One-shot J&J jab poised to join UK arsenal
Americans are celebrating the arrival on home soil of batches of the world’s first single-shot coronavirus vaccine.
The Johnson and Johnson jab, developed by the pharma giant’s Belgian subsidiary Janssen, gained US approval two days ago and its roll-out will begin tomorrow morning.
The UK is not far behind. The government has already put in an order for 30 million J&J doses and the UK’s medical regulator, the MHRA, is expected to begin the formal approval process in the coming days.
The J&J jab, deemed 85 per cent effective – but 100 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisations and deaths – is already being deployed in South Africa and Bahrain. Thanks to the relative ease of a single-dose, there’s been much anticipation of the contribution this jab will make to the global inoculation race. J&J’s candidate has a similar design to the Oxford vaccine, meaning it’s equally low-maintenance: both are easy to store and transport and considerably cheaper than their other competitors.
Of course, while the AZ vaccine may not have been designed as a single-shot, there’s growing evidence that one dose still offers a high level of protection. According to freshly-leaked results from a large English trial, a single dose of AZ reduces risk of hospitalisation by 90 per cent. The full trial details are set to published later this month. But the data very much supports the conclusions of the recent Public Health Scotland study which found that one dose of the Oxford vaccine cuts hospitalisations by 94 per cent.
Encouraging vaccine news is coming in thick and fast. Over 20 million Brits have now had their first jab, including 90 per cent of those older than 65. Meanwhile, Public Health England (PHE) reports show that coronavirus deaths in over-75s have fallen by 40 per cent in the past week alone. And admissions to intensive care among over-85s have dropped to near zero in the past couple of weeks.
Holyrood forced to publish Salmond evidence
Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, has agreed to release “key” legal advice to the Holyrood Committee tomorrow following the threat of a no confidence vote. The decision follows two votes by MSPs demanding the Scottish government to publish its legal advice over a botched harassment probe into Alex Salmond in 2018. Ministers have refused, until today.
The government has admitted that it had acted unlawfully because its investigating officer had had prior contact with the two complainants, and had to pay the former First Minister, who has been cleared of all harassment charges in a subsequent criminal trial, more than £500,000 in legal expenses as a result.
Swinney’s decision to publish this legal advice comes after the Scottish Conservatives lodged a motion of no confidence in the Deputy First Minister earlier today, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens joining calls for the legal advice to be published.
Swinney said: “In normal circumstances, government legal advice is not released. Indeed, such is the importance of being able to get frank, private advice, it is almost unheard of for the legal advice to be released”.
In his statement, Swinney acknowledged that the issues at stake are now “not normal” and that the “legal system is being questioned”. He added: “Serious allegations have been made. This material allows people to confirm that these allegations are false.”
He said that ministers have already shared the substance of the advice with the Scottish Parliament’s investigating committee in private, but that in order to “counter to the false claims being made by some, we must go further”. He said ministers would release the key legal advice, on Tuesday 2 March after the mandatory legal checks and processes had been completed.
Read more on The Hound below.
Arrival of the stink bug
New variants aren’t the only unwelcome UK arrivals detected this week. Scientists from London’s Natural History Museum have confirmed that the brown marmorated stink bug has been identified in multiple areas across the UK.
This small brown insect – which isn’t harmful but is highly invasive – is likely to have hitched a ride into the UK on packaging crates.
The species, already considered an agricultural pest in the US and in its native South-East Asian home, is bad news for fruit and veg growers. It leaves ugly brown marks on skin and reduces the value of produce. Within 12 years of arriving in the US, the stink bug’s feeding damage was estimated to have caused $37m worth of apple losses.
The pungent insects are a worry for wine makers and drinkers alike. If they attach to grapes in large numbers, the unpleasant odour they emit can contaminate the delicate flavours of wine.
For years, scientists have cautioned that, with global trade and a warming climate, it was only a matter of time before the stink bug reached the UK. And much like coronavirus, eradication may not be possible.
An effective track and trace system is perhaps our only option now. The Natural History Museum is encouraging all members of the public who spot a stink bug in their local area to send in a photo so that scientists can monitor their spread.
Caitlin Allen,
Reaction Reporter