Malaysia on Monday announced it had established a $2.4 million compensation fund to provide cash assistance for any Covid-19 vaccine recipients, who suffer severe reactions due to inoculations.&nbsp;

The Southeast Asian country has inoculated nearly 430,000 frontline workers, with the majority having received the first of two jabs of the vaccine jointly developed by US company Pfizer and German partner BioNTech.&nbsp;

Under the new fund, individuals requiring extended hospitalisation due to a vaccine reaction will be eligible for 50,000 ringgit ($12,171), or if this results in permanent disability or death 500,000 ringgit, Health Minister Adham Baba said.&nbsp;

Adham said health authorities had recorded 20 instances of adverse reactions to vaccination as of March 18, with symptoms ranging from itching to shortness of breath and palpitations.&nbsp;

"There have not been any deaths linked to the vaccine," Adham told a news conference, without specifying the type of vaccine he was referring to.&nbsp;

Malaysia's vaccination drive began on February 23 using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with authorities only starting to administer the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech on March 18.&nbsp;

Malaysia will also scrap a plan to reserve a second shot of the Pfizer vaccine for those, who had already received their first dose, in a bid to speed up its vaccination drive.&nbsp;

Malaysia has reported just over 330,000 coronavirus cases and 1,233 deaths after keeping infection rates relatively low for much of last year until a spike of infections from October that peaked in early February.&nbsp;

Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the government is confident that Pfizer will be able to provide the 32 million doses secured by Malaysia.&nbsp;

Last week, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the government will almost double its Covid-19 immunisation budget to 5 billion ringgit to speed up its target of vaccinating 80% of its 32 million population by December, instead of February 2022.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

Malaysia on Monday announced it had established a $2.4 million compensation fund to provide cash assistance for any Covid-19 vaccine recipients, who suffer severe reactions due to inoculations.

Malaysia on Monday announced it had established a $2.4 million compensation fund to provide cash assistance for any Covid-19 vaccine recipients, who suffer severe reactions due to inoculations. The Southeast Asian country has inoculated nearly 430,000 frontline workers, with the majority having received the first of two jabs of the vaccine jointly developed by US company Pfizer and German partner BioNTech. Under the new fund, individuals requiring extended hospitalisation due to a vaccine reaction will be eligible for 50,000 ringgit ($12,171), or if this results in permanent disability or death 500,000 ringgit, Health Minister Adham Baba said. Adham said health authorities had recorded 20 instances of adverse reactions to vaccination as of March 18, with symptoms ranging from itching to shortness of breath and palpitations. "There have not been any deaths linked to the vaccine," Adham told a news conference, without specifying the type of vaccine he was referring to. Malaysia's vaccination drive began on February 23 using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with authorities only starting to administer the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech on March 18. Malaysia will also scrap a plan to reserve a second shot of the Pfizer vaccine for those, who had already received their first dose, in a bid to speed up its vaccination drive. Malaysia has reported just over 330,000 coronavirus cases and 1,233 deaths after keeping infection rates relatively low for much of last year until a spike of infections from October that peaked in early February. Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the government is confident that Pfizer will be able to provide the 32 million doses secured by Malaysia. Last week, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the government will almost double its Covid-19 immunisation budget to 5 billion ringgit to speed up its target of vaccinating 80% of its 32 million population by December, instead of February 2022. (With inputs from agencies)

Malaysia sets up compensation fund for Covid-19 vaccinations 

Med concerns of the AstraZeneca jabs causing the blood clot around the globe. India is all set to review the post-vaccination side effects from AstraZeneca shot. Several countries suspended vaccine use due to fear of blood clots, this move was taken as a precaution. India will also review the same, even though no cases of blood clots reported in India.

India to review Astrazeneca jabs, India review after side effects concerns

Aircrew will be medically unfit for flying for 48 hours after the Covid-19 vaccination, Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's aviation watchdog, said on Tuesday in its guidelines for 'Temporary Unfitness for Flying'.

In the guidelines, the DGCA said Aircrew will be monitored for 30 minutes at the COVID-19 vaccination centre for any anaphylactic or idiosyncratic reaction.

