Coronavirus world: US approves booster shot for at-risk patients
US regulators have given the go-ahead for an extra shot of Pfizer or Moderna to people who meet certain criteria.
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People with weak immune systems and organ transplant recipients will receive a booster shot in the US.
The nation’s Food and Drug Administration made the announcement on Thursday (local time).
“The country has entered yet another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the FDA is especially cognizant that immunocompromised people are particularly at risk for severe disease. After a thorough review of the available data, the FDA determined that this small, vulnerable group may benefit from a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Vaccines,” Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement.
“Today’s action allows doctors to boost immunity in certain immunocompromised individuals who need extra protection from COVID-19. As we’ve previously stated, other individuals who are fully vaccinated are adequately protected and do not need an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine at this time. The FDA is actively engaged in a science-based, rigorous process with our federal partners to consider whether an additional dose may be needed in the future.”
France since April has encouraged that such patients get a third dose four weeks after their regular second shot. Israel and Germany also recently began recommending a third dose of two-dose vaccines, AP reports.
SEAN PENN CALLS FOR MANDATORY JABS
Oscar-winner Sean Penn says all Americans should be forced to have a COVID-19 vaccine amid reports he is refusing to return to the set of his TV show until cast and crew have had their shots.
“This is one of those things that should be mandatory,” Penn told Yahoo Entertainment.
“I think that vaccines need to be mandatory and that businesses — the movie business and all businesses — need to take the lead and not be so timid when dealing with their collective bargaining partners.”
According to the New York Post, Penn said only those who have medical conditions that prevent them from having the vaccine should be exempt.
Penn also compared the vaccine to driver’s licenses, saying “that it’s no different than having everybody being able to drive 100 miles an hour in a car”.
Fellow actor James Woods hit out at Penn declaring it was no different to getting a driver’s license, tweeting “Or proof of citizenship to vote?”
Penn, however, hit out at those who are still hesitant about getting the shot, saying a lack of public information shouldn’t be an excuse anymore.
“There’s different kinds of hesitancies, and so I don’t think that there’s much excuse to not know the informational available anymore,” he said.
“A resistance that’s just based on a certain kind of … lack of imagination and understanding of anything that’s helpful to the human race, I’ve become very frustrated by that.
“But I can only work within my own bounds and say that, for me, it should be mandatory.”
It comes after Deadline reported that Penn was refusing to return to work on his show Gaslit — which also stars Julia Roberts — until everyone on set had been vaccinated.
Penn, who is fully vaccinated, flagged his concerns with NBC Universal amid the surging Delta variant, sources told the outlet.
The actor has been pushing for people to be responsible throughout the pandemic and has set up free testing and vaccination sites throughout Los Angeles through his organisation CORE.
He offered to provide free testing at Black Lives Matter protests last year and also ripped into vaccine site staffers who had complained about working long hours.
ISRAEL TO TEST TODDLERS FOR COVID
Meanwhile, Israel is to require Covid tests from next week for children as young as three to enter schools, swimming pools, hotels or gyms as infections surge despite extensive adult vaccinations.
Israel already required children aged 12 and over to show a Green Pass reintroduced late last month showing a person’s vaccination and testing status and whether they had recovered from Covid.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said from next Wednesday the state would fund unlimited tests for children aged three to 11.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said it had opened 120 rapid antigen testing centres nationwide.
Screening at these stations costs 52 shekels (around $A27) and allows those tested to obtain a Green Pass valid for 24 hours.
On Thursday local time, Mr Bennett announced that Israel was also considering lowering the age limit for its campaign of booster vaccinations, currently offered only to those aged 60 and over.
“I estimate that this evening we will receive approval from the team on dealing with pandemics to vaccinate a lower age bracket with the booster, the third inoculation,” the 49-year-old said.
“Therefore, you must prepare to expand the range of ages for the third inoculation next week.
“The booster vaccinations offered by Israel and some other countries have drawn criticism from the World Health Organisation, which has said the global priority should be providing the standard inoculation to all.
