New Zealand's daily coronavirus cases cross 200 for first time in pandemic

New Zealand's 206 new daily community infections on Saturday carried it past the double-hundred mark for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic, as the nation scrambles to vaccinate its population of 5 million.

The most populous city of Auckland, which reported 200 of the new cases, has lived under COVID-19 curbs for nearly three months as it battles an outbreak of the infectious Delta variant, although restrictions are expected to ease on Monday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she wanted Auckland residents to be able to travel for the southern hemisphere summer and Christmas.

"We will not keep Aucklanders isolated to Auckland through that period - we simply cannot do that," Ardern told a news conference at the national gathering of her Labor Party.

Saturday's cases served to remind people of the importance of vaccination as the number one protection against the virus, the health ministry said in a statement.

It said 78% of New Zealanders aged 12 and above had been fully vaccinated, while 89% had a first dose by Friday.

Once praised globally for stamping out COVID-19, New Zealand has been unable to vanquish the Delta outbreak in Auckland, forcing Ardern to abandon a strategy of eliminating the virus in favor of efforts to live with it.

Still, it has fared far better than many other countries, with tough curbs that kept infections to just under 7,000 and a toll of 31 deaths.

-reuters

Moderna targets 1 billion more COVID vaccine doses for poor countries

Moderna Inc said on Friday it aims to deliver one billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to low-income countries in 2022, in addition to the doses it has already committed to the global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX.

These vaccines will be part of the 2-3 billion doses the company had forecast to produce next year.

"To date, more than 250 million people have been vaccinated globally with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. However, we recognize that access to vaccines continues to be a challenge in many parts of the world," Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said in a letter posted on the company's website.

Moderna on Thursday announced plans to invest up to $500 million to build a factory in Africa to make up to 500 million doses of mRNA vaccines each year, including its COVID-19 shot.

The company had committed in May to supply up to 500 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the COVAX facility from the fourth quarter of 2021 through 2022.

"We are committed to doubling our manufacturing and expanding supply even further until our vaccine is no longer needed in low-income countries," Bancel said.

-reuters-

Pfizer submits data to US for COVID-19 vaccine in younger children

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE submitted initial trial data for their COVID-19 vaccine in children aged 5 to 11 to US regulators on Tuesday and said they would make a formal request for emergency use authorization in the coming weeks.

Coronavirus infections have soared in children and hit their highest point in early September, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The vaccine, which is already authorized in teens aged 12 to 15 and fully approved for ages 16 and up, has been shown to induce a strong immune response in the target age group in a 2,268-participant clinical trial, the companies said on Sept. 20.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was authorized in kids aged 12-15 roughly a month after the companies filed for authorization. If the same timeline is followed for this application, kids could start receiving their shots as soon as late October.

A rapid authorization could help mitigate a potential surge of cases this fall, with schools already open nationwide.

While kids are less susceptible to severe COVID-19, they can spread the virus to others, including vulnerable populations that are more at risk of severe illness. 

-reuters-

Sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his most forceful pandemic actions and words, President Joe Biden on Thursday announced sweeping new federal vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant.

Speaking at the White House, Biden sharply criticized the roughly 80 million Americans who are not yet vaccinated, despite months of availability and incentives.

“We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” he said, all but biting off his words. The unvaccinated minority “can cause a lot of damage, and they are.”

Republican leaders — and some union chiefs, too — said Biden was going too way too far in trying to muscle private companies and workers, a certain sign of legal challenges to come.

Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina said in a statement that “Biden and the radical Democrats ... have declared war against capitalism (and) thumbed their noses at the Constitution.”

AFL-CIO National President Everett Kelley insisted that “changes like this should be negotiated with our bargaining units where appropriate.”

The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated.

Biden is also signing an executive order to require vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government — with no option to test out. That covers several million more workers.

Biden announced the new requirements in a Thursday afternoon address from the White House as part of a new “action plan” to address the latest rise in coronavirus cases and the stagnating pace of COVID-19 shots that has raised doubts among the public over his handling of the pandemic.

Just two months ago Biden prematurely declared the nation’s “independence” from the virus. Now, despite more than 208 million Americans having at least one dose of the vaccines, the U.S. is seeing about 300% more new COVID-19 infections a day, about two-and-a-half times more hospitalizations, and nearly twice the number of deaths compared to the same time last year.

“We are in the tough stretch and it could last for a while,” Biden said of the current state of the pandemic.

After months of using promotions to drive the vaccination rate, Biden is taking a much firmer hand, as he aides blamed people who have not yet received shots for the sharp rise in cases that is killing more than 1,000 people per day and imperiling a fragile economic rebound.

In addition to the vaccination requirements, Biden moved to double federal fines for airline passengers who refuse to wear masks on flights or to maintain face covering requirements on federal property in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Biden announced that the federal government will work to increase the supply of virus tests, and that the White House has secured concessions from retailers including Walmart, Amazon, and Kroger to sell at-home testing kits at cost beginning this week.

