Author: BigGuy

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US plans to offer booster shots from September 20

The US government said on Wednesday it plans to make Covid-19 vaccine booster shots widely available to all Americans starting on 20 September as infections rise from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The White House is prepared to offer a third booster shot starting on that date to all Americans who completed their initial inoculation at least eight months ago, the US Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. The White House pandemic response coordinator, Jeff Zients, said the coronavirus vaccine booster shots will be free for all Americans. “It will be just as easy and convenient to get a booster shot as it is to get a first shot today,” Zients said. The booster shots initially will be given primarily to healthcare workers, nursing home residents and older people, all of whom were among the first groups to be vaccinated in late 2020 and early 2021, the department said. Top US health officials said in a joint statement that they based their decision to offer boosters on data showing that the protectiveness of Covid-19 shots currently authorized in the United States begins to diminish in the months after the shots are given. The officials included Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, as well as the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. “The available data make very clear that protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection begins to decrease over time … and in association with the dominance of the Delta variant, we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease,” the officials said. “We conclude that a booster shot will be needed to maximize vaccine-induced protection and prolong its durability,” they added. The officials said that they expect that people who received Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine will also need boosters. US health officials previously authorized a third dose of vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc for people with weak immune systems. The broader booster program follows mounting evidence that protection from the vaccines wanes after six or more months, particularly in older people with underlying health conditions. Vaccinations have been widely available in the United States, unlike many other countries, and yet the Delta variant has caused what health experts describe as a pandemic of the unvaccinated as a significant number of people choose not to get inoculated. Even with the announcement on boosters, Zients said the Biden administration remained committed to convincing more Americans to get their first vaccine dose. “This remains a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Zients said in a briefing on Wednesday morning. The new Covid-19 cases also include a number of people who have been vaccinated, though they are far less likely to experience severe disease or death than the unvaccinated. In recent weeks, several other countries have also decided to offer booster shots to older adults as well as people with weak immune systems, including Israel, France and Germany. The decision announced by the US officials represented a shift from the optimism of health authorities in May in curbing the pandemic when Biden set a goal to vaccinate 70% of American adults with at least one dose by 4 July. That goal was achieved about a month late. Daily cases in the United States soared from fewer than 10,000 in early July to more than 150,000 in August as the far more infectious Delta variant took hold. More than 1 million Americans had independently sought an extra vaccine dose before the official decision on boosters was announced, according to federal data. “This remains a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Zients said in a briefing on Wednesday morning. The new Covid-19 cases also include a number of people who have been vaccinated, though they are far less likely to experience severe disease or death than the unvaccinated. In recent weeks, several other countries have also decided to offer booster shots to older adults as well as people with weak immune systems, including Israel, France and Germany. The decision announced by the US officials represented a shift from the optimism of health authorities in May in curbing the pandemic when Biden set a goal to vaccinate 70% of American adults with at least one dose by 4 July. That goal was achieved about a month late. Daily cases in the United States soared from fewer than 10,000 in early July to more than 150,000 in August as the far more infectious Delta variant took hold. More than 1 million Americans had independently sought an extra vaccine dose before the official decision on boosters was announced, according to federal data.

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Israel says 3rd Pfizer dose 86% effective

https://youtu.be/TtFapXG1zbo

TEL AVIV, Aug 18 (Reuters) – A third dose of Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech’s (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 vaccine was found to be 86% effective in people aged over 60, an Israeli healthcare provider said on Wednesday, citing initial results from a study of thousands of members. Israeli HMO Maccabi, which covers around a quarter of the country’s 9.3 million population, compared results from 149,144 people aged over 60 who received their third dose at least a week ago against those from 675,630 more who had received only two doses, between January and February.

Some 37 people tested positive for coronavirus after their third jab, compared with 1,064 positive cases among those who had received only two doses, Maccabi said in a statement. The comparison groups had similar demographic profiles, it added.

