Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

UK Covid live: second vaccine doses for over-50s and vulnerable accelerated as Indian variant threatens June easing

Posted on by

Latest updates: prime minister announces acceleration of programme to give second vaccine doses to over-50s and clinically vulnerable as Indian variant threatens June lockdown easing

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth has accused Boris Johnson of a “reckless failure to protect our borders” as the Indian variant threatened to derail progress to ending coronavirus restrictions in June.

The Labour MP said: “People across the country will be deeply concerned and tonight’s news brings into sharp focus Boris Johnson’s reckless failure to protect our borders in this crisis.

There is a “realistic possibility” that the Indian coronavirus variant could be as much as “50% more transmissible” than the Kent strain, the Scientific Advisory Group for emergencies (Sage) has said.

The minutes of the meeting between the government’s scientific advisers on Thursday said that it is “highly likely that this variant is more transmissible than B.1.1.7 (high confidence), and it is a realistic possibility that it is as much as 50% more transmissible”, PA reports.

Continue reading...

What can England do to combat the Indian Covid variant?

Posted on by

A list of possible measures that could be taken by the government to limit the spread of the variant

The possible spread of the highly transmissible B.1.617.2 variant of Covid, first identified in India, threatens to hamper the timetable for removing lockdown restrictions, since a series of localised outbreaks have been detected.

Here are some possible actions that could be used to limit the spread of the variant:

Continue reading...

India variant could lead to serious third wave of Covid in UK

Posted on by

Analysis: If B.1.617.2 proves highly transmissible, hospitalisations could peak again, models show

It was all looking so good. After a brutal second wave in the winter, the lockdown combined with the swift rollout of vaccines forced infections, hospitalisations and deaths down to levels not seen since last summer. The vaccines performed better than expected, not only in preventing deaths, but in hampering the spread of the virus. Scientific advisers were confident about England’s cautious roadmap back to a life more normal: the worst, it seemed, was over.

Now, those same advisers are deeply worried that the new variant of concern from India, B.1.617.2, could undermine the hard-won achievement. The government strategy has been to ease restrictions as vaccines reach more people, aiming for a delicate balance that opens up society while preventing another wave that overwhelms the NHS.

Continue reading...

‘A great day’: Biden hails relaxed CDC guidance for fully vaccinated Americans

Posted on by

Rochelle Walensky announces relaxation of guidelines: ‘We have longed for this moment … [to] get back some sense of normalcy’

As coronavirus cases and deaths decline across the US amid vaccination efforts, the director of the CDC said Thursday that fully vaccinated Americans could participate in most indoor activities without wearing a mask.

An unmasked president Joe Biden heralded the announcement during an outdoor press conference several hours later, saying: “Today is a great day for America in our long battle with coronavirus.”

Continue reading...

Budget 2021 reply speech: Anthony Albanese delivers Labor response to Australia federal budget

Posted on by

Labor leader set to continue attack over sluggish wages growth; NSW Liberal minister Gareth Ward steps down over allegations which he denies. Follow latest updates

Anthony Albanese is on his way to the ABC studios for his 7.30 interview

The house is adjourned

Continue reading...

Call for ‘surge vaccinations’ as UK cases of India variant double

Posted on by

Sources say government poised to approve jab for over-16s in worst-affected areas

Ministers are under growing pressure to deploy “surge vaccinations” in Covid hotspots, with some local authorities pushing to extend the offer of jabs to over-18s to stop the spread of a coronavirus variant.

Boris Johnson said he was anxious about the spread of the variant first detected in India, as cases more than doubled in a week.

Continue reading...

Delaying second Covid vaccine doses can save lives, study finds

Posted on by

Modelling suggests countries struggling to immunise populations could adopt UK strategy

Delaying the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines as the UK has done can save lives, according to a US modelling study that suggests other countries struggling to immunise their populations could adopt the strategy.

Second shots of both vaccines and the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab are designed by the manufacturers to be given within three to four weeks of the first dose. The UK, however, opted for a 12-week delay between doses in a bid to ensure that more people received their first vaccination more quickly.

Continue reading...

More frequent side-effects reported mixing Pfizer and Oxford Covid jabs, study suggests

Posted on by

However, UK trial found two doses of the same vaccine triggered less adverse reactions

Administering one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine followed by one of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine (or vice versa) induces a higher frequency of mild to moderate side-effects compared with standard two doses of either vaccine, initial data from a key UK trial suggests.

The Oxford-led Com-Cov study is exploring the safety and efficacy of mixed-dose schedules given that they are being considered in several countries – including the UK – to fortify vaccine rollout programmes that are dependent on unstable vaccine supplies.

