The EU must consider mandatory vaccination in response to the spread of the 'highly contagious' Omicron Covid variant across Europe, the European Commission president has said. Ursula von der Leyen said one-third of Europe's 150-million population were not vaccinated and it was 'appropriate' to discuss the issue
Continue reading...Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation
Prince Harry compares Covid vaccine inequity to HIV struggle
Duke of Sussex says on World Aids Day that vaccinating the world against Covid is ‘test of our moral character’
The Duke of Sussex has warned of “corporate greed and political failure” prolonging the Covid pandemic, comparing a “spectacular failure” of global vaccine equity to the struggle by millions to access HIV medicines.
In a letter read out at a World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS event on World Aids Day, Prince Harry said lessons must be learned from the HIV/Aids pandemic.
Continue reading...Covid-19 variants may not evolve to be less dangerous, says Neil Ferguson
Senior UK scientist says extent of threat posed by Omicron will not be clear until end of year
People should not assume that Covid will evolve to become a milder disease, a senior scientist has warned, adding that the threat posed by the Omicron coronavirus variant will not be clear until the end of December.
Prof Neil Ferguson, head of the disease outbreak analysis and modelling group at Imperial College London, told MPs on Wednesday that while evolution would drive Covid to spread more easily the virus might not become less dangerous.
Continue reading...Covid news: Omicron detected in US; UK reports 48,374 new cases and 171 deaths – as it happened
Case identified in California; UK infections on rise amid fears over Omicron variant; non-EU travellers to France must have negative Covid test regardless of vaccination status
- Omicron variant found around the world as countries tighten travel rules
- Israeli doctor believes he caught Omicron at London medical conference
- Covid variants may not evolve to be less dangerous, says UK expert
- WHO advises vulnerable, unvaccinated and over 60s, against travel
- When did the Omicron variant arrive in UK and is it spreading?
- UK coronavirus updates – live
Three people who escaped an Australian Covid quarantine facility have been arrested.
Our reporter Cait Kelly from Melbourne, Australia, has the story.
Continue reading...EU must consider mandatory Covid jabs, says Von der Leyen
European Commission president says EU states need to discuss idea in response to spread of Omicron variant
The EU must consider mandatory vaccination in response to the spread of the “highly contagious” Omicron Covid variant across Europe, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said.
In a call to arms, Von der Leyen said the EU’s 27 member states should rapidly deploy booster doses and a commission communique backed countries that opted to temporarily enforce pre-travel PCR tests even within the bloc’s borders.
Continue reading...Omicron Covid variant ‘present in Europe at least 10 days ago’
Two cases of new Covid variant found in Netherlands predate last week’s alert from South Africa
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 was present in Europe at least 10 days ago and already appears to be spreading in the Netherlands and elsewhere.
“We have found the Omicron coronavirus variant in two test samples that were taken on November 19 and 23,” the Dutch health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “It is not yet clear whether these people had also visited southern Africa,” the ministry added.
Continue reading...All adults to be offered third Covid jab by end of January, says Boris Johnson
PM tells Downing Street press conference temporary vaccine centres will be ‘popping up like Christmas trees’
Every eligible adult in the UK should be offered a Covid booster by the end of January as ministers race to increase protection against the Omicron variant, Boris Johnson has announced.
“We’re going to be throwing everything at it, to ensure everyone eligible is offered a booster in just over two months,” the prime minister said, adding that he would be getting his own third vaccine on Thursday.
Continue reading...Why Omicron is the most worrying Covid variant yet – video explainer
The discovery of a new and potentially vaccine-resistant Covid variant has concerned governments and unnerved markets around the world. Omicron has prompted the return of border closures and mandatory testing and mask wearing as countries attempt to slow its spread.
The number of mutations on its spike protein - the part of the virus vaccines use to prime the immune system - has concerned scientists, but it will take weeks to determine the extent of the threat Omicron poses. The Guardian's science correspondent Linda Geddes explains
- Omicron: everything you need to know about new Covid variant
- Despite reports of milder symptoms Omicron should not be underestimated
- Omicron: entry bans spread as China pledges 1bn jabs for Africa
Testing, vaccines, sequencing: experts call for multi-pronged approach to Omicron
‘Best hope’ for containing the new variant is worldwide vaccine campaign where rates are low, public health experts say
As new cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant are uncovered across the globe and threaten to spread in America, US officials are reacting by urging vaccinations and boosters instead of imposing restrictions which have increasingly provoked political fights.
