Category: Breaking News

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Pfizer and Israel study efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine wanes over time… Get the booster shot!

Pfizer said that data from the U.S. and Israel suggest that the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine wanes over time, and that a booster dose was safe and effective at warding off the virus and new variants. “Real-world data from Israel and the United States suggest that rates of breakthrough infections are rising faster in individuals who were vaccinated earlier,” Pfizer said in its presentation, which was posted on the FDA website. The drug giant is partnering with Germany’s BioNTech SE to make the shots. The decrease in effectiveness is “primarily due to waning of vaccine immune responses over time,” rather than the delta variant, Pfizer researchers said in the presentation. FDA staff also posted its report for the panel’s consideration Wednesday, summarizing much of the same data that Pfizer presented earlier. Like Pfizer,

the FDA staff found that a booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine was safe and raised antibody levels. Still, the staff said it hasn’t yet independently reviewed or verified the underlying data or conclusions of some relevant studies, such as the Israel study, which will be summarized in Friday’s meeting.

The staff’s 23-page briefing paper noted that the likely benefit of a booster shot would depend on how much the third shot reduces disease relative to the first two. If the first two shots are still highly effective, then the efficacy of the booster shot “is likely to be more limited,” the staff said. Overall data in the U.S. indicate that the first two shots of the vaccine still protect against severe disease and death, the staff said. The staff also noted that it is not currently clear whether there will be an increased risk of inflammation of the heart and heart lining after a booster shot, and that potential risks of a booster shot also must be considered. It didn’t offer a clear indication of which way the agency was leaning, which it often does before meetings. While its vaccine continues to provide strong protection against hospitalizations and severe disease in the U.S., Pfizer said in its report, the data from Israel and elsewhere suggest that a reduction in efficacy against infection may be followed by reduced effectiveness against severe disease, especially among vulnerable elderly people.Early unpublished data from an Israeli health maintenance organization suggest that a third booster dose is highly effective in areas where the delta variant is dominant, according to the Pfizer document. Giving a third dose to people more than 60 years old was associated with 86% effectiveness against testing positive for COVID starting at least a week after the booster, Pfizer said. Pfizer also detailed immune response results from a final-stage trial of booster shots in over 300 people, showing that a third dose bolstered blood antibody levels. One month after the third dose, levels of the protective antibodies were more than triple what they had been a month after the second shot. No new unexpected side effects were identified from safety data associated with boosters in the final-stage study, according to the Pfizer report. Consideration of a booster dose six months after a second dose of its shot is warranted, based on similarities between the outbreaks in Israel and the U.S., Pfizer said.

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U.S. FDA advisers recommend COVID-19 boosters for 65 and older after rejecting broad approval

(Reuters) – A panel of expert outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted on Friday to recommend COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for Americans 65 and older and those at high risk of severe illness, after overwhelmingly rejecting a call for broader approval.

An influential Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Friday rejected a proposal to distribute booster shots of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to the general public, paring back those plans to unanimously recommend the third shots to people age 65 and older and other vulnerable Americans.

“It’s likely beneficial, in my opinion, for the elderly, and may eventually be indicated for the general population. I just don’t think we’re there yet in terms of the data,” said Dr. Ofer Levy, a vaccine and infectious disease specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital.