Continue reading...

Budget 2021 reaction: Josh Frydenberg delivers National Press Club address – Australia politics live updates

Posted on by

Coalition budget delivers $30bn in tax breaks and money for fossil fuel projects but no measures to help struggling universities or clean energy projects. Follow all the latest news and reaction to the 2021 federal budget as it happens

So not a lot new there. Which means question time is going to be a copy and paste affair.

The other question of note?

Why is the border closed for so long?

The key factor, the central factor, the only factor for us what keeps Australians safe. And it’s not simply the rollout of the vaccine, that is a factor for the Chief Medical Officer in making decisions around borders.

They also need to take into account, what is happening with the virus globally, its transmissibility, new variants of the virus, and what it would mean for Australians health and safety.

Continue reading...

McDonald’s and Uber to help encourage vaccine-hesitant Americans

Posted on by

McDonald’s to promote vaccine information on coffee cups while Uber and Lyft to give free rides to vaccine sites

Incentivising the vaccine-hesitant in America has reached the fast food and ride-share industries.

Burger chain McDonald’s has announced it is partnering with the White House to promote vaccination information on its coffee cups.

Continue reading...

US authorizes Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for children ages 12 to 15

Posted on by

Move expands inoculation program as vaccination rates slow

US regulators on Monday authorized Pfizer and its partner BioNTech’s Covid vaccine for use in children as young as 12, widening the country’s inoculation program even as vaccination rates have slowed significantly.

The vaccine has been available under an emergency use authorization (EUA) to people as young as 16 in the United States. Today’s decision means the FDA is amending the EUA to include children aged 12 to 15. The vaccine makers said they had started the process for full approval for those ages last week.

Continue reading...

Covid live news: EU not renewing orders for AstraZeneca jabs after June; third of UK adults fully vaccinated

Posted on by

Latest updates: pressure builds on Indian government to announce national lockdown; third of UK adults now fully vaccinated against Covid-19; Laos records first Covid death

The number of Covid-19 patients in French intensive care units fell below 5,000 for the first time since late March on Sunday, Reuters is reporting that health ministry data showed.

The number was down for a sixth day in a row at 4,971, against 5,005 the previous day, the ministry said.

The United States is closer to getting the coronavirus pandemic under control and health officials are focused on the next challenge: getting more Americans vaccinated, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Sunday, Reuters reports.

“I would say we are turning the corner,” Zients said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Continue reading...

Pope adds voice to call for pharma giants to waive vaccine patents

Posted on by

Francis condemns ‘virus of individualism’ that is hampering global vaccination efforts in message to Vax Live concert

Pope Francis has given his backing to the campaign calling for the suspension of coronavirus vaccine patents to boost supplies to poorer countries.

In a video message to the Vax Live event, Francis backed “universal access to the vaccine and the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights”. And he added his condemnation of the “virus of individualism” that “makes us indifferent to the suffering of others”.

Continue reading...

Why the Covid vaccination program in the Torres Strait islands depends on trust

Posted on by

A perceived lack of cultural awareness has raised concerns about how the rollout will be received, but islanders are working to overcome the barriers

Disruptions are not uncommon on Badu Island, one of the largest islands in the Torres Strait. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the Torres Strait went into lockdown in line with the rest of the country, and locals were encouraged not to travel between islands.

Charlotte Nona, the director of Queensland Regional Health in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula, says there is only one frontline health worker for the entire population on Badu.

Continue reading...

States turning down Covid-19 vaccine doses as US demand declines

Posted on by

Reduced demand comes as Joe Biden has announced a plan to vaccinate 70% of US adults by the Fourth of July

Declining demand for Covid-19 vaccines in the US is causing states across the country to refuse their full allocations of doses from the federal government, despite concerted efforts to raise national take-up rates.

Reduced demand, which is contributing to a growing stockpile of doses, comes as nearly 46% of the US population has received at least one dose of a two-shot vaccine and about 34% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Merkel says vaccine patent waiver ‘not the solution’; UK ‘to be protected by summer’

Posted on by

German chancellor says US should export more of its supplies; outgoing chief of UK taskforce says population should be protected before winter

Italy plans to lift quarantine restrictions for travellers arriving from European countries, including Britain and Israel, as early as mid-May to revive the tourism industry, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Saturday.

After meeting Health Minister Roberto Speranza to discuss the easing of restrictions for countries where vaccination levels are high, Di Maio said, quarantine requirements may also be scrapped for those arriving from the United States from June.

