Only private jabs are available to most, but annual shots could reduce healthcare costs and prevent deaths
Private Covid boosters are available for people who do not qualify to receive these vaccines on the NHS. But is it worth paying for a shot?
With most people now having been exposed to Sars-CoV-2 through previous vaccination and/or infection, our immune systems are generally well equipped to recognise and kill the virus if we become infected.
Continue reading...Company says TGA regulations prevented it from responding to incorrect claims about its vaccine in 2021
AstraZeneca has called for reforms to Australia’s rules around discussion of medicines, saying public confusion over its Covid vaccine was created because the company was restricted in explaining health warnings by the nation’s medicines regulator.
The call is contained in more than 2,000 submissions to the federal government’s inquiry into Australia’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...High court strikes out part but not all of Bridgen’s case and orders him to pay Tory MP’s costs
The MP Andrew Bridgen has been ordered to pay Matt Hancock more than £40,000 in legal fees after an early stage of their libel battle.
The MP for North West Leicestershire is bringing a libel claim against the former health secretary regarding a January 2023 message on X that followed Bridgen posting a comment about Covid-19 vaccines.
Continue reading...Senior detective warns children are accessing extreme material as a result of lockdowns, after a 20-year-old was jailed on Monday
A senior counter-terrorism officer has warned that children and young people are increasingly being radicalised online after spending long periods on the internet during the pandemic.
Det Supt Andy Meeks said a growing number of vulnerable people were accessing extreme material after spending hours unsupervised online.
Continue reading...German man, who said he had vaccines for ‘private reasons’, suspected of selling certificates to people who didn’t want jab
A German man who voluntarily received 217 coronavirus jabs over 29 months showed “no signs” of having been infected with the virus that causes Covid-19 and had not suffered from any vaccine-related side effects, according to a study published in the medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The 62-year-old, from Magdeburg, Germany, whom doctors described as “hypervaccinated”, said he had had the large number of vaccines for “private reasons”, according to the researchers from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg who examined him.
Continue reading...People bereaved by Covid want government recognition and protection for South Bank place of remembrance
Volunteers at the Covid memorial wall are urging ministers to make the monument permanent as Britain marks its first national day of reflection after the pandemic.
The wall runs between Westminster Bridge and Lambeth Bridge on South Bank in London and is looked after by a group of volunteers, who rely on public donations to maintain it.
Continue reading...The $5bn post-pandemic spending program ‘not informed by robust research or analysis’ auditor general finds
Labor has accused the former New South Wales Coalition government of “pork barrelling at the public’s expense” after the auditor general found the design of a $5bn scheme to funnel money into areas worst hit by Covid lockdowns “lacked integrity”.
In a report released on Wednesday, Margaret Crawford found that more than $1bn was allocated to “low or moderate merit” infrastructure projects in western Sydney as part of the massive post-pandemic spending program WestInvest.
Continue reading...Researchers think undercounting goes beyond overloaded health systems to a lack of awareness of Covid and low levels of testing
The Covid death toll in the US is likely at least 16% higher than the official tally, according to a new study, and researchers believe the cause of the undercounting goes beyond overloaded health systems to a lack of awareness of Covid and low levels of testing.
The second year of the pandemic also had nearly as many uncounted excess deaths as the first, the study found.
Continue reading...Annual Hilda survey of 17,000 Australians shows ‘clear trend of younger people becoming lonelier and feeling more isolated as time goes on’
Australians are experiencing a large up-tick of psychological distress, with loneliness rising sharply among young people during the pandemic, a new study has revealed.
The annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) report examines data gathered between 2001 and 2021, by tracking over 17,000 people in over 9,000 households.
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Sturgeon once again says she wants to be “very clear” that it was not her practice to have lengthy or detailed discussions through “these means” – a reference to WhatsApp.
“It’s not my style,” she insists.
Continue reading...Ex-first minister of Scotland admits to inquiry that she failed to properly record key discussions about crisis
Nicola Sturgeon has admitted failing to properly record key discussions about the Covid crisis after being pressed at the UK Covid inquiry over claims some decisions were too centralised and secretive.
The former first minister, who led Scotland’s response to the pandemic, pushed back tears when she admitted she found the pressure of crisis “incredibly stressful”, and at times wished she had not been in charge.
An admission that crucial discussions with her closest advisers during private “gold command” meetings should have been recorded.
She regretted not telling people about Scotland’s first outbreak, involving 38 cases linked to a Nike conference in Edinburgh in March 2020, as that “had the potential to undermine public confidence”.
She acknowledged she should not have promised journalists in August 2021 that all her WhatsApp messages would be kept, knowing she had been systematically deleting them.
It was inappropriate for her to give the public health expert Devi Sridhar her private SNP email address.
