In Liverpool England, people danced together at a warehouse party as part of a Clinical trial to establish if and how social distancing can be brought to an end and people can get back to normal lifestyle. About 3,000 clubbers were rammed up against each other inside a Liverpool warehouse on Friday night, ''...waving (their) hands in they air, waving them like the just don't care...'' to pounding Techno music.

To get into the club, local clubbers had to take a lateral flow test for Covid-19 at one of four official testing centers in Liverpool, then upload the result to a website so it linked to their ticket. When they arrived at the warehouse, their results were checked, but once they passed security, the partyers were free to act as if the pandemic had never happened. There were no requirements to wear a mask, socially distance or even use hand sanitizer.

Some young women in bikini tops were dancing together, passing around half-full bottles of Rosé cocktail, while next to them a middle-aged man was dancing so hard a huge sweat patch had formed across his back. They were all beaming with clearly visible smiles, since no one was wearing a face mask, let alone social distancing. “This is the first dance,” Nick Evans, a 28-year-old legal adviser, shouted above the music. “And it could be the last dance, so I’m going to enjoy it,” he added before sashaying back into the crowd. Alice Mitchell, 20, said the only thing she’d been surprised by was a ban on bringing in hand sanitizer. A security guard had made her throw a bottle away, she said, in case she had been trying to sneak in alcohol. “Other than that, I’m having an amazing time,” she said, adding she was sticking to the edge of the dance floor to keep as safe as possible.

According to the researcher lain Buchan “This is down and dirty public health research,”. When arranging the trial, his team had quickly decided there was little point asking people to wear masks or stay in bubbles.

The New York Times reports that Since the corona virus pandemic hit Britain last March, nightclubs have remained closed. Whereas theatres and museums have been allowed to reopen (with caveats) when infection levels were low, the idea of people dancing up close to each other in a sweaty club has been seen as too much of a risk. If you wanted to go dancing in Liverpool, you had to go to illegal raves. (Last summer, thousands of people did just that, causing a headache for the police and lawmakers in Britain.) But that situation may soon change. In February, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that because of the country’s vaccine rollout, he hoped to remove all restrictions on social life in England on June 21. That would include allowing clubs to reopen, based on recent trials of events in Liverpool.

The Liverpool club night, a second event was held in the same venue on Saturday and was the first of those trials, and an attempt to see how reopening might work in practice. Other trial events in the city have included a pop concert for 5,000 fans in a circus tent and a business conference.

Some academics had criticized the nights as “human guinea pig trials,” but Iain Buchan of the University of Liverpool, the scientist leading the trials, insisted Covid-19 rates in Britain were so low that the chances of an outbreak were slim. There were 69 cases reported in Liverpool in the week running up to the event, according to official figures. “The risk of encountering someone positive in there might be 1 in 5,000,” Buchan said.

 The trial was more about working out what measures could be used to allow clubs to reopen. That included seeing if people were happy to be tested before hand and link that with tickets, monitoring people’s movements inside and using sensors to check carbon dioxide levels and ventilation. In March, Dutch researchers ran a similar trial involving 1,300 party goers in the Netherlands. They found the masks lasted five minutes, People just threw them off.

Britain has over 1,400 nightclubs, according to the Nighttime Industries Association, which represents venues, many of which had been forced to lay off staff during the pandemic. Some of those have already leapt at the chance to reopen. Fabric, a famed club in London that can hold 1,500 people, has sold out a 42-hour-long reopening weekend party that begins June 25. The Cause, another London club, is close to selling out a similar event that same weekend.

The owners of four British clubs said they welcomed the Liverpool trials, but felt more were needed to reflect different types of spaces. “We’re not a warehouse,” said the owner of Dalston Superstore, a popular club for L.G.B.T.Q. party goers in London, said in a telephone interview. Many D.J.s said they wanted clubs to reopen soon as possible, and not just for the sake of their work.  

