Tag: vaccine

WHO experts back extra Covid jab for people with weak immune systems

by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization’s vaccine advisers on Monday recommended people with weakened immune systems should be offered an additional dose of all WHO-approved Covid-19 vaccines. The UN health agency’s experts also said over-60s fully immunised with China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines should be offered an additional third vaccine dose. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) stressed it was not recommending an additional booster dose for […]

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Egypt arrests 3 over thousands of dumped Covid jabs

CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Egyptian authorities arrested three people accused of dumping thousands of unused Covid-19 vaccine jabs found last week in a water drain in a southern city, the public prosecution said. “An investigative committee… found a shortage of 18,400 vaccine doses in the Minya health directorate storage inventory worth 5,023,200 pounds ($319,000),” the prosecution said late Sunday in a statement posted on its social media accounts. The statement said 13,412 doses had been […]

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New Zealand health workers, teachers told ‘no jab, no job’

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand announced Monday a sweeping “no jab, no job” policy for most healthcare workers and teachers to prevent the spread of Covid-19. “We can’t leave anything to chance so that’s why we are making it mandatory,” said Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, who is also the education minister. Doctors, nurses and other frontline health workers must be double-jabbed by December 1 while everyone working in the education sector who […]

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Vaccines prevent severe Covid, even from Delta: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — Vaccination is highly effective at preventing severe cases of Covid-19, even against the Delta variant, a vast study in France has shown. The research published Monday — focusing on prevention of severe Covid and death, not infection — looked at 22 million people over 50 and found those who had received jabs were 90 percent less likely to be hospitalised or die. The results confirm observations from the US, the UK […]

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Iceland halts Moderna jabs over heart-inflammation fears

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AFP) — Iceland on Friday suspended the Moderna anti-Covid vaccine, citing the slight increased risks of cardiac inflammation, going further than its Nordic neighbours which simply limited use of the jabs. “As the supply of Pfizer vaccine is sufficient in the territory … the chief epidemiologist has decided not to use the Moderna vaccine in Iceland,” said a statement published on the website of the Health Directorate. This decision owed to “the increased […]

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Covid vaccines for kids? Strategies around the world

  by Paul RICARD Agence France Presse Pfizer on Thursday requested emergency approval from US health authorities to use its Covid jab in children aged five to 11. Here is a look at different approaches to vaccinating children against the virus and the debates it has launched around the world. What changes are made for children? Pfizer tested its jab on more than 2,000 US children aged five to 11 and submitted results to the […]

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US pharmaceutical firm Moderna to build plant in Africa

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — US pharmaceutical giant Moderna announced Thursday it would build a plant in Africa, as pressure mounts on drugmakers to help ramp up Covid-19 vaccine production in areas that have received fewer doses. The biotech firm said it “will build a state-of-the-art mRNA facility in Africa with the goal of producing up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year.” Moderna said earlier this year it would increase global production […]

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Shot of the Antarctic: UK vaccines arrive near South Pole

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A delivery of Covid vaccines has arrived in Antarctica to inoculate British researchers stationed in the polar wilderness, the UK foreign ministry said Thursday. The shipment was delivered to the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station, making the outpost the furthest destination in the British Overseas Territories to be supplied with jabs. The AstraZeneca shots were flown from a Royal Air Force base in Britain via Senegal and the Falklands […]

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Canada mandates Covid vaccines for travellers, federal workers

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada’s federal bureaucrats, police and soldiers, as well as domestic air and rail travelers will soon need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, officials announced Wednesday. The mandatory vaccine policy proposed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a recent election campaign covers an estimated 300,000 government employees. Some medical exemptions will be allowed, but others will be put on administrative leave without pay if not vaccinated by month’s end. All air […]

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Sweden halts use of Moderna vaccine for young adults

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Sweden’s Public Health Agency on Wednesday recommended a temporary halt to the use of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine among young adults, citing concerns over rare side effects to the heart. Neighbouring Norway and Denmark also on Wednesday reiterated that Moderna’s vaccine was not recommended for under-18s. Sweden’s health agency said the suspension concerned anyone born after 1991 and should initially be in force until December 1, explaining that it had received […]

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Unvaccinated Irving misses Nets’ first practice in New York

LOS ANGELES,  United States (AFP) — Brooklyn point guard Kyrie Irving, who has been staunchly against getting vaccinated for the coronavirus, missed the Nets’ practice on Tuesday. Irving practised with his teammates last week in San Diego but did not attend the team’s first practice in New York City as a result of the city’s strict Covid-19 protocols. Because of the ongoing global pandemic, New York has implemented new health and safety regulations which do […]

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J&J asks US FDA to authorize booster shots of Covid vaccine

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Drug maker Johnson & Johnson asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday to authorize booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine for people over the age of 18. “Our clinical program has found that a booster of our Covid-19 vaccine increases levels of protection for those who have received our single-shot vaccine to 94 percent,” said Mathai Mammen, global head of research and development at J&J. J&J said […]

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