The panel voted 16-2 against distributing the vaccines to Americans 16 and older, before unanimously embracing an alternate plan to give boosters to older Americans and those at a high risk of suffering from severe illness if they get the virus. That’s previously included people with diabetes, heart disease, obesity and other so-called comorbidities. The nonbinding decision by the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee comes as the Biden administration has said it wants to begin offering booster shots to the general public as early as next week, pending authorization from U.S. health regulators. While the agency hasn’t always followed the advice of its committee, it often does. A final FDA decision could come in a matter of hours. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has scheduled a two-day meeting next week to discuss plans to distribute the third shots in the U.S. “We are not bound at FDA by your vote, just so you understand that. We can tweak this as need be,” Dr. Peter Marks, the agency’s top vaccine regulator, reminded the panel after the votes. He asked the group for suggestions on what other populations the FDA should consider for boosters, like front-line health workers and other occupations that face more exposure to Covid. The committee vote was expected to be a controversial one as some scientists, including two senior FDA officials who were involved in the meeting Friday, have said they aren’t entirely convinced every American who has received the Pfizer vaccine needs extra doses right now. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said he wasn’t surprised they didn’t recommend the shots for people 16 and older. Fauci, who has publicly backed boosters, hesitated in an interview Friday on to guess what the committee would ultimately decide. “I don’t want to get ahead of the advisory committee at the time that they’re deliberating,” he said. In a paper published days before the advisory committee meeting, a leading group of scientists said available data showed vaccine protection against severe disease persists, even as the effectiveness against mild disease wanes over time. The authors, including two high-ranking FDA officials and multiple scientists from the World Health Organization, argued Monday in the medical journal The Lancet that widely distributing booster shots to the general public is not appropriate at this time. In outlining plans last month to start distributing boosters as early as next week, Biden administration officials cited three CDC studies that showed the vaccines’ protection against Covid diminished over several months. Senior health officials said at the time they worried protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death “could” diminish in the months ahead, especially among those who are at higher risk or were inoculated during the earlier phases of the vaccination rollout. Before the vote, some committee members said they were concerned there wasn’t enough data to make a recommendation, while others argued third shots should be limited to certain groups, such as people over age 60 who are known to be at higher risk of severe disease. Some members raised concerns about the risk of myocarditis in younger people, saying more research is needed. Dr. Hayley Gans, a voting member, said she was “struck” that the FDA was asking the committee to look at the totality of the evidence presented Friday because some data, including on safety, was still insufficient. Another member, Dr. Paul Offit, said he would support boosters for people over 60, but had trouble backing third shots for younger groups due to a higher risk of myocarditis. Before the vote Friday, the committee listened to several presentations on data to support the wide distribution of booster shots, including from health authorities from Israel, where officials began inoculating the nation’s population ahead of many other countries and began offering third shots to their citizens in late July. Phil Krause, an FDA vaccine regulator and a co-author of The Lancet paper, was critical of the findings presented Friday, saying much of the data had not been reviewed by the federal agency or had not been peer-reviewed. He said the models used were complex and scientists have to ensure it “is giving you the correct results.” “That’s part of the difficulty at looking at this kind of data without having the chance for FDA to review it,” he said.

In documents made public by the FDA on Wednesday, Pfizer said an observational study in Israel showed a third dose of the Covid vaccine six months after a second shot restores protection from infection to 95%. The data was collected from July 1 through Aug. 30 when the fast-spreading delta variant was surging throughout the country.

In a presentation Friday, Dr. Sharon Elroy-Preiss of Israel’s Health Ministry argued that if officials there had not begun distributing boosters at the end of July, the nation likely would have exceeded its hospital capacity. Health officials began to see a trend, she said, of individuals in their 40s and 50s who were fully vaccinated become critically ill with Covid. “We didn’t want to wait to see those results and we knew that we needed to vaccinate a larger portion of the population in order to get the numbers down quickly,” she told the committee. Israeli health authorities expected severe cases to average 2,000 by late August, she said. “We were able to dampen that effect and our severe cases are roughly 700 or less and have stayed stable, even though we still have days at 10,000 confirmed cases.” She also said the booster shots were well tolerated by many people, citing data that showed there was only one case of myocarditis, a rare heart inflammation condition that’s been linked to mRNA vaccines, out of roughly 2.9 million people who received the extra doses. Pfizer’s booster side effects are also comparable with those that emerge after receiving the second vaccine dose, Dr. Joohee Lee, an officer at the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review, said during the meeting. Of the 289 booster recipients ages 18 to 55 monitored in Pfizer’s phase three trial, 63.8% developed fatigue, 48.4% had headaches and 39.1% experienced muscle pain. The FDA studied side effects in 2,682 recipients of Pfizer’s second Covid dose, ranging from 16 to 55 years old, reporting fatigue among 61.5% of patients, headaches among 54% and muscle pain among 39.3%. One adverse event — swelling of the lymph nodes — occurred in 5.2% of booster recipients but just 0.4% of those who received their first two doses. “The majority were mild to moderate and they did resolve,” Lee said of the lymphadenopathy cases. “Although one is reported to be ongoing at this time.”

