Oxford University testing vaccine on children as young as six for the first time

The University of Oxford plans to test its Covid-19 vaccine on children as young as six.

Organisers of the trial, which was announced on Saturday, seeks to recruit 300 volunteers aged between six and 17.

It is the latest vaccine developer to assess whether its Covid-19 inoculation is effective in young people.

Andrew Pollard, chief researcher on the Oxford vaccine trial, said that while most children with Covid-19 do not become severely ill, “it is important to establish the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and young people as some children may benefit from vaccination”.

The study will take place at three English cities, London, Southampton and Bristol, and assess its safety and the immune responses in children.

Investigators will test the shot on youngsters aged 12 to 17 first before moving to the younger age group, with initial data expected by summer.

The study will look at two dosing stages one month and three months apart, Mr Pollard said.

“We planned to conduct child trials from the beginning to make sure that we had the greatest opportunity for access across all ages to the vaccine,” Mr Pollard said.

“I’m absolutely delighted that today we’re launching the paediatric trials after this long road that we’ve been on.”

Regulators in more than 50 countries have authorised widespread use of the Oxford vaccine, which is being produced and distributed by AstraZeneca, for use in people over the age of 18.

Other drug companies are also testing the Covid-19 vaccines in children.

In October, Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine which has already been authorised for use in people aged 16 and older, was tested on children as young as 12.

Two months later, Moderna began testing its vaccine on children aged 12 and up.

Mr Pollard said the Oxford trial should help policymakers decide whether at some point in the future they want to extend mass inoculation programmes to children, to improve safety in schools and combat the spread of the virus in the wider population.

“For most children, for themselves, Covid-19 is really not a big problem,” he said.

“However, it is certainly possible that wider use to try and curb the progress of the pandemic might be considered in the future, so here we’re just trying to establish the data that would support that if, indeed, policymakers wanted to go in that direction.”

The two-dose Oxford-AstraZeneca shot was hailed as a “vaccine for the world” because it is cheaper and easier to distribute than some rivals.

AstraZeneca has a target of producing three billion doses this year and aims to produce more than 200 million doses per month by April.

Last week, a World Health Organisation panel recommended the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for anyone over 18 years of age.

The ruling came after some European countries, including France, Germany and Denmark, approved the vaccine for use only in the under-65 age group, with those nations citing a lack of data on safety for older people.

On Saturday, UK ministers urged people in the top four priority groups to be vaccinated in a bid to meet its target of 15 million people having the first dose by Monday.

It came as Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK could live with Covid-19 “like we do with flu”.

"I hope that Covid-19 will become a treatable disease by the end of the year," he told the Daily Telegraph.

ENGLAND TEAM

England (15-1)
George Furbank; Jonny May, Manu Tuilagi, Owen Farrell (capt), Elliot Daly; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Courtney Lawes; Charlie Ewels, Maro Itoje; Kyle Sinckler, Jamie George, Joe Marler
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, George Kruis, Lewis Ludlam, Willi Heinz, Ollie Devoto, Jonathan Joseph

Results

3pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m, Winner: Lancienegaboulevard, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Fawzi Nass (trainer).

3.35pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Turf) 1,600m, Winner: Al Mukhtar Star, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.

4.10pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: Gundogdu, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.

4.45pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Speedy Move, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar.

5.20pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Moqarrar, Dane O’Neill, Erwan Charpy.

5.55pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Dolman, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed

Rating: 1/5

While you're here

Mustafa Alrawi: To get the 'jab' done, there must be patience and empathy

Damien McElroy: Anti-science attitudes in America are proving lethal

Editorial: What makes the UAE such a good place to test vaccines?

Editorial: The fight against Covid-19 should be guided by science

Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara

Tips for used car buyers

Choose cars with GCC specifications
Get a service history for cars less than five years old
Don’t go cheap on the inspection
Check for oil leaks
Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell

Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com

UAE currency

While you're here

Kareem Shaheen: Even a pandemic could not unite today's America

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Robert Matthews: Has flawed science and rushed research failed us?

Company Profile

Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million

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

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Release Date: April 10

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreated%20by%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJesse%20Armstrong%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Brian%20Cox%2C%20Jeremy%20Strong%2C%20Kieran%20Culkin%2C%20Sarah%20Snook%2C%20Nicholas%20Braun%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A