Israel has also announced mandatory quarantine for travellers, vaccinated or not, arriving from most countries of the world beginning on Monday.
A country of nine million inhabitants, Israel was one of the first to launch a nationwide vaccination campaign in December, thanks to an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
The deal gave Israel quick access to millions of shots in exchange for medical data on the vaccine’s effects.
The campaign saw infection rates plummet, which allowed Israel to resume an almost normal routine, with schools, bars and concert venues open.
However, the more contagious Delta variant of the virus has driven a rise in cases to levels not seen since February.
The health ministry said yesterday it had recorded 5,946 new cases the previous day.
In total, it has counted 921,083 cases and 6,593 deaths since the pandemic started early last year.
ANTI-VAX NURSE ‘GAVE FAKE COVID JABS’
Meanwhile, a nurse has been accused of putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk by injecting patients with a saline solution instead of a Covid vaccine in northern Germany.
The Red Cross worker is suspected of injecting salt solution into people’s arms instead of using the vaccines at Roffhausen immunisation centre in Friesland – a rural district near the North Sea coast – earlier this year.
“I am totally shocked by this episode,” local councillor Sven Ambrosy wrote on Facebook
“Today I had the sad duty to inform around 8,600 people who may have been affected that it cannot be ruled out they may have received a saline solution instead of their vaccination at their vaccination appointment. For peace of mind we would recommend people get an additional vaccination.”
The nurse was able to replace the vials because she was “responsible for the preparation of vaccines and the preparation of syringes during her working hours in the vaccination centre,” health authorities in Lower Saxony said.
Local authorities and the Lower Saxony State Health Office have called on all Germans who received their Covid-19 vaccines at the Roffhausen centre between March 5 and April 20, to come forward and get another dose.
“In this situation, it is important that all those who may be affected are offered catch-up vaccinations … This is the only way to ensure complete vaccination protection. Even if persons have already been correctly vaccinated twice,” Matthias Pulz, president of the Lower Saxony State Health Office, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Police found the nurse involved was “motivated to oppose the vaccination,” the Lower Saxony government’s coronavirus crisis team, which is overseeing the case, told reporters on Tuesday.
“The investigations of the police have shown the person (involved) was motivated to oppose the vaccination … since she remains silent with police, we do not know whether and to what extent she was manipulated during this period,” said Claudia Schröder, the deputy head of the Lower Saxony coronavirus team.
“We do not know many people were specifically affected, and we are talking here about a period of seven weeks, so it is also a large number of people who come into consideration,” Schröder added. Saline solution is not considered dangerous for humans.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week urged Germans to get vaccinated as the country experience a rise in Covid-19 infections due to the Delta variant despite progress on the vaccine rollout.
Mrs Merkel said she hopes for “clearly over 70, better 80 per cent” of the German population to get vaccinated.
Health Minister Jens Spahn said in a tweet that 55.1 per cent of Germany is fully vaccinated.
‘THE TERMINATOR’S’ VACCINE POST GOES VIRAL
Arnold Schwarzenegger has sent a powerful message to people stalling to get the Covid vaccine.
The Hollywood actor, muscle man and former Governor of California has been outspoken about his support for Covid vaccines.
In January he shared a video of himself being vaccinated in a drive-through clinic in the USA alongside a Facebook thread in which he cites his famous line from Terminator 2, “ Come with me if you want to live”.
'If your house is on fire, you don't go on YouTube, you call the damn fire department.' Some excellent advice from Arnold @Schwarzenegger that every vaccine-sceptic should urgently read: pic.twitter.com/P7dGnPoysQ
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 10, 2021
In the comments field he added: “I always say you should know your strengths and listen to the experts. If you want to learn about building biceps, listen to me, because I’ve spent my life studying how to get the perfect peak and I have been called the greatest bodybuilder of all time. We all have different specialties.
“Dr Fauci and all of the virologists and epidemiologists and doctors have studied diseases and vaccines for their entire lives, so I listen to them and I urge you to do the same.”
