Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Australia news live updates: NSW and Victoria close in on vaccination milestones; NT communities in lockdown after nine new Covid cases

Posted on by

Almost 90% of Victoria has had first dose of Covid vaccine as state records 1,275 new cases and four deaths; NSW records 176 cases and two deaths as state nears 95% first vaccination dose milestone; two more NT communities in lockdown after nine new cases on Saturday; 16 Covid cases in ACT; thunderstorm warning for south-west WA and severe weather warnings in place across NSW – follow all the day’s news

Speers has asked Chalmers about the anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination protestors that took place in Victoria yesterday.

Do you accept that there are some people concerned about vaccine mandates who aren’t necessarily extremists?

You can express a view in this country without dragging around gallows and noose and calling for premiers to be hanged. I condemn without reservation, without qualification, the violent threats being made here, even if the prime minister won’t.

We live in a society, and that means we have obligations to each other to try to tame this virus, to look out for each other, to protect each other, to try to keep each other safe and what the prime minister is trying to do is trying to divide us, trying to diminish that collective effort and undermine all of the good and all of the progress that Australians have made together. He does that with this dangerous dog whistling double-speak that we see from him. He does it by claiming credit for high vaccination rates without taking responsibility for the measures that are necessary to get those rates up.

Continue reading...

US Covid infections rising again as upper midwest sees biggest jump

Posted on by

Increase comes ahead of Thanksgiving as families gather in homes, and as winter approaches, forcing people indoors

America’s Covid-19 infections are climbing again, and could soon hit a weekly average of 100,000 cases a day as daily case reports increase more than 20% across the upper midwest.

The fresh worsening of the coronavirus pandemic in the US comes as temperatures cool during the approach of winter, forcing people indoors where the virus is believed to spread more readily and may presage another wave.

Continue reading...

Europe’s Covid wave shows jab uptake in UK is ‘critical’, Sage member says

Posted on by

Prof John Edmunds says millions still unvaccinated and warns that surge on continent ‘shows how quickly things can go wrong’

The surge in coronavirus infections across Europe shows the “critical” need for people in the UK to get vaccinated, a government scientific adviser has said.

Prof John Edmunds, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told Sky News that the rise in cases on the continent underlined “how quickly things can go wrong”. He pointed out that there were still “many millions” across the UK who were still not fully vaccinated, while some have not had any Covid shots at all.

Continue reading...

WHO: Another 500,000 people in Europe could die of Covid by March

Posted on by

WHO’s Europe director calls more public health measures to be implemented as fresh wave of infections spreads across continent

The World Health Organization has said another 500,000 people in Europe could die of Covid by March next year unless urgent action is taken.

The WHO’s Europe director, Dr Hans Kluge, said he was very worried about a fresh wave of infections that had spread across the continent and led countries to announce new restrictions.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Hong Kong authorises Sinovac vaccine for children aged 3-17, Rotterdam riots condemned

Posted on by

The Coronavirus infections rate in the Czech Republic hit a new record for the second time this week, the health ministry said on Saturday.

It announced that the daily tally rose to 22,936 on Friday, almost 500 more than the previous record set on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong authorises Sinovac Covid vaccine for children aged 3 to 17

Posted on by

Benefits of approving age extension outweigh the risks, says secretary for food and health

Hong Kong has approved lowering the age limit for the Covid-19 vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech to three, down from 18 years of age.

Hong Kong’s secretary for food and health, Sophia Chan, said in a statement published on Saturday: “Adolescents aged 12 to 17 will be accorded priority to receive the CoronaVac vaccine, with a view to extending to children of a younger age group at a later stage.”.

Continue reading...

Covid live: Dutch police open fire at protest; German government not ruling out full lockdown — as it happened

Posted on by

Two injured as police in Rotterdam fire warning shots; German health minister says nothing can be ruled out

A quick snap from Reuters here that the UK government has announced it will add booster shot status to the Covid-19 pass for outbound international travel, though it said they would not be added to the domestic pass at this time.

The health ministry said that travellers who have had a booster or a third dose would be able to demonstrate their vaccine status through the NHS Covid pass from Friday, adding that a booster was not necessary to travel into England.