The administration was also sending additional federal support to assist schools in safely operating, including additional funding for testing. And Biden will call for large entertainment venues and arenas to require vaccinations or proof of a negative test for entry.

The requirement for large companies to mandate vaccinations or weekly testing for employees will be enacted through a forthcoming rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that carries penalties of $14,000 per violation, an administration official said. The White House did not immediately say when it would take effect, but said workers would have sufficient time to get vaccinated.

The rule would also require that large companies provide paid time off for vaccination.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will extend a vaccination requirement issued earlier this summer — for nursing home staff — to other healthcare settings including hospitals, home-health agencies and dialysis centers.

Separately, the Department of Health and Human Services will require vaccinations in Head Start Programs, as well as schools run by the Department of Defense and Bureau of Indian Education, affecting about 300,000 employees.

Biden’s order for executive branch workers and contractors includes exceptions for workers seeking religious or medical exemptions from vaccination, according to Psaki. Federal workers and contractors will have 75 days to get fully vaccinated. Workers who don’t comply will be referred to their agencies’ human resources departments for counseling and discipline, to include potential termination.

“We would like to be a model” to other organizations and business around country, Psaki said of the federal workforce.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in August found 55% of Americans in favor of requiring government workers to be fully vaccinated, compared with 21% opposed. Similar majorities also backed vaccine mandates for health care workers, teachers working at K-12 schools and workers who interact with the public, as at restaurants and stores.

Biden has encouraged COVID-19 vaccine requirements in settings like schools, workplaces and university campuses, and the White House hopes the strengthened federal mandate will inspire more businesses to follow suit. On Thursday, the Los Angeles Board of Education was expected to vote on requiring all students 12 and older to be fully vaccinated in the the nation’s second-largest school district.

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said in late July it was requiring that all workers at its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, as well as its managers who travel within the U.S. be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 4. But the company stopped short of requiring shots for its frontline workers.

CVS Health said in late August it would require certain employees who interact with patients to be fully vaccinated by the end of October. That includes nurses, care managers and pharmacists.

In the government, several federal agencies have previously announced vaccine requirements for much of their staffs, particularly those in healthcare roles like the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Pentagon moved last month to require all servicemembers to get vaccinated. Combined, the White House estimates those requirements cover 2.5 million Americans. Thursday’s order is expected to impact nearly 2 million more federal workers and potentially millions of contractors.

Biden’s measures should help, but what’s really needed is a change in mindset for many people, said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

“There is an aspect to this now that has to do with our country being so divided,” said Sharfstein. “This has become so politicized that people can’t see the value of a vaccination that can save their lives. Our own divisions are preventing us from ending a pandemic.”

American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union of federal employees, said that while it strongly encourages vaccinations, workers should have a say in new mandates affecting them.

“Put simply, workers deserve a voice in their working conditions,” said national President Everett Kelley. “We expect to bargain over this change prior to implementation, and we urge everyone who is able to get vaccinated as soon as they can do so.”

Larry Cosme, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, called the mandate for federal workers “ill conceived,” saying, “Vaccination should be promoted through education and encouragement – not coercion.”

More than 177 million Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but confirmed cases have shot up in recent weeks to an average of about 140,000 per day with on average about 1,000 deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most of the spread — and the vast majority of severe illness and death — is occurring among those not yet fully vaccinated. So-called breakthrough infections in vaccinated people occur, but tend to be far less dangerous.

Federal officials are moving ahead with plans to begin administering booster shots of the mRNA vaccines to bolster protection against the more transmissible delta variant. Last month Biden announced plans to make them available beginning on Sept. 20, but only the Pfizer vaccine will likely have received regulatory approval for a third dose by that time.

Officials are aiming to administer the booster shots about eight months after the second dose of the two-dose vaccines.

Associated Press writers Anne D’Innocenzio, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Hannah Fingerhut contributed.

-Associated Press-

UK panel does not recommend COVID vaccines for healthy 12- to 15-year-olds

UK advice contrasts with United States and Israel

LONDON - Britain's vaccine advisers said they were not recommending the vaccination of all 12- to 15-year-olds against COVID-19, preferring a precautionary approach in healthy children due to a rare side effect of heart inflammation.

The advice could see Britain pursue a different approach to the United States, Israel and some European countries, which have rolled out vaccinations to children more broadly.

However, a final decision has not been taken, as the British government said it would consult medical advisers to look at other factors, such as disruption to schools.

Many politicians and some scientists have spoken out in favor of vaccinating more children amid concern that COVID-19 could spread in schools that are reopening after summer holidays, further disrupting education.

Britain has reported more than 133,000 deaths from COVID-19 and nearly 7 million cases, and while transmission among children can be high, they are rarely severely ill from the disease.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on Friday said children with underlying conditions that made them more at risk from COVID-19 should get vaccinated.

For healthy children, there was still a small benefit from receiving COVID-19 vaccination, and advisers said the risk-benefit was "finely balanced".