The post Groovy Clinical Trial In A Party first appeared on CPAN WORLD.

Astra Zeneca owners of the worlds largest Corona Virus Vaccine production facility located in india have confirmed that 5 people have lost their lives in a fire which gutted the place late last week.

Indian government officials also confirmed the fire which started on thursday in the city of Pune in Maharashtra state. Large smoke clouds were seen erupting from a multi-storey building in India's Serum Institute Indranil's (SII) massive headquarters complex. Government officials were reported to have sent seven fire trucks from the local fire station the site.

The government beleives the fire could have been caused by an electrical fault during construction work. Fire official Prashant Ranpise said what caused the fire was not immediately clear, but it was contained within a facility under construction to boost production capacity of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

Serum Institute Indranil's Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla confirming the incident on Twitter wrote, "We have learnt that there has unfortunately been some loss of life at the incident, We are deeply saddened and offer our deepest condolences to the family members of the departed." Pune Mayor confirmed 4 people had been evacuated from the inferno while 5 had lost their lives.

The Indian regulatory Authority had approved two vaccines in January this year-- COVISHIELD produced by the Serum Institute Indranil (on behalf of Astra Zeneca) and COVAXIN produced by local firm Bharat Biotech.

Astra Zeneca is the world largest vaccine maker but the company has said the fire will not affect production of the Corona virus vaccine brand known as COVISHIELD. The company has developed a Corona Virus Vaccine in colaboration with Oxford university and Novavax Inc and licensed production to the Serum Institute Indranil (SII). SII had been contracted to produce a billion does of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. The company hopes to increase production capacity from 1.5 billion doses to 2.5 billion doses annually by the end of this year. The new facility gutted by fire is a big part of the exoansion plan.

The company was in the process of producing and stockpiling 50 Million doses a month as from April 2021 to meet growing demand in the world oopulation as the pandemic rages on. They also have plans to increase production to 100Million doses. The AstraZeneca vaccine is already in use in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Maldives and Bhutan.

Astra Zeneca officials said production of COVISHIELD will not be interupted because the company had multiple production work centers in different buildings as a production strategy and contingency plan. Though the SII company is estimating delays in launching new products and revenue losses of about $137 Million Dollars. Serum Institute is the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer by volume and has been contracted by the World Health Organization to supply and distribute 200 million doses to COVAX a consortium comprising GAVI, CEPI and WHO for distribution and inoculations to poor countries. Some Wealthy countries have already bought up 75% of the 12 billion coronavirus vaccine doses expected to be produced by companies globally this year. Consequently, Astra Zenenca's SII contract is likely to produce most of the vaccines that will be needed by developing countries.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR NIGERIA?

Many low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, are depending on SII delivering the AstraZeneca vaccine. India itself had already began one of the world's biggest vaccine rollouts this in January, aiming to vaccinate 300 million people by July with both COVISHILED and COVAXIN.

With production interuption expected doses in these countries could be delayed. Also since two doses of the vaccine within a space of 3 months are required an interruption of vaccine supply could truncate complete vaccination plans in countries where individuals have already received their first shots.

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The post FIRE CONSUMES WORLDS LARGEST CORONA VIRUS VACCINE PRODUCTION PLANT: first appeared on CPAN WORLD.

Health supply chain experts have been reviewing the federal governments nCovid 19 Vaccine distribution and administration strategy across Nigeria.

This month the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) during an online sensitization seminar (webinar) released details of how batches of the nCOVID-19 vaccine doses will be distributed across Nigeria. According to the Executive Director Faisal Shuaib, NPHCDA will receive 100,000 doses of the novel Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine within the month of January 2021 with direct administration starting early February 2021. The strategy of the NPHCDA is to administer the Vaccine in 4 phases, targeting states with data showing higher percentage of patients positive for the nCov19 Virus. This would be after vaccinating frontline health workers, the elderly and vulnerable persons with co-morbidities based on World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. The aim is to achieve an appreciable level of herd immunity in these states with at least 40% of the entire population vaccinated by end of 2021 and additional 30% by in 2022.

