Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Coronavirus live news: record daily toll takes Indonesia past 2m cases; France to open nightclubs from 9 July

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Indonesia reports 14,536 new cases, its highest daily toll ; nightclub industry to open in France for first time since March 2020

A fresh electronic lottery is to decide the fate of prospective attendees of Tokyo 2020 as organisers must refund some 910,000 tickets due to new caps, of up to 50% of a venue’s capacity or a maximum of 10,000 residents of Japan, announced today.

The number of spectators, all of whom must be resident of Japan, is to be capped at 2.72 million, according to Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto, meaning some 910,000 ticket holders will lose their chance to see the Games.

A Thai temple building a 69-metre-tall Buddha statue that will be visible across Bangkok has said construction is nearly complete but the opening may be pushed back to 2022 due to delays caused by the pandemic.

The Royal Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen temple on the outskirts of Bangkok dates back to 1610 and is located on a island created by canals flowing from the Chao Phraya river. Work on the statue, which is as tall as a 20-storey building, started in 2017 and should be completed this year, but due to the pandemic the official opening may be pushed back to 2022, said temple spokesman Pisan Sangkapinij.

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Australia’s vaccine rollout ‘constrained’ by Pfizer supply shortages until August

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States and territories say more GPs will be needed to dispense Pfizer when supplies increase later in the year

Shortages of the Pfizer Covid vaccine are expected to slow Australia’s rollout through June and July, as states and territories call on the commonwealth to sign up more GPs to dispense doses when supplies increase in August.

The national cabinet met on Monday to discuss Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout in the wake of updated health advice that AstraZeneca is not the preferred vaccine for those aged 50 to 59 due to the risk of rare blood clots.

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Australia politics live: Nationals in disarray amid spill rumours as PM and premiers to meet for emergency Covid national cabinet – live

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Barnaby Joyce denies he will challenge Michael McCormack for leadership of the National party as a spill is widely anticipated. Follow latest updates

So a grinning Michael McCormack, an unhappy Barnaby Joyce and an ambivalent David Littleproud walk into the Nationals party room.

Leadership. That’s it. That’s the joke.

Sarah Martin tells me that on his way in to the Nationals party room, Michael McCormack was asked how he was feeling and answered with :

Positive, as I’m always feeling”

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UK reports 9,284 Covid cases on day before lockdown was due to end

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More than 1m jabs booked on Friday and Saturday after all adults in England invited to get vaccine

More than 9,200 Covid cases were reported in the UK on Sunday, the day before it was originally planned that all remaining Covid restrictions in England would be lifted.

It came as figures revealed that more than 1m Covid jabs were booked in two days following the invitation on Friday for all adults in England to come forward for vaccination.

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‘Two Americas’ may emerge as Delta variant spreads and vaccination rates drop

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Biden’s 70% vaccination target by Fourth of July likely to fall short as efforts to entice people to get shots have lost their initial impact

With Covid vaccination penetration in the US likely to fall short of Joe Biden’s 70% by Fourth of July target, pandemic analysts are warning that vaccine incentives are losing traction and that “two Americas” may emerge as the aggressive Delta variant becomes the dominant US strain.

Efforts to boost vaccination rates have come through a variety of incentives, from free hamburgers to free beer, college scholarships and even million-dollar lottery prizes. But of the efforts to entice people to get their shots have lost their initial impact, or failed to land effectively at all.

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Trudeau makes global vaccine pledge but how committed is Canada?

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Promise to donate 100m doses highlights questions about Canada’s seriousness in helping poorer countries vaccinate

Canada has secured enough potential coronavirus vaccines to fully protect every resident nearly seven times over, even as a global shortage has forced poorer nations to wait.

After initial hiccups with its vaccination plan, more than 65% of Canadians have now received at least one dose, edging ahead of early leaders Israel and the UK, and on Friday, Justin Trudeau said 68m doses will have arrived in Canada by the end of July.

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Covid live: Brazil passes 500,000 deaths; 70% of England’s adults ‘should be fully vaccinated by 19 July’

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Protests in Brazil as confirmed death toll soars past half a million; most adults should be double-vaccinated by England lockdown lifting date

Vaccinations have been key to keeping levels of the Delta variant of Covid-19 low in Ireland at a time when it has been surging in the UK, according to an Irish expert.

