Why punish the good?

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

AstraZeneca must be having the same sinking feeling as the Sri Lankans, who are in the same predicament, being punished for doing good! AstraZeneca agreed, with the Oxford group, to fund the development of a vaccine against Covid-19 and market it at cost, as a service. But Oxford AZ vaccine continues to hit the headlines for the wrong reasons, unfortunately!

We eradicated terrorism at great sacrifice and are the only country in the world to defeat a terrorist outfit rather than make peace with maniacs. What has the world rewarded us with? Nothing but continuous hounding with trumped-up charges. We are accused of crimes, on the basis of testimonies that cannot be verified or tested and sealed in confidentiality. King Kekille seems to have inspired the do-gooders hounding us. Our editor has spoken for all peace-loving Sri Lankans with his hard-hitting editorial “Criminals as judges” (The Island, 24th March). Therefore, I need not dwell on this matter further.

Two German ladies and a Frenchman have done immense damage, not only to the Oxford AZ vaccine but also to vaccinations in general, by adding fuel to the fire ignited by vaccine doubters. I remember one of our regular lady writers singing, praises of these two German ladies, a few weeks ago, and wonder whether she is regretting that she spoke too soon! There is no doubt that Angela Merkel had done much for Germany, so much so that, perhaps, a cynic may say that she almost achieved by politics what Hitler could not do militarily. It is a great shame that the curtain falls on her career with actions not worthy of any world leader. She clamoured for greater European union but decided, against the reassurances based on scientific evidence by the European regulator, to slur the Oxford AZ vaccine. Her latest comment, “In my opinion our actions have not harmed the AZ vaccine”, must be the biggest underestimation of the year!

Having read my article “Oxford AZ vaccine: Clots or plots” (The Island, 18th March), the Physician-in-charge of the Covid-19 campaign for Central Province sent this comment:

“My worry is why there is so much publicity in SL for the banning of AZ vaccine in Germany. Our people anyway look at the bad side of anything. Even 30% of HCWs refused the first dose in Kandy. Most likely fear of fever and chills. With this new news of thrombosis, the vaccination rate will further go down.”

I am sure this problem is replicated not only in other parts of Sri Lanka but also around the world. In fact, a recent survey has shown 60% of Germans are reluctant to take the Oxford AZ vaccine. How on earth can Angela say no harm was done?

The Frenchman, I referred to, of course, is President Macron who made derogatory comments about the Oxford AZ vaccine by hinting that it is sub-optimal and followed the German lead in halting the use of the Oxford AZ vaccine. As a result, 50% of French are reported to be reluctant to take this vaccine. This in a country which already has the highest refusal rates for vaccinations in Europe. The latest is that Macron is now blaming the EU Commission for the poor role out of the vaccination programme!

The other German lady, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been behaving like a dog in the manger. She criticizes the Oxford AZ vaccine on one hand and blames AZ on the other hand for not honouring contracts with member states! AZ maintains that they are not in breach of any contract. EU threatened to take AZ to court but instead of doing that she continues to hurl insults at AZ. She is threatening to impose a ban on exports of AZ vaccine manufactured in the EU. Whilst all this is happening, 26 million doses of the vaccine is lying idle in refrigerators round the EU. Pity they do not realize that to control the epidemic the vaccine should be in the muscles of those who badly need protection, than in refrigerators!

Some Sri Lankan media reported that ‘AstraZeneca on Wednesday revised down by three percentage points the effectiveness of its COVID vaccine after American authorities raised concerns that results reported from its US trial were outdated’. Is this cause for concern? Certainly not. What was not revised is that it gave 100% protection against severe disease and death. Further, the trial data is superseded by real-world data, following mass vaccination, which shows that Oxford AZ vaccine is at least as effective as others, if not better.

Therefore, why this furore? AstraZeneca committed a cardinal sin against capitalism; not putting profits first! Whilst American Pfizer and collaborator German BioNTech as well as American Moderna are laughing their way to the bank, it is reported that all this fuss has led to a loss of around 20 million Pounds for Astra-Zeneca!

AstraZeneca! We feel for you. We live in a world where good deeds are punished!