As a precondition, the NPHCDA requires that cold chain storage facilities providing optimum conditions for storage and distribution of the temperature sensitive vaccines are put in place by states before receiving the vaccine.

So the priority states are: Kano, Lagos, Katsina, Kaduna, Bauchi and Oyo will receive more doses for health workers.

The breakdown is as follows: Kano, 3,557; Lagos, 3,131; Katsina, 2,361; Kaduna, 2,074; Bauchi, 1,900; Oyo, 1,848; Rivers, 1,766; Jigawa, 1,712; Niger, 1,558; Ogun, 1,473; Sokoto, 1,468; Benue, 1,423; Borno, 1,416; Anambra, 1,379; Kebbi, 1,361; Zamfara, 1,336; Rivers, 1,306; Imo, 1,267; Ondo, 1,228; Akwa Ibom, 1,161.

Others are: Adamawa, 1,129; Edo, 1,104; Plateau, 1,089; Enugu, 1,088; Osun, 1,032; Kogi, 1,030; Cross River, 1,023; Abia, 955; Gombe, 908; Yobe, 842; Ekiti, 830; Taraba, 830; Kwara, 815; Ebonyi, 747; Bayelsa, 589; FCT, 695; Nasarawa, 661.

Requirements:

1) Cold chain storage facilities (warehousing and Transportation/ logistics)

2) Adequate Staffing to ensure administration of the doses within 5 days of receipt. 

3) Data collection tools to ensure proper tracking, documentation and follow up.

4) Adequate mechanisms to ensure 100,000 doses to be administered to 50,000 people with 21 days. (Each individual is to take a second dose after 3 weeks)

Experts say implementation will require a seamless flow of information and agile decision-making structures between the Federal, state and Local governments with civil society and traditional organisations involved to ensure optimal mobilization of the population. The information Technology (IT) support has to be robust accurate. The existing technology infrastructure for previous vaccines programs will have to be leveraged and upgraded. Adequately trained staff and step down of training from Federal to state to LGA level and the rural communities is also needed. All this will require massive planning and orientation across the states.

The private sector healthcare institutions and logistics systems have to be brought onboard and partnered for shared learning because they are well exposed and very robust in their operations especially in the areas of Cold chain end-to-end supply chain management.

In all, experts agree it will be a continuous learning and improvement process requiring commitment from everyone involved.

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The post REVIEWING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS COVID 19 VACCINE DISTRIBUTION PLAN first appeared on CPAN WORLD.

● Most vaccines that are used in sub-Saharan Africa are from Europe and America. Africa has never had the capacity to manufacture them to meet her needs.

● Poisoning needs not come with anti-Covid-19 vaccines. It could be from yellow fever, polio, cerebrospinal meningitis, measles, and other vaccines if there was a plot to harm Africa.

● Those who think the anti-Covid-19 vaccines are to harm Africa should also realize that hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, zinc, vitamin C, vitamin D, ivermectin and whatever else is used in the chemotherapy of Covid-19 are largely from the Western world. The drugs could have been laced with chemicals to kill Africans. Testing of imported medicines is still poor in most of Africa. The intention to harm should not be narrowed to vaccines only.

● Although there exist competent scientists in Africa, they are handicapped by lack of funds and basic amenities that drive research. Even when there are breakthroughs, there are hardly funds and will power to use them for the common good.

● Bill Gates and his wife have through their foundations been solving health and socioeconomic problems for resource-poor countries in Africa. It is irreconcilable that a couple that spends so much money to sustain life in Africa will spend money again through a single vaccine to kill Africans.

● It is difficult to imagine that all the Black scientists involved in the development of the vaccines are cooperating with their Caucasian counterparts to harm Afticans.

● It is difficult to imagine that all the Black scientists involved in the development of the vaccines are cooperating with their Caucasian counterparts to harm Afticans.

