France U-turns on AstraZeneca Covid vaccine amid EU shortfall of 90M doses

France’s government has said it wants to ‘rehabilitate’ the AstraZeneca vaccine as EU leaders try to undo the doubts they sowed about the jab which have led to low uptake despite its proven effectiveness.   The French health ministry admitted that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine had an ‘image deficit’ which had led to ‘feeble’ usage of the … Read more

Astrazeneca boss Pascal Soriot is the £90m vaccine hero

Astrazeneca boss Pascal Soriot scooped £15.4million in pay last year – taking his earnings to almost £90million since he took the reins at the British drug maker nine years ago. The chief executive’s 2020 package, his biggest yet, is up from £15.3million the previous year. It comes after his decision to join forces with Oxford … Read more

Exempting foreign NHS workers from surcharge only costs £90m

Boris Johnson’s reasoning for refusing to exempt foreign NHS workers from the healthcare surcharge began unravelling tonight when a top economist slapped down his suggestion it would cost hundreds of millions.  The Prime Minister today hailed the £400 annual fee for migrants as a £900million revenue raiser, as he swatted away calls for the government … Read more

Exempting foreign NHS workers would only cost £90m says IFS

Boris Johnson’s reasoning for refusing to exempt foreign NHS workers from the healthcare surcharge began unravelling tonight when a top economist slapped down his suggestion it would cost hundreds of millions.  The Prime Minister today hailed the £400 annual fee for migrants as a £900million revenue raiser, as he swatted away calls for the government … Read more

HEALTH NOTES: £90m of unused medicine lying around in homes  

HEALTH NOTES: £90m of unused medicine lying around in homes By Mail on Sunday Reporter Published: 22:02 GMT, 7 December 2019 | Updated: 12:53 GMT, 10 December 2019 Millions of British patients don’t take their prescribed pills, new research suggests.  Nearly half of adults admit to regularly forgetting to take medication, while one in five say … Read more