coronavirus vaccine
COVID-19 vaccination gives 97.4 pc protection from coronavirus infection
The COVID-19 vaccination provides protection at a rate of 97.4 per cent against coronavirus infection, said a study conducted by Apollo Hospital Group to investigate the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the symptomatic-vaccinated healthcare workers (HCWs) and to analyze the severity of their disease, reports ANI.
Read:Vaccine inequity biggest barrier to ending pandemic: WHO chief
The study conducted on 3,235 HCW (2480 received both doses while 755 received a single dose) showed that COVID-19 infection after vaccination is primarily minor and did not lead to severe disease.
The symptomatic post-vaccination infections in these HCWs were evaluated for the study, and it was found that eighty-five of 3235 (2.63 per cent) vaccinated HCWS acquired the COVID 19 infection after vaccination during the study period.
"Of these, 65 (76.5 per cent) were fully vaccinated (FV), and 20 (23.5 per cent) were partially vaccinated (PV) and the protection rate of vaccination was 97.4 per cent," the study said.
Read:What is a COVID-19 vaccine “breakthrough” case?
The study noted that an odds ratio of acquiring infection among females was 1.84 times higher, but explained that it was "mainly because of their greater involvement in the patient care as nursing personnel. The chances of infection were the highest in the medical and nursing personnel as compared to paramedical, administrative and supporting staff." Among the HCWs studied, only two required hospitalization (0.06 per cent), none needed an intensive care unit (ICU) admission and there were no deaths.
The study further added that in all the 85 infected cases, there were mild symptoms such as cough, fever, malaise and loss of taste and smell.
Fauci says US headed in ‘wrong direction’ on coronavirus
The United States is in an “unnecessary predicament” of soaring COVID-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated Americans and the virulent delta variant, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday.
“We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, describing himself as “very frustrated.”
Read:Natural origins theory of Covid-19 still the most likely: Fauci
He said recommending that the vaccinated wear masks is “under active consideration” by the government’s leading public health officials. Also, booster shots may be suggested for people with suppressed immune systems who have been vaccinated, Fauci said.
Fauci, who also serves as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he has taken part in conversations about altering the mask guidelines.
He noted that some local jurisdictions where infection rates are surging, such as Los Angeles County, are already calling on individuals to wear masks in indoor public spaces regardless of vaccination status. Fauci said those local rules are compatible with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that the vaccinated do not need to wear masks in public.
Read:Little new evidence emerges in US probe of Covid-19 origins
More than 163 million people, or 49% of the total U.S. population, are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data. Of those eligible for the vaccine, aged 12 and over, the figure rises to 57%.
“This is an issue predominantly among the unvaccinated, which is the reason why we’re out there, practically pleading with the unvaccinated people to go out and get vaccinated,” Fauci said.
Fauci said government experts are reviewing early data as they consider whether to recommend that vaccinated individuals to get booster shots. He suggested that some of the most vulnerable, such as organ transplant and cancer patients, are “likely” to be recommended for booster shots.
Read: China rebuffs WHO’s terms for further COVID-19 origins study
He also praised Republicans, including Govs. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, and the second-ranking House leader, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, for encouraging their constituents to get vaccinated. Their states have among the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
“What I would really like to see is more and more of the leaders in those areas that are not vaccinating to get out and speak out and encourage people to get vaccinated,” Fauci said.
Europe’s summer tourism outlook dimmed by variants, rules
Chaos and confusion over travel rules and measures to contain new virus outbreaks are contributing to another cruel summer for Europe’s battered tourism industry.
Popular destination countries are grappling with surging COVID-19 variants, but the patchwork and last-minute nature of the efforts as the peak season gets underway threatens to derail another summer.
In France, the world’s most visited country, visitors to cultural and tourist sites were confronted this week with a new requirement for a special COVID-19 pass.
To get the pass, which comes in paper or digital form, people must prove they’re either fully vaccinated or recently recovered from an infection, or produce a negative virus test. Use of the pass could extend next month to restaurants and cafes.
Read:Residents say flood-hit German towns got little warning
Italy said Thursday that people will need a similar pass to access museums and movie theaters, dine inside restaurants and cafes, and get into pools, casinos and a range of other venues.
At the Eiffel Tower, unprepared tourists lined up for quick virus tests so they could get the pass to visit the Paris landmark. Johnny Nielsen, visiting from Denmark with his wife and two children, questioned the usefulness of the French rules.
