coronavirus vaccine
1.84 lakh doses of Moderna, Sinopharm vaccines reach Chattogram
Some 184,000 doses of Moderna and Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines reached Chattogram on Sunday as the government is set to accelerate the inoculation drive amid the worsening corona situation.
Among the shots, 105,600 doses of Moderna MRNA developed by the USA, while the rest 78,400 are of Sinopharm developed by China, said a PID handout.
It is expected that the vaccination drive in Chattogram will begin on Tuesday (July 13).
Also read: Bangladesh to receive 60 lakh more Pfizer vaccine doses in Aug: Minister
The Moderna vaccine doses will be given in nine centres of the city, while that of Sinopharm at the upazila level. The people, aged above 35, would be able to receive the vaccines on completion of the registration process.
Civil Surgeon of Chattogram Dr Sheikh Fazle Rabbi received the vaccines of Moderna and Sinopharm, carried by freezer vans of Beximco Pharmaceutical.
Earlier, more than 8.5 lakh shots of Covid vaccines --762,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 91,200 doses of Sinopharm vaccine-- were sent to Chattogram.
Also read: Bangladesh hopeful of receiving 3.5 mln vaccine doses from COVAX this month: FM
On January 31 last, some 456,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reached Chattogram in the first phase, while 306,000 doses of the same vaccines on April 09 in the second phase. Later, some 91,200 shoots of Sinopharm vaccine reached the port city on June 18 last.
The Covid vaccination first began in Chattogram on February 7 last.
Global Covid deaths top 4 million
The second wave of the pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on human lives around the world. In fact, the global fatality figure has now topped four million.
The total caseload and fatalities from the virus stand at 185,018,936 and 4,000,641, respectively, as of Thursday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 3,322,028,826 Covid vaccine doses have been administered across the globe, as per the university data.
Read: Covid-19 response: Citibank NA Bangladesh steps forward to support communities
The US has logged 33,769, 829 cases and 606,215 deaths to date, according to the university data. The death toll in the United States is the highest in the world.
Brazil registered 1,648 more deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the national death toll to 528,540, the health ministry said Wednesday.
A total of 54,022 new infections were detected during the period, raising the total caseload to 18,909,037, the ministry said.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 30,663,665 on Wednesday as 43,733 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, according to the federal health ministry.
Besides, 930 deaths due to the pandemic since Tuesday morning pushed up the total death toll to 404,211.
Covid-19 was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, in late 2019, but the outbreak spread quickly across the globe in the first two-three months of 2020.
Read:Global Covid-19 incidence rises 3% over week: WHO
It was declared a global pandemic by the WHO on 11 March 2020.
Situation in Bangladesh
In a disastrous turn, Bangladesh on Wednesday morning recorded 201 deaths in 24 hours its highest-ever single-day fatalities.
Besides, the country logged 11,162 new cases, though the positivity rate declined slightly to 31.32 % from Tuesday’s 31.46%.
The new numbers took Bangladesh’s death toll to 15,593 and the caseload to 977,568.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said Bangladesh is hopeful of receiving more vaccine doses this month from Japan, the European Union (EU) and the US under the COVAX facility apart from a steady flow of jabs from China.
“We’re in a good position now. I should say we’ve made a line up. I think there’ll be no vaccine crisis, and the vaccination programme will continue uninterruptedly,” he told reporters at his residence.
Read:Covid nightmare in Bangladesh: Daily-death toll crosses 200
Dr Momen said that Bangladesh is expected to get around 2.5 million doses of vaccine from Japan and one million from the EU under the COVAX facility. “These’re likely to be AstraZeneca vaccine doses.”
In another positive turn of events, people will now be able to register for Covid-19 jabs through imo, the popular messaging app said in a release.
The move aims to amplify the mass vaccination efforts of the Bangladesh government, said the release.
Global COVID-19 deaths hit 4 million amid rush to vaccinate
The global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 4 million Wednesday as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and the highly contagious delta variant.
The tally of lives lost over the past year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world’s wars since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo.
Read: Global Covid-19 incidence rises 3% over week: WHO
The toll is three times the number of people killed in traffic accidents around the globe every year. It is about equal to the population of Los Angeles or the nation of Georgia. It is equivalent to more than half of Hong Kong or close to 50% of New York City.
Even then, it is widely believed to be an undercount because of overlooked cases or deliberate concealment.
With the advent of the vaccine, deaths per day have plummeted to around 7,900, after topping out at over 18,000 a day in January.