This pandemic has exposed a vulnerability to whole-system emergencies – that is, emergencies that are so broad that they engage the entire system. Although the government had plans for an influenza pandemic, it did not have detailed plans for many non-health consequences and some health consequences of a pandemic like Covid-19. There were lessons from previous simulation exercises that were not fully implemented and would have helped prepare for a pandemic like Covid-19. There was limited oversight and assurance of plans in place, and many pre-pandemic plans were not adequate. In addition, there is variation in capacity, capability and maturity of risk management across government departments.

Continue reading...

‘No way around it’: Austrians queue for jabs as unvaccinated told to stay home

Posted on by

In Linz, jab willingness is rising as police check Covid passports – but confusion remains on what is essential travel

On a street of shops in the Austrian city of Linz, a stone’s throw from the winding Danube river, two police officers in navy-blue uniforms and peaked white caps stop random passersby to check their vaccine passports.

Elderly shoppers rummage around in their handbags and comply with a smile, but a fortysomething woman with a nose piercing is less forthcoming: she says she left her immunisation certificate on the kitchen table as she had to dash across town to see a dentist.

Continue reading...

Covid live: UK reports 46,807 new cases and 199 deaths; Austria provinces to lockdown fully amid record cases

Posted on by

UK cases remain high; Austria’s daily infections hit a new record

From Washington, David Smith brings us this report about hard-hitting Covid-19 documentary The First Wave:

It is tempting to suggest that the Covid deniers, the hoaxers, the hucksters, the anti-vaxxers, the flat earthers, the merchants of disinformation and the crackpot conspiracy theorists be strapped into a chair and force fed The First Wave, a harrowing documentary about the early toll of the coronavirus pandemic.

Continue reading...

Philadelphia lab briefly locked down after worker finds ‘smallpox’ vials in freezer

Posted on by

Worker found ‘questionable vials’ while cleaning out freezer, but CDC says no one was exposed to the deadly disease

A lab worker at a Merck facility outside Philadelphia found 15 “questionable vials” labeled “smallpox” and “vaccinia” while cleaning out a freezer earlier this week, raising harrowing security concerns.

The FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the discovery, which involves a disease that is believed to have killed more than 300 million people since the dawn of the 20th century.

Continue reading...

German health chief urges Covid crackdown to avert ‘very bad Christmas’

Posted on by

Country facing ‘extremely dismal days’ as it set ninth consecutive record for daily case numbers

The head of Germany’s disease control agency has said the country is heading for a “very bad Christmas season” if drastic measures are not taken to dampen the spread of coronavirus.

Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), said that even if measures were taken Germany faced a period of “extremely dismal days” during which hundreds of people would die out of those currently infected.

Continue reading...

‘Zero-Covid is not going to happen’: experts predict a steep rise in US cases this winter

Posted on by

Total US deaths from Covid may reach 1 million by spring as vaccination rates remain lower than 60%

A steep rise in Covid-19 cases in Europe should serve as a warning that the US could also see significant increases in coronavirus cases this winter, particularly in the nation’s colder regions, scientists say.

However, there is more cause for optimism as America enters its second pandemic winter, even in the face of likely rises in cases.

Continue reading...

US leaders urge Covid boosters for all ahead of expected FDA authorization

Posted on by

States and cities recommend residents older than 18 seek an additional shot six months after their initial immunization

As Covid-19 cases in the US begin to rise once more and health agencies consider booster shots for all adults, some states and cities are taking matters into their own hands and urging additional shots, advice that goes beyond current federal guidelines.

Leaders in Colorado, California, New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia, and New York City recommend that residents older than 18 seek an additional shot six months after their initial immunization.

Continue reading...

What the UK can learn from South Korea’s Covid response | Devi Sridhar

Posted on by

At the start of the pandemic, Seoul pursued a zero-Covid policy. How will this affect the west’s response to the next pandemic?’

With winter approaching, it’s time to talk about the optimal Covid-19 strategy again – and for that, we need to look once more at what’s happening in South Korea.