“If I get tested now, I can go but then I (could) get corona in the queue right here,” Nielsen said, though he added they wouldn’t change their plans because of it.
Juan Truque, a tourist from Miami, said he wasn’t vaccinated but took a test so he could travel to France via Spain with his mother.
“Now they are forcing you to wear masks and to do similar kind of things that are impositions to you. To me, they are violations to your freedom.” he said.
Europe’s vital travel and tourism industry is desperate to make up after a disastrous 2020. International tourist arrivals to Europe last year plunged by nearly 70%, and for the first five months of this year, they’re down 85%, according to U.N. World Tourism Organization figures.
American, Japanese and Chinese travelers aren’t confident it will be possible to visit and move freely within Europe, the European Travel Commission said. International arrivals are forecast to remain at nearly half their 2019 level this year, though domestic demand will help make up the shortfall.
The U.K.’s statistics office suspended its monthly international passenger data, because it said there aren’t enough people arriving “to provide robust estimates.”
The United States this week upgraded its travel warning for Britain to the highest level. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised Americans to avoid traveling to the country because of the risk of contracting COVID-19 variants, while the U.S. State Department raised its alert level to “do not travel” from the previous less severe “reconsider travel” advisory.
The recommendations are constantly under review and not binding, although they may affect group tours and insurance rates. Britain’s warning has fluctuated several times this year already.
Some countries are showing signs of a rebound, however.
Read:Challenges remain despite Europe meeting 70 pct vaccine delivery goal
Spain, the world’s second-most visited country, received 3.2 million tourists from January to May — a tenth of the amount in the same period of 2019. But visits surged in June with 2.3 million arrivals, the best monthly figure since the start of the pandemic, although still only 75% of the figure from two years ago.
Spain’s secretary of state for tourism, Fernando Valdés, credited the European Union’s deployment in June of its digital COVID-19 vaccine passport for having a “a positive impact” on foreign arrivals. That, and the U.K. move to allow nonessential travel, “allowed us to start the 2021 summer season in the best conditions,” he said.
The EU app allows the bloc’s residents to show they’ve been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from the virus.
In Greece, where COVID-19 infections are also rising sharply, authorities have openly expressed concern that slowing vaccination rates could hurt the struggling tourism industry, a mainstay of the economy. Authorities have tightened restrictions for unvaccinated tourists and residents, banning their entry to all indoor dining and entertainment venues.
Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis urged the travel industry to put on a brave face.
“It’s very important that we do not give the impression that we have lost control of the pandemic,” Georgiadis said last week.
Some countries sparked chaos with last-minute changes to entry rules.
Denmark’s decision to upgrade Britain to its “red” list of countries with tighter travel restrictions threw London resident Richard Moorby’s vacation plans into disarray.
Moorby originally planned to go to Copenhagen in August to meet up with his Danish wife and their two children visiting his in-laws — like they did last summer. But under current rules Moorby wouldn’t have been able to travel separately because he’s not Danish. They planned instead to travel together, which they thought would be allowed even after the change — but they missed the announcement’s fine print prohibiting non-Danes from “red list” countries including the U.K. from visiting without a worthy purpose, which doesn’t include tourism.
“It was going to be a bit of a non-holiday anyway,” Moorby said. But “it went from, ‘We’d have a nice holiday in Denmark,’ to ‘well, maybe I can just about get there,’ to ‘I can’t even travel’.”
Meanwhile, the U.K. government unexpectedly announced that travelers coming from France would still have to self-isolate for up 10 days because of worries about the beta variant, frustrating travelers and angering the tourism industry and French government.
Read:France requires COVID pass for Eiffel Tower, tourist venues
Emma and Ben Heywood, the British owners of adventure travel company Undiscovered Montenegro, said booking inquiries are surging after the U.K. government said in the same announcement it would stop advising against travel to countries on its “amber list” and dropped the self-isolation rule for returning travelers.
The couple said bookings last summer plunged to 10% of their usual level but now they’re at 30% and rising fast. Montenegro has a relatively low infection rate and relaxed entry requirements.
“It’s so hard keeping everybody up to date with what’s required to go where, with so many countries and so many different rules involved,” said Ben Heywood.
“It’s a total minefield. Half the emails I’m fielding now are people saying, ‘We definitely want to come. What do we need to do?’