But in recent weeks, the mutant delta version of the virus first identified in India has set off alarms around the world, spreading rapidly even in vaccination success stories like the U.S., Britain and Israel.
Read:Covid nightmare in Bangladesh: Daily-death toll crosses 200
Britain, in fact, recorded a one-day total this week of more than 30,000 new infections for the first time since January, even as the government prepares to lift all remaining lockdown restrictions in England later this month.
Other countries have reimposed preventive measures, and authorities are rushing to step up the campaign to dispense shots.
At the same time, the disaster has exposed the gap between the haves and the have-nots, with vaccination drives barely getting started in Africa and other desperately poor corners of the world because of extreme shortages of shots.
The U.S. and other wealthy countries have agreed to share at least 1 billion doses with struggling countries.
The U.S. has the world’s highest reported death toll, at over 600,000, or nearly 1 in 7 deaths, followed by Brazil at more than 520,000, though the real numbers are believed to be much higher in Brazil, where President Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right government has long downplayed the virus.
Read:Global Covid cases top 184.5 million
The variants, uneven access to vaccines and the relaxation of precautions in wealthier countries are “a toxic combination that is very dangerous,” warned Ann Lindstrand, a top immunization official at the World Health Organization.
Instead of treating the crisis as a “me-and-myself-and-my-country” problem, she said, “we need to get serious that this is a worldwide problem that needs worldwide solutions.”
Bangladesh hopeful of receiving 3.5 mln vaccine doses from COVAX this month: FM
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said Bangladesh is hopeful of receiving more vaccine doses this month from Japan, the European Union (EU) and the USA under COVAX facility apart from a steady flow of that from China.
“We’re in a good position now. I should say we’ve made a line up. I think there’ll be no vaccine crisis, and the vaccination programme will continue uninterruptedly,” he told a small group of reporters at his residence.
Dr Momen said Bangladesh is expected to get around 2.5 million doses of vaccine from Japan while 1 million from the EU under the COVAX facility. “These’re likely to be AstraZeneca vaccine doses.”
The Foreign Minister said he talked to the Japanese Foreign Minister recently and Bangladesh mentioned about Japan’s vaccine supply to others.
Dr Momen said Japan will provide vaccine doses to Bangladesh, too but the exact quantity was not mentioned. But a big quantity of vaccine doses is expected to arrive this week or next week under the COVAX facility. “We expect it’ll be around 2.5 million doses.”
Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The Foreign Minister said Bangladesh recently got 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine doses from the USA under the COVAX facility. “US informed us that there’ll be more.”
He said the government has planned to bring vaccine doses from Sinopharm over the next three months as per the plan, and the first consignment of 2 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine has already arrived.
Read:Chinese firms working with Bangladeshi partners for vaccine co-production
Health workers vaccinate Kashmir nomads
Young health worker Masrat Farid has trekked long distances through remote Himalayan meadows in Indian-controlled Kashmir to vaccinate nomadic herders in a campaign launched in June. Her challenge isn’t the treacherous terrain, she says, but persuading people to get inoculated against the coronavirus.
Read: Twin blasts rock Indian Air Force base in first-ever drone attack
“Everywhere we go it seems rumors reach earlier than we do, and it makes our job difficult,” Farid said during a recent vaccination campaign in a high altitude meadow. She said most people are hesitant to get vaccinated because of the rumors.
And the rumors are plentiful.
Fueled by misinformation and mistrust, many residents, particularly in remote areas, believe that the vaccines cause impotence, serious side effects and could even kill. Some simply say they don’t need the shots because they’re immune to the coronavirus.
Still, Kashmir has done better than the rest of India. Scores of health workers like Farid have fully vaccinated over 9% of the eligible people among the region’s 14 million population, compared to less than 5% for India’s nearly 1.4 billion people. Almost 53% in Kashmir have had a first shot.
Read:India’s covid curve could raise the world’s
Mukhti Khan, an elderly woman, belongs to a family of nomads who have traveled for centuries between summer mountain pastures and winter grazing grounds in the lowland plains, herding their goats, sheep and horses.
On a recent day, Mukhti expressed her gratitude as a medical team visited the village near the remote pasture where she and her extended family have camped with their cattle. They can travel on foot to the village but must walk for hours to the nearest town for any medical emergency.
“It would have been quite an effort to go to the town for vaccinations,” she said as she received her first shot.
Apart from the hesitancy, the health workers have faced hostility as well.
