Italy blocks AstraZeneca vaccines as fears of vaccine nationalism grow

Italy blocks AstraZeneca vaccines as fears of vaccine nationalism grow

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This is the latest salvo in the dispute between the EU and the British-Swedish drugmaker after AstraZeneca reduced the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses that he said could deliver to the bloc in early 2021. The European Commission later adopted measures giving member states the ability to restrict the export of doses outside the EU, in certain situations, the powers that Italy invoked on Thursday

Amid the controversy, French President Emmanuel Macron questions the effectiveness of the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for those over 65, much to the dismay of health experts. Some European countries also place an upper limit on the age of recipients of the shot, citing a lack of clinical study information on its effects on older people.

Sweden, Germany and Belgium have since eliminated the upper age limits after the British data, released on Monday, suggested that a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine is very effective against serious infections and hospitalization among the elderly population.
The slow pace of vaccination in the EU has turned into a political issue, and a number of member states have turned to countries outside the bloc to promote a faltering rollout, reports Zamira Rahim. Only 5.5% of the EU population of 447 million received a first vaccine dose as of Wednesday, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

On Thursday, the leaders of Austria and Denmark announced plans to launch a joint research and development fund with Israel for the possible future production of coronavirus vaccines.

Other EU countries have turned to Russia and China to fill the gaps in vaccine supply with unilateral acquisitions. On Monday, Slovakia granted emergency approval for the Sputnik V vaccine in Moscow, following a delay in the supply of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots.

Slovakia is the second EU country to independently grant permission for Sputnik V to Hungary, which began vaccinating the vaccine in February. Hungary is also the first EU country to roll out China’s Sinopharm shot, which was not approved by the bloc’s vaccine regulator, the European Medicines Agency.

YOU ASKED. OUR ANSWER

V: Is testing for Covid-19 still important?

A: Covid-19 numbers are declining in the US. And that’s bad news. Without testing, there is no way to keep track of where the pandemic is headed and whether vaccines are working. And there is no way to use one of the most important tools to fight infectious diseases: contact detection.

“While the public can currently consider vaccination a priority – and it is a priority – widespread testing is still essential for infection control,” Romney Humphries, medical director of the clinical microbiology laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said on Thursday. . “It will help us track the real impact. Do we really see a decline in business?” she said.

Send your questions here. Are you a health worker fighting Covid-19? Send us a message on WhatsApp about the challenges you face: +1 347-322-0415.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TODAY

The US should not lift restrictions before daily new infections fall below 10,000, says Fauci

The US should not ease its restrictions on pandemics before the number of new cases of coronavirus falls below 10,000 daily and a significant proportion of Americans are vaccinated, said Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN yesterday.

The last time the US saw less than 10,000 new daily cases was almost a year ago, on March 22, 2020. The number has not fallen below 50,000 daily cases since mid-October, and the average of seven days on Wednesday was more than 64,000, reported Madeline Holcombe, Theresa Waldrop and Lauren Mascarenhas.

This comes as more states want to vaccinate people under retirement age. In Arizona, Gila County, anyone over the age of 18 can be vaccinated. But even with the rollout of the vaccine in the US, there remain concerns about Covid-19 variants, some of which seem more transmissible.

The countries that make dubious claims about Covid-19 – and what it means for the world

In recent years, countries around the world have shared data on Covid-19 cases and deaths with WHO – information that is crucial in informing the global fight against the disease. However, three countries – Tanzania, Turkmenistan and North Korea – are less than transparent or denied the extent of the problem by not updating or reporting any Covid-19 data, reports Laura Smith-Spark.

Dr Peter Drobac, a global health expert at the Said Business School at Oxford University, told CNN that the pandemic made it clear “how critical leadership is and how dangerous it is to have leaders who are not willing to do not acknowledge problem and draw people together to respond. ‘Mixed messages or denials around basic interventions, such as wearing a mask, have helped fuel the virus’ rapid spread in the US and Brazil.

China approves sale of traditional medicine for Covid-19 treatment

China has approved three traditional Chinese medicine products (TCM) for sale to help treat Covid-19, the country’s national medical products administration announced on Wednesday. The herbal products come in granular form and trace their origin to ‘old Chinese prescriptions’, reads a statement. It was developed from TCM drugs that were used early in the pandemic, and which were “selected by many academics and experts on the front line.”

The safety and effectiveness of TCM is still being discussed in China, where it has both fans and skeptics. In recent years, antique medicines have been repeatedly considered a source of national pride by Chinese President Xi Jinping, himself a well-known lawyer of the TCM, reports Nectar Gan and Jessie Yeung.

ON OUR RADAR

A vaccination clinic has been set up in a school on the grounds of London's Neasden Temple.
  • Inside Europe’s largest Hindu temple, unraveling the wrong information about Covid-19 and administering vaccine.
  • “It’s too soon for that.” Small business owners are responding that Texas has abandoned its mask mandate and other pandemic restrictions.
  • The global co-operative initiative, COVAX, offers hope for equality of vaccines with distribution across Africa.
  • Lisa Racine was unable to visit her father at the nursing home where he lives due to the pandemic. Therefore, she decided to get a part-time job there to see him more often.
  • Elderly people who are at home can be difficult to vaccinate. One city has found a new solution by partnering with the fire department and the local Meals on Wheels service.

BO-WENK

The study found that children between the ages of 9 and 11 in the U.S. who have more screen time develop an eating disorder a year later, and social media is the biggest culprit.

The study found that every hour spent on social media was linked to a 62% higher risk of an eating disorder, while every hour watched on television or movies was linked to a 39% higher risk.

The pandemic encouraged prolonged screen-based behavior and often made it necessary through online education. Here are some strategies parents can follow to reduce their risk.

TODAY’S PODCAST

“These are portraits of people just taking a breather between patients at work or taking a breather. And I wanted to capture that moment and that emotion in their eyes.” – Jayashree Krishnan, an artist in Seattle.

Krishnan has painted more than 150 portraits of first responders from around the world since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Today she shares her experiences of capturing the fatigue, fear and hope in the face of those front workers. Listen now.

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