But the US should quickly invest in other tools as well, experts said, including testing, genomic sequencing and surveillance, better communication, and a strong focus on global vaccine equity to prevent the emergence of new variants.
Continue reading...Covid live: boosters may protect against Omicron, says Israel’s health minister, as US checks vaccine effectiveness
Nitzan Horowitz says ‘already room for optimism’ that vaccines will cover new variant; US Food & Drug Administration checking if tweaks needed
- Omicron Covid variant ‘present in Europe at least 10 days ago’
- Moderna boss predicts current jabs may be less effective against Omicron
- Germany’s chancellor-to-be Olaf Scholz ‘backs mandatory Covid jabs’
- All UK adults to be offered third jab by end of January, says Johnson
Stock markets in Asia have bounced back again as investors’ concerns about the new Omicron Covid variant eased. In Australia the ASX200 was up more than 1%, while in Japan the Nikkei was up 0.75%.
It followed a stronger showing on Monday on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.6% and the broader S&P500 was up 1.2% after some hefty losses on Friday, when news of the new strain shook confidence.
There are so many unknowns about Omicron and the market has been jumping at shadows.
After such a strong run and with elevated valuations, the market will always be susceptible to the odd shakeout on news that could bring risk.
Hong Kong’s very stringent system of boarding, quarantine and also testing requirements has successfully stopped the transmission of the three Omicron cases, that we have identified in our designated quarantine hotel, from going into the community.
Non-Hong Kong residents from these four places will not be allowed to enter Hong Kong.
The most stringent quarantine requirements will also be implemented on relevant inbound travellers from these places.
Continue reading...Covid: UK aims for 500,000 jabs a day in bid to outpace Omicron variant
Ministers to ramp up vaccinations to 3.5m a week as minimum gap for boosters is halved to three months
Ministers are targeting a return to half a million UK Covid jabs a day as the waiting time for boosters was cut to three months in a bid to outpace the Omicron variant that scientists believe is already spreading in the community.
Confirmed Omicron cases rose to 11 in England and Scotland on Monday, with scientific advisers braced for hundreds more to be detected in the next week or so.
Continue reading...South African scientists explore vaccines’ effectiveness against Omicron
Crucial work will study how well current jabs work and whether they need to be updated to tackle new variant
Scientists in South Africa have begun crucial work to assess how well Covid vaccines hold up against the Omicron variant that has been detected in more than a dozen countries since it was formally reported last week.
The variant carries dozens of mutations that are expected to change how the virus behaves, including its ability to cause infection and how well it can hide from immune defences primed by vaccines or previous infection with an older variant.
Continue reading...Sajid Javid outlines changes to Covid vaccine booster programme – video
Sajid Javid has announced changes to the UK's coronavirus vaccine booster programme, including advising that all adults in the country should be offered third doses from just three months after their second vaccinations. Speaking in the Commons, the health secretary outlined this and other changes aimed at speeding up booster vaccinations as the government scrambles to limit the spread of the new Omicron variant
Continue reading...Nursing unions around world call for UN action on Covid vaccine patents
Bodies in 28 countries file appeal for waiver of intellectual property agreement and end to ‘grossly unjust’ distribution of jabs
Nursing unions in 28 countries have filed a formal appeal with the United Nations over the refusal of the UK, EU and others to temporarily waive patents for Covid vaccines, saying this has cost huge numbers of lives in developing nations.
The letter, sent on Monday on behalf of unions representing more than 2.5 million healthcare workers, said staff have witnessed at first hand the “staggering numbers of deaths and the immense suffering caused by political inaction”.