Her continued: “In general, I think if the circle of people you trust gets smaller and smaller and you find yourself more and more isolated, it should be a warning sign that you’re going down a rabbit hole of misinformation. Some people say it is weak to listen to experts. That’s bogus. It takes strength to admit you don’t know everything. Weakness is thinking you don’t need expert advice and only listening to sources that confirm what you want to believe.”
The thread received renewed life overnight when it was shared by celebrities including Piers Morgan.
FACEBOOK SHUTS DOWN VAX DISINFORMATION
Facebook has shut down a disinformation campaign which sought to spread Covid-19 vaccine hoaxes by duping social network influencers into backing false claims.
The leading social network described the operation as a “disinformation laundromat” which sought to legitimise false claims by pushing them through people with good reputations.
Influencers who caught onto the scam turned out to be the undoing of a deceitful influence campaign orchestrated by British marketing firm Fazze and operated out of Russia, according to Facebook.
“The assumption was the influencers wouldn’t do any of their own homework, but two did,” Facebook global threat intelligence lead Ben Nimmo said.
“It’s really a warning – be careful when someone is trying to spoon feed you a story. Do your own research.”
Facebook said that in July it removed 65 accounts at the leading social network and 243 accounts photo-centric Instagram that were linked to the campaign, and banned Fazze from its platform.
The operation targeted primarily India and Latin America, but also took aim at the US, as governments debated approving vaccines to fight the pandemic, according to Nimmo.
Late last year, the network of fake accounts tried to fuel a false meme that the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 would turn people into chimpanzees, Facebook reported.
After going quiet for five months, the organisers attacked the safety of the Pfizer vaccine and leaked what it billed as an AstraZeneca document stolen by hacking, Facebook said.
The campaign took advantage of online platforms including Reddit, Medium, Change.org, and Facebook, creating misleading articles and petitions then providing “influencers” with links, hashtags and more to spread vaccine misinformation, according to Nimmo.
“In effect, this campaign functioned as a cross-platform disinformation laundromat,” Nimmo said.
The operation was exposed by influencers in France and Germany who questioned claims made in email pitches from Fazze, prompting journalists to dig into the matter, according to Facebook.
Facebook does not know who hired Fazze for the anti-vaccine campaign, but has shared its findings with regulators, police, and internet industry peers, according to head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher.
The campaign appeared to fall flat, with almost none of the Instagram posts receiving “likes,” and an English and Hindi language petitions at Change.org each getting fewer than 1,000 signatures, Facebook said.
AUSTRALIA’S REPUTATION WITH OVERSEAS STUDENTS AT RISK
The UAE has suspended government and corporate student scholarships to Australia.
The Saudi Arabian government has also withdrawn its recognition of Australian online degrees, according to The Australian.
International Education Association of Australia chief Phil Honeywood called on the federal government to give international students a time frame of when they can return.
“We have the federal government telling us we have to diversify our markets … but every attempt we make is coming unstuck because of the lack of an indicative return date for international students,” he told The Australian.
It comes after a senior diplomat warned extended travel restrictions threaten to ruin Australia’s reputation as a destination for international students.
India’s high commissioner to Australia, Manpreet Vohra, urged the Australian government to provide a time frame for a staged, Covid-safe return to on-campus studies.
“If they go on without any determination about when they are likely to end, then it leads to a lot of frustration, it leads to a lot of uncertainty, it leads to anxiety,” he said in an interview with the Guardian Australia.
He warned it would be “ a pity” if students turned to other countries to continue their studies.
“That is not good for the students, of course, directly affected; that is perhaps also not good for the overall image of Australia as a great place for Indian students,” he said.’
Mr Vohra said it would be reasonable for Australia to establish rules for students who want to return including mandatory vaccination, Covid-testing prior to arrival, and two weeks quarantine on arrival.
“They signed up for education here in your universities, they continue to pay a substantial amount of tuition fees. They are getting online education, of course, but that really is not what they signed up for,” he said.
“We’ve been requesting the Australian government to consider ways and means to at least signal to the students a time frame by which they can expect to be back.”