Maccabi did not provide any information on the severity of the 37 positive cases, or whether they had any underlying conditions. The Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Pfizer has said that its vaccine’s efficacy drops over time, and that a third dose showed significantly higher neutralising antibodies against the initial SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as against the Beta and highly infectious Delta variants. Israel began administering third Pfizer doses last month to confront a surge in local infections driven by the Delta variant. Some 1.1 million eligible Israelis – people over 50, healthcare workers, and others – have received their third dose. The United States and several European countries are expected to begin offering boosters to the elderly and people with weak immune systems, and some are considering whether to make a third dose available more widely. Nonetheless, Israeli health officials worry that cases will continue to mount given that another 1.1 million Israelis – around 11% of the population – remain unvaccinated. Severe cases have also continued to climb, mostly among the unvaccinated. Health ministry data released on Wednesday, based on data per 100,000 people, showed 172 serious cases among unvaccinated people over 60, compared with 21 serious cases among vaccinated individuals in the same age group. Dr. Anat Ekka Zohar of Maccabi said that the third dose “has again proved its effectiveness,” and had “demonstrated protection (against) the Delta variant”. “The triple dose is the solution to curbing the current infection outbreak,” she said.

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U.S. reports more than 1,000 COVID deaths in single day

https://youtu.be/Q1fm9qVls-0

(Reuters) -The United States reported more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, equating to around 42 fatalities an hour, according to a Reuters tally, as the Delta variant continues to ravage parts of the country with low vaccination rates. Coronavirus-related deaths have spiked in the United States over the past month and are averaging 769 per day, the highest since mid-April, according to the Reuters tally President Joe Biden’s administration confirmed on Tuesday evening it planned to extend requirements for travelers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations until mid-January. Like many other countries, the Delta variant has presented a major challenge. The Reuters tally from state data on Tuesday showed 1,017 deaths, taking the death toll from the pandemic to just under 623,000 people, the highest number of deaths officially reported by any country in the world. The last time the United States recorded more than 1,000 deaths on a daily basis was in March. U.S. officials have started to accelerate vaccinations in the face of the renewed threat, with the seven-day average of doses given increasing by 14% in the past two weeks, according to figures from Our World in Data While governments and businesses initially offered incentives such as cash and prizes for getting vaccinated, the surge in cases has caused some companies and states to mandate vaccines if workers want to keep their jobs and not face routine testing. However, U.S. hospitals continue to flood with new patients as COVID-related hospitalizations have increased by about 70% in the past two weeks. The United States has reported more than 100,000 new cases a day on average for the past twelve days, a six-month high, according to a Reuters tally.

The U.S. South remains the epicenter of the latest outbreak, with Florida reporting a record of nearly 26,000 new cases last week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among the new cases was Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose state is engulfed in a fourth COVID surge. Abbott tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday but so far has no symptoms of the illness, his office said. The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 is rising across the country and were 1,834 as of Tuesday morning, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a trend health experts attribute to the Delta variant being more likely to infect children than the original Alpha strain.

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Troubling CDC vaccine data convinced Biden team to back booster shots

Top Biden administration health officials concluded that most Americans will soon need coronavirus booster shots after reviewing a raft of new data from the Centers for Disease Control that showed a worrying drop in vaccine efficacy over time, four administration officials told POLITICO.

The evidence, compiled by federal scientists over the past several months, showed a decline in the initial round of protection against Covid-19 infection that’s coincided with a resurgence in cases driven by the more contagious Delta variant.

The data looked at vaccine effectiveness in individuals across age groups, with varying medical conditions and who received the shot at different times. It was presented to White House Covid-19 task force officials at a meeting Sunday. “This is what moved the needle,” one senior administration official said, describing the CDC data and the decision to urge boosters.

That data — which is set to be made public later this week — brought a swift end to a debate over when to administer boosters that has raged within the administration for months, and spurred the buildout of a plan for distributing the additional shots in a matter of weeks.