“There are places where our colleagues have been attacked,” said Farid, who has vaccinated over 800 people so far.
Read:Experts warn of third wave of pandemic in India if health protocols ignored
Some of the attacks were fueled by fears that videos taken by officials of the vaccination campaign could be used by authorities to encourage support for the Indian government, which many Kashmiris deeply dislike. Most want independence or a merger with neighboring Pakistan, which controls another part of Kashmir. Both countries claim the entire disputed territory.
Registration for Covid vaccination to restart Thursday
Amid the deteriorating coronavirus situation, the government is going to resume the countrywide mass registration for receiving Covid-19 jabs from Thursday (July 8), said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Tuesday.
“The registration process will resume for all from Thursday morning,” Prof Dr Mizanur Rahman, Director (MIS) of the DGHS, told UNB.
“Currently, the registration is ongoing only in three categories on a priority basis. As the mass registration process resumes, all the categories will be available for registering through the Surokkha app as before,” he said.
Earlier, on June 30, Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the Vaccine Deployment Committee, also made the same announcement at a virtual press briefing arranged by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
He said the Sinopharm jabs will be administered at 40 centers in Dhaka city and at all district hospitals from 8am to 3pm every day as in the past.
Also read: Bangladesh’s Covid catastrophe worsens; 163 more lives lost
Dr Haque said the vaccine will also be given at Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) in Chattogram and Saidpur Sadar Hospital during the same period.
He said those who got registered earlier but could not receive the vaccines will be given the Sinopharm jabs now while the medical and university students and those who are on the priority lists can get registered for the vaccine. “Everyone will get an SMS from a vaccination centre after the registration and all must receive the vaccine at that centre accordingly. “In this case, the vaccine card and NID card must be brought for receiving the vaccine.”
Dr Haque said the Covid vaccination centers will remain out of the purview of the lockdown. “Those who have vaccine cards will be able to go to the relevant centre showing it.”
He said the expatriate workers who stay in countries where the Sinopharm vaccine is accepted also can receive the vaccine at the centers both in Dhaka and outside. “But no one will get the vaccine without registration.”
Also read: Chinese firms working with Bangladeshi partners for vaccine co-production
Besides, Dr Haque said, the Pfizer vaccine will also be administered at seven centers--Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Salimullah Medical College and Hospital, Mugda Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Kurmitola General Hospital, and Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute and Hospital—in the capital.
He said the outbound expatriate workers who are not allowed to return to their workplaces without getting Pfizer vaccine can only receive the vaccine at the seven centers as per the list from the Manpower Export Promotion Bureau.
Dr Haque said those who are supposed to receive Sinopharm jabs from these centres will have to go to alternative centres.
Global Covid cases top 184 million
The second wave of the pandemic continues its onslaught across the world even with mass inoculations underway. The global Covid-19 caseload has now surged past 184 million.
In fact, the total caseload and fatalities stand at 184,106,914 and 3,983,705, respectively, as of Tuesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 3,220,930,876 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.
The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 33,723,095 cases, according to JHU, while 605,567 people have lost their lives to the virus to date.
Read: Covid vaccine: Expat workers can now sign up on Surokkha
Brazil, where the catastrophe has been driven not by Delta but rather its own more infectious variant, is fast catching up with the United States when it comes to the death toll, and the South American behemoth has the third-largest caseload in the world, following the US and India.
The South American country has recorded 525,112 deaths and 18,792,511 cases, as of Tuesday morning.
India's own Covid-19 caseload rose to 30,585,229 on Monday, according to the federal health ministry's latest data.
Besides, 723 more deaths were recorded since Sunday morning, taking the death toll to 402,728.
A study conducted on 100 healthcare workers across three centres in India has found the Delta variant eight times less sensitive to antibodies generated by the Covid-19 vaccine.
The 'Sars-Cov-2 B.1.617.2 Delta Variant Emergence and Vaccine Breakthrough: Collaborative Study' also found that the variant has a much higher capacity to infect more people, according to a media report.
The collaborative study from India was conducted along with scientists from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease.
"The B.1.617.2 Delta variant not only dominates vaccine-breakthrough infections with higher respiratory viral loads compared to non-delta infections but also generates greater transmission between fully vaccinated healthcare workers, as compared to other variants B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant) or B.1.617.1 (Kappa variant)," the findings of the study revealed.