However, the JCVI said it wanted more information on the long-term effects of rare reports of heart inflammation, known as myocarditis, in young people following vaccination with Pfizer's shot.

Myocarditis is rare and normally mild, with patients usually recovering in a few days.

"Of course these vaccines do work and would be beneficial to children in terms of preventing infection and disease, but the number of serious cases that we see of COVID in children this age are really very small," JCVI member Adam Finn told Reuters.

"There are uncertainties about the long-term implications of (myocarditis), and that makes the risk-benefit balance for these children really quite tight and much tighter than we would be comfortable to make the recommendation."

UK health minister Sajid Javid, who sets policy for England, and his counterparts from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, wrote to the chief medical officers (CMOs) of the four nations, asking for further advice, "including on educational impacts".

"Given the importance of this issue, we would be grateful if you could provide your advice as soon as possible," the four health ministers said in a letter to the CMOs.

The JCVI is also expected to advise on a potential booster vaccine program for the elderly and vulnerable which could start this month.

JCVI member Finn said there would be an update on boosters "within the next few days."

-reuters-

Small Chinese COVID-19 vaccine studies show positive signs vs Delta variant

With the coronavirus largely stopped at China’s borders it can be hard to assess just how well the national vaccination drive is working against the highly transmissible Delta variant of the disease.

But two small peer-reviewed studies indicate that the vaccines might just be effective.

In one study, researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences collected 28 serum samples from participants three weeks after they received the full three doses of a vaccine by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical.

They tested the serum to see how well the vaccine, known as ZF2001, neutralised several variants of the coronavirus, according to a study published in the journal The Lancet on Friday.

The researchers, who included Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, found that the serum from people given the vaccine showed roughly equivalent sensitivity against the Epsilon variant, the one first detected in the United States, and the Delta variant, first detected in India, as compared with the ancestral strain first detected in Wuhan.

“ZF2001 preserved the neutralising activity against the newly emerging Delta variant,” the researchers wrote.

But it was much less effective against the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa, and the Gamma variant, first identified in Brazil.

According to the paper, the levels of neutralising antibodies dropped “1.1 times” for the Epsilon variant, 1.2 times for the Delta variant, 1.8 times for the Beta variant first identified in South Africa and 1.5 times for the Gamma variant, first identified in Brazil.

Of the 28 people sampled, 16 had their shots over a period of 4-6 months and 12 had the doses over two months.

The results showed that participants with longer intervals between the second and third dose had greater resilience to variants.

“The better performance of the extended interval regimen is probably because of the longer antibody maturation in the recipients than in those with the shorter interval regimen,” the researchers wrote.

“Our data are consistent with common practice of using the 0, 1, and 6 months regimen for subunit vaccines against diseases such as hepatitis B, and provide guidance to further optimise the vaccination regimen.”

ZF2001 was authorised for emergency use in China and Uzbekistan in March this year.

The Uzbekistan government announced on the weekend that the vaccine had been approved for local production.

Researchers in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou also concluded that two other more widely used inactivated vaccines by Sinovac and Sinopharm were effective in preventing cases caused by the Delta variant.

The assessment, published earlier this month in Emerging Microbes & Infections, was based on observation of a community outbreak in the city in late May and early June when an imported Delta case infected 153 people.

Of the infected, 38 were vaccinated and 115 were not.

The researchers tracked 74 people infected with Covid-19 and 292 close contacts as the controls to explore vaccine efficacy in real-world settings.

The participants were aged 18-59 years and most were vaccinated with the Sinovac jabs. Some people have been given both vaccines, but researchers said they did not separate them in the study because it was not designed to compare the two and both vaccines were based on the same widely available technology.

The team included researchers from the Guangzhou Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, and Sun Yat-sen University, including respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan.

They found that a single dose of inactivated vaccine yielded a vaccine efficacy of only 13.8 per cent, not sufficiently protective against the Delta strain infection. After two doses, the efficacy rose to 59 per cent against the coronavirus in general and 70.2 per cent against moderate disease.

The efficacy against severe disease was estimated as 100 per cent, but researchers said it might be overestimated because there were only two severe Covid-19 patients in the control group.

There were no severe and critical cases or deaths among the vaccinated study participants, and all the 16 severe or critical cases were not vaccinated.

“We speculated that the inactivated vaccine could prevent severe Covid-19 well,” they wrote. “The two-dose dosing scheme of the inactivated vaccines was effective against the Delta variant infection in real-world settings, with the estimated efficacy exceeding the World Health Organization minimal threshold of 50 per cent.”

They said their findings could have important global implications because more than 350 million inactivated vaccines had been exported worldwide as of June.

But they cautioned that the efficacy results should be considered in the context of stringent containment efforts in China.

The selection of controls, people who live, work or travel with confirmed cases “might have affected the estimated vaccine efficacy”, the researchers wrote.

The Delta variant has put countries around the world on the guard with some considering booster shots for better protection.