It has vaccinated 79.2% of its population with two doses, and, if it continues administering 220,000 doses a day, will have covered almost 90% of its population by the end of the year. Compare this to the UK, where 68.6% of the population has received two doses, and the US, where this figure is at 58%. If we compare deaths, the numbers are even more shocking. South Korea has suffered only 3,137 from a population of 51.8 million. For the UK, the corresponding figures are 142,945 deaths from a population of 67.2 million, while in the US there have been 783,575 deaths from a population of 329.5 million. In addition, in the first quarter of 2021, South Korea became one of the first high-income countries to see its economy recover to pre-pandemic levels, after it managed to only experience a 1% contraction in GDP in 2020 (the second-best performance behind China).

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Continue reading...

Fauci: US can get Covid under control by next year with more jabs

Posted on by

Top infectious disease official said if more Americans get vaccines and booster shots, the disease could be downgraded to endemic status

Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases public official in the US, said on Tuesday that if America further ramps up vaccination rates and those already immunized take booster shots that it is feasible Covid-19 could be reduced from a pandemic emergency to endemic status next year.

More than 70% of adults in the US are fully vaccinated. Fauci said if a lot more Americans take the vaccines, and if the US makes boosters available for everyone, the country could get control of the virus by spring of 2022.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live: Ireland brings in midnight curfew; Cyprus offers boosters to all adults

Posted on by

Irish restrictions include advice to work from home to fight rising hospitalisations; Cyprus health officials react to rising cases

Our economics editor Larry Elliott has written his analysis this morning on how the UK economy is beginning to emerge from Covid, but old problems remain. He concludes:

The economy as a whole is now starting to go post-Covid. The inflation figures due out on Wednesday will still show the impact of the virus on global energy prices and on supply chains but in other respects it is as if the past 18 months never happened.

There are two sides to that. The good news is that the labour market has emerged relatively unscathed. The bad news is that the problems of February 2020 – low investment, low productivity, weak underlying growth – are problems that remain to be tackled in November 2021.

Continue reading...

Covid now a pandemic of poor nations, WHO envoy tells UK MPs

Posted on by

Rich counties taking risk by ‘hoovering up’ boosters, all-party group on coronavirus told

Covid is now a pandemic of poor nations, a leading global expert has told a cross-party group of MPs, adding that governments that are attempting to vaccinate their way out of the pandemic are taking a huge risk.

Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on Covid, told the all-party group on coronavirus that the world was still deep in the pandemic, with 5,413 reported deaths in the past 24 hours alone. “This is a disease now fundamentally of poor people and poor nations,” he added.

Continue reading...

Austrian police carry out routine checks as unvaccinated enter lockdown

Posted on by

Experts warn rules will be hard to enforce, as country records highest Covid infection rate in western Europe

Police in Austria have begun carrying out routine checks on commuters to ensure compliance with a nationwide “lockdown for the unvaccinated”, as the Alpine country tries to get on top of one of the most rapidly rising infection rates in Europe.

The restrictions, which came into effect on Monday morning, will affect almost 2 million Austrian citizens aged 12 and older who have so far not been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Of those, the 356,000 people who have been vaccinated only once can be released from lockdown if they show a negative PCR test.

Continue reading...

Covid booster jabs extended to people aged 40 to 49, says JCVI

Posted on by

Extension approved by government’s vaccine watchdog as well as second doses for 16- and 17-year-olds

Covid booster vaccines can be extended to those aged between 40 and 49 in the UK after being approved by the government’s vaccines watchdog, which also gave approval for teenagers aged 16 and 17 to receive second jabs.

While such decisions are devolved, all devolved nations tend to accept JCVI guidance. Ministers in England, Scotland and Wales have already said they would extend boosters.

Continue reading...

Children back at school in Philippines after 20 months of home study

Posted on by

Pilot scheme launched in what is thought to be the last country to reopen schools since March 2020

Thousands of children have returned to their classrooms after more than 18 months of home study in the Philippines, thought to be the last country to reopen schools since the start of the pandemic.

On Monday morning, 120 schools began on-site lessons through a pilot project. Footage by the broadcaster ABS CBN showed children at a school in Alaminos line up outside to take their temperatures, complete a health form and wash their hands before entering class.

Continue reading...