The Biden administration is now expected to formally announce its strategy within days, following a series of meetings throughout the weekend focused on concerns that Americans’ immunity against Covid-19 was not only fading, but dropping faster than anticipated in the face of the Delta variant. Officials are still finalizing the details of the booster plan, and the government is not expected to begin offering third shots from Pfizer and Moderna until mid-September at the earliest. The Food and Drug Administration must first authorize the booster shots, and the CDC will need to formally recommend that people get them eight months after completing their initial vaccination round. But the move represents an acceleration of a process that had proceeded cautiously, as officials hunted for clear signs that the vaccines’ immunity was waning. The plan for now doesn’t call for boosters for recipients of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Federal officials are awaiting results of a study by the drugmaker on the effectiveness of administering two J&J doses. The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment. Inside the administration, some health officials had long argued that boosters would be needed as soon as fall, and should be given pre-emptively to ensure that people’s protection against Covid-19 remained high. Others, including officials at the CDC, were more skeptical, contending the data did not yet show a need for boosters — and questioning whether the administration should wait until it became clear that protection from severe infections that could cause hospitalization or death was wearing off.

Yet top health officials coalesced around the more immediate need amid growing indications that the Delta variant could significantly set back the nation’s progress against the pandemic.

Data from Israel had found that the Pfizer vaccine’s ability to prevent severe disease and among older people first vaccinated in January had declined over time. And a study released last week by the Mayo Clinic found the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against mild infections had fallen — though it was still performing well in preventing hospitalization. Against that backdrop, it was the CDC’s own similar findings that proved the deciding factor. The agency’s study gave officials a high-resolution view of the extent to which protection was declining for different groups. The administration’s emerging booster plan will rely on roughly 100 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines that are available immediately, according to two senior officials with knowledge of the situation. The government has contracted for an additional 400 million shots to be distributed as needed following the announcement, they added. Administration officials downplayed the decision to exclude for now of J&J vaccine recipients, noting that vaccine was not authorized until late February and that recipients would not be eligible for a booster until October. Still, the decision to forge ahead with third shots of Pfizer and Moderna is likely to invite backlash both at home and abroad. The World Health Organization has urged developed countries to hold off on booster shots over fears that a new round of mass vaccinations will make it even more difficult for lower-income countries to get access to initial supplies of the vaccines. “Administration of booster doses will exacerbate inequities by driving up demand and consuming scarce supply while priority populations in some countries, or subnational settings, have not yet received a primary vaccination series,” the WHO said in an Aug. 10 statement. Biden officials are confident they can fulfill their vows to be an “arsenal of vaccines” for the world while sending Americans back for more because of their surplus of shots and expectation that many more are on the way, an administration official said. It would also be virtually impossible to stop people from seeking boosters if drug makers apply for approval and they’re deemed effective — an FDA determination that cannot take into account factors such as worldwide need. Health officials have closely watched the nation’s case numbers for signs that the increase might peter out, similar to the sudden drop-off in infections seen in the U.K. But that hope has dimmed with each passing day, especially amid a spate of reports of outbreaks among children and teachers as schools reopen in some states. Now, with nearly 30 percent of the country still unvaccinated and growing evidence of Covid-19’s transmissibility, administration officials are opting to take action however they can to try to blunt what many fear will be a brutal autumn. “It’s a combination of Delta being a particularly nasty variant that’s very contagious and the fact that, unsurprisingly, vaccine protection does gradually wane over time,” National Institute of Health Director Francis Collins said Tuesday on the Hugh Hewitt Show. “We don’t want to wait until it’s like, oh, too late.”

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Texas Gov. Abbott, who banned mask and vaccine mandates, tests positive for Covid… There is a GOD!!

    • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who’s fought local officials throughout the state on mask and vaccine mandates, has tested positive for Covid-19, his office announced Tuesday.
    • The announcement comes a day after he made a campaign stop where he can be seen surrounded by a large crowd of unmasked attendees. Mostly senior citizens.

    • Abbott unveiled a plan Friday to launch nine monoclonal antibody infusion centers across the state as Covid patients clog up hospitals across the state.
    • Almost 45% of Texas’ 6,959 reported intensive care beds are currently occupied by coronavirus patients, compared with 26% nationwide.
    • The Governor tests himself everyday….. you should too if your in contact with people.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who’s fought local officials throughout the state on mask and vaccine mandates, has tested positive for Covid-19, his office announced Tuesday. However Abbott is fully vaccinated, “is in good health, and currently experiencing no symptoms,” his office said in a statement.

