US Catholic group tells followers to avoid Johnson & Johnson vaccine

‘An American Catholic church body on Tuesday urged its followers to avoid the coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, alleging that it was “developed, tested and produced using abortion-derived cell lines.”

‘The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) urged Catholics to choose between the alternatives offered by Pfizer and Moderna because the J&J vaccine raised questions about “moral permissibility.”

“The approval of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine for use in the United States again raises questions about the moral permissibility of using vaccines developed, tested, and/or produced with the help of abortion-derived cell lines,” said Bishop Kevin C Rhoades, chairman of USCCB.’

Read here (Independent, Mar 3, 2021) 

Pfizer withdraws vaccine application in India [after failing to present needed information to experts]

‘Pfizer Inc says it has withdrawn its application for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in India. The company said Friday that it participated in a meeting of experts of the drug regulator on Feb. 3. Based on the deliberation of that meeting and “our understanding of additional information that the regulator may need, the company has decided to withdraw its application at this time,” it said in a statement.

‘The company was the first to approach the Indian regulator in December for its messenger RNA vaccine that it has developed with Germany’s BioNTech. They were closely followed by applications for two other vaccines --- a version of the AstraZeneca made by Serum Institute of India and another by Indian company Bharat Biotech -- which eventually got the nod for emergency use on Jan. 3. However, India’s Health Ministry has said that Pfizer hadn’t made its presentation to experts who needed to clear the vaccine, before the regulator could green-light its use in India.’

Read here (The Independent, Feb 6, 2021)

Whose liability for Pfizer’s vaccine?

‘The well-known The Independent newspaper reports that the United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed that Pfizer required, and has been given, an indemnity by the government, protecting it from legal action if any ill-effects arise from the dispensation of the vaccine.

‘What does this mean? What is the effect in law of such an indemnity? Simply, that the country that provides the indemnity becomes primarily and independently liable if anything goes wrong with the uptake of the vaccine.’

Read here (The Sun Daily, Dec 14, 2020)

What are the long-term health implications of Covid-19?

‘Six months into the Covid-19 pandemic, and with more than 380,000 people dead, the picture we have of Sars-CoV-2 remains opaque and unclear. Thousands of papers and reports have flooded the academic sphere during this period, as scientists have rushed to understand the virus, which, according to the journal Science, “acts like no pathogen humanity has ever seen”...

‘What initially appeared to be a predictable respiratory infection, similar to Sars or Avian flu, Sars-CoV-2 is now known to affect the lungs, brain, eyes, nose, heart, blood vessels, livers, kidneys and intestines — virtually every organ in the human body.’

Read here (The Independent, June 4, 2020)

New antibody test ‘with 99 per cent accuracy’ approved for use across Europe

‘Global diagnostics specialists Abbott, which has a UK base in Maidenhead, has said it is expecting to have shipped millions of the laboratory based lab tests across Europe by the end of May.

‘The company’s diagnostic test has been given a CE mark showing it complies with EU safety rules and can now be used in labs across the UK to test for antibodies created when a person has been infected with Covid-19.’

Read here (The Independent, April 28, 2020?)