There have been 180 known cases of the Delta variant - first identified in India - identified in Ireland, according to the Journal.ie. That accounts for five percent of sequenced cases in Ireland.

The Thai island of Phuket is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible in the hope that, if 70% of the population receives a dose before 1 July, the island will become the first Thai destination to reopen to foreign tourists.

If the island can build its immunity, it could soon come back to life again, said infectious disease nurse Bang-orn Rungruang, who is helping to coordinate vaccines at the Angsana Convention and Exhibition Space. The pandemic, she said, had devastated the island’s businesses.

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Under-18s could be ‘reservoirs’ for virus when all adults are jabbed, expert warns

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Unvaccinated children have potential to drive third wave of highly transmissible Delta variant, says virologist

The drive to vaccinate all adults over the age of 18 in the UK could lead to the concentration of Covid-19 cases in schoolchildren, a leading British virologist has warned.

Under-18s would then become reservoirs in which new variants of the virus could arise, said Julian Tang, of Leicester University.

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‘Forces for good will prevail’: Joy in Taiwan as US sends 2.5m Covid vaccine doses

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The US donation has more than doubled Taiwan’s available vaccine stocks as it battles a rise in coronavirus infections

Taiwan has reacted with an outpouring of thanks to the United States for shipping 2.5m Covid-19 vaccine doses to the island, more than doubling its arsenal as it deals with a rise in domestic infections.

Washington, competing with Beijing to deepen geopolitical clout through “vaccine diplomacy”, initially had promised to donate 750,000 doses but increased that number as President Joe Biden’s administration advances its pledge to send 80m US-made shots around the world.

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Coronavirus live news: Mexico City reshuts schools as it shifts up a tier; US has given more than 317,100,000 jabs

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Mexico City had reduced restrictions only two weeks ago; US says 317,117,797 Covid vaccines have been administered

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will suspend travellers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Namibia from entering the country on national and foreign flights, effective from 23.59 on 21 June, Reuters reports.

Restrictions would also include transit passengers, with the exception of transit flights travelling to the UAE and bound for those countries.

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London stadiums host ‘super Saturday’ of mass rapid Covid vaccinations

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Tens of thousands turn up to grounds of West Ham, Spurs and others, as young people are urged to get jabs

Londoners received tens of thousands of Covid jabs in just a few hours on Saturday as football grounds in the capital were transformed into mass vaccination centres.

Huge jab clinics have been set up at the London Stadium, Stamford Bridge, the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, the Valley, home of Charlton Athletic, and Selhurst Park.

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Covid jabs for billions of humans will earn their makers billions of dollars

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We look at the drug firms – led by Pfizer and Moderna – that are set to profit most in an unprecedented global vaccination drive

Drugmakers led by US firms Pfizer and Moderna stand to make tens of billions of dollars from their Covid-19 vaccines this year and next, given G7 governments’ pledge to vaccinate the entire world by the end of 2022, but sales are likely to drop sharply thereafter, according to analysts.

Acclaimed for allowing a return to more normal life, Covid vaccines will also substantially benefit some pharmaceutical companies. The global market for the vaccines is worth $70bn (£50bn) this year, says Karen Andersen of Morningstar.

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‘It’s such a relief’: how Europe’s Covid vaccine rollout is catching up with UK

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More supplies and vaccination centres have put France, Italy and Germany back on track in battle against coronavirus

On Friday morning, Leyla Çelik woke up with butterflies in her stomach. For weeks, the 22-year-old student at Berlin’s Freie Universität had tried in vain to get an appointment for her first Covid-19 vaccine shot so she could volunteer as a polling station administrator at federal elections in September. “I’d basically given up hope.”

But last week her university had suddenly got in touch via email, offering her a chance to get a first dose of Moderna vaccine on campus, and within a few days. By 9am on Friday, the anxiety has turned into euphoria: “It’s such a relief,” said the native Berliner, nursing her achey shoulder at Freie’s biology institute, converted into a vaccine delivery point as of this week. “At last I can catch a train or a bus without feeling anxious.”