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Mystery solved Heart Muscle Inflammation Clots caused by accidental vaccination into veins…… problem avoided in 2 seconds

Accidental intravenous injections of BioNTech jabs may cause heart muscle inflammation, research conducted by the University of Hong Kong has found. The team advised that those who administer jabs briefly withdraw the syringe plunger to exclude blood aspiration to ensure that the needle is not accidentally in a vein before the injection is given. According to global statistics, 50 per million doses of mRNA vaccine including BioNTech ones could trigger myocarditis or pericarditis – inflammation of the heart muscles and tissues surrounding the heart. The 12 to 29 age group is more prone to the condition, especially after the second dose. But most patients rapidly recovered from this potentially life threatening side effect, and mRNA vaccines are deemed safe, with the risks markedly outweighing the side effects. But research led by Dr. Can Li, Dr. Anna Zhang and Professor Yuen Kwok-Yung pointed that accidental intravenous injection could trigger heart conditions. In the study, researchers injected the mRNA vaccine into the thigh muscles of mice via the standard intramuscular routes and compared the outcomes with those of mice injected with the intravenous route. “We found that the heart of those mice receiving intravenous vaccine developed obvious myocarditis and pericarditis within 24 to 48 hours. This heart damage is greater even after a second dose of vaccination 14 days later,” according to the team. The hearts of mice which received intramuscular injections saw no such damage, leading the team to believe that accidental intravenous injections may cause the heart conditions. “As health authorities have previously advised that there is no need to aspirate a needle before injection, there is a risk that in rare circumstances, the injection may inadvertently be injected intravenously,” the team said. “We therefore advise that the practice of intramuscular injection should revert to the conventional way. That means a brief withdrawal of syringe plunger to exclude blood aspiration to ensure that the needle is not accidentally located in a vein before the injection is given.” Another possible method to reduce risk is to change the injection site from the shoulder muscle to the lateral side of thigh muscle, they added.

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US closes in the red with COVID vaccines in focus

Shares on the major stock market indexes in the United States ended the trading session on Friday with losses after the US Food and Drug Administration voted against using Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccines as booster shots for the general population.

On the data front, worse-than-expected September’s consumer confidence report seemingly impacted the sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.48%, or 166 points, as the session ended with Dow Inc. down by 2.89%. The Nasdaq 100 concurrently tumbled 1.18%, as Copart dived 5.46%. The S&P 500 plunged 0.92% at the same time. Unum Group plummeted 6.04%, as the benchmark’s worst performer. The euro surrendered 0.29% compared to the dollar, selling for 1.17306 at 3:59 pm ET.

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FDA votes against Pfizer booster shot for general public

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted unanimously Friday to recommend Pfizer (PFE)/BioNTech’s (BNTX) third dose for Americans 65 and older, and for those with high risk of contracting a severe case of COVID-19. The vote authorizing a booster for 65 and older was the panel’s second decision of the afternoon, following a ruling against booster doses for Americans 16 and over. The second vote also approved emergency use authorization rather than a supplemental approval of the already fully-licensed vaccine. A CDC advisory panel meeting, slated for next week, will delve further into who will qualify for the additional dose. Dr. Lena Wen, visiting professor at George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, told Yahoo Finance the vote achieved a balance. The vote comes after a heated debate in recent weeks over the need for booster or additional shots, which both mRNA companies — Pfizer and Moderna (MRNA) — have advocated for. “This is a reasonable ‘middle ground’ solution and gives discretion to physicians and patients to decide who is high risk. That level of individual decision-making is key,” Wen said. “Of course, it’s true that the unvaccinated are the major problem when it comes to spread of covid, but it shouldn’t mean that those vaccinated don’t deserve to be better protected with an extra dose if they so choose,” Wen added. Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s leading expert on vaccines, touched on the recent controversy in his introductory remarks. “We know that there may be differing opinions of the interpretation of the data regarding the potential need for additional doses, and we strongly encourage all the different viewpoints to be voiced and discussed regarding the data, which is complex, and evolving,” Marks said. He added the meeting focused on almost real-time analyses compared to what is happening in the world, and the goal remains slowing the spread of COVID-19, which is killing almost 2,000 Americans daily. The question the advisory panel was originally given to consider only used the U.S. data, a small dataset, despite the presentations including data from the U.K. and Israel. Marks instructed the panel to consider all the data, noting, “This is not a legal proceeding, this is a science proceeding, so you can take all the data into account.” The meeting precedes a September 20 start date for additional doses, announced last month by the White House COVID-19 Response Team, despite U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data showing some Americans are already receiving third doses. Last month, the CDC recommended additional doses for immunocompromised people. A CDC advisory panel will meet next week to discuss recommendations for who should receive a booster dose. At a Response Team briefing Friday, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said the administration is already communicating with pharmacies, nursing homes and state officials to help roll out additional doses. But whether or not the average American also needed boosters had been a growing debate for weeks. Measuring antibody levels after a vaccine, which tend to wane, versus relying on memory cells, which can recall how to fight the virus, as is typical in vaccinations, was at the heart of the debate in the science community. A Pfizer official acknowledged that “its a much more complex story” than just antibody titers — even as the company relied on that data to advocate for additional doses. Meanwhile, some who opposed third doses believed those doses could be better used in countries with low vaccination rates. Marks also addressed that at the start of the meeting Friday, noting that the committee is only supposed to weigh on the data and need for shots, and not on global vaccine equity or operational concerns in rolling out a booster campaign in the U.S. The decision Friday heavily leaned on data from Israel, as well as the U.K., which has been a point of concern. In days prior, both mRNA vaccine companies discussed and advocated for boosters. A new report from the CDC Friday showed that Moderna’s vaccine remained stronger in protecting against hospitalization compared to Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Both mRNA company CEOs have previously told Yahoo Finance that additional doses are inevitable. But when those doses will be needed — annually or sometime after a third shot — remains unknown. Moderna president Stephen Hoge said as much in a recent interview. “We don’t really know” if a third shot will be the final or if more are needed, he said. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla penned an open letter advocating for boosters based on the company’s clinical trial data and data from Israel. But the FDA previously cautioned that some studies from Israel, including a few published this week, have not been independently verified by the regulatory agency. Bourla also addressed the concerns about equitable distribution of vaccines globally. “I believe …that the introduction of booster doses should not change the number of doses that each country receives. No commitments already made by Pfizer to a country will change if boosters are approved,” Bourla said. Meanwhile, the U.S. is reportedly gearing up to buy an additional 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine for global donations, according to the Washington Post.

