Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Inhale & Four daily puffs of £14 inhaler proven to work against Covid
Brown calls for a global vaxx effort
G7 nations should pledge £22billion a year in a “Herculean” push for global Covid vaccination, Gordon Brown said yesterday.
The former Prime Minister called for the mass inoculation of the world to be the main focus of June’s G7 summit in Cornwall.
US President Joe Biden is expected to attend along with the other leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the EU.
Mr Brown said: “No one’s going to be safe anywhere until everybody is safe.”
Vaccines are shared internationally under the Who-backed Covax programme. But the ex-labour leader said total global vaccination would cost $30billion [£22bn] a year, a bill “no one so far seems willing to fully underwrite”.
A COMMON asthma inhaler costing just £14 has been proven to work against coronavirus.
GPS are being encouraged to prescribe the puffers for older patients to self-treat at home after a clinical trial found it helped non-hospitalised over-50s cope with and recover from Covid-19.
Two puffs of the budesonide inhaler, twice a day, is enough to see results, the NHS trial showed.
Research at Oxford university found the drug, a corticosteroid, can cut recovery time by three days.
Those who use it are 46% more likely to report sustained recovery after 28 days, it was found. It suggests the inhaler reduces the risk of debilitating long covid.
NHS England told GPS to consider prescribing the drug immediately to older people on a case-by-case basis.
Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said doctors could go ahead “where there is a medical benefit to patients following a shared decision conversation”.
The Government-funded clinical trial was set up to identify existing drugs that work against Covid-19.
The findings means the UK has identified the world’s first cheap, readily available and effective drug for patients to selftreat at home.
The trial involved 1,799 patients who reported symptoms to their GP and were either over 65 or aged 50 to 64 with another health condition.
Analysis showed budesonide cut recovery time by three days in patients at higher risk of more severe illness who were treated in the community.
Prof Richard Hobbs, the clinical trial’s chief investigator, hailed the discovery a “significant milestone”.
He said: “For the first time we have high-quality evidence of an effective treatment that can be rolled out across the community for people who are at most risk of developing more severe illness from Covid-19.
“Unlike other proven treatments, budesonide is effective as a treatment at home and during the early stages of the illness.”
After 28 days, 32% of patients on budesonide reported sustained recovery compared to 22% given standard NHS care, scientists found.
Co-principal investigator Gail Hayward said: “I’m a GP as well as a