Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Dozens of the biggest names in the Australian music industry have joined forces for a pro-vaccination advertising campaign launched on Monday.
Tim Minchin, Jimmy Barnes, Amy Shark, Paul Kelly and the Hilltop Hoods are just some of the more than 200 acts who have joined forces with major Australian record labels, ticketing agencies, tour promoters and festival organisers for the #Vaxthenation campaign.
But they insist shots won’t be rolled out without health agencies’ authorization, leaving open possibility of delays
US officials have expressed optimism that Covid-19 booster shot delivery can start for all adults on 20 September, the goal set by President Joe Biden, as cases continue to rage across the country fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant.
The officials insist, however, that boosters will not be rolled out without US health agencies’ authorization, leaving open the possibility of delays.
Certification process will be required for nightclubs, mass events and large venues in England by the end of September, the vaccines minister has confirmed, saying that would allow businesses to stay open during the winter months if Covid-19 surges. Zahawi said the government wanted to 'make sure the whole economy remains open' through the autumn amid fears that a return to school could set off a new wave of infections
Essential workers over the age of 16 who live in local government areas of concern won’t be allowed to leave their LGA from Monday unless they have had at least one dose of a Covid vaccine. Follow latest updates
Independent federal senator, Rex Patrick, appears to have tweeted an ultimatum to the government: be transparent about the profitable corporations that wrongly pocketed jobkeeper, or he will withdraw support for the government’s changes to the EPBC Act.
The government needs Patrick’s vote in the Senate to pass the legislation.
I’m done with ‘em. @ScottMorrisonMP gifting hard earned taxpayer money to his business mates & donors makes him the most shameless & unethical PM ever. @JoshFrydenberg’s JK prudential failure makes him the most incompetent Treasurer ever. EPBC discussions over @sussanley! #auspolpic.twitter.com/rMctoje7Xy
Finally, Speers asked Robert why the government won’t, at least, publish a list for taxpayers of “where the money went and let the firms decide whether to pay it back”?
But Robert argued that that would interfere with the privacy of these companies.
The transparency if you like, or what pertained in the Senate which was a demand for all the records of so many Australian companies, and vast majority of them being small to medium enterprises under tax law, that would substantially invade the privacy and would substantially make a huge step in the wrong direction as to how we manage the privacy of all of those individuals and all of those companies, David. It would be a massive retrograde step in how we do things.
It was, the scientists said, a very finely balanced decision. On the one hand, Covid vaccines undoubtedly help to reduce infection and illness. On the other, Covid vaccines – like every other vaccine in medical history – are not without their risks. In children aged 12 to 15, the threat of serious Covid is tiny, but so is the risk of serious side-effects from the vaccine.
After much deliberation, the government’s independent vaccine advisers concluded that, on the strength of evidence so far, there was a marginal benefit to vaccinating healthy children aged 12 to 15 years old. But that benefit was deemed so very marginal the advisers would not give the green light to mass vaccination of healthy children in the age group.
Italy’s prime minister has announced his government could make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory, sparking a row in the country that has seen a recent rise in protests and violence from anti-vaxxers.
During a press conference on Thursday, Mario Draghi said all Italians of eligible age could soon be obliged to get a shot, as soon as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gives its conditional approval for four vaccines.
Australia’s vaccine program has received a boost, with a doubling of the number of Pfizer vaccines flowing into the country, after a “dose swap” deal was secured with the UK.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says the deal will “break the back” of the September supply issues, with his UK counterpart, Boris Johnson, agreeing to send 4m Pfizer doses to Australia, which will be distributed to the states and territories on a per capita basis.
There is “almost certainly no urgency” to press ahead with booster shots for healthy adults and it may be better to see how the pandemic pans out before a decision is made, the scientist leading key research into third shots has said.
Prof Saul Faust, chief investigator of the Cov-Boost study whose data next week is expected to help inform a decision on the rollout of boosters across the UK, told the Guardian that for now it may be preferable to prioritise only the vulnerable, including those with compromised immune systems.
Members of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) have been sent suspicious packages and hate mail throughout the pandemic, one of the UK’s leading virologists has revealed.
Prof Calum Semple, a member of Sage and the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said the incidents of abuse included one “particularly nasty” experience when he was targeted by anti-vaxxers.