Bangladesh to get 21 crore vaccine doses early next year: Minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said the government will receive around 21 crore doses of Covid vaccines early next year to bring the country’s 80 percent population under the vaccination coverage.
“Now Bangladesh's most important task is to collect vaccines. The government has now over one crore doses of vaccines in its stock, while it’ll get two more crore doses by next month,” he said.
Speaking at a virtual discussion arranged by Bangladesh Private Medical College Association (BPMCA), the minister said, “The government will receive about 21 crore doses of vaccines, including three crore doses from China, seven crore each from Russia and Johnson & Johnson, and three crore from AstraZeneca early next year. We hope the government will be able to vaccinate at least 80 percent of the country’s population with these vaccine jabs.”
He said all the citizens above 18 years of age will be vaccinated from now on to keep the country's educational institutions functional and bring most citizens under the mass vaccination drive.
Read: Bangladesh to go for Covid vaccine coproduction soon: FM
The minister said they have already asked the ICT Division to take steps so that people above 18 years of age can register for vaccination through the government-approved "Surokkha" app.
Over four percent of the country's population has so far been vaccinated since the government launched the mass vaccination programme on February 7 last by administering Covishield.
Khaleda recovers from vaccine side effects
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has recovered from fever and body pain that she experienced as side effects after taking the first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.
“Madam (Khaleda) was affected with light fever and body pain as the side effects of the first dose of the Covid vaccine. But her fever and pain have already subsided,” the BNP chief’s personal physician, Dr Al Mamun, told UNB on Friday.
He, however, said Khaleda is still suffering from heart, lung, and some other complications.
The 76-year-old BNP chief, who recovered from Covid-19 over two months back, has now been receiving medical treatment at her Gulshan house for those complications.
Read: Khaleda takes 1st dose of Covid vaccine
On Monday, Khaleda received the first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at Sheikh Russel Gastro Liver Institute and Hospital in the city’s Mohakhali area.
She is scheduled to get the second dose of the vaccine on August 19.
On April 11, she tested positive for Covid-19 and she was admitted to Evercare Hospital on April 27.
The BNP chief tested negative for Covid-19 on May 8, 27 days after she had been infected with the deadly virus.
Read: Khaleda receives vaccination SMS: Dr Zahid
On June 19, Khaleda Zia got back home from the hospital after 53 days of treatment for Covid infections and other physical complications.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her sentences on March 25 last year.
Prof Yunus renews call for ensuring vaccine equality breaking profit wall
Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus has reiterated call for ensuring vaccine equality around the world noting that all the people need to be safe breaking the wall of profit.
“We’re talking much to make the vaccine patent-free. We’re working to get the patent out of the vaccine because the vaccine is a wall of profit and the wall of profit makes it tough for people to get the vaccine,” said Prof Yunus.
He made the remarks when asked about what he expects from the international community to ensure vaccines for all in a recent media briefing mentioning that they have been working for more than a year to ensure vaccine equality around the world.
Prof Yunus is all set to receive the Olympic Laurel as only the second person in history when the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics takes place on Friday.
“Bangladesh will be so proud of this award because Bangladesh is a country that doesn’t get close to an Olympic medal. But they have a cause for a celebration now. The whole world will watch a Bangladeshi receiving an Olympic award which will make every single person of Bangladesh proud of it. I believe it’ll be something that Bangladesh will remember for long,” said Prof Yunus during a virtual press meet.
Read: Patent-free Covid-19 vaccines: Yunus’ petition gets 1 million signatures
India working to resume vaccine export to Bangladesh, reiterates Doraiswami
India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, is working to resume the export of Covid vaccine jabs to Bangladesh as vaccine production in India is growing rapidly.
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami reiterated this at Akhaura International Checkpost on his way back to Bangladesh from India on Friday morning.
Read:India trying to send vaccine jabs to Bangladesh soon: Doraiswami
The envoy said India is working to resume the vaccine supply to Bangladesh and the increased production of Covid vaccine is a positive sign.
"Hopefully, we’ll be able to send vaccine jabs to Bangladesh if vaccine production increases further. But I can't give any specific date in this regard," he told local journalists.
He said the trade volume between the two countries has increased despite the pandemic. "If our communication systems remain suitable, then we’ll be able to continue trading amid this pandemic."