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Third wave of Covid ‘definitely under way’ in UK, says expert

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Prof Adam Finn’s comments come after PHE reported 79% rise in number of Delta variant cases in just one week

A government scientific adviser has said a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is “definitely under way” as the vaccine programme races to outpace the Delta variant’s spread across the UK.

It comes after Public Health England reported a 79% rise in the number of cases of the variant first identified in India in a week. Hospital admissions have almost doubled.

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Covid live: Delta variant becoming globally dominant, WHO says as expert calls Africa’s case trajectory ‘very, very concerning’

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WHO expert says Delta variant becoming dominant because of its increased transmissibility as underreporting in Africa means case levels are worrying

The EU has lost its attempt to require AstraZeneca to deliver fewer Covid-19 vaccines to the European Union, Reuters reports.

Reuters reports:

AstraZeneca said that the EU had lost its legal case, but European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the court ruling supported its view that the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant had failed to honour its commitments.

The row plunged the EU into crisis earlier this year as states scrambled for shots, highlighting the pressure on them to speed up vaccinations. Brussels has since largely cut ties with AstraZeneca, choosing not to buy any more of its shots for now.

Official data in Britain reported 10,476 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday and 11 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, Reuters reports.

The figures showed 42.5 million people had received their first vaccine dose and 30.9 million had received both shots.

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Netherlands offers free pickled herring as Covid jab incentive

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Country becomes the latest to encourage uptake by offering a traditional early-summer delicacy

After Russia offered cars, Washington state spliffs, Indonesia live chickens and Hong Kong the chance of a £1.2m apartment, the latest country to reward people who show up for their Covid shots is the Netherlands – with soused herring.

Early batches of Hollandse nieuwe, or new-season Dutch herring, a traditional delicacy consumed to the tune of 75m a year, are being distributed to vaccination centres around the country as an encouragement for people to get their jabs.

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Previous Covid infection may not offer long-term protection, study finds

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Research found marked differences in immune response of medical staff six months after contracting virus

Previous infection with coronavirus does not necessarily protect against Covid in the longer term, especially when caused by new variants of concern, a study on healthcare workers suggests.

Researchers at Oxford University found marked differences in the immune responses of medical staff who contracted Covid, with some appearing far better equipped than others to combat the disease six months later.

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White couple who got vaccines meant for First Nation are fined but not jailed

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White River First Nation had sought six months in jail for Canadian millionaires Rodney and Ekaterina Baker

The millionaire Canadian couple who chartered a private plane to a remote community and jumped the coronavirus vaccine queue to receive doses intended for elderly Indigenous people have been fined C$2,300 but were not sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to breaking public health rules.

The size of the fine imposed on the former casino executive Rodney Baker and his wife, the actor Ekaterina Baker, on Wednesday prompted frustration amid members of the White River First Nation, many of whom wanted the couple to face stiffer repercussions.

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France and Spain to ease mask-wearing as Covid vaccine schemes gather pace

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French will no longer have to wear masks outside and curfew to end while Spain also planning to lift rule

France and Spain are moving to ease rules around wearing face masks outside, in a development attributed by both countries to their Covid-19 vaccination campaigns.

In France, people will no longer be required to wear masks outdoors from Thursday, though they will still be obligatory on public transport, in sports stadiums and other crowded places. A nightly curfew will end as of Sunday.

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Coronavirus live news: France to bring curfew-lifting date forward; row as India doubles gap between jabs

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France to also end mandatory mask wearing outside; Indian government extends gap between doses to 16 weeks

Portugal has said it would allow US visitors into the country, as it scrambles to shore up its tourism sector, but added Nepal to a list of “red” nations amid concerns over Covid variants.

Reuters reports that Portugal is now open to tourists from EU countries and Britain but they must show a negative Covid-19 test result on arrival. Since 15 June, rules applied to UK visitors also apply to those coming from the United States, the government said.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s removal of two Coca-Cola bottles during a press conference at coincided with a $4bn fall in drinks company’s share price. But with obesity being one of the main risk factors for the worst cases of Covid, what have governments done to ensure people have lived as healthily as possible during stringent lockdowns?

Related: Cristiano Ronaldo snub wipes billions off Coca-Cola’s market value

Related: Mexico state bans sale of sugary drinks and junk food to children

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