Tourism is an important key to Italy’s restart, and we need to plan the summer well so that health, economy and work are not put in danger.

With Minister Roberto Speranza we had a first confrontation on reopening measures to foreign tourists who want to visit our country this summer.

The German chancellor Angela Merkel said Europeans could forward to travelling this summer if coronavirus cases continue declining on the continent.

While the European Union is developing a vaccine certificate, valid throughout the 27-nation bloc, summer holidays should be possible again for people who haven’t had their shots against the virus, the chancellor said.

Merkel said that Germany also appears to have broken its most recent outbreak.

“Step by step, more will be possible in Germany, too, wherever the incidence drops, and that will hopefully be the case for all of Europe,” she said.

Continue reading...

India records almost 4,200 Covid deaths in a day

Posted on by

County reports more than 400,000 new infections but experts suspect figures are gross underestimate

Covid-19 deaths surged past 4,000 for the first time in India on Saturday in one of the world’s worst outbreaks.

India reported a national record of 4,187 new deaths on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: NSW reports no new local Covid cases; part of ABC’s Christian Porter defamation defence to be suppressed for now

Posted on by

Scott Morrison says India travel ban will not be extended and has committed to three repatriation flights before the end of May. Follow latest updates

The Covid-19 inquiry is hearing from Australians stranded in India, including Sunny, who traveled to India in May 2020 because his father was in a critical condition with no support during India’s coronavirus lockdown.

Sunny’s father passed away on 1 June 2020 while Sunny was in hotel quarantine in Dehli. He wants to bring his mother home to Australia with him, but his flights in July 2020 were cancelled due to the Melbourne lockdown.

Sunny said it was “next to impossible” to come back with 10,000 stranded Australians seeking seats on Air India flights and no Qantas repatriation flights until November. He paid $10,000 to fly to Australia from Japan, but was bumped from the flight.

Sunny said the Australian government had been “totally insensitive to stranded Australians” after he suffered “11 months of misery”.

Sunny and his mother live in an area experiencing a “tsunami of infections”, with 60-70% of people on the street infected with Covid-19. He said they lived holed up in the house “in fear for our lives” but worried it was only a matter of time before they were infected.

Sunny quoted the advice of the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, that the India travel ban could, in the worst-case scenario, result in the death of Australians in India.

He called for a comprehensive schedule of repatriation flights to get all Australians in India and elsewhere home.

Meg, another Australian in India, has told the committee she was stranded in India after she travelled there on holiday in January 2020.

Meg was unable to fly back in October when her Cathay Pacific flight via Hong Kong was cancelled, and she hasn’t been able to get a seat in the “raffle” of respite or charter flights.

She said:

The daily fear of going out and contracting Covid was with us every day and it it still is now, the situation is so bad. The Australian government hasn’t provided any kind of emotional support to those stranded in India. We are part of Facebook and Whatsapp groups – people are depressed about the situation. Emotionally people are so down and depressed.

We haven’t really received anything from the high commission. Every time I’ve called for help, guidance, the phone would just ring out no matter how many times you call.

The website for the new Labor campaign we mentioned earlier is now live. It is seen as a bit of an opening salvo for an election which could be more than a year away.

Continue reading...

US-Germany rift as Berlin opposes plan to ditch Covid vaccine patents

Posted on by
  • Germany says waiver would inhibit private sector research
  • Opposition to Biden plan threatens to deadlock WTO talks

The US and Germany are at odds on the issue of waivers for patents on Covid-19 vaccines, as Berlin argued that a waiver would not increase production and would inhibit future private sector research.

The disagreement is the first major rift between the two economic powers since Joe Biden took office, and threatens to deadlock discussions at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and sour relations within the G7 group of major industrialised democracies.

Continue reading...

US support for Covid vaccine patent waivers puts pressure on EU and UK

Posted on by

Analysis: Joe Biden’s support for idea is vital but it won’t happen without backing of other rich nations

It was a “seismic decision” by Joe Biden, the US president, say campaigners who have fought for the demolition of patent protection on vaccines and drugs for decades. The US administration has amazed supporters and critics alike by throwing its considerable weight behind the pleas of South Africa, India and about 100 developing countries at the World Trade Organization to overturn patents on Covid vaccines in the interests of getting more of them, more cheaply and faster, to huge populations in need.

Patents preserve the profits of the multinational companies that make drugs and vaccines. They make it illegal for up to 20 years for manufacturers of generic medicines to turn out cheap copycat versions. In this pandemic where, as the World Health Organization says, no one is safe until everyone is safe, there is a powerful moral case for ditching them.

Continue reading...