She “thought wrongly” that her chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, could remain in post after admitting she breached lockdown rules by visiting her holiday home.
Continue reading...After the peer admitted to lying about her involvement in lucrative government PPE deals during the Covid crisis, the fate of her high-profile lingerie company raises further questions. David Conn reports
When Michelle Mone sat down for an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg last month it was against the backdrop of serious allegations that she had been facing since 2020. Mone and her husband, the Isle of Man-based businessman Doug Barrowman, are the subjects of a long-running National Crime Agency investigation into allegations of bribery and fraud in their securing of £200m in government contracts for a company, PPE Medpro.
She admitted to Kuenssberg that she had lied for years when denying her involvement in the lucrative PPE deals, emphasising in the interview that she was a ‘very successful individual businesswoman’.
Continue reading...Former Scotland first minister used expletives in private messages about former UK PM’s handling of pandemic
At the Covid inquiry hearing in Edinburgh Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon’s former chief of staff, was asked about her wanting a row with the UK government. (See 11.35am.)
Asked if she was looking for a spat, Lloyd replied:
I was looking for a spat with a purpose.
It had been shown in the past that they would sometimes change their mind if they felt that pressure and I wanted them to change their mind.
Sturgeon said his address was “fucking excruciating” and that the UK communications were “awful”. Sturgeon also told Lloyd: “His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere.”
Lloyd said she was “offended” on behalf of special advisers everywhere. Sturgeon replied: “He is a fucking clown.”
Continue reading...More than 7,000 hospital admissions and deaths could have been avoided if people had been fully vaccinated
Older people are being urged to become fully vaccinated against Covid as a world-first study shows thousands of hospital admissions and deaths in the UK could have been avoided if everyone had had all of their doses.
The rollout began strongly in the UK, with 90% of the population over the age of 12 vaccinated with at least one dose by January 2022. However, rates of subsequent doses fell sharply, a study shows, with less than half the population fully jabbed by June 2022.
Continue reading...Rules reintroduced as ‘commonsense measure’ despite opposition from some regional administrations
Face masks will be mandatory in hospitals and health centres in Spain from Wednesday as the country experiences a surge in cases of flu, Covid and other respiratory illnesses.
The government decision, which was made six months after the use of masks ceased to be obligatory in health facilities and pharmacies, has been met with opposition from some regional administrations.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Review by Michael Marmot decries 'shocking political failure’ behind differing life expectancies across country
More than 1 million people in England died prematurely in the decade after 2011 owing to a combination of poverty, austerity and Covid, according to “shocking” new research by one of the UK’s leading public health experts.
The figures are revealed in a study by the Institute of Health Equity at University College London led by Sir Michael Marmot. They demonstrate the extent to which stark economic and social inequalities are leading to poorer people dying early from cancer, heart problems and other diseases.
Continue reading...Heather Hallett’s first findings are to be published before the summer and will show how austerity and Brexit hit pandemic planning
An explosive report spelling out how the Conservative government failed to prepare the country for the Covid-19 pandemic as it obsessed about Brexit is to be released before the likely date of the next general election, the Observer has been told.
In a move that will cause alarm in Downing Street, Heather Hallett’s independent Covid-19 inquiry will issue a detailed interim report “before the summer” on the first batch of public hearings held last June and July, which revealed a catalogue of errors, including the lack of PPE and failures to act on recommendations of previous pandemic planning exercises.
Continue reading...Average of 3,631 patients in hospital with Covid during Christmas week, data shows, a rise of 57% in a month
A surge in the number of flu and Covid admissions to hospitals in England is adding to a “storm of pressure” facing the health service, NHS leaders have said.
Figures released on Friday showed that in Christmas week, there were on average 3,631 patients with Covid in hospital, up 57% from the same week in November.
Continue reading...Disgraced Tory peer says government always knew of involvement in Covid contracts as calls mount for her to stay away from Lords
A furious row has broken out between the disgraced Conservative peer Michelle Mone and the government over how much they knew about her links to a company that won lucrative deals during the pandemic.
Mone claimed the Cabinet Office, which Michael Gove led at the time, the government and the NHS “all knew about my involvement from the very beginning” before awarding her husband’s firm £203m in contracts.
Continue reading...Former Tory peer says government was aware of her involvement in PPE Medpro ‘from the very beginning’
Michelle Mone has condemned Rishi Sunak after he expressed concern at her admission she lied about involvement in a company that won lucrative deals during Covid, saying the government “knew about my involvement from the very beginning”.
After the former Conservative peer admitted in a BBC interview on Sunday that she had been untruthful in denying a connection to PPE Medpro, which made millions of pounds in profits over a contract to provide personal protective equipment, Sunak said No 10 was taking the case “incredibly seriously”.
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