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Delta variant warning: Lockdown ‘may still be required’ despite heroic vaccine rollout

SCIENTISTS have raised new concerns about the rapid spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus, warning new restrictions “may still be required” even after a successful vaccine rollout. The Covid warning comes after the Government did not rule out a “firebreak” in response to rising infections and hospitalisations with COVID-19, but only as “a last resort” measure. The Delta variant was first reported in India last year and has quickly proven to be more easily transmissible and resistant to Covid antibodies. The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 variant has since spread to more than 90 countries and has emerged as the leading cause of infections in the UK, US and Israel, among others.

SCIENTISTS have raised new concerns about the rapid spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus, warning new restrictions “may still be required” The Covid warning comes after the Government did not rule out a “firebreak” lockdown in response to rising infections and hospitalisations with COVID-19, but only as “a last resort” measure. The Delta variant was first reported in India last year and has quickly proven to be more easily transmissible and resistant to Covid antibodies. The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 variant has since spread to more than 90 countries and has emerged as the leading cause of infections in the UK, US and Israel, among others.Spikes in the number of infected are being reported despite an increasing number of people being vaccinated against Covid. In the UK, more than 48.2 million people have received their first dose of the Covid vaccine and more than 43.5 people have had their second jab. Globally, World Health Organization (WHO) data indicates more than 5.35 billion jabs have already been administered. According to a new paper published in the journal Nature, Delta’s dominance may be due to its “increased infectivity and reduced sensitivity to neutralising antibodies”. The study, carried out by Ravindra Gupta of the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease and colleagues, compared the Delta variant’s genetic mutations against the original strain of SARS-CoV-2. In a laboratory environment, the mutated variant was found to be six-fold less sensitive to antibodies found in individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.

Even more worryingly, the variant was found to be eight-fold less sensitive to the antibodies produced by the Pfizer–BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines.