MOST VACCINATED COUNTRY BATTLING DELTA
One of the most vaccinated country’s in the world is battling a resurgence in Covid-19.
Nearly 90 per cent of Iceland’s 357,000 citizens have been fully vaccinated.
In June, the island nation lifted social distancing, mask and travel restrictions.
But those restrictions have been reintroduced as the Delta variant sparks a resurgence in cases.
Twenty-four people are currently hospitalised with the virus, 232 people are currently in quarantine, with another 1384 in isolation, local outlet Grapevine reports.
The 14-day incidence of infection per 100,000 people is now 429, while incidence at border screening is now at 5.7.
Since the pandemic began, there have been 8738 infections and 30 coronavirus-related deaths reported in Iceland.
The country managed to control the virus relatively well and has reported only one death in 2021, on May 25.
Reykjavík hospital data reveals infections are higher among the unvaccinated. It also shows the vaccinated have less severe symptoms – a valuable lesson for Australia as it continues the rollout of its vaccination program.
Last Friday, Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir announced new rules that require taking samples from arrivals at Iceland’s border, including those who have been vaccinated.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control moved Iceland from an “orange” classification to “red” following the recent jump in cases.
JAB HUB OPENS AT LONDON NIGHTCLUB
A pop up vaccination hub has opened up at a London nightclub to encourage more young people to get the Covid jab.
Heaven nightclub, a famous London venue, was accepting walks-ins and appointments.
The club was administering the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine.
Ministry of Sound in London is also set to host its own vaccination centre, The Mirror reports.
“We’ll provide the music and the good times, people just need to get both their vaccines so we can all keep dancing together safely,” Lohan Presencer, executive chairman of Ministry of Sound, said.
It comes as new cases in the UK rose by 12 per cent a week but deaths dropped to the lowest in six days.
A further 27,429 fresh cases were reported in the last 24 hours, as well as 39 deaths.
Cases have risen dramatically since this time last week when 24,470 were recorded but daily deaths have dropped from 65 on August 1, The Sun reports.
KIDS INUNDATE FLORIDA HOSPITALS
With America recording its highest daily Covid case load in six months, a top public health official has warned that the country is “failing”.
“We should not really have ever got to the place we are,” Dr Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health, said on US TV on Sunday local time.
“In that regard, yes, we are failing.”
A surge in the highly transmissible Delta variant has brought a slew of bad news: total daily new cases have soared to 118,000, their highest since February; deaths are up 89 per cent over the past two weeks, even while slightly declining around the world; and children’s hospitals in US states like Florida are being overwhelmed as young people are increasingly affected.
Florida on Sunday reported having the highest number of children — 172 — hospitalised with the coronavirus, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
“The numbers of cases in our hospitals in children and our children’s hospitals are completely overwhelmed,” said Dr Aileen Marty, an infectious-disease expert at Florida International University, to CNN.
“Our paediatricians, the nursing, the staff are exhausted, and the children are suffering. And it is absolutely devastating … Our children are very much affected. We’ve never seen numbers like this before,” she said.
Fears about the Delta variant have sparked a surge in vaccination rates, yet millions, especially in conservative areas, remain sceptical about the vaccines.
“We would not be in the place we are right now with this Delta surge if we had been more effective in getting everybody” vaccinated, Dr Collins said.
“Now we’re paying a terrible price.”
APPROVAL COMING FOR KEY VACCINES
US health official Dr Anthony Fauci pointed to possible final approval of key vaccines from the federal Food and Drug Administration as early as this month — something some sceptics have said they need to hear.
“I hope that it’s within the month of August,” Dr Fauci told Meet the Press in the US.
The infectious disease specialist, who advises President Joe Biden on health matters, warned that failure to bring the Delta variant under control would increase the chances of a new variant emerging which “could be more problematic than Delta”.
But children under 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccines, and Dr Collins said the number of children hospitalised with Covid has hit an all-time high of 1450.
He warned that if the millions of children soon returning to in-person schooling are not required to wear masks, “this virus will spread more widely.
