Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Joe Biden outlines plan to share 80m Covid vaccine doses with world

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First 25m doses will be disbursed across Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa

Joe Biden has outlined how the US plans to share 80m Covid-19 vaccine doses with other countries, saying the first 25m doses will be disbursed across Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.

After months of mounting pressure from the international community, the Biden administration said last month that it intended to send the 80m doses of US-approved coronavirus vaccines overseas by the end of June, but did not outline which continents or countries would benefit until now.

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Biden provides details on plan to share 80m Covid vaccine doses – live

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Jen Psaki said she did not consider Monday to be the deadline for reaching a bipartisan deal on an infrastructure bill.

The White House press secretary said Joe Biden will “continue to have conversations with Democrats and Republicans about what the path forward may look like”.

As Jen Psaki briefs the press, Joe and Jill Biden are enjoying a bike ride in Rehoboth Beach, where they are celebrating the first lady’s 70th birthday.

The president gave a wave to reporters as he rode past them:

President Biden and ⁦@FLOTUS⁩ bike along a trail in Rehoboth Beach to celebrate her birthday pic.twitter.com/wpm33Y0JIY

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Covid variants: how much protection do the different vaccines offer?

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While restrictions in England could lift soon, impact of Delta variant on vaccination programme is uncertain

On Wednesday Boris Johnson said he saw nothing in the current data to stop the planned lifting of Covid restrictions in England on 21 June. But he said questions remained over how much protection the current vaccines offered against the Delta variant, B.1.617.2.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: regional Victoria restrictions easing but Melbourne lockdown remains; more NSW hotspots

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Talks continue between the state and the federal government on financial assistance as Melbourne faces second week in lockdown. Follow the latest news

Victoria’s press conference ends – we are just waiting for Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg now

Professor Allen Cheng is asked whether Victoria is just unlucky,or whether there are other factors that mean outbreaks spread further than in other states and says:

I think it is really difficult to know. We thankfully don’t have a huge sample size to say what might be different or not. I think there’s always an element of luck in this.

As I said before, if you have a person in the community with infection, it depends very much on who they are. And we certainly that it is 80% of people with COVID don’t transmit to anyone. 20% of them transmit at least to someone at a very small number transmit to a lot of people. So there is an element of luck to it.

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‘Critical’ lack of Covid vaccine supply in Melbourne forcing GPs to turn people away

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Undersupply so severe amid outbreak clinic forced to turn away residents of two care facilities

Melbourne GPs say they are being forced to turn away huge numbers of vaccine-seeking locals, including busloads of vulnerable residents from care facilities, because the commonwealth’s supply of doses has not increased to match the explosion in demand.

The latest outbreak has caused a huge increase in demand for the Covid-19 vaccine in Victoria, and the state is now recording daily vaccination numbers of above 20,000 in primary care, up from the roughly 2,300 doses administered on 24 May.

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Biden announces ‘month of action’ to get 70% of Americans vaccinated

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President dangles promise of a ‘summer of freedom’ to reluctant Americans and lays out plan to achieve Fourth of July target

Joe Biden has announced a national “month of action” to try to get at least 70% of Americans vaccinated against coronavirus before the Fourth of July holiday.

Touting the progress already made, and dangling the promise of a “summer of freedom” from Covid-19 to those reluctant to get a shot, the US president urged citizens, especially those under 40, to play a role in the “wartime effort” to defeat the virus.

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Boris Johnson on lifting Covid restrictions in England: ‘The data is ambiguous’ – video

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Boris Johnson has said there are currently no clear signals that he needs to scrap or delay plans to lift all remaining restrictions on social contact in England on 21 June, but he added that data on how effective vaccines would be at preventing a third wave was ambiguous.

Despite calls from some scientists for the government to push back the planned final stage of unlocking, the prime minister suggested he saw no reason yet to deviate from the roadmap

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‘When will you know?’: Richard Colbeck can’t say how many aged care workers are vaccinated – video

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The aged care minister Richard Colbeck has not been able to tell Senate estimates how many workers in the aged care sector have been vaccinated. 

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records three more Covid cases amid speculation over lockdown extension

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Minister Richard Colbeck comes under fire over aged care failures after outbreak in two Melbourne homes. Follow live updates

This has been an ongoing frustration for Mike Bowers and the visual reporters – some committees are throwing their weight around about where photographers and camera operators can stand to do their jobs – which means a lot of photos of the back of people’s heads.

The helpful people at the estimates Economic committee placed our photographic positions behind the heads of the Treasury Officials and Minister giving evidence, do I really have to explain again to members of the Aust senate why this will not work? #notTodayPlease @AmyRemeikis pic.twitter.com/ysRVbOttpy

Katy Gallagher asks Richard Colbeck who is responsible for vaccinating aged care staff.

Three minutes later, Colbeck says it is a “combined” program.

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MPs tell Johnson: you have a duty to help vaccinate the world

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Exclusive: group urges prime minister to tackle ‘desperate shortage’ in developing nations

Boris Johnson has a “moral duty” to immediately start matching each vaccine administered at home with a donated dose to poorer countries across the world, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has said.

Several Tory backbenchers joined the call, which puts further pressure on the prime minister to boost supplies given to developing nations facing a “desperate shortage” of jabs.