Read:Doraiswami keen to push Covaxin as Covishield exports disrupted
Doraiswami also said India will be happy it can cooperate more with Bangladesh in their fight against Covid-19.
Akhaura Upazila Nirbahi Officer Rumana Akhter, officer-in-charge of Akhaura Police Station Md Mizanur Rahman and Immigration Police In-Charge Md Abdul Hamid others were present.
On July 18, the envoy went to New Delhi though Akhaura land port to discuss how India can expedite the supply of the remaining doses of Covishield jabs produced by Serum Institute of India.
Read:Greater trade, connectivity hold brighter future for Dhaka-Delhi ties: Doraiswami
Bangladesh was scheduled to get three crore doses of vaccines from India under a tripartite agreement signed last year. But New Delhi halted the export after sending only 75 lakh doses in March citing high domestic demand.
US virus cases nearly triple in 2 weeks amid misinformation
COVID-19 cases nearly tripled in the U.S. over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation that is straining hospitals, exhausting doctors and pushing clergy into the fray.
“Our staff, they are frustrated,” said Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville, a Florida hospital that is canceling elective surgeries and procedures after the number of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 inpatients at its two campuses jumped to 134, up from a low of 16 in mid-May.
“They are tired. They are thinking this is déjà vu all over again, and there is some anger because we know that this is a largely preventable situation, and people are not taking advantage of the vaccine.”
Across the U.S., the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases rose over the past two weeks to more than 37,000 on Tuesday, up from less than 13,700 on July 6, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Health officials blame the delta variant and slowing vaccination rates. Just 56.2% of Americans have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read:Biden says getting vaccinated ‘gigantically important’
In Louisiana, health officials reported 5,388 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday — the third-highest daily count since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. Hospitalizations for the disease rose to 844 statewide, up more than 600 since mid-June. New Orleans leaders urged people to resume wearing masks indoors.
Utah reported having 295 people hospitalized due to the virus, the highest number since February. The state has averaged about 622 confirmed cases per day over the last week, about triple the infection rate at its lowest point in early June. Health data shows the surge is almost entirely connected to unvaccinated people.
“It is like seeing the car wreck before it happens,” said Dr. James Williams, a clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at Texas Tech, who has recently started treating more COVID-19 patients. “None of us want to go through this again.”
He said the patients are younger — many in their 20s, 30s and 40s — and overwhelmingly unvaccinated.
As lead pastor of one of Missouri’s largest churches, Jeremy Johnson has heard the reasons congregants don’t want the COVID-19 vaccine. He wants them to know it’s not only OK to get vaccinated, it’s what the Bible urges.
“I think there is a big influence of fear,” said Johnson, whose Springfield-based church also has a campus in Nixa and another about to open in Republic. “A fear of trusting something apart from scripture, a fear of trusting something apart from a political party they’re more comfortable following. A fear of trusting in science. We hear that: ‘I trust in God, not science.’ But the truth is science and God are not something you have to choose between.”
Now many churches in southwestern Missouri, like Johnson’s Assembly of God-affiliated North Point Church, are hosting vaccination clinics. Meanwhile, about 200 church leaders have signed onto a statement urging Christians to get vaccinated, and on Wednesday announced a follow-up public service campaign.
Opposition to vaccination is especially strong among white evangelical Protestants, who make up more than one-third of Missouri’s residents, according to a 2019 report by the Pew Research Center.
“We found that the faith community is very influential, very trusted, and to me that is one of the answers as to how you get your vaccination rates up,” said Ken McClure, mayor of Springfield.
Read:US life expectancy in 2020 saw biggest drop since WWII
The two hospitals in his city are teeming with patients, reaching record and near-record pandemic highs. Steve Edwards, who is the CEO of CoxHealth in Springfield, tweeted that the hospital has brought in 175 traveling nurses and has 46 more scheduled to arrive by Monday.
“Grateful for the help,” wrote Edwards, who previously tweeted that anyone spreading misinformation about the vaccine should “shut up.”
Jacob Burmood, a 40-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, artist, said his mother has been promoting vaccine conspiracy theories even though her husband — Burmood’s stepfather — is hospitalized on a ventilator in Springfield.
“It is really, really sad, and it is really frustrating,” he said.
