Immunisation

COVID Vaccines Hold Up Against Severe Delta: US

Fully vaccinated people were 11 times less likely to die of COVID and 10 times less likely to be hospitalised compared to the unvaccinated since highly contagious Delta became the most common variant, United States (US) health authorities said Friday. The data came from one of three new papers published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all of which underscored COVID vaccines' ongoing effectiveness against severe outcomes.For reasons that are not yet well

12 September 2021
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WHO Calls For COVID Booster Moratorium Till 2022

The World Health Organization (WHO) called Wednesday for countries to avoid giving out extra COVID jabs until year-end, pointing to the millions worldwide who have yet to receive a single dose."I will not stay silent when the companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world's poor should be satisfied with leftovers," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists.Speaking from WHO's headquarters in Geneva, Tedros urged wealthy count

9 September 2021
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The G20 Must Vaccinate The World Now

When G20 finance ministers meet in Venice on 9-10 July, they should adopt a plan to immunise the world against COVID-19. Every vaccine-producing country will be in the room: the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), the European Union (EU), China, Russia, and India. Together, these countries produce enough doses to complete the immunisation process for the entire globe by early 2022. Yet the world still lacks a plan to get it done.

8 July 2021
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‘Vaccine Or Jail?’: Duterte Warns Filipinos

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to send people to prison for refusing to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as the government placed the country’s border controls on “heightened alert” over new cases of the Delta variant.“You can choose: you get the vaccine or I will send you to jail,” Duterte said in Tagalog during a pre-recorded address on Monday night.

22 June 2021
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COVID: Vietnam Races To Vaccinate Factory Workers

Vietnam began vaccinating hundreds of thousands of factory workers in its industrialised north on Thursday to combat its largest COVID-19 outbreak so far, days after the country reported a daily record in new cases.The communist country has been widely applauded for its aggressive pandemic response – with mass quarantines and strict contact tracing helping keep infection rates low – but clusters have now been reported in around half of its provinces and cities.Among the hardest hit are northe

28 May 2021
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COVID: Has India's Second Wave Peaked?

India has recorded 26 million COVID-19 cases – second only to the United States (US). It is the new epicentre of the global pandemic.The second wave in recent weeks has overwhelmed the healthcare system, leaving hospitals struggling to cope and critical drugs and oxygen in short supply.But infections now seem to be slowing down.

26 May 2021
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UN Chief Declares 'War' On COVID

The United Nations (UN) on Monday declared the world "at war" against COVID-19, as India's death toll passed 300,000 and Japan opened its first mass vaccination centres.But just two months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, the United States (US) on Monday advised its citizens against travelling there.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged governments to apply wartime logic to stark inequalities in the response to the pandemic.Despite rapidly advancing vaccination rollouts in we

25 May 2021
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HK Could Dispose Millions Of Unused Vaccine Doses

Hong Kong may soon have to throw away millions of coronavirus vaccine doses because they are approaching their expiry date and not enough people have signed up for the jabs, an official warned Tuesday.Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world fortunate enough to have secured more than enough doses to inoculate its entire population of 7.5 million people. But swirling distrust of the government as it stamps out dissent – combined with online misinformation and a lack of urgency

25 May 2021
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How To Vaccinate Every Country

The COVID-19 pandemic will not truly end until everyone has access to vaccines, including people in the poorest countries. Worldwide vaccination offers the best hope for stopping the spread of infections, saving lives, and protecting livelihoods. People cannot reach their potential until they can again study, work, travel, and socialise in the confident knowledge that they are safe from COVID-19.

22 May 2021
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COVAX Is Our Best Chance To Beat COVID

The first vaccine deliveries by the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility to Ghana, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast brought a glimmer of hope to African countries keen to start immunising their populations against the disease. But while COVAX is ramping up deliveries, its mission to provide rapid, fair, and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines to people everywhere is being threatened by rich countries ordering more than they need.

19 March 2021
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