Hong Kong vaccination drive uses Sinovac vaccines, while South Korea starts with AstraZeneca jabs HONG KONG (AFP) — Hong Kong and South Korea kicked off coronavirus vaccination drives on Friday, as momentum builds for inoculation rollouts across the Asia-Pacific region. South Korea plans to inoculate 70 percent of its population within seven months while Hong Kong aims to vaccinate all adults by the end of the year. Both places were among the first to […]
Tag: Virus
Pangulong Duterte, sasalubungin ang pagdating ng Sinovac vaccines sa Linggo
https://youtu.be/Dg9D08A-fUc Ni Vic Somintac Eagle News Service (Eagle News) — Nais ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte na personal na salubungin ang pagdating sa bansa ng Sinovac anti-covid 19 vaccines. Sinabi ni Presidential Spokesman Secretary Harry Roque na nasa schedule ng Pangulo sa Linggo, Pebrero 28, ang pagsalubong sa pagdating ng 600,000 doses ng Sinovac mula sa China. Ang sinovac anti-covid 19 vaccine na donasyon ng Chinese government sa Pilipinas ang kauna-unahang bakuna na darating sa […]
Hi, Robot: Japan’s android pets ease virus isolation
by Harumi OZAWA TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Nami Hamaura says she feels less lonely working from home thanks to her singing companion Charlie, one of a new generation of cute and clever Japanese robots whose sales are booming in the pandemic. Smart home assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa have found success worldwide, but tech firms in Japan are reporting huge demand for more humanlike alternatives, as people seek solace during coronavirus isolation. “I felt my […]
Queen Elizabeth II says Covid jab ‘didn’t hurt’ as she urges take-up
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Queen Elizabeth II said on Thursday that her coronavirus jab “didn’t hurt at all” and urged those wary of receiving the vaccine to “think about other people”. The 94-year-old monarch was vaccinated along with her husband Prince Philip in January, telling health officials leading the rollout in a video call that she now felt “protected”. “It was very quick, and I’ve had lots of letters from people who have been […]
US approves Pfizer vaccine storage at normal freezer temperature
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Frozen vials of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine may be stored at temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers for a period of up to two weeks, the US Food and Drug Administration said Thursday. The move loosens a previous requirement that the vaccine should be stored at ultra-low temperatures, between -112 and -76 degrees Fahrenheit (-80 to -60 degrees Celsius). “The alternative temperature for transportation and storage will help ease the burden […]
Biden says US Covid vaccinations ‘weeks ahead of schedule’
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday celebrated 50 million Covid-19 vaccines administered since he took office, saying the rollout is “weeks ahead of schedule,” but warning Americans to keep masking up. Biden came into office promising 100 million shots administered in his first 100 days, something critics said was an insufficiently ambitious target, but the White House says it is now on track easily to exceed. “We’re moving in the right […]
Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll passes 250,000: health ministry
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) –Brazil’s death toll from Covid-19 surpassed a quarter-million Thursday, a year after the first case was confirmed in the country, which is struggling with vaccine shortages and a devastating second wave. The new coronavirus has now killed 251,498 people in Brazil, according to health ministry figures — the second-highest toll worldwide, after the United States, where the number passed half a million Monday. This has been the deadliest week yet […]
Long-term Covid should be ‘clear priority’ for authorities: WHO
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — A senior World Health Organization official on Thursday urged national authorities to make a priority of understanding the long-term consequences of coronavirus infections as some people show worrying symptoms months later. “It’s a clear priority for WHO, and of the utmost importance. It should be for every health authority,” Hans Kluge, regional director for WHO Europe, told a press conference. While some studies are beginning to shed light on the illness, […]
Palace: 600,000 doses of Sinovac to arrive on Sunday; health workers can get jabs
(Eagle News) — Malacanang said that the 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines from China will be coming this Sunday, Feb. 28, and that health care workers can be vaccinated if they want to. “I have gotten confirmation that we are getting the Sinovac vaccines on Sunday,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace press briefing on Thursday. These 600,000 Sinovac doses that will come on Sunday are all for for free, since these […]
Large real world study confirms Pfizer Covid vaccine 94% effective
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has proven 94 percent effective in a study involving 1.2 million people in Israel, the first peer-reviewed real world research confirming the power of mass immunization campaigns to bring the pandemic to a close. The paper, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, also demonstrated there is likely a strong protective benefit against infection, a crucial element in breaking onward transmission. […]
First vaccines delivered under global Covax scheme
by Kent Mensah, with AFP bureaus ACCRA, Ghana (AFP) — Ghana became the first country to receive vaccines from the global Covax scheme Wednesday, paving the way for poorer nations to catch up with inoculation drives in wealthier parts of the world to stamp out the coronavirus pandemic. But Europe’s vaccine rollout faced fresh problems after AstraZeneca said it would only be able to deliver half its promised doses to the EU, deepening tensions with […]
Guinea launches Ebola vaccination campaign
by Carol Valade CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP) — Guinea launched an Ebola vaccination campaign on Tuesday after a fresh outbreak of the deadly disease struck the country this month, with officials hoping to eradicate the virus in six weeks. The country reported new Ebola cases on February 13 — the first in West Africa since a 2013-2016 epidemic that left more than 11,300 dead in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The latest outbreak emerged near the […]





