi film Enemy Mine.
Working with the Hollywood greats

Petersen's first real Hollywood movie was Shattered, in 1991. But it was In the Line of Fire two years later, a movie starring Clint Eastwood as a secret service agent, that made a difference.

Top US film stars including Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford, Glenn Close, George Clooney, Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt followed Petersen's direction over the following years. He had gained the reputation of being a reliable worker and a compassionate colleague.

Petersen never made a secret of his enthusiasm for the US. He explained it probably went back to the post-war era, when Germans were so fed up and demoralized by everything that had happened during WWII. In contrast, "These Americans on their ships, well-fed and laughing, were a salvation," he once said. For him, the Americans were "representatives of a better world, rich, powerful and friendly."

"That was deeply engrained in me," he added — a gratitude still noticeable many decades after the war in his patriotic US film Air Force One.

Petersen's last Hollywood film was the 2016 Poseidon. A decade later, he returned to Germany to direct the crime comedy Vier gegen die Bank (Four Against the Bank), starring four of Germany's most popular actors, Til Schweiger, Matthias Schweighöfer, Michael "Bully" Herbig and Jan Josef Liefers.

Not planning on retiring any time soon, the 80-year-old filmmaker still has projects up his sleeve. He told dpa that the film he is now working on is a love story between a KGB agent and a young East German woman, set shortly before the Berlin Wall was built and based on a true story. While the production was interrupted because of the pandemic, Petersen hopes to get to shoot the film, with scenes set in Germany, Moscow and the Ukraine, during the summer of 2022.