"Aircrew will be "Medically Unfit for Flying for 48 hours after vaccination...If there are no symptoms after 48 hours, the aircrew is fit to resume 'unrestricted' flying duties," the guidelines stated.

"If, after 48 hours, the pilots experience any symptoms," DGCA said they will be reviewed by the treating physician.

"Such pilots can be declared fit for flying duties provided they are asymptomatic without any medications and a medical cure certificate to this effect to be obtained," it added.

The guidelines said that if the medical unfitness period of aircrew member post COVID-19 vaccination is more than 14 days, then a special medical examination will be required to ascertain fitness for flying of the aircrew.

The vaccination drive for persons above 60 years and those above 45 with comorbidities is already going on.

Aircrew will be medically unfit for flying for 48 hours after the Covid-19 vaccination, Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's aviation watchdog, said on Tuesday in its guidelines for 'Temporary Unfitness for Flying'.

Aircrew will be medically unfit for flying for 48 hours after the Covid-19 vaccination, Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's aviation watchdog, said on Tuesday in its guidelines for 'Temporary Unfitness for Flying'. In the guidelines, the DGCA said Aircrew will be monitored for 30 minutes at the COVID-19 vaccination centre for any anaphylactic or idiosyncratic reaction. "Aircrew will be "Medically Unfit for Flying for 48 hours after vaccination...If there are no symptoms after 48 hours, the aircrew is fit to resume 'unrestricted' flying duties," the guidelines stated. "If, after 48 hours, the pilots experience any symptoms," DGCA said they will be reviewed by the treating physician. "Such pilots can be declared fit for flying duties provided they are asymptomatic without any medications and a medical cure certificate to this effect to be obtained," it added. The guidelines said that if the medical unfitness period of aircrew member post COVID-19 vaccination is more than 14 days, then a special medical examination will be required to ascertain fitness for flying of the aircrew. The vaccination drive for persons above 60 years and those above 45 with comorbidities is already going on.

Aircrew 'medically unfit' for flying for 48 hours post Covid-19 vaccination: DGCA

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently added three new side effects that could be caused after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Globally, over 283 million vaccine doses of coronavirus have been administered, while more than 60 million people have received the full two-dose regimen.

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The most common side effects after coronavirus vaccination include pain at the site of injection, and short-term flu-like symptoms, which are most visible after the second dose. Even then, vaccines have been known to limit hospitalisations among serious cases.

A few days ago, scientists said that the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines include benign skin issues like rashes and redness, which were especially observed among people who received Moderna jab, especially after the first dose.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/science/cdc-traces-covid-outbreaks-in-gyms-urging-stricter-precautions-368608" hreflang="en">CDC traces COVID outbreaks in gyms, urging stricter precautions</a>

On Friday, the CDC made a few changes to its vaccine guidelines after adding three new side effects.&nbsp;Earlier, the government body listed six potential serious reactions to the vaccine - pain, swelling, fever, chills, headache, and tiredness. Now, the agency has listed three more effects of vaccination - redness, muscle pain, and nausea. The CDC also warned against mistaking pain at the site of injection as indicative of muscle pain.

Vaccinations began three months ago, in North America, Europe, and Israel among other countries. Side effects so far have remained minimal.

But is it bad news? 
Simply put - no! Side effects imply that the vaccine is working against the virus, and is in the process of developing immunity. Antibodies appear among recipients two weeks after the first shot, and complete protection kicks off two weeks after the second injection.