Read:35-years-olds to be made eligible for Covid jabs: DGHS DG
The study said the Delta variant is less sensitive to neutralising antibodies from recovered individuals, with "higher replication efficiency" as compared to the Alpha variant.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh, currently passing through the most frightful stage of the Covid-19 second wave, on Monday morning reported another record-high 164 deaths in 24 hours.
During the period, Bangladesh also broke its all-time record of cases with 9,964 fresh infections, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
This was reported just after seeing the highest 153 deaths on Sunday and highest 8,822 cases back on June 30.
The new cases were detected after testing 34,002 samples, said the DGHS. This puts the country's case positivity rate at 29.30%.
Bangladesh last recorded the highest single-day positivity rate of 28.99% on Sunday.
The new numbers took the country’s death toll to 15,229 and the caseload to 954,881. However, the fatality rate remained unchanged during the period at 1.59%.
So far, 839,082 people have recovered from the disease putting the recovery rate at 87.87%, which is declining unlike other indicators.
Read: Covid-19: Countries racing to vaccinate before Delta takes hold
Khulna division logged the highest 55 deaths on Monday when Dhaka saw 40 Covid deaths. Besides, 18 people died in Chattogram, 16 each in Rajshahi and Rangpur, nine in Barishal, eight in Sylhet and two in Mymensingh divisions.
Of the deceased, 148 died at different government and non-government hospitals, 15 at homes and one on the way to hospital, according to the DGHS.
The country saw 2,404 Covid deaths in April, 1,169 in May and 1,884 in June, marking those the most fatal months of this year.
Also, July was the most fatal month of 2020, reporting 1,264 deaths followed by 1,197 deaths in June that year.
Rural Kentucky health officials press on, one shot at a time
John Rogers waited months after becoming eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. It was only after talking with friends that the 66-year-old retiree from rural Spencer County, Kentucky, was persuaded to get the shot.
“They said, ‘You know, the vaccine may not be 100%, but if you get COVID, you’re in bad shape,’” Rogers said. “You can die from it.”
With the nation falling just short of President Joe Biden’s goal of dispensing at least one shot to 70% of all American adults by the Fourth of July, public health officials in places like Spencer County have shifted the emphasis away from mass vaccination clinics toward getting more information out in a more targeted way about the benefits of getting inoculated.
Health departments have offered the vaccine at concerts, parades and fairs and plan to make it available at back-to-school events. They have encouraged local doctors to raise the issue with patients and promoted shots by way of printed materials and social media.
Read:Vaccination 'most patriotic thing', COVID not yet finished: Biden
The hope is that word of mouth will ease fears and misperceptions about the vaccine and change people’s minds, one person at a time if necessary.
That’s especially important in places like Spencer County, an area of rolling green hills and farmland southeast of Louisville, where the state reports that about 22% of eligible adults are at least partially vaccinated. Public health officials there think the numbers are improving and may already be higher.
Biden administration officials are increasingly turning their attention nationwide to some 55 million unvaccinated adults seen as persuadable, a group they have dubbed the “movable middle.”
Many of those being targeted are under 30, an age group that has an especially low vaccination rate. But they also include people like Rogers, who said many people in his community are hesitant to get shots because “they just don’t trust the government.”
Rogers, who worked for a packaging supplier in nearby Shelbyville, said he shook off the skepticism and is now looking forward to a summer of “things going back to normal as they can be.”
Nationally, resistance to getting vaccinated tends to run higher in conservative and rural parts of the country. Overall, 49% of all Kentuckians have received at least one dose, compared with about 55% nationwide.
Stephanie Lokits, who oversees vaccination efforts in the county for the public health department, has watched immunizations slow since a peak in March, when clinics drew hundreds of residents. Now only 10 to 20 trickle through a weekly vaccine clinic held in the county seat of Taylorsville, a town of 1,600 with an old theater, a courthouse, some empty storefronts and a few small businesses slowly finding their way out of the pandemic.
Read:Biden urges shots for young adults as variant concern grows
While Kentucky has seen a decline in cases in the past seven weeks, nearly all confirmed infections and deaths reported in the past month have been in unvaccinated residents.
“I think that the philosophy that we have really tried to go by is that every single shot that we can get administered to a person is a positive thing,” Lokits said. “I think that’s kind of the place where a lot of health departments and a lot of providers are at.”
Lauren Slone, a nurse practitioner leading the vaccine effort at a community health center in Taylorsville, said she has learned through conversations with her patients that misconceptions about long-term effects pose real problems.