A press release issued by Springer Nature states: “The research suggests that continued infection control measures may still be required in the post-vaccination era.” The study’s authors tested the Delta variant on lab models of the human airway to see how it replicates. Delta was found more effective at replicating than the Alpha variant, also known as the Kent variant. The scientists believe the advantage is the result of the “predominantly cleaved configuration” of the virus’s spike protein. Spike proteins are tiny structures all over the virus’s body that allow the coronavirus to enter human cells to replicate. In the case of Delta, the spike protein allows the virus to replicate at much faster rates than the Kappa variant. The study was carried out over a six-week period between March and April this year. The scientists studied the infections of 130 healthcare workers from three hospitals in Delhi who have received two doses of the AstraZeneca jab. The vaccine was found to be less effective against the Delta variant in these patients, compared to other strains. The authors warned in their paper: “Compromised vaccine efficacy against the highly fit and immune evasive B.1.617.2 Delta variant warrants continued infection control measures in the post-vaccination era.” Scientists have been sounding the alarm on the Delta variant, following worrying reports about the long-term efficacy of Covid vaccines.Data published in Israel, for instance, suggests protection against the virus effectively “vanishes” about six months after being jabbed. However, vaccines are still seen as the quickest way out of the pandemic and there are no plans in place for another lockdown here in the UK. It was reported this week the Government has been considering a brief lockdown during October’s half-term school holiday. An official spokesman for the Prime Minister has since confirmed this is not the case but the Government has not entirely ruled out a firebreak lockdown either.He said: “We have retained contingency plans as part of responsible planning for a range of scenarios, but these kind of measures would only be reintroduced as a last resort to prevent unsustainable pressure on our NHS. “I think we’ve been clear throughout that we will take action, and indeed we have done when necessary to protect our NHS.” According to a report in the i newspaper, an anonymous insider within the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has said plans had been drawn up as a result of a recent spike in hospitalisations. The source said: “It would be sensible to have contingency plans, and if a lockdown is required, to time it so that it has minimal economic and societal impact. “We are going to be at a peak, albeit an extended peak, quite soon, so it’s not really the same situation as last year, when failure to reduce prevalence would have resulted in collapse of the NHS and people dying in car parks. “Hospitals might be overflowing before deaths reach the same level. Acting early will prevent this level.”

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Biden: COVID, supply chain issues contribute to economic challenges

United States President Joe Biden stated during his speech on Thursday that the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, as well as bad actors seeking to profit off of the crisis, contribute to the country’s economic challenges. Biden pointed out that is why his top priority has been taking the coronavirus issue under control and therefore he introduced vaccination mandates. The president criticized governors of Florida and Texas for undermining the COVID-19 vaccine requirements and calling his move “tyrannical”. The American leader also blamed corporations and “bad actors” for increasing gas prices, when there’s lots of economic evidence that says the prices should in fact be going down.

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Mandatory COVID passes in Italy from October 15

Italy is set to become the first European country to make a COVID-19 “Green Pass” mandatory for all workers. It is a digital or paper certificate showing someone has received at least one vaccine dose, tested negative or recently recovered from the disease. Officials told Reuters that the decree was expected to come into force on October 15 for both public and private sector workers. Any worker who fails to present a valid pass will be suspended on no pay, but cannot be sacked. “The green pass is an important tool to deal with this serious situation. In such a serious situation we need effective solutions.” “In my opinion it is not fair, because if I am a free citizen, I can decide whether or not to get a green pass. When there is an obligation, we no longer live in a democracy, but in a dictatorship. So I do not agree.” There have been sporadic protests in recent weeks against the growing pressure to get a jab. But most political parties in the country have backed mandatory COVID passes, hoping it will prevent further economic lockdowns. While the employers’ federation also welcomed the move, unions have been lukewarm and are demanding that tests should be given freely to those who refuse to be vaccinated. Officials have pushed back on this, saying it would encourage people to keep on shunning vaccines. Around 74% of Italy’s population have had at least one COVID-19 shot and 68% are fully vaccinated.

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COVID-19 booster vaccine campaign begins in England… France suspends 3,000 health staff as Europe targets vaccine refusal

LONDON (Reuters) – England launched its COVID-19 booster vaccination campaign on Thursday, the National Health Service (NHS) said, after officials and the government gave the go-ahead for the programme earlier in the week. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday outlined how the booster programme for over-50s and other priority groups will form a key plank of his plan to navigate the winter without further coronavirus lockdowns. Booster vaccinations will be given at least six months after people received their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine, meaning the rollout will roughly follow the original priority list, and start with the oldest, most vulnerable and health workers. NHS England said that hospital hubs had started vaccinating health workers, with full rollout to the community set to begin next week. “It is brilliant to see that the first booster jabs are being rolled out today,” health minister Sajid Javid said. “I urge everyone who is eligible to come forward for their booster when invited, to prolong the protection that the vaccine offers those most at risk as we approach the winter months.” Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that Pfizer/BioNTech’s shot be used in the booster campaign, or alternatively a half-dose of Moderna’s vaccine. The government also decided this week to move ahead with mass vaccination of children aged 12-15, which the NHS said would begin in schools next week.

