Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Coronavirus live news: Greece extends lockdown to more areas; Johnson & Johnson jab ‘to get EU approval’

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Greece announced tighter measures as pandemic showed no signs of waning in the country; EMA expected to approve vaccine on 11 March

Honduras will begin receiving nearly 430,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine in March through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global COVAX program for poor and middle-income countries, the Honduran health minister said on Friday.

Reuters reports:

Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez had asked the WHO to make the Central American nation a priority for Covid-19 vaccines, citing the devastating effects of two recent hurricanes that pummeled the already weak economy.

Eventually, the vaccines via COVAX are meant to inoculate nearly 2 million of the 9.5 million inhabitants in the small Central American country, where more than 4,000 people have died from COVID-19. The AstraZeneca vaccine requires two shots.

England’s deputy chief medical officer has told people “don’t wreck this now” as he warned there were “some worrying signs that people are relaxing” in the batlle against coronavirus at “exactly the wrong time”.

PA reports:

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam alerted people who have already been vaccinated to the dangers of “taking their foot off the brake” and being tempted to break Covid-19 rules.

He told a Downing Street briefing on Friday: “All the patients that I vaccinate [...] I say to them, ‘Remember, all the rules still apply to you and all of us until we’re in a much safer place’. It doesn’t change because you’ve had your first dose of vaccine.

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Vaccine envy, inoculation etiquette and judging the unjustly jabbed

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Queue-jumping triggers rows and resignations – and experts say it could undermine trust in the system

Vaccines against Covid-19 may represent a peak of human ingenuity and achievement – but that still leaves a sticky problem of etiquette: how should you behave during a global scramble for the jab?

When someone jumps the queue and gets vaccinated, do you condemn their selfishness, admire their chutzpah, ask for tips? When a friend or relative is way ahead of you in the queue, are you happy for them or resentful? Is yearning for vaccines a legitimate existential response or is it just a symptom of Vomo – fear of missing out on a vaccine?

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Single Pfizer jab can reduce asymptomatic Covid infections by 75%

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Cambridge doctors record sharp fall in infections after 12 days in Covid test analysis on healthcare workers

A single dose of the Pfizer vaccine can reduce asymptomatic infections by 75%, according to research that suggests the jab could substantially curtail transmission of the disease.

Doctors in Cambridge recorded the sharp fall in infections after 12 days of the first shot in an analysis of Covid tests performed on healthcare workers in the last two weeks of January.

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Vanuatu coronavirus vaccine rollout to take until end of 2023

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The majority of the Pacific nation’s population won’t be immunised for another two years, government planning documents show

Despite a tourism-dependent economy devastated by coronavirus shutdowns, Vanuatu’s Covid-19 vaccination programme will not inoculate most of its population until the end of 2023.

According to the ministry of health’s national deployment and vaccination plan, the first shots will be administered in April this year, but only the most vulnerable 20% of the population will get a jab in the first phase.

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‘Think about others’: the Queen encourages people to get Covid vaccine jab – video

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The Queen said her Covid-19 jab 'didn’t hurt at all' in a video call with health officials leading vaccine deployment across the UK.

The monarch praised the vaccine programme, describing its speed and the rapid progress as 'remarkable', and in a morale boost told the health leaders to 'keep up the good work'

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Ursula von der Leyen issues Covid vaccine export warning at EU summit

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Commission head reassures leaders she will ban vaccines leaving EU if suppliers fail to deliver again

Ursula von der Leyen has reassured EU leaders she will ban coronavirus vaccines from leaving the EU if suppliers such as AstraZeneca fail to deliver again, as she faced questions over her handling of shortages.

The European commission president’s pledge at a virtual summit came as leaders issued a statement promising to “accelerate the provision of vaccines”, with just 8% of the adult population having received a jab compared with 27% in the UK.

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Pfizer Covid vaccine 94% effective, study of 1.2m people finds

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A major study of data from Israel showed Pfizer shot cut symptomatic cases drastically across all age groups

The first major real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing Covid-19, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies.

Until now, most data on coronavirus vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty about how the results would translate into the real world.

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Calls for mandatory Covid jabs conflict with Britons’ right to say no

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Analysis: idea is not as simple as it seems, due to the fact vaccination is not mandatory under UK law

The UK government has always said there will be no compulsory Covid vaccination. It is only nervously dipping a toe in the waters of the vaccine passport issue, which could have implications for those who do not have one. But some employers appear prepared to dive straight in. “No jab, no job,” says Charlie Mullins, who runs Pimlico Plumbers. He wants to be able to tell his customers they have nothing to fear from a visit to fix their leaking pipes.

Care homes are understandably thinking hard about it too. They have vulnerable people to protect and the families on the outside will be more than anxious to know that an elderly mum or dad is being looked after by somebody who is fully vaccinated. Barchester Healthcare, the second-biggest care home provider in the UK, has spelled it out to its 17,000 staff that if they do not get vaccinated even though they are eligible, there will be no more shifts for them from the end of April, said the chief executive, Dr Pete Calveley.

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Ghana receives 600,000 vaccines in first Covax delivery – video

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Covax has delivered its first Covid-19 vaccine doses to Ghana as part of a programme to ensure equitable distribution to poorer countries. Anne-Claire Dufay, of Unicef, said it was ‘an historic moment’.

Covax aims to distribute enough vaccines over the next six months to inoculate 3% of the population of 145 countries and tens of millions more by the end of the year

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Covax delivers first Covid vaccines in ‘momentous occasion’

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Doses land in Accra as part of scheme seeking to offset ‘vaccine nationalism’

Covax has delivered its first Covid-19 vaccine doses in a milestone for the ambitious programme that seeks to offset “vaccine nationalism” by wealthy countries and ensure poor ones do not wait years to start inoculating people.

