The World Health Organization (WHO) Mondayapprovedtwo versions of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID vaccine for emergency use despite growing safety concerns in other countries andearlier questionsabout the drugmaker’s clinical trials.

Countries like the U.S., UK, Israel, Saudi Arabia and others have their own regulatory process for grantingemergency use approvalfor vaccines and other drugs, but those countries that lack the necessary regulatory frameworkrely on WHOto vet vaccines.

WHO’s approval of the vaccines produced byAstraZeneca-SKBio(Republic of Korea) and theSerum Institute of Indiapaves the way for300 million dosesof AstraZeneca to reach 145 countries in the first half of 2021, throughBill Gates’COVAXprogram.

But while WHO is moving forward, other countries are hitting pause on AstraZeneca amid ongoing reports ofside effectsand lack of efficacy.

According toFierce Pharma, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may not approve the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine due to inconsistent manufacturing concerns and astudyreleased earlier this month showing the vaccine’s efficacy against mild and moderateCOVID-19cases was only 21.9%, well below the 50%threshold requiredfor vaccine approval.

According to theWall Street Journal, South Africa suspended plans to distribute the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine when the same study showed only 10% efficacy at protecting against mild and moderate COVID-19 cases from the new South Africanvariant.

South Africa’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize,said, “the country would temporarily halt a planned rollout of the vaccine until there was more information on the vaccine’s efficacy” and insteaddistributethe as of yet unapprovedJohnson & Johnsonvaccine.

Although theEuropean Medicines Agencyauthorized the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine for anyone over the age of 18, Germany did notauthorizethe vaccine for use in people 65 or over citing a “lack of efficacy.”

According to theBBC, France’s health regulator said there was still not enough data about the effectiveness of the vaccine in people over 65.Austria, Belgium,Polandand Switzerlandalso recommendedthe vaccine not be given to older people, citing insufficient evidence.

Reuters reported todaythat health authorities in some European countries are experiencing resistance to AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine after hospital staff and front-line workers experienced adverse reactions. Although a spokesman for AstraZeneca said side effects are to be expected, France, Germany and Sweden are experiencing more side effects from the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine than from thePfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to Reuters.

Two regions in Swedentemporarily haltedvaccinations last week after 400 people received the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine and 100 people experiencedadverse reactionsleaving them unable to work. Another regionobserveda surprising number of side effects after a mass vaccination effort of more than 500 people.

“There seems to have been a larger proportion of side effects than expected,” Andreas Heddini, medical director of AstraZeneca in the Nordic regiontold SVT News. “We have seen that somewhere around 10 percent of those vaccinated are expected to have side effects of this kind.”

Multiple adverse reactions werereportedduring the 2020 AstraZeneca trials, including spinal cord damage consistent withtransverse myelitis, death and acute neuro encephalopathy. Although global trials weretemporarily paused, the trial in India moved forward and Indian Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan,saidduring a press conference that the adverse event would “not affect the timeline in any manner whatsoever.”

The AstraZeneca vaccine isdifferentfrom Pfizer and Moderna’smRNACOVID vaccines. The AstraZeneca vaccine is based on the virus’ genetic instructions for building thespike protein— proteins on theSARS-CoV-2 virusthat it uses to enter human cells. Whereas Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines use single-stranded RNA to “store” these instructions, the AstraZeneca vaccine uses double-stranded DNA. Researchers then added the gene for the coronavirus spike protein to a modified version of a chimpanzee adenovirus that can enter cells.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is similar to the controversialebola vaccine, a DNA and recombinant-based adenovirus vaccine, which, asThe Defender reportedin December, may put some populations at heightened risk of developing HIV.

Despite AstraZeneca’sconfusing resultsand efficacy of only 63.09% compared to the95% efficacy ratingof Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, it is hailed because it is easier and cheaper to produce than other rivals that have already been approved by WHO. WHO is focused on scaling up production and distribution of the vaccine,explainedTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general.

The AstraZeneca vaccine will reach the masses through a program called “COVAX,” a mechanism for procurement and distribution of vaccines. COVAX was founded by Bill Gates and is co-led by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) set up in 1999 withseed moneyfrom the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since 1999, the foundation hascommittedmore $4 billion to GAVI and has a permanent seat on the board.

Gates’ foundation also co-founded the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI)launchedin 2017 to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics and is amajor donorto WHO second only to the U.S.

Gatesfundedthe manufacturing and distribution of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine through GAVI and CEPI, providedmillionsto the Serum Institute of India to manufacture the vaccine, and is funding the “safety and efficacy”studiesof the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in Brazil and South Africa. Although data from these studies have yet to be released, it forms the basis of Gates’ mostrecent warningthat a “third dose of the vaccine,” boosters, or a “tuned vaccine” may be needed to combat coronavirus variants. According to GAVI, the Gates Foundation plays a key financial and technical role inshaping vaccine markets, while providing the data and financial support for market investments. The AstraZeneca vaccine forms the bulk of the stockpilealready acquiredby Gates’ COVAX.

WHOrecommendsthe use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine even in countries that have expressed concerns about safety and efficacy, and for all age groups over 18, including the older populations. WHO expertsclaimthe benefits outweigh the risks of this experimental and controversial vaccine.

And this is the taxpayer funded Covid vaccine being manufactured in Australia for wide use;
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/who-approves-astrazeneca-vaccine-emergency-use/