I have just been reminded of when China’s president, Xi Jinping also “encouraged” education authorities in Macao on Thursday to make further efforts to promote patriotic education in the special administrative region.
Xi made the remark while inspecting the Premier School Affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School in Macao. He attended a class on Chinese history themed “’one country, two systems’ and Macao”, and delivered a speech to teachers and students at the school.
Xi told them that the class has great and special significance because it demonstrates the fundamental and substantial elements of history and education.
And that’s it – no more question time for six weeks.
Foreign materials including stainless steel identified in batches of Covid-19 vaccine though no safety or efficacy issues have been reported
The Moderna coronavirus vaccine programme in Japan has been hit by a series of contamination incidents, prompting it to recall 1.63m doses found to contain metal fragments.
Other potential contaminants have been identified in separate batches over the past week but so far no injuries as a result of those vaccines have been reported.
The media host says he used ivermectin, a medication that the FDA has warned against
Joe Rogan, the host of Spotify’s most popular podcast, has contracted Covid, he announced on Wednesday. He says he is feeling better – but his health update undoubtedly made health experts instantly sick.
On Instagram, the podcaster, who professes not to be “an authority on health” but has discouraged young people from getting the coronavirus vaccine, said that he had “immediately thrown the kitchen sink” at his infection. Among the many medications he used, he said, was ivermectin, a drug used to deworm horses.
The Scottish government is proposing vaccine certificates for entry to nightclubs and large-scale indoor and outdoor events in an attempt to curb escalating Covid infections before the autumn.
Announcing the plans, which MSPs will be asked to vote on next week, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said that – although expected with schools returning last month – “the scale of the increase [in infections] in recent weeks has been very concerning”.
Some of site’s largest subreddits switch to private, saying Reddit is failing to tackle misinformation
Reddit has been hit by a user rebellion over the online discussion forum’s failure to tackle misinformation related to Covid and vaccines.
More than 135 Reddit communities, or subreddits, have “gone dark”, which blocks non-members from reading or joining the page, in protest at the site’s refusal to limit discussions that propagate misleading theories about the pandemic. The protest covers many of the site’s largest subreddits, including r/Futurology and r/TIFU, which have more than 10 million subscribers each.
The evidence is strongest for receiving two doses of the same Covid-19 vaccine, rather than mixing different types, medical authorities have said amid concerns that some people may be cancelling their second AstraZeneca dose in the hope of securing a shot of Pfizer.
As outbreaks of the Delta variant affect New South Wales and Victoria, people are being urged by state premiers and health authorities to get vaccinated as soon as possible with whatever vaccine is available, and to show up to their existing first and second-dose appointments.
Israel has recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus cases with nearly 11,000 new infections, amid a surge caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant as schools prepare to re-open.
The previous high came on 18 January, with 10,118 cases.
Senior officials at the World Health Organization have cited stagnating vaccination rates and low uptake in poorer countries as reasons so many Covid deaths are predicted.
'Last week, there was an 11% increase in the number of deaths in the region – one reliable projection is expecting 236,000 deaths in Europe, by 1 December,' WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said.
Kluge attributed the higher transmission to the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, an 'exaggerated easing' of restrictions and measures, and a surge in summer travel.
While about half of people in Europe are fully vaccinated, vaccination uptake in the region has slowed, Kluge said.
Europe has registered about 1.3 million Covid deaths
A booster jab of Covid-19 vaccine for vulnerable people is not a luxury but a good way to protect them, the World Health Organization has said, as surging infection rates and a pan-European vaccination slowdown produced a “deeply worrying” situation.
“A third dose of vaccine is not a luxury booster taken away from someone who is still waiting for a first jab,” Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, said on Monday. “It’s basically a way to keep the most vulnerable safe.”
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has declared the government has “overcome” the challenges of the national vaccine program, despite the states crying out for more mRNA vaccine supplies to curb the Delta outbreak tearing through NSW, Victoria and the ACT.
After almost 18 months, children in Jakarta will begin to re-enter classrooms on Monday, as Indonesia, which faces on of the worst Covid outbreaks globally, eases restrictions in some areas.
Indonesia began gradually loosening its lockdown measures last week, allowing restaurants and places of worship to open their doorsat 25% capacity, and malls to operate at 50% capacity. The relaxed rules were introduced across several regions in Java and Bali , including greater Jakarta, greater Bandung and greater Surabaya.