WHO: AstraZeneca vaccine must be evaluated on "more than a press release"
27 November 2020
Top scientists at the World Health Organization on Friday called for more detailed information on a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
Why it matters: Oxford and AstraZeneca have said the vaccine was 90% effective in people who got a half dose followed by a full dose, and 62% effective in people who got two full doses. AstraZeneca has since acknowledged that the smaller dose received by some participants was the result of an error by a contractor, per the New York Times.
- The half-dose version — the one with 90% efficacy — was tested on a group that didn’t include anyone older than 55, leading to questions about reliability of the results.
- AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told Bloomberg on Thursday the company is likely to start a new global trial to measure how effective the vaccine is.
What they're saying: "What we've seen is a press release. And what is really the next most important step is that the data really needs to be evaluated based on more than a press release," Katherine O'Brien, director of WHO's immunization and vaccines department, said Friday when asked to comment on AstraZeneca's vaccine.
- "So I think it's too early for us to say anything about what we make of the data and what is needed next. What we really see is more than a press release and to really see the data and have a chance to ask the questions that are needed," O'Brien said.
- "We've heard from AstraZenecathat they would like to do a full trial," said Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO's chief scientist, after noting that all available information on the vaccine has so far come from a press release. "And so if we are to explore this hypothesis of having perhaps a better efficacy with a lower dose, then it would need a trial."
Go deeper: Why AstraZeneca's vaccine matters for the developing world
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.