WHAT?
BBC News - GameStop: What is it and why is it trending?
The repercussions efforts to stop it are all over Twitter including proposed legislation. They bankrupted a Hedge Fund - $2.1 billion value in a day
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NO worries, but its important with these things to be a accurate as possible, to avoid the conspiracy theorists latching on to any ambiguity. In all cases nothing has been skipped re ratification. All the stage and protocols have been applied as normal.
What the Koch institute are looking is not whether the study was carried out correctly (which it was) but at the stats. Its quite a common criticism of clinical studies that whilst the overall number of participants was high and correct to get a good degree of statistical significance, when you look at isolated segments, it may be that in some the n number is below the number needed to establish a significant clinical benefit etcā¦ that seems to be the case here.
Its does not mean its failed or is not good, Just statistically it does not match the thresholds due to lower than necessary patient numbersā¦ which given they speed of the study was always quite likely
Its quite common, because recruiting for clinical studies is hard, especially in certain age groups or ethnic groups. This means when the data is analysed, some segments may not be included in the approval or there may be restrictions applied until further evidence is available.
So nothing has gone wrongā¦ IN fact it shows the rigour of true scientific analysis of clinical studies that this has been picked up and shared, Sadly, the general public are then bombarded by inaccurate media and other conspiracyā¦
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Ah, saw the word Game and assumed it was something to do with those computer game things a lot on here play in darkened rooms late at night / when the Mrs is out 
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I have to say this does have itās funny side, opens a window on how these people really see the world. I bet there are loads of them in government who genuinely couldnāt see this coming, scratching their heads and wondering what the fuss is all about. Even former Tory minister, Caroline Nokes expressing incredulity that it was actually signed off. Probably by Jacob Rees-Mogg! Iām just surprised they didnāt go the whole hog and express their true feelings in the ad, and have all the women white, barefoot and pregnant.
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Er, what were we talking about?
With regards to the German saying that they will not give it to the over 65s and a chance that the EMA follows suits and then combine that with the demand to get hold of vaccines earmarked for the Uk, we have a situation where the Germans want to deprive the UK of vaccines to give to our elderly and vulnerable so that they can give it to younger citizens
Now if our doses for our under 50s were going towards their elderly you could kind of swallow that (I reserve the right to bitch like billyho) but the other way around? Fuck right off.
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My folks are booked in for next weeks 
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Well the thing is they are no āour dosesā they are AZs. UK and EU have orders with them and they as a private company will chose how to fulfil these ordersā¦ in normal circumstances, i suspect they will go with biggest and higher paying (for the rest of their portfolio) customerā¦ as stated before, could be a shitfestā¦
The time to start worrying is when they only give the vaccine to those with blond hair and blues eyes.
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Love this, this is brilliant, been laughing all day at this!
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You are batshit crazy, did you start the virus?
This will be about optics not contracts - the EU are already playing that game - they are running out of jabs because they backed the wrong horses or placed orders way too late and have created a row to deflect the inevitable shit storm coming their way when their members citizens realise there is no vaccine to be had
Even if there was unlimited supply of the stuff they still havenāt approved it - that cannot explain away why Madrid has had to stop their programme because they have run out - they are not alone
They have panicked. They have cast about looking for a solution and seen an opportunity. They are now trying to bully a company into breaking a contract to fulfill their own, which does not guarantee delivery but offers best efforts
Look I understand why they are doing it, but had the roles been reversed they would be sat smug in Brussels saying - tough shit thatās Brexit for you
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On another positive note, my mate is up and about. Managed to take the kids for a short walk today. Still has no appetite and is struggling to sleep, but it is night and day compared to how he was last week
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Hehe
That has screwed all those āinfluencersā
Direct flights stopped as well
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Novavax 89% effective - also against the new strains on the verge of approval
60m doses to be made in Stockton on Tees
But I expect the EU have decided that the exploratory talks which concluded in December take precedence
Today in the ongoing series āwhose dose is it anywayā
The EU are threatening to publish a redacted copy of the AZ contract - not doubt redacted all those clauses that make their position uncomfortable/ untenable
It also turns out that the best efforts clause was originally in the UK contract until we told them to do one and we want a legally binding commitment - which we got
For the EU, because they dithered so badly, this was not an option
The other thing to consider is that AZ have got a debt to the British govt. Oxford were originally going to sign with Merck, the US producer, however at the eleventh hour, the Govt intervened and asked them to go with a UK company, because they were concerned that the orange wotsit would snaffle all of the output for the US. In return, the UK government funded the research, as well as paid for doses - the EU have just come to the party once the programme was well under way - much less risk.
There is also a real prospect of a Pfizer export ban today. Not just to the UK, but the RoW. The Pfizer drug is made in the EU and the US. The US plants are solely providing the US market. The EU plants supply the RoW.
If they cut of supply, they will jeopardize the roll outs of every country outside the US using Pfizer. There is also a humanitarian aspect of denying those people who have had their first jabs, a second - this will win them no friends at all.
Some insight as to why we are ahead of the curve on vaccines
Kate Bingham said the UKās head-start was down to early production preparation, as much as it was down to signing a contract early on.
She told BBC Radio 4ās Today programme: "Iām not going to get into the details of the contacts but one of the things the CEO of AZ (AstraZeneca) did not mention is that we actually started scaling up manufacture of the Oxford vaccine from February.
"So, yes, we signed the contract, or agreed terms with AZ, in May, but actually the work to scale up the manufacturing started months before that, and it is that early work that was done by the industry - voluntarily, not based on contracts or requirements but a voluntary coalition of the different companies.
āThat is what has ultimately made the difference as to why we are so far ahead on manufacturing.ā
Thatās the baby that Iāve been volunteering my good health for, I feel like a proud father this morningā¦
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Sympathy to many who are gonna be stuck in Dubai after the golf this weekend.
Quite a few regulars went back as volunteers and now face huge stress/Billās getting back via KLM/Lufthansa
The Pros & Sky crews will all be covered by insurance/charters.
No sympathy for the air head influencers in swimwear though
EU āin negotiationsā with Novavax about supply order
The European Commission is in negotiations with Novavax about the amount of Covid-19 vaccines it is going to order from the US company, Germanyās Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday.
They havenāt even ordered any - no doubt they will want first dibs, because its ānot like going to the butchersā
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