Burmood recalled how his mother had recently fallen ill and “was trying to tell me that vaccinated people got her sick, and it wasn’t even COVID. I just shut her down. I said, ‘Mom, I can’t talk to you about conspiracy theories right now.’ ... You need to go to a hospital. You are going to die.”
His mother, who is in her 70s, has since recovered.
In New York City, workers in city-run hospitals and health clinics will be required to get vaccinated or get tested weekly as officials battle a rise in COVID-19 cases, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.
De Blasio’s order will not apply to teachers, police officers and other city employees, but it’s part of the city’s intense focus on vaccinations amid an increase in delta variant infections.
The number of vaccine doses being given out daily in the city has dropped to less than 18,000, down from a peak of more than 100,000 in early April. About 65% of all adults are fully vaccinated, compared with about 60% of public hospital system staffers, said system leader Dr. Mitchell Katz.
Read:Natural origins theory of Covid-19 still the most likely: Fauci
Meanwhile, caseloads have been rising in the city for weeks, and health officials say the variant makes up about 7 in 10 cases they sequence.
“We have got to deal with it aggressively. And in the end, there is also a thing called personal responsibility,” de Blasio said, urging inoculated people to raise the issue with unvaccinated relatives and “get up in their face.”
Back in Louisiana, New Orleans officials issued the new guidance on indoor masks, hoping to avoid the kind of virus-related shutdowns that devastated the city’s tourism economy in 2020. Mayor LaToya Cantrell stopped short of requiring masks. She said the advisory “puts the responsibility on individuals themselves.”
The announcement came as the city’s seven-day average of new cases rose to 117, the highest level since early February. It had fallen as low as eight in mid-June.
Khaleda takes 1st dose of Covid vaccine
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia took the first dose of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine on Monday.
Khaleda Zia took the vaccine shot at Sheikh Russel Gastro Liver Institute and Hospital in the city’s Mohakhali area at 3:56pm.
Read:Khaleda receives vaccination SMS: Dr Zahid
She got an SMS to take the first dose of Covid vaccine as she got registered online through a government-approved app, ‘Surokkha’, 10 days back.
“Madam received an SMS as a formality to take the first dose of the Covid vaccine,” said her medical team member and BNP vice-chairman Dr AZM Zahid Hossain told UNB on Sunday.
On April 11, the 76-year-old BNP chief tested positive for Covid-19 and she was admitted to Evercare Hospital on April 27.
Read:Khaleda registered online for Covid vaccine: Dr Zahid
A 10-member medical board, headed by Prof Shahabuddin Talukder, was formed for the treatment of Khaleda at the Evercare Hospital a day after her admission there.
She tested negative for Covid-19 on May 8, 27 days after she had been infected with the deadly virus.
Read: Govt violating HR by blocking Khaleda’s treatment abroad: BNP
On June 19, Khaleda Zia got back home from the hospital after 53 days of treatment for Covid infections and other physical complications.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her sentences on March 25 last year.
Bangladesh to receive 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine Saturday
Bangladesh will receive 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China on Saturday night as part of the commercial agreement as the country has accelerated its vaccination drive.
Deputy Chief of Mission at Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Yan on Friday told UNB that the vaccine doses will arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in two aircraft.
He said China will also provide 10 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine in addition to the 11 lakh doses already received as a gift from it.
"This is a gift for our Bangladeshi brothers and sisters in their fight against the pandemic," Hualong Yan said.
Read: China to continue providing vaccine aid to Bangladesh: Wang Yi
Bangladesh has already received 20 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine as part of commercial purchase from China.
Bangladesh will receive initially 1.5 crore doses of vaccine as part of a commercial purchase agreement.
Hualong said China stands ready to provide support and assistance to help with Bangladesh government's poverty alleviation through the China-South Asian Countries Poverty Alleviation and Cooperative Development Center.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will continue to provide Bangladesh with the Covid vaccines to help Bangladesh fight the epidemic.
Read: Covid-19: Government orders 66 crore vaccine doses worth RS 14,505 crore
He also said China is willing to work with Bangladesh to maintain the momentum of the development of the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.
The Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister met Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momon in Tashkent and discussed the issues on the sidelines of the International Conference on “Central and South Asia: Regional connectivity - Challenges and opportunities” on Thursday.
Wang Yi said that China and Bangladesh are good neighbours and friends and the two sides always adhere to equal treatment and mutual respect, continue to deepen friendly cooperation, and actively jointly build the "Belt and Road".