Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Not Exporting Vaccines at Expense of Indians, Says Health Min on Cong Charge

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The suspensions were not limited to Europe, with Indonesia also announcing a delay to its rollout of the jab, which is cheaper than its competitors and was billed as the vaccination of choice for poorer nations. But the WHO insisted countries should keep using the vaccine, adding that it had scheduled a meeting of its experts on Tuesday to discuss the vaccine’s safety. “We do not want people to panic and we would, for the time being, recommend that countries continue vaccinating with AstraZeneca,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said. “So far, we do not find an association between these events and the vaccine,” she said, referring to reports of blood clots from several countries.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is holding a special meeting on Thursday, echoed the WHO’s calls for calm and said it was better to get the vaccine than not. “The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing Covid-19, with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death, outweigh the risks of side effects,” the agency said in a statement Monday. The UK has doled out more than 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab — more than the entire EU — apparently without major problems.

As policymakers struggled to manage vaccine rollouts, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced she had tested positive — underlining the continuing threat of the contagion. She tweeted that she would continue to work virtually and the government added that she had “a low fever but no other symptoms and is generally feeling well”.

Italy provided another reminder that the pandemic was far from over — most of the country re-entered lockdown on Monday with schools, restaurants, shops and museums closed. The streets of central Rome were quiet on Monday morning and businesses already battered by a year of anti-virus measures braced for another hit. “I’m staying open because I’m selling cigarettes, otherwise it would not be worth it,” said Rome coffee shop owner Carlo Lucia. “It’s just a waste of money.”

Meanwhile, intensive care doctors in Germany issued an urgent appeal for new restrictions to avoid a third wave as the British variant takes hold there.

More than 350 million vaccines have now been administered globally, but poorer countries are still lagging far behind. Brazil, which has suffered one of the world’s worst outbreaks, is attempting to redress the balance, announcing the order of more than 138 million jabs on Monday.

The European Union has approved four jabs so far, and is monitoring others — including Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. The Russian developers said on Monday they had reached production agreements in key European countries.

The news came as the WHO said it had raised nearly $250 million in the past year from individual donors and companies towards battling the pandemic. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the fund’s success proved “what we can accomplish together in times of need”.

More than a year after his organisation declared the coronavirus threat a pandemic, a much-anticipated report on the origins of Covid-19 is expected to be released this week.

The report follows a fact-finding mission of international experts assembled by the WHO, which travelled in January to the Chinese city of Wuhan where the virus first emerged in December 2019.

“Within the next few years, we’re going to have real significant data on where this came from and how it emerged,” said British zoologist Peter Daszak, one of the team members.

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Germany, France, Italy Suspend Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine Amid Blood Clot Reports

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Germany, France and Italy on Monday became the latest countries to suspend use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, though the company and European regulators have said there is no evidence the shot is to blame.

ALSO READ: No Evidence Of Increased Blood Clot Risk From Vaccine, Says AstraZeneca

Germany’s health minister said the decision was taken on the advice of the country’s vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which called for further investigation into seven reported cases of clots in the brains of people who had been vaccinated.

“Today’s decision is a purely precautionary measure,” Jens Spahn said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would likewise suspend shots at least until Tuesday afternoon, when the European Union’s drug regulatory agency will weigh in on the vaccine. He said France hopes to resume using the formula soon.

Italy’s medicines regulator also announced a precautionary, temporary ban.

AstraZeneca said on its website that there have been 37 reports of blood clots out of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the 27-country European Union and Britain. The drugmaker said there is no evidence the vaccine carries an increased risk of clots.

In fact, it said the incidence of clots is much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar to that of other licensed COVID-19 vaccines.

The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization have also said that the data does not suggest the vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunized.

The AstraZeneca shot has become a key tool in European countries’ efforts to vaccinate their citizens against COVID-19. But Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines are also used on the continent, and Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine has been authorized but not yet delivered.

In the US, which relies on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, AstraZeneca is expected to apply any day now for authorization.

Blood clots can travel through the body and cause heart attacks, strokes and deadly blockages in the lungs. AstraZeneca reported 15 cases of deep vein thrombosis, or a type of clot that often develops in the legs, and 22 instances of pulmonary embolisms, or clots in the lungs.

Denmark last week became the first country to temporarily halt use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in recent days to investigate. It said one person developed clots and died 10 days after receiving at least one dose. The other countries include Ireland, Thailand, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Congo and Bulgaria.

Last week, Germany and France were among the nations that stuck by the shot, while Italy suspended only a specific batch of the vaccine. Britain is standing by AstraZeneca’s vaccine for now.

Spahn, the German health minister, said of the decision to suspend the AstraZeneca shot: “The most important thing for confidence is transparency.” He said both first and second doses of the vaccine would be affected by the suspension.

German authorities have encouraged anyone who feels increasingly ill more than four days after receiving the shot — for example, with persistent headaches or dot-shaped bruises — to seek medical attention.

Germany has received slightly over 3 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Spahn said about 1.6 million doses of the shot have so far been administered in the country.



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Actress strips at Cesar Awards to protest France’s COVID-19 strategy

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The ceremony took place at a theatre as anger and frustration grows amongst actors, musicians and artists at the government’s unwillingness to set a date for the reopening of cultural centres.

French actress Corinne Masiero stripped naked on stage during a scaled-back Cesar Awards ceremony in Paris to protest the government’s months-long closure of theatres and cinemas during the coronavirus pandemic.

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She had “no culture no future” written on her chest and”give us art back Jean” on her back, in a message to Prime Minister Jean Castex.

Masiero, 57, was on stage to present the award for best costume, wearing a donkey outfit and a blood-stained dress before she stripped before the audience.

Masiero, 57, was on stage to present the award for best costume, wearing a donkey outfit and a blood-stained dress before she stripped before the audience.

Masiero, 57, was on stage to present the award for best costume, wearing a donkey outfit and a blood-stained dress before she stripped before the audience.
 
| Photo Credit: AP

France’s answer to the Oscars, the ceremony is in normal times the biggest night on the French cinema calendar but on Friday there were no flashbulbs on the red carpet and no partners on the arms of award nominees.

The ceremony took place at a theatre as anger and frustration grows amongst actors, musicians and artists at the government’s unwillingness to set a date for the reopening of museums, galleries, concert halls and movie houses.

Marina Fois, one of France’s best known comedians, took aim at the government’s months-long closure of theatres and cinemas during the coronavirus pandemic in a searing speech to open the ceremony.

Fois, who hosted the night, took a swipe at Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot for finding time to write a book during the COVID-19 crisis and said: “I’m losing confidence in you.”

Nor did she hold back from attacking the French government’s broader strategy to counter the COVID-19 crisis, as cases in the country topped 4 million.

“They cooped up our youngsters, closed our cinemas and theatres and banned concerts so that they could open churches, because we’re a secular country, so that old people could go to church,” she said. The majority of French people are Roman Catholic.

Across the capital, several dozen protesters were occupying the Odeon Theatre for an eighth night demanding cultural venues be reopened and more financial support.

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