Continue reading...Australia politics live update: national cabinet to discuss Omicron response as Covid variant detected in NSW; ABC announces new RN Breakfast host
National cabinet meeting brought forward to discuss Omicron response; Patricia Karvelas announced as Fran Kelly’s replacement for RN Breakfast; radical plan to rehome racehorses; last sitting week of 2021. Follow all the news live
- Australia confirms first Omicron cases
- Victoria, Queensland fume over federal climate intervention
- Omicron: everything you need to know about new Covid variant
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Over on Sydney radio 2GB NSW police minister David Elliott said he met with with premier Dominic Perrottet and health minister Brad Hazzard on Sunday about what NSW would do:
I’m not panicking at the moment because it appears that this is going to be the new normal.
We need to prepare and ... make sure that we’re flexible and agile when it comes to variations and we need to be defensive and that defensive mechanism of course, is the vaccination.
So, we’re taking a risk-balanced approach at the moment and concentrating on those nine southern African countries.
We have increased our surveillance at the border, and after the border, we’re working very closely with our colleagues in New South Wales and Victoria, particularly, because they’re the ones that have had quarantine-free travel, as well as in the ACT, as to what is the best approach.
Continue reading...What does appearance of Omicron variant mean for the double-vaccinated?
We find out how much protection Covid vaccines may offer amid speculation new variant could be more resistant
The emergence of Omicron has prompted widespread speculation that it may be more resistant to Covid-19 vaccines than existing variants, including Delta. But what does that mean for the average double-vaccinated person?
All the vaccines currently available in the UK work by training the immune system against the coronavirus spike protein – the key it uses to infect cells by binding to the ACE2 receptor. Omicron possesses more than 30 mutations in this protein, including 10 in the so-called “receptor-binding domain” (RBD) – the specific part that latches on to this receptor. Delta has two RBD mutations.
Continue reading...Fauci: US could face ‘fifth wave’ of Covid as Omicron variant nears
- Collins and Fauci emphasise need for vaccines and boosters
- Warning that variant shows signs of heightened transmissibility
- Coronavirus: live coverage
Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said on Sunday the US has “the potential to go into a fifth wave” of coronavirus infections amid rising cases and stagnating vaccination rates. He also warned that the newly discovered Omicron variant shows signs of heightened transmissibility.
As Fauci toured the US political talkshows, countries around the world including the US scrambled to guard against Omicron, which has stoked fears of vaccine resistance.
Continue reading...How bad will the Omicron Covid variant be in Britain? Three things will tell us | Devi Sridhar
A new variant identified in southern Africa is causing global panic – but its real impact will be shown by the data scientists are racing to establish
- Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh
- Coronavirus – latest updates
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Omicron, the name of the new Covid-19 variant that is sending worrying signals from southern Africa, sounds like something from Transformers. It has caused panic across the world, among governments, the public and the stock markets. After adding a number of southern African countries to the red list, the UK government has reimposed mandatory masks in England from Tuesday, and will require anyone travelling to the country from abroad to take a PCR test. Omicron is probably the first variant to have scientists worried since Delta became the predominant strain in every country last summer. But how bad it is? What does it mean for future lockdowns – and future deaths?
Scientists are waiting on three pieces of data before they will be able to tell what effect this new variant will have over the next six to 12 months. The first is how infectious Omicron is. Can it outcompete Delta? Earlier this year we saw another worrying variant, Beta, that luckily faded away as a result of a selective advantage in Delta that allowed it to transmit faster between people. Limited data from South Africa shows that Omicron is very infectious, but whether it will become the predominant strain remains to be seen.
Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh
Continue reading...Swiss voters back law behind Covid vaccine certificate
After tense campaign, early results show about two-thirds in favour of law giving legal basis for Covid pass
Swiss voters have firmly backed the law behind the country’s Covid pass in a referendum, following a tense campaign that saw unprecedented levels of hostility.
Early results on Sunday showed about two-thirds of voters supported the law, with market researchers GFS Bern projecting 63% backing.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson tightens rules on travel and mask-wearing over Omicron concerns
Travellers to UK must take PCR tests and masks to be made mandatory in shops and on public transport
Boris Johnson has announced fresh measures to curb the spread of coronavirus including mandatory masks in shops and PCR tests for travellers entering England after two cases of the Omicron variant were detected in the country.
Amid mounting global concern over Omicron, named a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization on Friday, the prime minister set out a series of steps the UK is taking to maximise its defence against Covid-19.
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