● Adverse effects monitoring is a never-ending process for any medicine. It is a post-marketing surveillance process (pharmacovigilance) on the medicine. Keep in mind that it took several decades of use before aspirin was associated with Reye's syndrome. So, we might never know all we need to about any medicine, these controversial vaccines inclusive.

● Certain medicines may be donated to Africa and poor regions. Their prices may also be reduced and these medicines are marked "Not to be sold/used in…..". This practice that is currently for redemsivir is a pricing policy and it is not new.

● Until Africans do thorough introspection, they will continue to depend on the Western World. A man that cannot help himself must be ready to be subjected to anything by his helper. So, regardless of the noise being made, Africans will ultimately take the vaccines.

● The points above do not counter the argument that the Western world does deliberately hold Africa down in socioeconomic ways. That debate is for another day.

● African leaders should ensure that like other medicines, the vaccines must meet the irreducible minimum requirements for quality before they are deployed. The tests are prescribed by the appropriate regulatory agency. I have no doubts that NAFDAC will ensure this.

My thoughts!

Raymond Ozolua is a Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology with the Faculty of Pharmacy University of Benin.

Lets know what you think. Share your thoughts on this artcle in the comments section.

The post CONSPIRACY AGAINST AFRICA? COME LETS REASON TOGETHER first appeared on CPAN WORLD.

By Pharm Nathan Ohiomokhare

A child first learns to avoid a candle light or hot lantern because it burnt him/her. Subsequently the child will literaly run away from any bright object, especially one that emits heat. The brain has a very strong Adrenergic system which registers sources of danger and will activate fear and apprehension as soon as such a signal is identified. The same effect is imparted by an Adverse drug reaction. The same goes for the Covid-19 vaccine.

As people all over the world start receiving shots of the vaccine they are beginning to realize that there are adverse reactions related to administering the vaccine. It is not the reactions that may be the problem, it's that they were not fore-warned, they did not know, they were not informed. Consequently they go and tell their family and friends. There have been reports of fainting, itching, redness at the area if inoculation, and even death. I once fainted when I was about 14 years old after my nurse administered a shot of the highly potent antipyretic Nolvagin (metamizol) to bring down my malaria fever. This was because the drug is a chemoreceptor trigger and caused me to vomit and suddenly lose energy.

Adverse drug reactions (ADR) are described as untoward, undesirable or unwanted effects observed by a patient during or after a medication has been administered or taken. They cause discomfort of various degrees and may cause injuries that are reversible or permanent. Many ADRs are life threatening and require emergency care in the ICU of a Hospital facility. ADRs are particularly popular amongst healthcare experts because they represent a major source of discomfort to the patients and the major reason the patient will stop taking the medication or be reluctant to take the medication in the first place. Thus ADRs affect patient compliance, adherence and persistence tremendously. 

 

Compliance is the ability of the patient to follow instructions on how to take the medication and other lifestyle modifications to support the medication therapy. Adherence is the patients willingness co-operate and collaborate with the healthcare provider on the guideline and play an integral role in his/her medication therapy. Though compliance and adherence are used interchangeably compliance is more instruction based which adherence is more of a collaboration. Persistence is the patient's ability to continue with medication therapy for the entire duration of treatment. For the purpose of discussing Covid-19 related ADRs I have simplified these definitions and narrowed their use. 

 

The interesting thing about ADRs is that they are not entirely the fault of the drug alone. The fault actually goes around or extends as follows;

 

·         It's the Drugs fault - if the drug was not compatible with the patients physiology or genetics.

·         It's the patients fault - If he or she failed to communicate any underlying condition, any other medication being taken, any other fruit or supplement being taken, any unusual food being taken. (Underlying conditions refer to illness/disease or disability - hypertension, Diabetes, kidney disease, Imunocompromised, genetic disease, etc )

·         It's the patients fault- if he or she fails to take the medication as advised (non compliance) is argumentative and uncooperative on how to take the medication (non adherence) or is  lazy about taking the medication for the length of time desired (lacks persistence).