A report by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention published last week showed two doses of mRNA vaccines were 74.7 per cent effective against infection among nursing home residents in March and May. But this declined significantly to 53.1 per cent during June and July when the Delta variant circulation predominated.

The report suggested an additional dose of Covid-19 vaccine might be considered for nursing home and long-term care facility residents to optimise a protective immune response.

-South China Morning Post-

Getting a COVID-19 booster shot

Doctor Ziv Feldman receives a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel on Friday. Israel will offer a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines to people aged over 60 according to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett beginning Sunday as part of a “complementary vaccination program” as concerns mount over the more contagious Delta variant. 

-reuters-

Facebook says it should not be blamed for US failing to meet vaccine goals

Facebook on Saturday defended itself against US President Joe Biden's assertion that the social media platform is "killing people" by allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to proliferate, saying the facts tell a different story.

"The data shows that 85 percent of Facebook users in the US have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19," Facebook said in a corporate blog post by Guy Rosen, a company vice president. "President Biden’s goal was for 70 percent of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed."

COVID-19 misinformation has spread during the pandemic on social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc-owned YouTube. Researchers and lawmakers have long accused Facebook of failing to police harmful content on its platforms.

"They're killing people. ... Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they're killing people," Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday when asked about misinformation and what his message was to social media platforms such as Facebook.

The company has introduced rules against making specific false claims about COVID-19 and vaccines for it, and says it provides people with reliable information on these topics.

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is now the dominant strain worldwide, accompanied by a surge of deaths around the United States almost entirely among unvaccinated people, U.S. officials said on Friday.

American cases of COVID-19 are up 70 percent over the previous week and deaths are up 26 percent, with outbreaks occurring in parts of the country with low vaccination rates.

-reuters-

White House slams Facebook as conduit for COVID-19 misinformation

WASHINGTON - Facebook is not doing enough to stop the spread of false claims about COVID-19 and vaccines, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday, part of a new administration pushback on misinformation in the United States.

Facebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, needs to work harder to remove inaccurate vaccine information from its platform, Psaki said.

She said 12 people were responsible for almost 65 percent of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms. The finding was reported in May by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, but Facebook has disputed the methodology.

"All of them remain active on Facebook," Psaki said. Facebook also "needs to move more quickly to remove harmful violative posts," she said.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also raised the alarm over the growing wave of misinformation about COVID-19 and related vaccines, saying it is making it harder to fight the pandemic and save lives.

"American lives are at risk," he said in a statement.

In his first advisory as the nation's top doctor under President Joe Biden, Murthy called on tech companies to tweak their algorithms to further demote false information and share more data with researchers and the government to help teachers, healthcare workers and the media fight misinformation.

"Health misinformation is a serious threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people's health, and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative," he said in the advisory, first reported by National Public Radio.

False information feeds hesitancy to get vaccinated, leading to preventable deaths, Murthy said, noting misinformation can affect other health conditions and is a worldwide problem.

A Facebook spokesperson said the company has partnered with government experts, health authorities and researchers to take "aggressive action against misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines to protect public health".

"So far we've removed more than 18 million pieces of COVID misinformation, removed accounts that repeatedly break these rules, and connected more than 2 billion people to reliable information about COVID-19 and COVID vaccines across our apps," the spokesperson added.

Facebook has introduced rules against making certain false claims about COVID-19 and its vaccines. Still, researchers and lawmakers have long complained about the lax policing of content on its site.

Murthy said at a White House press briefing that COVID-19 misinformation comes mostly from individuals who may not know they are spreading false claims, but also a few "bad actors".

His advisory also urges people not to spread questionable information online. The head of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a group that tracks COVID-19 misinformation online, said it was inadequate.

"On tobacco packets they say that tobacco kills," the group's chief executive Imran Ahmed told NPR. "On social media we need a 'Surgeon General's Warning: Misinformation Kills.'"

US COVID-19 infections last week rose about 11 percent from the previous week, with the highest increases in areas with vaccination rates of less than 40 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and continued to tick up on Wednesday.

Cases plummeted in the spring as the vaccine rolled out following a winter spike in infections, but shots have slowed and just about 51 percent of the country has been vaccinated, Reuters data show.

"It's been hard to get people to move" from not wanting the COVID-19 vaccine "to recognizing that the risk is still there," Dr. Richard Besser, a former CDC chief who now heads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told MSNBC.

Representatives for the nation's largest tech companies could not be immediately reached for comment on the advisory.

-reuters-

Pfizer, Moderna vaccines effective against Indian variants: study

WASHINGTON - The Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines should remain highly effective against two coronavirus variants first identified in India, according to new research carried out by US scientists.

The lab-based study was carried out by the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Langone Center and is considered preliminary because it has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

"What we found is that the vaccine's antibodies are a little bit weaker against the variants, but not enough that we think it would have much of an effect on the protective ability of the vaccines," senior author Nathaniel "Ned" Landau told AFP on Monday.

The researchers first took blood from people who were vaccinated with either of the two shots, which are predominant in the United States and have been given to more than 150 million Americans.