“It will probably result in outbreaks in schools, and kids will have to go back to remote learning, which is the one thing we want to prevent.”
BATTLE OVER MASK-WEARING FOR KIDS
The US Centres for Disease Control said on Sunday on Twitter that even asymptomatic children can spread Covid-19, adding, “Children two years or older should wear masks in public indoor settings, including schools.”
US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Sunday seconded that advice. “Let our education leaders lead,” he said.
Yet in Florida, one of the states hardest-hit by the latest surge, Governor Ron DeSantis sparked a political furore when he issued an order barring the state’s school districts from mandating mask-wearing.
But with hospitals in the state struggling under a fast-growing patient load, a handful of school districts said they would defy the order.
“Our children’s hospitals are completely overwhelmed,” Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University, told CNN.
“Our paediatricians, the nurses, the staff, are exhausted, and the children are suffering. And it is absolutely devastating.”
Dr Collins, for his part, expressed exasperation that the debates over vaccine and mask-wearing had become politicised.
“We don’t really need to be polarised about a virus that’s killing people. We ought to be doing everything we can to save lives. And that means get the vaccine. And that means wear the mask when you’re indoors in a crowded space.
“This is not a political statement or an invasion of your liberties. This is a lifesaving medical device.”
SAUDIS COMPENSATE FAMILIES OF HEALTH WORKERS
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has begun compensating the families of health workers who died because of Covid, state media reported on Sunday local time, after announcing last year that each will receive $A133,000.
The kingdom said in October it would distribute “500,000 Saudi riyals to the families of those who died as a result of Covid-19 working in the health sectors, be it government or private, civilian or military, Saudi or non-Saudi”.
The oil-rich Gulf country said the decision applies from “the date of the first recorded infection” in the country on March 2, 2020.
The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) announced the start of the distribution of funds to the families of those who have died as a result of the pandemic.
They “gave their lives in the fight against the pandemic to preserve the health and safety of citizens and residents in the kingdom”, SPA said.
It is unclear how many health workers have died because of Covid-19 in Saudi Arabia, where thousands of foreigners are employed as medical staff.
The government has accelerated a nationwide vaccination drive as it seeks to revive tourism and other pandemic-hit sectors, such as sports competitions and entertainment.
More than 29 million does of vaccine have been administered in the country of 35 million people, said the health ministry.
Vaccination is mandatory for anyone wanting to enter government and private establishments, including education institutions and entertainment venues, as well as to use public transport.
Saudi Arabia has registered nearly 533,000 coronavirus cases and more than 8300 deaths.
US CRISIS: CASES HIT 100K PER DAY AS ‘DELTA PLUS’ SURGES
Delta-plus Covid variant cases are surging in parts of California as US infections spiral by 800 per cent to reach a staggering 100,000 a day, according to new statistics.
The coronavirus eruption has prompted hundreds of worried Americans to get a third Covid jab, with some even using fake names to bolster protection, according to reports.
The US was averaging about 11,000 cases a day in late June. Now the number is 107,143, reports the Associated Press.
It comes as the White House announced that half of the US population is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as inoculations rise in response to the surging Delta variant of the coronavirus. More than 70 per cent of the population have had at least one dose.
It took America about nine months to cross the 100,000 average case number in November before peaking at about 250,000 in early January.
Cases bottomed out in June, but took about six weeks to go back above 100,000.
The seven-day average for daily new deaths also increased, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
It rose over the past two weeks from about 270 deaths per day to nearly 500 a day as of Friday, according to a report in The Sun.
The virus is spreading quickly through unvaccinated populations, especially in the South where hospitals have been overrun with patients.
Health officials are fearful that cases will continue to soar if more Americans don’t embrace the vaccines.
Top US health officials have dubbed it a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”.
“Our models show that if we don’t (vaccinate people), we could be up to several hundred thousand cases a day.
“[This is] similar to our surge in early January,” Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky warned CNN this week.
The national rise in coronavirus infections comes as health experts in San Francisco Bay Area monitor the spread of the new Delta-plus variant.