·         It's the Healthcare providers fault - if he or she fails to advise properly on the proper mode of administration resulting in over dosage or under dosage (prescription error).

·         It's the Healthcare providers fault - if he or she fails to advise properly on what to avoid while using the medication.

·         It's the Healthcare providers fault - if he or she fails to put into consideration any underlying medical condition(s) (co-morbidities) the patient might have.

·          

Just last month a video was shared in one of my professional groups on Wattsap where a nurse who was the first to receive the Pfizer/Biontech Covid-19 Vaccine fainted on live TV shortly after receiving the vaccine. Later, news circulated that she claimed to suffer from a fainting condition, which was not listed in her medical history. Another recent story which is currently circulating is of a lady who lost the love of her life due to an ADR after taking the Covid-19 Vaccine. 

 

According to her very touching story "her husband Gregory Michael MD an Obstetrician with Mount Sinai Medical Centre (MSMC) in Miami Beach died due to a strong reaction to the COVID vaccine. He was a very healthy 56 year old, loved by everyone in the community delivered hundreds of healthy babies and worked tirelessly through the pandemic." Gregory was said to have been vaccinated at MSMC on December 18, 3 days later he observed a strong set of petechiae on his feet and hands which made him seek attention at the emergency room at MSMC. The Full Blood Count (FBC) done on arrival showed his platelet count to be 0 (A normal platelet count ranges from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood.) he was admitted in the ICU with a diagnosis of acute Immune Thrombocytopenia caused by a reaction to the COVID vaccine. A team of expert doctors tried for 2 weeks to raise his platelet count to no avail. 2 days before a last resort surgery,  he had a hemorrhagic stroke caused by the lack of platelets that took his life in a matter of minutes. Gregory was said to be a pro vaccine advocate that is why he took the vaccine himself.''

 

Clinical Pharmacists role in advising and informing about potential Adverse Drug Reactions seem to have been underplayed here. Are the Pharmacists not being involved in Vaccine administration?

 

As the Federal government of Nigeria begins to roll out Vaccine supplies nationwide patient medication education on potential adverse drug reactions should be put at the forefront. And Pharmacists should be actively engaged to provide that information. There is not better placed professional on the planet trained to provide services in this role than a Pharmacist. While other professionals wait to hear of the adverse reactions experienced by other patients in other climes before understanding cause and effect relationships, Clinical Pharmacists are already trained in a unique position to foresee, predict, inform the patient and educate other professionals on what to expect and what actions to take should an Adverse Reaction Occur. 

 

The Covid-19 Vaccine program stands a risk of losing momentum due to negative publicity caused by ADRs. The Covid-19 Vaccine program in Nigeria cannot afford to wait for rumours or stories from the west about ADRs. A more proactive approach is needed otherwise vaccine uptake by the populace will be truncated as people begin to lose confidence in the vaccine due to bad press and negative publicity.  Pharmacists Drug Information Services are a structure already in place to carry out this sensitive role. Facilities lacking proper drug information units manned by a Pharmacist should be adequately equipped and staffed to share such information with the necessary authorities and carry out intervention where necessary. The NAFDAC yellow form for reporting ADRs are in the custody of the Pharmacists who are uniquely qualified to investigate and fill such forms to make reports to NAFDAC. 

 

Pharmacists counseling prior to vaccine administration is a way of giving the client a "heads up" on potential reactions that may be observed while receiving the Vaccine or after receiving the vaccine. Medication counseling is a form of full disclosure of the risks (major and minor) if any, inherent in taking the Vaccine and is a legal obligation of every healthcare expert.  

 

These points are meant to generate discussions and thought amongst the Healthcare provider community. Your comments will be treated with love.

The post FULL DISCLOSURE : EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ON THE COVID VACCINE AND ADRs first appeared on CPAN WORLD.