They then exposed these samples in a lab to engineered pseudovirus particles that contained mutations in the "spike" region of the coronavirus, which were particular to either the B.1.617 or B.1.618 variants, first found in India.

Finally, that mixture was exposed to lab-grown cells, to see how many would become infected.

The engineered pseudovirus particles contained an enzyme called luciferase, which fireflies use to light up. Adding it to the pseudovirus makes it possible to tell how many cells are infected, based on light measurements.

Overall, for B.1.617 they found an almost four-fold reduction in the amount of neutralizing antibodies -- Y-shaped proteins the immune system creates to stop pathogens from invading cells. For B.1.618, the reduction was around three-fold.

"In other words, some of the antibodies now don't work anymore against the variants, but you still have a lot of antibodies that do work against the variants," said Landau.

"There's enough that do work that we believe that the vaccines will be highly protective," he added, because the overall levels remain well above those found in samples taken from people who recovered from infection with earlier unmutated virus.

But this kind of lab investigation cannot predict what the real world efficacy might look like -- that will have to be investigated through other studies.

The coronavirus is known to latch on to a particular receptor on human cells called ACE2, which it uses to force its entry.

Landau's team showed the Indian variants were able to bind more tightly to this receptor, like other variants of concern. This might be linked to its increased transmissibility compared to the original strain.

"Our results lend confidence that current vaccines will provide protection against variants identified to date," the team concluded. 

However, they do not preclude the possibility that newer variants that are more resistant to vaccines will emerge -- highlighting the importance of widespread vaccination at the global level.

Agence France-Presse

Donuts and hangouts: US kicks off COVID vaccination for teens

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, United States - Harrison Hunger, 14, received his Covid shot at a clinic in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on Thursday and now has pastries on his mind.

Asked what he plans to do first, the teen doesn't skip a beat: "Probably go to Krispy Kreme, because they are offering free donuts to people with one of these," he says, showing off his vaccine card.

The campaign to immunize America's 17 million adolescents aged 12-to-15 kicked off in full force on Thursday, a key part of President Joe Biden's strategy to push the country toward herd immunity.

Across the country, kids lined up with their parents, eager to return to some semblance of their pre-pandemic lives.

"It will help me get back out more," said Daniel Fox, a 13-year-old among the first in the door when the Javits Center in New York City opened at 10 am. "Online playdates are pretty fun, but it's also fun to have an in-person playdate once in a while."

Fourteen-year-old twins Anaya and Jay Tsai also received their first doses.

"I've been very much looking forward to this day for a while. It's hugely important," said their mother Purva Tsai, 47.

"I hope it means things will start to get back to normal for the kids and they can socialize with their friends."

Numbers were a little low at a vaccine site set up at the Walter E Washington Convention Center in the US capital.

Kandall Frederick, 15, was driven in by her mom ahead of the school day.

"I was excited," she said. "I was the last one in the family to be vaccinated so now we will be all safe and sound, be on the go and do things more freely."

PIZZA AND BAND

In Hartford, Connecticut, 13-year-old Charles Muro said he was looking forward to worrying less post-vaccination -- and being able to grab some pizza. 

"This will be the future," he said. "It feels revolutionary... it is pretty cool to be in this unique group."

And 14-year-old Sadie Sindland, who was also in Hartford, said she is ready to get back to school full-time, to play in a band and to see friends, despite some nervousness. 

"I am always very scared of getting vaccines," Sadie said. "But I was really excited to get this Covid vaccine, because this is the first step to getting back to a normal society."

An April poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation that interviewed parents of 12-to-15-year-olds found that three in ten were keen to get their children vaccinated right away, a quarter will wait to see how it's working, a fifth will vaccinate only if their child's school requires it, and the remaining quarter will refuse the vaccine.

Teens are much less susceptible to Covid than older age groups, and the main reason to vaccinate them is to drive down overall transmission.

But extremely rare cases of severe Covid can still occur, as can a post-viral complication called multisystem inflammatory syndrome.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called this week's authorization of the Pfizer Covid vaccine for youths aged 12 to 15 an important tool for more schools to return to in-person learning this fall.

Agence France-Presse

Mounting evidence suggests COVID vaccines do reduce transmission. How does this work?

Since COVID-19 vaccines began rolling out across the world, many scientists have been hesitant to say they can reduce transmission of the virus.

Their primary purpose is to prevent you from getting really sick with the virus, and it quickly became clear the vaccines are highly efficient at doing this. Efficacy against symptoms of the disease in clinical trials has ranged from 50 percent (Sinovac) to 95% (Pfizer/BioNTech), and similar effectiveness has been reported in the real world.

However, even the best vaccines we have are not perfect, which means some vaccinated people still end up catching the virus. We call these cases “breakthrough” infections. Indeed, between April 10 and May 1, six people in hotel quarantine in New South Wales tested positive for COVID-19, despite being fully vaccinated.