However, the CDC has also advised people to keep in touch with their doctors in case side effects persists.&nbsp;

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently added three new side effects that could be caused after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently added three new side effects that could be caused after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Globally, over 283 million vaccine doses of coronavirus have been administered, while more than 60 million people have received the full two-dose regimen. The most common side effects after coronavirus vaccination include pain at the site of injection, and short-term flu-like symptoms, which are most visible after the second dose. Even then, vaccines have been known to limit hospitalisations among serious cases. A few days ago, scientists said that the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines include benign skin issues like rashes and redness, which were especially observed among people who received Moderna jab, especially after the first dose. Also read: CDC traces COVID outbreaks in gyms, urging stricter precautions On Friday, the CDC made a few changes to its vaccine guidelines after adding three new side effects. Earlier, the government body listed six potential serious reactions to the vaccine - pain, swelling, fever, chills, headache, and tiredness. Now, the agency has listed three more effects of vaccination - redness, muscle pain, and nausea. The CDC also warned against mistaking pain at the site of injection as indicative of muscle pain. Vaccinations began three months ago, in North America, Europe, and Israel among other countries. Side effects so far have remained minimal. But is it bad news? Simply put - no! Side effects imply that the vaccine is working against the virus, and is in the process of developing immunity. Antibodies appear among recipients two weeks after the first shot, and complete protection kicks off two weeks after the second injection. However, the CDC has also advised people to keep in touch with their doctors in case side effects persists.

What are three new post-vaccination side effects added by CDC?

German authorities come under heavy scrutiny for the slow roll-out of COVID vaccines. Even though the vaccine supply block has improved, the nation is still struggling to amp up its inoculation drive.

COVID-19: German authorities struggle to amp up vaccination drive

Many people opposed to vaccination, or anti-vaxxers,&nbsp;find their audience in social media, but now Twitter is deploying human monitors to crack down on disinformation as Covid-19 shots are being rolled out across the world.

The microblogging platform will label&nbsp;tweets that include misleading information about coronavirus vaccines.

Twitter said it has started using human reviewers to assess whether tweets violate its policy against COVID vaccine misinformation. Eventually, the work will be done by a combination of humans and automation, it said.

It will be using a "strike system" to eventually remove accounts that repeatedly violate its rules.

"Through the use of the strike system, we hope to educate people on why certain content breaks our rules so they have the opportunity to further consider their behaviour and their impact on the public conversation," Twitter said in a blog post on Monday.

"We believe the strike system will help to educate the public on our policies and further reduce the spread of potentially harmful and misleading information on Twitter, particularly for repeated moderate and high-severity violations of our rules,"&nbsp;the company said.

Twitter had already banned some COVID-related misinformation in December, including falsehoods about how the virus spreads, whether masks are effective and the risk of infection and death.

People with one violation or strike&nbsp;will see no action. Two strikes will lead to an account being locked for 12 hours. Five or more will get a user permanently banned from Twitter, but users can appeal against the removal.

There is still a great amount of vaccine scepticism in various countries. In Ukraine, for instance,&nbsp;medical facilities reportedly threw&nbsp;out some unused coronavirus vaccines after doctors didn't show up for their inoculation appointments.&nbsp;

(With agency inputs)

Many people opposed to vaccination, or anti-vaxxers, find their audience in social media, but now Twitter is deploying human monitors to crack down on disinformation as Covid-19 shots are being rolled out across the world.

Many people opposed to vaccination, or anti-vaxxers, find their audience in social media, but now Twitter is deploying human monitors to crack down on disinformation as Covid-19 shots are being rolled out across the world. The microblogging platform will label tweets that include misleading information about coronavirus vaccines. Twitter said it has started using human reviewers to assess whether tweets violate its policy against COVID vaccine misinformation. Eventually, the work will be done by a combination of humans and automation, it said. It will be using a "strike system" to eventually remove accounts that repeatedly violate its rules. "Through the use of the strike system, we hope to educate people on why certain content breaks our rules so they have the opportunity to further consider their behaviour and their impact on the public conversation," Twitter said in a blog post on Monday. "We believe the strike system will help to educate the public on our policies and further reduce the spread of potentially harmful and misleading information on Twitter, particularly for repeated moderate and high-severity violations of our rules," the company said. Twitter had already banned some COVID-related misinformation in December, including falsehoods about how the virus spreads, whether masks are effective and the risk of infection and death. People with one violation or strike will see no action. Two strikes will lead to an account being locked for 12 hours. Five or more will get a user permanently banned from Twitter, but users can appeal against the removal. There is still a great amount of vaccine scepticism in various countries. In Ukraine, for instance, medical facilities reportedly threw out some unused coronavirus vaccines after doctors didn't show up for their inoculation appointments. (With agency inputs)

Twitter deploys human monitors to strike down coronavirus vaccine misinformation

European Union leaders will meet on Thursday to work on vaccination certificates for EU residents who have received vaccines.&nbsp;Southern EU countries are highly dependent on tourism, and looking for ways to salvage this year’s summer holiday season.

