Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Australia Covid live update: AMA calls for mask mandate and density limits for Christmas; NSW reports record 3,057 cases, Victoria 1,245

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AMA calls for mask mandate and density limits for Christmas; South Australia records 154 new Covid cases, Queensland 86; RACP calls on state and territory governments to reintroduce restrictions as PM says ‘we’re not going back to lockdowns’; Victoria records 1,245 cases; NSW records 3,057 cases; national cabinet to discuss vaccination timeframes and mask mandates – follow all the day’s news live

According to Seven News Scott Morrison is supportive of an indoor mask mandate in light of the Omicron variant spreading throughout Australia, but not further lockdowns.

Thousands of customers are still without power on Sydney’s northern beaches after the brief but cyclonic weekend storm that felled power lines, leaving a trail of destruction, reports AAP.

It’s a very difficult time of year to be without power, and we apologise for the delays. We are doing everything we can to turn the lights back on as soon as possible. Where we can, we are progressively turning power back on, and as always the safety of our customers and staff remains our number one priority.

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Global Covid vaccination failure will harm Britain, Gordon Brown warns

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Exclusive: Ex-PM says virus will have ‘free rein to mutate’ unless richer countries fund $23bn vaccine drive

The failure to vaccinate the world against coronavirus will come back to haunt even fully vaccinated Britons in 2022, Gordon Brown has warned.

The former prime minister said the emergence of Omicron was “not Africa’s fault”, and added that new variants would continue to wreak havoc because richer countries such as the UK had “stockpiled” hundreds of millions of vaccines.

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Covid live: Thailand to consider ending quarantine-free travel; EU set to back Novavax vaccine

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Bangkok considering reinstating mandatory quarantine due to spread of Omicron; EU’s drug regulator will decide on whether to approve Novavax

Thailand’s public health minister said on Monday that his ministry will propose reinstating mandatory quarantine for foreign visitors due to concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant.

The proposal would scrap the current quarantine waiver for vaccinated visitors and revert to hotel quarantine and the “sandbox” programme, which allows free movement within a specific location, Anutin Charnvirakul told the Inside Thailand television show.

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Moderna says booster produces strong antibody response to Omicron

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Pharmaceuticals firm says third dose of its Covid vaccine increases antibodies against variant by 37-fold

The pharmaceuticals company Moderna has said a booster dose of its Covid vaccine appeared to protect against the fast-spreading Omicron variant in laboratory testing and that the current version will continue to beits “first line of defence against Omicron”.

The decision to focus on the current vaccine, mRNA-1273, was driven in part by how quickly the variant is spreading. The company plans to develop a vaccine specifically to protect against Omicron, which it hopes to advance into clinical trials early next year.

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Fauci: Omicron ‘raging through the world’ and travel increases Covid risks

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The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has “extraordinary spreading capabilities”, the top US infectious diseases expert said on Sunday, and promises to bring a bleak winter as it continues “raging through the world”.

Dr Anthony Fauci’s warning came ahead of the busy holiday travel period, which he said would elevate the risk of infection even in vaccinated people.

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Kamala Harris concedes White House ‘didn’t see’ Delta and Omicron coming

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Vice-president’s candid admission on Covid variants came in wide-ranging interview with the Los Angeles Times

Kamala Harris has conceded that the Biden administration was blind to the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants of Covid-19, and said she fears “misinformation” over vaccines will prolong the pandemic well into a third year.

The candid admission came in a wide-ranging interview with the Los Angeles Times, which followed reports that the vice-president was “struggling” to make a mark as Joe Biden’s No 2 and was keen for a more prominent role.

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Guests urged to be vaccinated at anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr’s party

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Kennedy said his wife, Cheryl Hines, was behind it and that he is ‘not always the boss at my own house’

Guests invited to a holiday party at the home of the leading anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr were urged to be vaccinated or tested for Covid-19 because, Kennedy said, he is “not always the boss at my own house”.

Speaking to Politico, which reported the request before the party in California last week, Kennedy said his wife, the actor Cheryl Hines, was behind it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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T-cells in Pfizer Covid jab recipients stay robust against severe illness

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Research in South Africa raises hopes that similar responses may be present with other vaccines

South African researchers examining how the body’s immune system responds to the Omicron variant have identified that T-cells in people who have had the Pfizer vaccine continue to be robust in potentially protecting against severe illness despite Omicron’s ability to evade other defences.

The research raises hopes that similar responses may be present with other vaccines and within unvaccinated individuals who have been infected with coronavirus.

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Why a UK Omicron wave is dangerous – even if we see mostly mild cases

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Analysis: If the spread continues at this rate, a small proportion of Covid hospitalisations is a serious matter

With the booster programme at full tilt across the UK, immunity against Covid is rising – so it is perhaps not surprising that the concern shown by experts over the steep rise in Omicron infections has left some bemused.