But how likely are vaccinated people to actually pass the virus on, if they do get infected? Evidence is increasing that, not only do COVID-19 vaccines either stop you getting sick or substantially reduce the severity of your symptoms, they’re also likely to substantially reduce the chance of transmitting the virus to others.

But how does this work, and what does it mean for the pandemic?

Early evidence from testing in animals, where researchers can directly study transmission, suggested immunization with COVID-19 vaccines could prevent animals passing on the virus.

But animals are not people, and the scientific community has been waiting for more conclusive studies in humans.

In April, Public Health England reported the results of a large study of COVID-19 transmission involving more than 365,000 households with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated members.

It found immunization with either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine reduced the chance of onward virus transmission by 40-60%. This means that if someone became infected after being vaccinated, they were only around half as likely to pass their infection on to others compared to infected people who weren’t vaccinated.

One study from Israel, which leads the world in coronavirus vaccinations, gives some clues about what’s behind this reduced transmission. Researchers identified nearly 5,000 cases of breakthrough infection in previously vaccinated people, and determined how much virus was present in their nose swabs. Compared to unvaccinated people, the amount of virus detected was significantly lower in those who got vaccinated.

More virus in the nose has been linked to greater infectiousness and increased risks of onward transmission.

These studies show vaccination is likely to substantially reduce virus transmission by reducing the pool of people who become infected, and reducing virus levels in the nose in people with breakthrough infections.

If COVID-19 vaccines reduce the chances of transmitting the virus, then each person who is vaccinated protects not only themselves, but also people around them. Breaking chains of transmission within the community and limiting onward spread is critical to help protect people who may respond poorly to immunization or may not be able to get vaccinated themselves, such as children, some older people, and some people who are immunocompromised.

This also greatly increases the opportunity to achieve some degree of population (or “herd”) immunity, and a faster easing of social restrictions.

Reducing the risk of transmitting the coronavirus relies on developing strong immunity against the virus. But immunity, even from the vaccines, fades over time. Scientists are actively monitoring people who’ve had COVID-19 vaccines to understand how long vaccine immunity is likely to last, and if and when booster shots will be required.

Variants of the coronavirus are also concerning. These are strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that carry changes which make them harder to control by immunization. Such variants present two major challenges: they can evade vaccine immunity and, in some cases, are also more transmissible.

Although variants have spread widely throughout the world, there are several pieces of good news on this front. Countries with advanced vaccine rollouts are maintaining good control over the virus. For example, Israel began its mass vaccination campaign during their third wave, and quickly saw a decline in new cases.

What’s more, companies like Moderna are developing updated vaccines to specifically target these variants, with positive early results.

Right now, the global pandemic is complex. Many countries are quickly rolling out available vaccines, and there are a wide variety of lockdowns and social measures in place.

Yet, the number of new infections each day across the world is at an all-time high and concerning variants are circulating.

As people are vaccinated, there’s a temptation to stop or reduce some important social behaviors such as mask wearing or physical distancing. But, importantly, less transmission is not no transmission.

While vaccinated individuals most likely have a smaller chance of passing on the virus, it’s still important to keep up responsible behaviors into the immediate future to protect those who have not, will not, or cannot be immunized.

-reuters-

India releases $6.7 billion to help COVID-19 vaccine makers

India released $6.7 billion in cheap financing for vaccine makers, hospitals and other health firms on Wednesday, to counter the devastating coronavirus surge gripping the country.

Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das also vowed to deploy "unconventional" measures if the crisis worsens.

He spoke as India announced a record 3,780 deaths in 24 hours as well as 382,000 new cases.

This week it became the second country after the United States to pass 20 million cases and hospitals across the country of 1.3 billion people have complained of chronic shortages of beds, oxygen, vaccines and key drugs.

"The devastating speed with which the virus affects different regions of the country has to be matched by swift and wide-ranging actions," Das said.

The new measures -- making it easier for banks to give cheap loans to hospitals, oxygen manufacturers and even patients -- aim to improve access to emergency health care, he said.

The central bank will also give some general business borrowers more time to repay loans to help underpin the economy, Das said.

"The immediate objective is to preserve human life and restore livelihoods through all means possible," he added.

India's underfunded health care system has struggled to cope with the latest Covid-19 onslaught, with patients dying in hospital parking lots due to a lack of beds and oxygen.

Experts have warned that case numbers will keep rising until the end of May and could reach 500,000 new infections a day.

While New Delhi and other major cities have imposed curfews and other restrictions, the government has resisted opposition calls for a nationwide lockdown.

Even the Supreme Court has called on the government to consider tougher measures.

The Indian Premier League -- the world's richest cricket tournament -- shut down this week because of the spread of the virus among players. Many foreign stars are now struggling to get flights out.

Two more players, Delhi Capitals spinner Amit Mishra and Sunrisers Hyderabad's Wriddhiman Saha, were recently infected.

The country has tried to claw back lost ground after a stringent, months-long lockdown caused the labor market to collapse and the economy to contract by nearly a quarter between April and June last year.