Owing to the pandemic, lockdowns were imposed across the bloc, which caused the deepest recession to hit the EU, which comprised 27 countries. The countries in southern EU were hit the hardest, as they depend largely on tourists.

Regardless, vaccine rollouts across EU countries are in full swing, with many countries like Greece and Spain pushing for the quick adoption of an EU-wide certification for people who have received the vaccine. 
 
France and Germany have remained more reluctant to agree to the idea of a certificate, claiming that it would create an unspoken vaccination obligation, while remaining discriminatory to those who can’t or are unwilling to take the shot.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/how-pfizer-tried-to-bully-argentina-and-brazil-in-exchange-for-vaccines-366037" hreflang="en">How Pfizer tried to bully Argentina and Brazil in exchange for vaccines</a>

Anti-vaccine sentiment is strong in France, and the government has pledged not to make the shots compulsory, and a French official has referred to vaccine passports as a “premature” idea.

A lot of details are still pending - whether the passport should be digital, whether it is valid globally, and at what stage of the two-step vaccination process it should be issued.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covax-delivers-its-first-vaccine-shots-with-shipment-to-ghana-366036" hreflang="en">COVAX delivers its first vaccine shots with shipment to Ghana</a>

"We call for work to continue on a common approach to vaccination certificates," Reuters cited a video conference of leaders as mentioning.

Officials also said the EU is working with the International Air Transport Association, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Health Organization.

(With inputs from Reuters)

European Union leaders will meet on Thursday to work on vaccination certificates for EU residents who have received vaccines. Southern EU countries are highly dependent on tourism, and looking for ways to salvage this year’s summer holiday season.

European Union leaders will meet on Thursday to work on vaccination certificates for EU residents who have received vaccines. Southern EU countries are highly dependent on tourism, and looking for ways to salvage this year’s summer holiday season. Owing to the pandemic, lockdowns were imposed across the bloc, which caused the deepest recession to hit the EU, which comprised 27 countries. The countries in southern EU were hit the hardest, as they depend largely on tourists. Regardless, vaccine rollouts across EU countries are in full swing, with many countries like Greece and Spain pushing for the quick adoption of an EU-wide certification for people who have received the vaccine. France and Germany have remained more reluctant to agree to the idea of a certificate, claiming that it would create an unspoken vaccination obligation, while remaining discriminatory to those who can’t or are unwilling to take the shot. Also read: How Pfizer tried to bully Argentina and Brazil in exchange for vaccines Anti-vaccine sentiment is strong in France, and the government has pledged not to make the shots compulsory, and a French official has referred to vaccine passports as a “premature” idea. A lot of details are still pending - whether the passport should be digital, whether it is valid globally, and at what stage of the two-step vaccination process it should be issued. Also read: COVAX delivers its first vaccine shots with shipment to Ghana "We call for work to continue on a common approach to vaccination certificates," Reuters cited a video conference of leaders as mentioning. Officials also said the EU is working with the International Air Transport Association, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Health Organization. (With inputs from Reuters)

European Union mulls 'vaccination passports' to bring back tourists

According to Scientists we have now reached a precarious point in the pandemic, while conditions are turning favorable for the rise of new coronavirus variants. Despite large vaccination programs and immunizing through herd immunity. The virus continues to spread rapidly in many parts of the world and according to experts higher rates of viral transmission and partial immunizing population encourage the emergence of potentially more lethal variants.

Vaccination delays could bring more virus variants

Argentina's health minister has stepped down over the vaccine scandal and the health minister resign after it immerged that many of his friends got inoculated after they skipped the line for a vaccination. Argentina's Prime minister called on the health minister to resign in the wake of the scandal.