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If India variant starts a third wave, England’s Covid rules may have to stay

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Analysis: hopes of restrictions ending on 21 June are dwindling as highly transmissible variant spreads

Heralded as “freedom day”, 21 June has been a date circled in the diary by businesses, families and communities alike – a moment when coronavirus restrictions in England are expected to finally end, hopefully in a blaze of summer sunshine.

But new data has revealed that the variant of concern first detected in India, known as B.1.617.2, has continued to spread across England, with samples containing the variant now found from Cornwall to Canterbury, Bury to Bromley.

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Vaccine inequality exposed by dire situation in world’s poorest nations

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Analysis: the failings of the Covax programme, logistical issues and governments’ own inadequacies are making a bad situation worse

Only 1% of the 1.3 billion vaccines injected around the world have been administered in Africa – and that comparative percentage has been declining in recent weeks. It is a stark figure that underlines just how serious a problem global vaccine inequity has become. But the answer for the developing world is not as simple as delivering more vaccines.

From Africa to Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean, the same issues have been replicated. On top of finding enough doses, there have been logistical difficulties with delivery, problems over healthcare infrastructure and, in some countries, public hesitancy towards vaccines.

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Covid-19 vaccine rollout Australia: vaccination progress state-by-state, daily doses tracker, numbers and live data

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How does Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout compare with other countries and when will you be eligible to get vaccinated? We bring together the latest numbers on daily new Covid-19 cases, as well as stats and live data on total vaccination figures in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and other states.

Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout began in late February. Here we bring together the latest figures to track the progress of the rollout, as well as presenting an interactive tool to show when you might be eligible to receive the vaccine.

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US taking ‘very close look’ at vaccine passports for international travel

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Homeland security chief Alejandro Mayorkas says ‘any passport that we provide for vaccinations … [must be] accessible to all’

The Biden administration is taking “a very close look” at the possibility of vaccine passports for travel into and out of the United States, the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, said on Friday.

The Transportation Security Administration, which safeguards the nation’s transportation systems, is housed under Mayorkas’s department.

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Johnson & Johnson single-shot Covid vaccine approved for use in UK

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Health secretary says jab made by US firm’s subsidiary Janssen will play important role in British programme

The UK’s medicines regulator has approved the use of a fourth Covid vaccine, as cases of the variant of concern first detected in India rise.

The jab from US-based pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is considered a key tool in the global arsenal against Covid, given it is a one-dose regimen, unlike the the other three vaccines approved for UK use that require two shots to provide a high level of protection.

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Coronavirus live news: Greece and Spain to trial EU Covid travel certificate; South Africa fears winter virus surge

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Greece and Spain to take part in tourism boost ahead of planned EU-wide launch on 1 July; southern hemisphere winter risks further virus spread

A royal academy chaired by Princess Chulabhorn, the youngest sibling of Thailand’s king, has said it would import 1 million doses of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine next month, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised its use.

The announcement in the official Royal Gazette surprised some members of the government, which had until now insisted on being the sole importer of Covid-19 vaccines.

Greece has said it is ready to use a Covid-19 travel certificate before its EU-wide launch on 1 July to attract foreign travellers and save its tourism sector from a second summer lost to the coronavirus.

The free certificate will take the form of a QR code on a smartphone or paper, letting authorities determine the status of a visitor based on records in their home EU country.

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Greg Hunt says record number of people vaccinated – as it happened

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Residents wake up to first day of week-long shutdown to contain growing number of cases. This blog is now closed

And we’re going to wrap the blog up for the evening. Here is what happened today:

Via AAP:

The Northern Territory’s chief health officer is in COVID-19 quarantine at the Howard Springs facility.

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Covid live: Germany to offer children aged 12 and over jab by September; Olympic warning over new variants

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Germany to make Covid vaccine doses available to children 12 and over by end of August, draft paper shows; Japanese doctors warn of risk if Games go ahead

Here’s some news about lockdown relaxations in Sweden via Reuters.

The nordic country will go ahead and ease some of its COVID-19 restrictions from June 1, as the number of new infections has fallen sharply in recent weeks, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Thursday.

“We are beginning to glimpse the beginning of the end,” Lofven told a news conference.

The previously announced easing includes longer opening hours for restaurants and cafes, as well as raising the number of spectators at sports events and visitors at museums and amusement parks.

Reuters reports that Russia has signed an agreement to supply UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s fund, with enough doses of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to vaccinate 110 million people, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which markets the shot internationally, said on Thursday.

Procurement and delivery of the vaccine is subject to Sputnik V receiving an emergency use listing from the World Health Organisation, a decision which the RDIF said is expected soon.

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Boris Johnson under pressure from Biden and activists in run-up to G7

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US pushing UK hard over minimum corporate tax and swift action on global Covid vaccinations

Boris Johnson is facing mounting pressure from Joe Biden and grass roots activists to be bolder at next month’s G7 summit amid signs that rows over vaccines and tax will dominate what the prime minister hoped would be a low-key event.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, kicks off two weeks of intense international diplomacy ahead of the June gathering of the leaders of major western economies in Cornwall when he hosts a virtual meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors on Friday.

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EU cites ‘anti-vaccine campaign’ as reason to toughen social media code

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European Commission proposes more factchecking and algorithm changes to tackle disinformation

A “massive anti-vaccination campaign” has been cited by the European Commission as a reason for social media platforms to intensify their factchecking and revise the internal algorithms that can amplify disinformation.

Under a revised code of practice proposed by Brussels, companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter would need to show why particular material is disseminated and prove that false information is being blocked.

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