Scientists and politicians “probably killed hundreds of thousands of people” by damaging the reputation of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine, according to an Oxford scientist who worked on the jab.Prof John Bell said: “They have damaged the reputation of the vaccine in a way that echoes around the rest of the world.”“I think bad behaviour from scientists and from politicians has probably killed hundreds of thousands of people – and that they cannot be proud of that,” he told a BBC Two documentary.

Refusal or reluctance to have a COVID-19 vaccine may be linked to traumatic events in childhood, such as parents separating, neglect, or physical, verbal and sexual abuse, new research suggests.Those who suffer in childhood are also least likely to trust official National Health Service (NHS) coronavirus information, follow the rules of restrictions or wear masks during the pandemic, public health experts found.Two years after the virus first reached the United Kingdom (UK) and a year after v

It has been a year since the United Kingdom (UK) became the first western country to license a vaccine against COVID and since then the world has embarked on a battle against the virus.Here is a history of the vaccine development.November 2020At this time, there were a number of COVID vaccine candidates being tested in large phase 3 clinical trials. Among the jabs being considered was the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca one.

Future pandemics could be more lethal than the current COVID crisis, one of the creators of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has warned.Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, delivering the 44th Richard Dimbleby Lecture, said there needed to be more funding for pandemic preparedness to prevent the advances made from being lost.She also warned vaccines could be less effective against the Omicron variant.Dame Sarah added that people should be cautious until more was known about it.She said: "This will not

The United Kingdom's Health Security Agency says its analysis of English data shows COVID vaccines are safe in pregnancy, reinforcing international evidence.The agency found similar rates of stillbirths and preterm births for vaccinated and unvaccinated mothers.Researchers say women should feel confident the jabs will help protect them and urge more to take them.Their report shows just 22 percent of women who gave birth in August had had at least one jab.Since mid-April, mothers-to-be ha

COVID is now a pandemic of poor nations, a leading global expert has told a cross-party group of United Kingdom's MPs, adding that governments that are attempting to vaccinate their way out of the pandemic are taking a huge risk.Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on COVID, told the all-party group on coronavirus that the world was still deep in the pandemic, with 5,413 reported deaths in the past 24 hours alone.

On Friday, youth campaigners, indigenous leaders and Extinction Rebellion members raised a cacophony of chants and drum beats outside COP26, and civil society groups inside the conference complex staged a walkout to join them.Within the United Nations-controlled blue zone, delegates darted through the endless meeting halls or hunched around laptops as the clock counted down tense minutes to the end of the 12-day conference that is widely understood to be crucial to the future of humanity.The

There is a never-ending stream of data about COVID and at times it can seem completely contradictory. So where do we stand at the moment?The number of people testing positive is continuing to fall, but are we wrong to constantly tout this number around? It is looking certain that the epidemic in schoolchildren is in decline, but why, and will it last? And do we need to pay more attention to infections in older age groups?

Britain on Thursday became the first country to approve an anti-COVID pill, as it greenlit the use of Merck's antiviral drug to treat patients suffering from mild to moderate coronavirus, regulators said. "Today is a historic day for our country, as the UK is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home for COVID-19," said health minister Sajid Javid."This will be a game-changer for the most vulnerable and the immunosuppress

Health officials and scientists are closely tracking a new mutation of the coronavirus amid concerns that it could be more transmissible than the original strain.A subvariant of the Delta variant of the virus labelled AY.4.2 has been detected in dozens of countries, with the vast majority of cases being reported in the United Kingdom (UK).“An increase in AY.