Abbott is receiving Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment and plans to isolate in the governor’s mansion, his office said. His wife, Cecilia Abbott, tested negative.

The governor, who is otherwise healthy, was left paralyzed below the waist after an oak tree fell on him while he was jogging in 1984, leaving him in a wheelchair. His age, 63, places him in a higher risk category for suffering from a severe case if he contracts the virus. However, he’s told people he received a third, or booster, dose of the vaccine,two sources told NBC News.

Nick Bit: No matter what bullshit they blow up the public’s ass they sure as hell know how to take care of themselves… Including isolating, testing, 3rd vaccine and a must if you ever get symptoms and test positive monoclonal antibody infusions.

“Governor Abbott is in constant communication with his staff, agency heads, and government officials to ensure that state government continues to operate smoothly and efficiently,” his office said. The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment. The announcement of Abbott’s illness comes a day after he made a campaign stop at the Republican Club of Heritage Ranch, which is north of Dallas, where he can be seen surrounded by a large crowd of unmasked attendees. It also comes just days after the governor called for 2,500 out-of-state medical personnel to combat the coronavirus. He also requested that state hospitals postpone all elective procedures to clear room to treat more Covid patients as the delta variant floods the state’s health-care infrastructure. Abbott unveiled a plan Friday to launch nine monoclonal antibody infusion centers across the state as Covid patients clog up hospitals. Almost 45% of Texas’ 6,959 reported intensive care beds are currently occupied by coronavirus patients, compared with 26% nationwide, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

GET YOUR TEST KITS HERE ON SALE IN STOCK

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What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

Sydney records deadliest day of pandemic

Australia’s biggest city Sydney recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic on Monday as troops and police set up roadblocks to limit the movement of people, while Melbourne faced a nightly curfew and a further two weeks of lockdown.

Sydney, which is in its eighth week of lockdown, is the epicentre of Australia’s third wave of COVID-19 that threatens to push the country’s A$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) economy into its second recession in as many years.

New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said seven people in Sydney had died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, surpassing the state’s previous record daily toll.

China’s new local infections fall for sixth day

New local infections in China declined for a sixth day, official data showed on Monday, as most regions got the latest outbreak under control, while others kept up vigilance by adding mass testing or delaying the reopening of schools.

China reported 13 new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases for Sunday, its lowest daily tally since July 24, the data from the National Health Commission showed.

Hong Kong said it would upgrade 15 overseas places including the United States, Spain and France to “high risk” from “medium risk” by Aug. 20, meaning international arrivals from those countries will face lengthened quarantine.

Taiwan rejects vaccine candidate

Taiwan has rejected an emergency use application for UBI Pharma’s vaccine candidate, the government said on Monday, though the president said she would get a different domestic shot in a show of support for the drive to develop a local vaccine.

Although Taiwan has ordered millions of Moderna and AstraZeneca shots, developing a local vaccine has been a major goal and it is due next week to start administering its first domestic vaccine, made by Medigen Vaccine Biologics.

Explaining the rejection of the request for emergency use authorisation, the health ministry said the antibodies triggered by UBI’s candidate did not match up with those of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Main Cuban oxygen plant fails

Cuba’s public health minister said on Sunday that efforts were underway to restart the country’s main oxygen factory which has broken down just as a Delta-driven surge in cases and deaths swamped some provincial health services.

Minister Jose Angel Portal’s appearance on the state’s midday news broadcast came after the death toll in Cuba from COVID-19 hit 98 on Saturday, equal to the pandemic record.

Daily cases are averaging between 8,000 and 9,000 with fatalities at nearly 1% of cases, low by international standards but high for Cuba which had a death rate of 0.67% last year.

Emergency summit needed to help Africa, says UK ex-PM

British, Italian and U.S. leaders must hold an emergency summit before the U.N. General Assembly to end vaccine inequality and send more shots to Africa and other low-income nations, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.