For while the new variant is believed to dodge Covid vaccines to some degree, it is thought the jabs still offer good protection against severe disease – particularly after a booster. And greater levels of immunity mean a lower ratio of hospitalisations to cases – something we have seen before in the UK, where about 22% of cases in those aged 65 and older ended up in hospital in early 2021, when Alpha was dominant but few had received a vaccine, compared with about 6% after the vaccine rollout was well under way.

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Bolsonaro threatens to identify officials who approved Covid jabs for children

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Brazilian president plans to reveal identities despite health officers receiving death threats

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has asked for the names of health officials who approved Covid vaccines for children, saying he planned to make their identities public despite previous death threats.

In late October, Brazil’s health regulator, Anvisa, released a statement saying five of its directors had received death threats over the possible approval of vaccinations for children of five-11. The agency granted such approval for the Pfizer shot on Thursday.

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Covid live: half of UK adults receive booster vaccine; Ireland sets 8pm curfew for hospitality venues

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Half of UK adults receive booster vaccine; Ireland will also face 50% capacity limit on events

Here is a bizarre story out of the US to add a little light relief to an otherwise sombre news day.

A Florida man wearing a red thong as a face mask was forced off a United Airlines flight after failing to comply with the federal mask mandate.

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Covid news live: France restricts UK tourists over Omicron; Portugal to lengthen border controls

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British tourists banned from entering France from Saturday; border controls in Portugal extended beyond 9 January to limit Omicron spread

New Zealand has detected its first case of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in a Christchurch managed isolation facility.

On Thursday afternoon, the director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said:

This is a person who is in managed isolation in Christchurch. The person arrived in New Zealand on a flight from Germany via Dubai that landed in Auckland...the people on that flight were transferred to Christchurch on a chartered domestic flight trip with all our usual protocols.

We fully expected we will find a case of Omicron and in fact, we are treating every border related case as if it were Omicron until proven otherwise. We have good protocols in place that are designed to stop the virus getting across the border.”

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Omicron R number estimated to be between 3 and 5, says UK health adviser – video

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Dr Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency, told a select committee on Thursday that for Omicron the R value was between 3 and 5 in the UK and that the variant was spreading rapidly – doubling in size every two days.

Hopkins said data on the severity of Omicron would not be known for another fortnight. At least 250 patients would need to be admitted to hospital before there could be a statistical analysis of the disease, she said

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Housebound elderly people waiting weeks for Covid boosters

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Charities say vulnerable older people ‘overlooked’ amid pressure to meet target of 1m top-up jabs a day

Housebound elderly people are having to wait weeks to get their booster vaccine, despite being a key priority group for top-up jabs, raising fears about them being left at risk.

Charities have warned that older people are being “overlooked” in the NHS’s rush to deliver the 1m boosters a day that Boris Johnson has ordered to reduce the threat posed by the Omicron variant.

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Covid live: Italy imposes mandatory testing for all EU arrivals; Poland announces further curbs as deaths rise

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Latest updates: unvaccinated arrivals must quarantine for five days; Poland reported 660 deaths in a day, the highest since April

A member of United States secretary of state Antony Blinken’s travelling press pool has tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival in Kuala Lumpur and is isolating, a state department spokesperson said.

Secretary Blinken and his senior staff were also tested upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur and were all tested negative, Reuters reports.

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GSK/Sanofi Covid booster delayed by lack of uninfected people to test it on

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Early trials show jab effective in people of all ages who have already received doses of any vaccine

Efforts by the British and French drugmakers GSK and Sanofi Pasteur to produce a Covid-19 vaccine have suffered a further setback, with final clinical data on the jab and a potential launch delayed until next year as they struggle to find enough uninfected people to test it on.

The two vaccine specialists announced positive preliminary results from a trial that showed the vaccine raised antibody levels against Covid by nine to 43 times when given as a single booster shot in people who had already received doses of AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, for all age groups.

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NSW cases jump; Qld passengers to be released from quarantine; Victoria lifts vaccine mandate for non-essential retail

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Victorian vaccine mandate lifted for non-essential retail; Omicron will inevitably spread through Queensland, CHO says; Qld hotspot passengers to be released from quarantine; Victoria records 1,405 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths; NSW cases jump to 1,360 infections, with one death; potential Omicron superspreader event in Melbourne – follow all the day’s news live

The New South Wales government has picked Kerry Schott to chair its net zero emissions and clean economy board, hoping for a happier outcome than its first attempt.

Earlier this year, the energy and environment minister Matt Kean chose former prime minister and mentor of sorts Malcolm Turnbull to lead that role.

Dr Schott is one of the most outstanding public servants in the country and brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience which will be invaluable as NSW drives towards halving our emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050.

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Coronavirus live: US Covid deaths surpass 800,000; Omicron poses real threat, says Moderna chief

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The United States has surpassed 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths; Moderna chief cautions against assumptions Omicron is milder than Delta

United States secretary of state Antony Blinken says by the end of next year, the US will have donated more than 1.2b Covid-19 vaccine doses to the world, Reuters is reporting.

The US air force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate.

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