The UK is prepared to limit use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to people over 30 should the medicines regulator change its advice, the country's Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said.
Channel 4 News said on Monday that the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency was considering restrictions owing to concerns over blood clots.
“Two senior sources have told this programme that while the data is still unclear, there are growing arguments to justify offering younger people – below the age of 30 at the very least – a different vaccine,” it reported.
MHRA chief executive Dr June Raine said no decision had been made and urged people to continue to get vaccinated.
“Our thorough and detailed review is ongoing into reports of very rare and specific types of blood clots with low platelets following the Covid-19 vaccine of AstraZeneca,” she said.
“No decision has yet been made on any regulatory action.”
Mr Zahawi said the government would follow any advice from the regulator.
“We’ve done over 20 million vaccinations using the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine … at the moment, they’ve been very clear to say when you get your invite come forward and get the vaccine,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.
“But we will be led by what the regulator and scientists say is the right thing to do. We stand ready … to implement whatever they decide.”
Questions on whether rare but serious blood clots among those receiving the AstraZeneca injection are more frequent than in the general population, and what causes them if they are, continue to undermine confidence in the vaccine.
The European Medicines Agency said the benefits outweigh the risks, and it will provide an updated assessment next week.
The blood clots in a handful of people inoculated with the vaccine were described by the French Medicines Agency as “highly untypical”.
“This thrombosis of large veins is unusually located in the brain, and even more rarely in the digestive tract,” the agency said.
It is also associated with a condition characterised by abnormally low levels of platelets, which are small cell fragments in our blood that form clots to prevent bleeding.
In mid-March, Germany’s medicines regulator the Paul Ehrlich Institute was the first national health authority to flag what they said was an aberrantly high number of cases involving rare cerebral blood clots, mostly in young and middle-aged women.
Some specialists say these symptoms indicated disseminated intravascular coagulation, in which blood clots form throughout the body.
Also appearing in extreme cases of sepsis, the condition involves “thrombosis and haemorrhaging”, Odile Launay, a member of the scientific body advising the French government on Covid-19 vaccines, told AFP.
“A causal link with the vaccine is not proven but is possible, and further analysis is continuing,” the French Medicines Agency said last week.
The agency was scheduled to start talks on the matter on Tuesday.
Other specialists were more insistent.
“We have to stop speculating on whether there is a link or not,” said Pal Andre Holme, who leads a team at Oslo National Hospital working on these cases.
“All of the cases showed these symptoms three to 10 days after inoculation with the AstraZeneca vaccine. We have not found any other triggering factor.”
Norway’s medicine agency backed his assessment, with one of its executives, Steinar Madsen, saying: "There is probably a link with the vaccine.”
The French agency said that because of “the very unusual type of thrombosis, a similar clinical profile, and similar timing of onset”, there was a “small risk”.
As of March 31, the European agency identified 62 cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in the world – 44 of them in Europe – among 9.2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine administered.
Of those, 14 have resulted in death, although it is not possible to definitively attribute fatalities to this rare form of thrombosis, head of the agency Emer Cooke said last week.
In Germany, there have been 31 suspected cases of CVST, 19 accompanied by a drop in blood platelets, with nine deaths, the Paul Ehrlich Institute said.
These cases were spread across 2.8 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses injected, or about one case for every 100,000 doses.
The figures for France are 12 cases and four deaths out of 1.9 million doses, and for Norway, five cases and three deaths out of 120,000 doses.
Britain, where AstraZeneca’s shot has been administered more than in any other country, registered 30 cases as of Saturday, including seven deaths, from 18.1 million doses.
But as is true of all medications, risks must always be weighed against benefits.
“We would all prefer to have drugs that are 100 per cent safe but they don’t exist,” Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics at University of Bristol, told the Science Media Centre in London.
“Right now the biggest risk to our lives and livelihoods throughout the world is Covid-19.
“We need to stay focused on the need to prevent it taking millions more human lives before it is brought under control, and the only effective way to do that is through vaccination.”
The European agency has consistently echoed this view.
“The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing Covid-19, with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death, outweigh the risks of side effects,” it said.
That most cases are among women could reflect the fact that health sector workers, predominately women, were given priority for vaccination.
“At present, the review has not identified any specific risk factors, such as age, gender or a previous medical history of clotting disorders for these very rare events,” the European agency said.
While some countries temporarily paused the AstraZeneca inoculations in mid-March, several countries suspended the vaccine again.
Germany decided last week to ban its use for anyone under 60, while in Canada and France, the age threshold is 55 and in Sweden it is 65.
"We do not have just one vaccine, we have several," Sandra Ciesek, a professor of medical virology at the Goethe University Frankfurt wrote in Science magazine.
“So restricting the AstraZeneca vaccine to older people makes sense to me.”
Norway and Sweden took the more radical step of suspending AstraZeneca’s vaccine altogether.
For the moment there are only hypotheses, although the European agency is expected to suggest next week which are the more likely.
In a study released on March 28 which has not yet been peer-reviewed, German and Austrian researchers indicated that a known biological mechanism could hold an explanation for the apparent surge in atypical thrombosis.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, they wrote, is associated with a thrombosis disorder “that clinically resembles heparin-induced thrombocytopenia”.
HIT is a rare and serious reaction of the immune system to the anticoagulant drug heparin.
The authors, led by Andreas Greinacher from the University of Greifswald, proposed a name for what they described as a new syndrome, “vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia”.
Researchers at Oslo National Hospital, meanwhile, suggested that cases might be triggered by a “powerful immune response” to the vaccine.
An association of French scientists and doctors called On the Side of Science said such an immune response could stem from the accidental insertion of the needle into a vein in the upper arm, rather than muscle.
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Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Company%20Profile
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GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
The years Ramadan fell in May
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
Princeton
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Greenwood 77')
Everton 1 (Lindelof 36' og)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
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Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