She has found that most people she talks to eventually get vaccinated. The challenge, she said, is “getting people to talk to me about it in the first place.”
While appointments in the center aren’t filling up as quickly as she would like, Slone thinks an effort to distribute information at local middle and high schools led to more vaccine appointments.
“I thought, you know, one way to get adults in is when teenagers know about it,“ Slone said. ”If your teenager asks to get it, then maybe that encourages you a little bit as well.”
A June drive-thru clinic held after the information push was well-attended by young adults. That’s another good sign, Slone said. Only one-third of Kentuckians 18 to 29 have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 83% of residents 65 and up.
Read:Biden promotes milestone of 300M vaccine shots in 150 days
Still, getting the word out can be harder in a rural county, because some residents aren’t on social media or don’t have consistent access to the internet. And in spread-out, sparsely populated places like Spencer County, some people may not feel the need to get the vaccine as quickly, said district health department director Roanya Rice.
Also, Spencer County has lower cases per-capita than neighboring counties and the state as a whole, meaning the threat can seem far away to some.
Rogers, now fully vaccinated, is enjoying the freedom to take off his mask for good, eat at a restaurant or visit with relatives without worrying.
“I waited a long time,” he said. “I should have gotten it a long time ago.”
Quader sees no oxygen crisis
Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said there is no oxygen crisis in the country.
He said this at a briefing at his official residence this morning.
Read:Vaccines start arriving in fulfilment of prime minister’s commitment, says Quader
"There is no oxygen crisis in the country. There may be a lack of coordination somewhere, but the Prime Minister has already directed the Ministry of Health to take appropriate steps to ensure supply by strengthening coordination in areas where oxygen supply is urgent."
Quader said the BNP's efforts to politicise the Corona issue had utterly failed.
He said that the collection of vaccines with the highest priority for the country is a clear reflection of the deep commitment of the Sheikh Hasina government to the people of the country.
Read:Quader calls for accepting corona-induced lockdown hardships
Obaidul Quader said that about 45 lakh doses of vaccine have already arrived in the country and more vaccines will come in time.
He said Bangladesh would succeed in procuring the required number of vaccines under the Prime Minister's diplomatic skills and visionary leadership, InshaAllah.
Noting that there is no alternative to building awareness to curb the upward trend of infection, the bridge minister said, "We should take utmost precautions to survive during this pandemic situation."
Read: Quader urges party members to help people during lockdown
Seven people died in the space of roughly an hour and 20 minutes, allegedly due to an oxygen supply failure in Satkhira Medical College Hospital on the evening of June 30. They were undergoing treatment at the ICU and the CCU units of the hospital.
Two probe committees have been formed to investigate the causes behind their deaths.
UAE becomes world’s most vaccinated nation against COVID-19: Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker
The United Arab Emirates leads the world, with enough vaccinations to cover 72.1 percent of its population and has overtaken Seychelles to become the world's most vaccinated nation, according to Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker.
The UAE has so far administered 15.5 million doses, enough to cover 72.1 percent of its population based on a two-dose regimen. The UAE tests more people per capita than most nations and has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world.
In a statement, Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad bin Nasser Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, said that this new global achievement adds to the country’s success and record of achievements in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that it is an international recognition of the success of the National Vaccination Campaign, launched by the UAE, which is continuing to achieve its objectives.
Also read: Europe in vaccination race against COVID-19′s delta variant
"The proactive vision of the country’s leadership enabled us to address the challenges posed by COVID-19. Today, the UAE is the world’s most vaccinated country," he added. He also highlighted the efforts of the national health sector, which is keen to provide diverse types of vaccines to all segments of the community, as well as the community's awareness about the importance of being vaccinated.
Al Owais stressed that the National Vaccination Campaign is continuing in all emirates of the country, along with the adherence to relevant precautionary measures, which represent the foundations of the national efforts aimed at achieving recovery and ensuring the return to normalcy.
Medical teams and front-liners are working as one team, upon the directives of the UAE’s leadership, to achieve recovery from the pandemic, he added, affirming that the UAE is a unique global model of combating the COVID-19 pandemic, and has received widespread international appreciation, underscoring the community’s confidence in the procedures adopted by the UAE Government.
Also read: COVAX calls for equal recognition of all approved vaccines
He also noted the importance of the community’s awareness of, and adherence to, precautionary measures to maintain the gains achieved by the country and protect its members.
Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker is the most up-to-date and comprehensive tally of vaccinations around the globe.