Asia's third-largest economy was in the throes of a prolonged slowdown even before the pandemic, and the hit to global activity from the virus and one of the world's strictest lockdowns combined to deal the country a severe blow.

Fearing a repeat of last year's economic devastation, authorities have so far imposed limited restrictions, trying to strike a balance between keeping the economy going and targeting outbreaks in the hardest-hit regions.

New Delhi is hoping the economy will get a further boost from a massive vaccination drive that kicked off in January, with 160 million shots administered so far.

Agence France-Presse

S.Korea says AstraZeneca, Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines 87% effective after first shot

SEOUL - One dose of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer was 86.6 percent effective in preventing infections among people aged 60 and older, real world data released by South Korea showed on Wednesday.

Data by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) showed the Pfizer vaccine, jointly developed by BioNTech, was 89.7 percent effective in preventing infection at least two weeks after a first dose was given, while the AstraZeneca shot was 86.0 percent effective.

Its analysis is based on more than 3.5 million people in South Korea aged 60 and older for two months from Feb. 26 and included 521,133 people who received a first dose of either Pfizer or AstraZeneca shot.

There were 1,237 COVID-19 cases in the data and only 29 were from the vaccinated group, the KDCA said.

"It is shown that both vaccines provide a high protection against the disease after the first dose. (People) should get full vaccinations according to recommended schedule, as the protection rate will go up further after a second dose," it said.

The findings come as South Korea seeks to drum up participation in its immunization drive after reports about potential safety issues discouraged some people from getting vaccinated.

"Around 95 percent of people who died from the coronavirus in our country were senior citizens aged 60 or older, and the vaccines will sharply lower risks for those people," health ministry official Yoon Tae-ho told a briefing on Wednesday.

Yoon said the possibility of side effects including blood clotting are "extremely low" and they are mostly curable.

South Korea has so far vaccinated 6.7 percent of its 52 million strong population, but has set an ambitious target of giving shots to 70 percent of its people by September and reaching herd immunity by November.

Starting on Wednesday, South Koreans who are fully vaccinated and show a negative COVID-19 test and no symptoms will be exempted from the two-week mandatory quarantine upon their return from overseas travel, to encourage more vaccinations.

The KDCA reported 676 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight on Tuesday, bringing the country's total infections to 124,945, with 1,847 deaths.

-reuters-

Dubai allows breastfeeding women to get COVID-19 vaccine

DUBAI - The Dubai Health Authority said on Saturday it was allowing women who are breastfeeding and those planning on conceiving to take the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Dubai Media Office.

In a Twitter post, the media office said this was in line with the latest international studies and guidelines on coronavirus vaccines.

It also said the DHA was cutting the time frame of vaccine eligibility for those who have previously contracted COVID-19 to 10 days from three months, provided the case was mild or asymptomatic.

(Reporting by Yousef Saba Editing by Mark Heinrich)

-reuters-

South African variant can 'break through' Pfizer vaccine, Israeli study says

JERUSALEM - The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can "break through" Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is low and the research has not been peer reviewed.

The study, released on Saturday, compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for COVID-19, 14 days or more after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease. It matched age and gender, among other characteristics.

The South African variant, B.1.351, was found to make up about 1% of all the COVID-19 cases across all the people studied, according to the study by Tel Aviv University and Israel's largest healthcare provider, Clalit.

But among patients who had received two doses of the vaccine, the variant's prevalence rate was eight times higher than those unvaccinated - 5.4% versus 0.7%.

This suggests the vaccine is less effective against the South African variant, compared with the original coronavirus and a variant first identified in Britain that has come to comprise nearly all COVID-19 cases in Israel, the researchers said.

"We found a disproportionately higher rate of the South African variant among people vaccinated with a second dose, compared to the unvaccinated group. This means that the South African variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccine's protection," said Tel Aviv University's Adi Stern.

The researchers cautioned, though, that the study only had a small sample size of people infected with the South African variant because of its rarity in Israel.

They also said the research was not intended to deduce overall vaccine effectiveness against any variant, since it only looked at people who had already tested positive for COVID-19, not at overall infection rates.

Pfizer and BioNTech could not be immediately reached for comment outside business hours.

The companies said on April 1 that their vaccine was around 91% effective at preventing COVID-19, citing updated trial data that included participants inoculated for up to six months.

In respect to the South African variant, they said that among a group of 800 study volunteers in South Africa, where B.1.351 is widespread, there were nine cases of COVID-19, all of which occurred among participants who got the placebo. Of those nine cases, six were among individuals infected with the South African variant.

Some previous studies have indicated that the Pfizer/BioNTech shot was less potent against the B.1.351 variant than against other variants of the coronavirus, but still offered a robust defense.

While the results of the study may cause concern, the low prevalence of the South African strain was encouraging, according to Stern.

"Even if the South African variant does break through the vaccine's protection, it has not spread widely through the population," said Stern, adding that the British variant may be "blocking" the spread of the South African strain.