The Santa Clara County Public Health Department has so far detected 46 cases of this particular mutation.
Whether it is more dangerous than previous variants is not yet clear.
“We believe that it’s at least as bad as Delta,” said Dr Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California in San Francisco.
CBS SF reported him adding: “We don’t know if it’s even worse than Delta yet.
“When I say worse we think about number one: is it more transmissible? Number two, does it evade vaccines? And, number three, does it make you sicker?”
Santa Clara County told a local news station that the county “is currently tracking the Delta variant, and the ‘Delta-plus’ variants on our dashboard.
“Cases of Delta-plus exist statewide and nationwide and there is currently not enough information on these particular variants to indicate whether they may be more concerning than the original Delta variant.”
Dr Chin-Hong warned: “Delta-plus is not the end of the story.
“Until more of us get vaccinated we’re going to have these reports of weird other Greek letters and combinations of Greek letters – we might even run out of the Greek alphabet!
“It sounds like a broken record, but we’re going to see these things pop up until more of us are vaccinated to kick them out of our communities.”
PROTESTS RAGE IN FRANCE OVER ‘HEALTH PASS’
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday local time for the fourth weekend in a row against a coronavirus health pass needed to enter a cafe or travel on an intercity train, two days before the new rules come into force.
Championed by President Emmanuel Macron, the regulations make it obligatory to have either a full course of vaccination against Covid-19, a negative test or recently recovered from the virus to enjoy routine activities.
Mr Macron, who faces re-election next year, hopes to encourage all French to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and thereby defeat the virus and its fast-spreading Delta variant.
But opponents, who have turned out en masse in the past weeks, argue the rules encroach on civil liberties in a country where individual freedom is prized.
From Monday, the health pass will be needed to eat in a restaurant or enjoy a drink in a cafe both indoors and on a terrace. It will be obligatory on intercity transport including high-speed trains and domestic flights although will not be needed on metro systems and suburban transport.
The pass has already been required since July 21 to visit cultural venues such as cinemas, theatres and museums. Its extension was approved by France’s Constitutional Council on Thursday.
In one of several protests in Paris, hundreds marched from the western suburbs to the centre, chanting “Freedom!” and “Macron, we don’t want your pass!”.
Wearing a mask, Alexandre Fourez, 34, said he was protesting for the first time and that he had himself recovered from Covid.
“The problem with the health pass is that our hand is being forced,” said the marketing employee, adding he “really has difficulty believing its use will be temporary”.
At least 37,000 people protested in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region on the Mediterranean coast in cities including Toulon, Nice and Marseilles, officials said. Slogans included “the health pass means the death of freedoms”.
PROTESTS SWEEP BANGKOK OVER SLOW JAB ROLLOUT
Thai police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on Saturday local time at hundreds of protesters in Bangkok demanding political reform and calling for a change to the country’s coronavirus vaccination program.
Demonstrators defied restrictions on public gatherings introduced as Thailand battles its worst outbreak of the virus to call for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha to quit.
The Thai government has come under fire for the sluggish rollout of its Covid vaccination program, and the protesters also demanded it start using mRNA shots such as Pfizer and Moderna, rather than China’s Sinovac.
The 500 or so protesters were vastly outnumbered by police, who said Friday they planned to deploy nearly 6,000 officers to tackle the rally.
“I’m worried about the situation but we will have to continue fighting despite the severe Covid outbreak,” 27-year-old protester Nat, who only gave one name, told reporters.
A youth-led street protest movement for democracy rose up last year and at its peak drew tens of thousands to rallies in Bangkok.
The demonstrators called for the resignation of Prayut, the former army chief who came to power in a 2014 coup, as well as changes to the military-scripted constitution.
But the most shocking calls were for changes to the monarchy — a long-revered institution in Thailand protected by some of the world’s toughest lese majesty laws.
A Covid spike and the arrest of key leaders saw the protests peter out over the new year and they have struggled to regain the momentum of 2020.
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Originally published as Coronavirus world: US approves booster shot for at-risk patients
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