An aircraft carrying 600,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine landed in Accra, the capital of Ghana, on Wednesday, where jabs will be administered to frontline health workers on Tuesday. Vaccine doses will arrive on Friday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and will be given from Monday.

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Four key questions on a Covid certification scheme in England

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The government is reviewing the options on proof of vaccination or testing status

The idea of vaccine certificates has gained traction in England, as the government weighs their potential usefulness in reopening sectors of society against concerns about privacy and discrimination.

As ministers prepare to launch a review into whether to introduce the documents, here are the key questions to be answered.

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The science behind England’s Covid exit plan – podcast

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Nicola Davis runs through the science behind the government’s decision to begin lifting lockdown restrictions, a four-stage plan that starts with the reopening of schools and could see the return of nightclubs on 21 June

On Monday Boris Johnson announced a four-stage plan for England, paving the way for schools to welcome pupils, sports fans to fill stadiums once again and nightclubs to reopen their doors. There is a five-week gap between each phase of the plan, intended to allow four weeks for data to emerge about the impact of the changes, plus a week’s notice for the next stage of easing to be introduced.

The Guardian science correspondent Nicola Davis talks to Rachel Humphreys about the science behind the government’s decision to begin easing out of lockdown. Some, including Johnson’s own backbenchers, have criticised the pace of reopening as too slow. But, Nicola says, experts on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), whose analysis was published alongside the plan, have stressed the need for caution. ‘Decisions about changes to restrictions are best made based on epidemiological data rather than based on predetermined dates,’ they advise.

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AstraZeneca expected to miss EU Covid vaccine supply target by half in second-quarter – report

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Expected shortfall of 90m doses could hit the EU’s ability to meet its target of vaccinating 70% of adults by summer

AstraZeneca has told the European Union it expects to deliver less than half the Covid-19 vaccines it was contracted to supply in the second quarter, an EU official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Contacted by Reuters, AstraZeneca did not deny what the official said, but a statement late in the day said the company was striving to increase productivity to deliver the promised 180m doses.

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‘We’re risking our lives’: California’s slow vaccine rollout leaves essential workers exposed

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Millions who cannot afford to stay home still lack access to inoculation, even as their work puts them in harm’s way

Pharmacy workers helping maskless customers. Uber drivers transporting coughing passengers. Janitors cleaning contaminated workspaces.

Amid California’s slow Covid-19 vaccine rollout, millions of essential workers in high-exposure jobs are still waiting to get the life-saving doses, with many uncertain when or how they will get access.

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Nigeria survey suggests 23% of Lagos residents had Covid last year

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Study suggests infection rates have been much higher across the country than previously thought

More than one in five people living in the state of Lagos in Nigeria had Covid-19 antibodies at the end of October, according to a study that suggests that infection rates were much higher across the country than previously thought.

Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control (NDCD) and Institute for Medical Research collected blood samples from over 10,000 individuals living in a representative sample of households in four states in September and October.

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Vaccinating children could be key to stifling Covid, say experts

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Scientists say there is significant risk of resurgence until all age groups are immunised

Vaccinating children and teens could be key to stifling the pandemic, experts have said, as clinical trials begin to test Covid-19 vaccines in young people.

While Covid-19 is associated with a considerably lower burden of morbidity and mortality in young people, and there is evidence that children may be less likely to acquire the infection, the role of children in transmission is unclear, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

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The world faces a pandemic of human rights abuses in the wake of Covid-19 | António Guterres

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The virus has been used as a pretext in many countries to crush dissent, criminalise freedoms and silence reporting

  • António Guterres is secretary general of the United Nations

From the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic almost one year ago, it was clear that our world faced far more than a public health emergency. The biggest international crisis in generations quickly morphed into an economic and social crisis. One year on, another stark fact is tragically evident: our world is facing a pandemic of human rights abuses.

Covid-19 has deepened preexisting divides, vulnerabilities and inequalities, and opened up new fractures, including faultlines in human rights. The pandemic has revealed the interconnectedness of our human family – and of the full spectrum of human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political and social. When any one of these rights is under attack, others are at risk.

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Australia news live: Covid vaccine rollout begins; more questions over rape allegations

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Phase 1a of the vaccine program starts today; questions about the government’s response to Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations dominate parliament. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
• Melbourne doctors under review for promoting discredited Covid treatment
• Australia’s first Covid vaccinations rollout out
• Follow the global liveblog

It’s another for the ‘always look at the bright side’ file.

From AAP:

The Morrison government has released the findings of an investigation that the environment minister, Sussan Ley, ordered into her own department over the export of rare and endangered Australian parrots to Germany.

The investigation was prompted by a 2018 investigation by Guardian Australia’s Lisa Cox and Berlin bureau chief Philip Oltermann.

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Cautious Johnson faces battle with own MPs over lockdown exit

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Analysis: many on the Tory backbenches want Covid restrictions over by end of April

When Boris Johnson stands at the dispatch box on Monday to deliver his roadmap for easing Covid restrictions for what he hopes will be the final time, there is likely to be a sigh of relief from his scientific advisers who will have won the most recent battle.

Johnson is now gearing up for the next tussle, which will be with his MPs. There is a truce with the cabinet.

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Scientists say clinical trials for ‘variant-proof’ vaccines could start very soon

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From immunity to blocking transmission of the virus, labs across the UK are hunting for second-generation jabs


Scientists are developing a range of second-generation Covid vaccines aimed at expanding protection against the disease.

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