Brown, prime minister from 2007 to 2010, has been leading a push for richer countries to share more of the cost of vaccinating people in developing countries, many of which have low inoculation rates and rising cases.

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U.S. to recommend vaccine booster shots for all Americans eight months after second dose

The U.S. will reportedly recommend that COVID booster shots be administered to Americans of any age eight months after they have received their second doses, amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. Two sources told the Associated Press on Tuesday that an announcement on a recommendation for a booster shot is expected to take place this week to offer U.S. residents extra protection against COVID as the pandemic continues. Federal health officials have been looking at whether an extra shot will be needed for Americans as soon as this fall, with case numbers having risen in several states over the last month and Florida reporting record positive COVID tests and hospitalizations.

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European stocks hit one-week low on virus worries

Aug 17 (Reuters) – European stocks sank to their lowest in a week on Tuesday as a spike in COVID-19 cases in Asia and elsewhere raised fears of a slowdown in global economic growth. The pan-European STOXX 600 shed 0.5% by 0710 GMT, falling for a second straight session after the index marked its longest winning streak in over a decade. Tighter scrutiny of China’s internet sector, nationwide lockdown in New Zealand and movement restrictions in several Asian countries kept investors on edge even as European economies continued to recover from the pandemic-driven downturn. Economically sensitive cyclical sectors such as oil and gas , travel and leisure, automakers and banks led the early declines. UK-listed shares of miner BHP Group jumped 8.6% after it posted its best annual profit in nearly a decade and said it would sell its petroleum assets to Woodside Petroleum.

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Asia trades lower as Delta fears persist

[HONG KONG] Asian markets fluctuated in morning trade on Tuesday as investors weighed record gains on Wall Street against fears the resurgent Delta coronavirus variant may put the brakes on the global economic recovery. Major US indices rebounded overnight from a slow start as bargain hunters stepped up purchases – leaving both the Dow and S&P 500 finishing narrowly positive to extend a streak of record high closes for a fifth straight day. Buoyed by those gains on Wall Street, Tokyo opened up 0.5 per cent.

But Mizuho Securities warned that the market will be “weighed down by rising virus cases and geopolitical risks that are pushing the yen higher.”

Markets in China have dragged since a regulatory crackdown on private business by Beijing that has left investors on edge, with Hong Kong fluctuating through the morning session and Shanghai flat.

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French shopping malls to require COVID-19 health pass

This Monday 16 August, shoppers in several departments across France now have to show their ‘health pass’ to enter shops and malls that measure more than 20,000m². There are around 126 shopping centres, including eight in Paris, where this rule will be applied. The shopping centres subject to the ‘health pass’ fall in the following departments: Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Charente-Maritime, Corse-du-Sud, Gard, Gironde, Haute-Garonne, Haute-Savoie, Hérault, Landes, Rhône and Var. The ‘health pass’ measure was introduced by these prefectures following the increase of over 200 Covid cases per 100,000 people – a threshold set by the government for the measure to be implemented. Even though the number of cases per 100,000 is below 200 in Paris, the French capital has been subject to this rule. Paris police announced on Saturday that five department stores and three shopping centres as well as the Aéroville centre near Charles de Gaulle airport will fall under the health pass restrictions.

  • Hard-right politician champions France’s Covid health pass protests
  • Macron defends vaccination and health pass to stop France ‘closing down’

Prefectures of four departments in the Paris suburbs (Seine-Saint-Denis, Val d’Oise, Val-de-Marne and Hauts-de-Seine) also issued similar orders on Saturday. This covers 32 large stores. This comes a week after France introduced the contraversial ‘health pass’ measure to apply to restaurants, cafés and for train travel. The pass is generated using a QR code either by vaccination, a recent negative test or proof of recovery from Covid-19. Meanwhile, those protesting against the government’s measure took to the streets for the fifth consecutive weekend on Saturday. More than 200,000 people in France, including around 14,000 in Paris, took part in the demonstrations. France recorded around 21,000 new cases and 44 deaths related to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.