Almost 53% of Israel's 9.3 million population has received both Pfizer doses. Israel has largely reopened its economy in recent weeks while the pandemic appears to be receding, with infection rates, severe illness and hospitalizations dropping sharply. About a third of Israelis are below the age of 16, which means they are still not eligible for the shot. 

-reuters-

Sinovac eyes doubling vaccine production capacity to 2 billion doses

BEIJING — Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac said Friday a third production line for its COVID-19 vaccine has been put into use, doubling its annual capacity of the jabs to two billion doses.

Its CoronaVac is one of four domestic vaccines given conditional approval by Chinese authorities, which helps rush emergency drugs to market.

On Wednesday, experts from the World Health Organization said an interim analysis of clinical trial data from two Chinese vaccines, including Sinovac's product, showed they demonstrated "safety and good efficacy", although more data is still needed.

"Over 200 million doses of CoronaVac have been delivered to over 20 countries, including China," said Sinovac in its latest statement.

Although Sinovac's jab has been approved by domestic regulators, it has yet to receive authorization by what the WHO considers "a stringent regulatory authority", noted the UN health agency's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE).

Sinovac is among Chinese firms to have submitted data in applications for the WHO's emergency use listing, which opens the door for the jabs to join the global Covax program, which aims to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccinations.

Agence France-Presse

US plant ruins 15 million J&J coronavirus vaccine doses: report

WASHINGTON - About 15 million doses of the single-shot coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson were ruined in a factory error in the United States, The New York Times reported -- a blow to the company's efforts to quickly boost production.

When contacted by AFP, the pharmaceutical giant said it had identified a batch of doses at a plant in Baltimore run by Emergent BioSolutions "that did not meet quality standards" but did not confirm the specific number affected. 

The company also said the batch "was never advanced to the filling and finishing stages of our manufacturing process." 

"Quality and safety continue to be our top priority," it said.

The Times report however signaled that issues with quality control could affect future output, with the Food and Drug Administration expected to investigate. 

The FDA told AFP it was "aware of the situation" but declined to comment further.

Johnson & Johnson said it was sending more experts to the site to "supervise, direct and support all manufacturing of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine," which would allow it to deliver an additional 24 million shots "through April."

The Emergent BioSolutions plant had not yet been authorized by US regulators to manufacture a "drug substance" for the J&J vaccine, the company said, but US media reported that it was expected to produce tens of millions of doses in the near future.

The J&J vaccine has won praise for its single dosage and because it does not need to be frozen -- unlike the shots from Moderna and Pfizer -- making distribution much simpler. 

"We continue to expect to deliver our Covid-19 vaccine at a rate of more than one billion doses by the end of 2021," J&J said.

Agence France-Presse

Indonesia orders 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for private inoculations

JAKARTA - Indonesia expects to receive 20.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna Inc and China's Sinopharm from the second quarter to use in a private vaccination scheme, the head of a state pharmaceutical firm said on Monday.

Indonesia authorized one of the world's first private vaccination programs last month to run alongside its national drive, enabling firms to buy state-procured vaccines for their staff in Southeast Asia's biggest country.

While the plan is expected to speed up the pace of inoculation in the world's fourth most populous country, some health experts have warned it could worsen inequity.

Honesti Basyir, CEO of Bio Farma, told a parliamentary hearing on Monday that it had ordered 15 million doses from China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and 5.2 million from Moderna.

The Sinopharm vaccine could arrive by the end of the second quarter, and the Moderna shot in the third quarter, he said.

Indonesia aims to inoculate 181.5 million people within a year in an effort to reach herd immunity in a vaccination drive that began in January.

The country has suffered one of Asia's worst coronavirus epidemics, with more than 1.4 million cases and over 38,000 deaths so far.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry had pushed the government to authorize the private inoculation drive.

More than 11,500 companies have signed up for the plan, which would see some 7.4 million people vaccinated, Rosan P. Roeslani, head of the business group, told the same hearing on Monday.

The program would allow employees of participating companies, plus their family members, to receive free vaccinations at privately-run health centers with shots distributed by Bio Farma.

Indonesia's food and drug agency is currently reviewing the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use approval, its chief Penny K. Lukito told the hearing.

The agency has made no mention of the approval status of the Moderna vaccine.

-reuters-

Italy to give just one COVID-19 vaccine shot to those previously infected

MILAN - Italy will administer a single vaccine dose to those who have already been infected with COVID-19, the health ministry said late Wednesday.

"A single dose of vaccine may be considered for individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptomatic or asymptomatic", the ministry statement said.

The recommendation applies to people diagnosed with COVID between three and six months previously.

France and Spain announced a similar policy last month, in a move that also appears to be aimed at saving vaccine shots and boosting supplies while EU countries are struggling to run their vaccination campaigns due to supply cuts imposed by drugmakers.

Italy, which has a population of around 60 million, had administered 4.76 doses of vaccines as of early Thursday, with some 1.5 million people receiving the recommended two shots. 

-reuters-