France suspends 3,000 health staff as Europe targets vaccine refusal

PARIS (Reuters) – Hospitals, care homes and health centres have suspended around 3,000 workers across France for failing to comply with mandatory COVID vaccination, the government said on Thursday, as countries around Europe weigh how far to go to combat the pandemic https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/european-nations-plans-coping-with-covid-19-2021-09-15. While Italy is set to announce later on Thursday that proof of vaccination or a negative test will be compulsory for all workers, going further than any other country in the region, the Netherlands plans a similar step – but only to go to bars or clubs https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/dutch-expected-ease-covid-19-measures-introduce-corona-pass-2021-09-14. Britain, meanwhile, says it is highly likely to require front-line health and social care workers in England to be vaccinated as part of a plan https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/uk-likely-require-health-workers-be-vaccinated-against-covid-2021-09-14 to contain the virus during winter. In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s decision in mid-July to require a similar health pass to go anywhere from restaurants to gyms and museums, and make the jab mandatory for health workers, has massively increased vaccination take-up. With the mandate for workers in hospitals and care homes taking effect on Wednesday, its very concrete impact – unvaccinated staff forbidden to work – started to be felt https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-hospital-worker-im-hunger-strike-over-vaccine-mandate-2021-09-16. According to local daily Nice Matin, nearly 450 health workers – out of 7,500 – have been suspended in just one hospital in the city of Nice, in southern France. The government, however, shrugged off the impact. “It hasn’t been chaos, far from it,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told French RTL radio, adding there were 27 million workers in the sector. There have been a few cases where it has affected care, he said, like the use of an MRI being briefly complicated, but most suspended staff work in support roles, limiting the impact. “Most of the suspensions are only temporary … many have decided to get vaccinated as they see that the vaccination mandate is a reality,” Veran said. But unions warn of likely disruptions to care, and just a few absentees in a team is enough to trigger a crisis, Emmanuel Chignon, a care home manager in Bordeaux told Reuters this week, pointing to how hard it was to hire staff https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/french-care-home-some-staff-quit-over-vaccine-mandate-2021-09-15 in the sector. “If we can’t replace the carers who leave, the work will fall on the others, and I fear an unvirtuous circle, with tiredness, exhaustion and an increase in absenteeism,” he said. In Italy, where vaccination for health workers was made mandatory at the end of March, some have been suspended, but with numbers nowhere near those seen in France. As of Sept. 16, some 728 doctors in all of Italy had been suspended for failing to be vaccinated, the Italian doctors’ federation said. Italy is now set to go much further and announce on Thursday that a “Green pass” – showing someone has received at least one vaccine dose, tested negative or recently recovered from the virus – will be mandatory for all public and private sector workers. Failure to have a Green Pass will result in workers being suspended and losing their pay. In other countries, like the Netherlands, opinion polls show a majority of the public favouring mandatory vaccination for health workers, with the workers themselves mostly opposed to it, and the government has said it will not take such measures. However a pass showing proof of vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test is set to be required there as of Sept 25 to go to bars, restaurants, clubs or cultural events. Although polls have shown that a majority of the Dutch support the measure, the pass is strongly opposed by the around 30% of the population who have so far refused to be vaccinated. Critics say the measure is meant to force people to get the jab.

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China fully vaccinates 1 billion people – NHC

Beijing, China — China has fully vaccinated more than one billion people against the coronavirus — 71 percent of its population — official figures showed Thursday. The country had mostly curbed the virus within its borders but is racing to get the vast majority of its population vaccinated as a new outbreak takes hold in the southeast. “As of September 15, 2.16 billion vaccine doses have been administered nationwide,” said National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng at a press briefing. Chinese health authorities said late last month that 890 million people in China had been fully vaccinated and two billion doses administered. The government has not publicly announced a target for vaccination coverage, but top virologist Zhong Nanshan said last month that the country is likely to have 80 percent of its population inoculated by the end of the year. China is currently battling an outbreak of the Delta variant in the southeastern province of Fujian that has infected almost 200 people so far in three cities, many of whom are schoolchildren. The Fujian cluster is the biggest rebound in weeks and comes after the country declared the Delta variant under control, in a test of China’s “zero-case” approach to the pandemic. China reported 80 new cases on Thursday, of which 49 were domestic transmissions.