
US to deliver nearly 837K Pfizer vaccines to Caribbean
The U.S. government says it will deliver nearly 837,000 Pfizer vaccines to Caribbean nations as the region with limited resources struggles with a spike in COVID-19 cases
Three new conditions reported by a small number of people after vaccination with COVID-19 shots from Pfizer and Moderna are being studied to assess if they may be possible side-effects, Europe’s drugs regulator said on Wednesday.
Erythema multiforme, a form of allergic skin reaction; glomerulonephritis or kidney inflammation; and nephrotic syndrome, a renal disorder characterised by heavy urinary protein losses, are being studied here by the safety committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), according to the regulator here.
Pfizer, by far the biggest supplier of COVID-19 vaccines to the European Union, and Moderna did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Authorities in northern Germany have appealed to thousands of people to get another shot of Covid vaccine after a police investigation found that a Red Cross nurse may have injected them with a saline solution.
The nurse is suspected of injecting salt solution into people’s arms instead of genuine doses at a vaccination centre in Friesland – a rural district near the North Sea coast – in the early spring.
“I am totally shocked by this episode,” Sven Ambrosy, a local councillor, said on Facebook as local authorities issued the call on Tuesday to about 8,600 residents who may have been affected.
The first person to be infected by Covid-19 could have been a Wuhan laboratory employee who came into contact with a bat, a World Health Organisation chief has claimed.
Dr Peter Embarek led the WHO’s four-week investigation on the origins of coronavirus and originally claimed the theory the virus was from a lab in the city was “extremely unlikely”.
However Dr Embarek, an epidemiologist and food safety expert, has now said that a lab worker in Wuhan could have been infected by a bat.
He told Denmark Tv station TV2: “An employee who was infected in the field by taking samples falls under one of the probable hypotheses.
“This is where the virus jumps directly from a bat to a human. In that case, it would then be a laboratory worker instead of a random villager or other person who has regular contact with bats.
“So it is actually in the probable category”.
However, he added that the WHO team found no evidence that the Covid outbreak was linked to research that was being conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
He stressed that WHO experts found no direct evidence that the coronavirus outbreak is related to the bat research conducted at Wuhan’s laboratories.
Scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were known to be working on bat coronavirus at labs in the city, but China has been uncooperative in providing details of their research.
Dr Embarek said WHO investigators were forced to conclude that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely” in their official report to avoid further arguments with the Chinese.
He said the team had come to an “impasse” with China, which would only allow a lab leak scenario to be included in the report if there were no recommendations to look further.
“My counterpart agreed we could mention (the lab leak scenario) in the report under the condition that we wouldn’t recommend specific studies of that hypothesis. We would just leave it there.”
Asked whether the Chinese would have agreed to the report without the scenario being labelled “extremely unlikely”, Dr Embarek said: “That would have probably demanded further discussion and arguments for and against I didn’t think it was worth it.”
To be honest, the world has shrugged at the plight of seafarers. If would be darkly humourous if “It isn’t OUR problem” turned into “Oh S**t! What are we going to do about this problem?!”![]()
Survey Shows Frighteningly Low Vaccination Rate Among Seafarers
Only about 15% of the world’s seafarers have been vaccinated from COVID-19, according to data from the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator. Meanwhile, figures from ten top ship managers, who...gcaptain.com
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Friday it was setting up a new group to trace the origins of the coronavirus, seeking to end what it called “political point scoring” that had hampered investigations.
After being heavily criticised by the World Health Organisation for its response to Sars in 2003, China decided it would not accept such public humiliation again. What followed was a concerted campaign over many years to seize power within the organisation.
A Sunday Times investigation raises serious concerns that the independence and leadership of the WHO were severely compromised by the time the first cases of a mysterious new coronavirus appeared in Wuhan in 2019 — with profound consequences for the course of the Covid-19 pandemic and the world.
Imagine being so angry at losing face that you cheat and get found out on the international stage anyway, not only causing you to lose face but also honor and standing in the world. Greater rulers have lost the Mandate of Heaven for lesser mistakes.China, the WHO and the powergrab that fuelled a pandemic (The Times, subscription or registration may be required)
After being heavily criticised by the World Health Organisation for its response to Sars in 2003, China decided it would not accept such public humiliation again. What followed was a concerted campaign over many years to seize power within the organisation.
A Sunday Times investigation raises serious concerns that the independence and leadership of the WHO were severely compromised by the time the first cases of a mysterious new coronavirus appeared in Wuhan in 2019 — with profound consequences for the course of the Covid-19 pandemic and the world.