Argentina's health minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia resign over vaccine scandal

Moscow announced Saturday it had registered its third <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus-vaccine">vaccine</a> against the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus">coronavirus</a> and promised to introduce the jab to the Russian population by March.

Russia was the first country to register a vaccine against COVID-19 in August ahead of clinical trials, and the Sputnik V jab has been authorised in more than two dozen countries around the world.

"Today we note that a third vaccine, CoviVac, has been registered," Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a government meeting broadcast on state television.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/after-snap-lockdown-new-zealand-begins-vaccine-programme-364999" hreflang="en">After snap lockdown, New Zealand begins vaccine programme</a>

"And already in mid-March, the first 120,000 doses will be distributed within the civilian circulation," he told the cabinet.

First greeted with scepticism, the effectiveness of Sputnik V was confirmed by the Lancet medical journal earlier this month.

Moscow relied on the nationwide rollout of the vaccine to stave off the impact of the second wave of infections that battered the country late last year.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/argentinas-health-minister-resigns-over-vip-treatment-to-get-covid-19-vaccines-364995" hreflang="en">Argentina's health minister resigns over VIP treatment to get Covid-19 vaccines</a>

But mortality data released recently revealed that Russia's death rate was still one of the highest in the world.

President Vladimir Putin announced in October that the country had registered its second vaccine, EpiVacCorona, which health officials had said would enter mass production this month.

Mishustin said Saturday that Russia had produced 10 million doses of Sputnik and 80,000 batches of the EpiVacCorona vaccine developed by the Siberian Vektor laboratory.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/white-house-working-with-facebook-and-twitter-to-tackle-anti-vaxxers-364902" hreflang="en">White House working with Facebook and Twitter to tackle anti-vaxxers</a>

With the introduction of the third jab Saturday, the prime minister said that: "Today Russia is the only country in which there are already three vaccines for the prevention of Covid infection."

CoviVac was produced by the state-run Chumakov Centre based in Moscow, which employed a different method of development from Sputnik and EpiVacCorona, using an inactive virus.

The vaccine is due to complete final stage clinical trial with 3,000 participants in March and has so far been recommended for people below the age of 60.

Moscow announced Saturday it had registered its third vaccine against the coronavirus and promised to introduce the jab to the Russian population by March. Russia was the first country to register a vaccine against COVID-19 in August ahead of clinical trials, and the Sputnik V jab has been authorised in more than two dozen countries around the world.

Moscow announced Saturday it had registered its third vaccine against the coronavirus and promised to introduce the jab to the Russian population by March. Russia was the first country to register a vaccine against COVID-19 in August ahead of clinical trials, and the Sputnik V jab has been authorised in more than two dozen countries around the world. "Today we note that a third vaccine, CoviVac, has been registered," Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a government meeting broadcast on state television. Also read| After snap lockdown, New Zealand begins vaccine programme "And already in mid-March, the first 120,000 doses will be distributed within the civilian circulation," he told the cabinet. First greeted with scepticism, the effectiveness of Sputnik V was confirmed by the Lancet medical journal earlier this month. Moscow relied on the nationwide rollout of the vaccine to stave off the impact of the second wave of infections that battered the country late last year. Also read| Argentina's health minister resigns over VIP treatment to get Covid-19 vaccines But mortality data released recently revealed that Russia's death rate was still one of the highest in the world. President Vladimir Putin announced in October that the country had registered its second vaccine, EpiVacCorona, which health officials had said would enter mass production this month. Mishustin said Saturday that Russia had produced 10 million doses of Sputnik and 80,000 batches of the EpiVacCorona vaccine developed by the Siberian Vektor laboratory. Also read| White House working with Facebook and Twitter to tackle anti-vaxxers With the introduction of the third jab Saturday, the prime minister said that: "Today Russia is the only country in which there are already three vaccines for the prevention of Covid infection." CoviVac was produced by the state-run Chumakov Centre based in Moscow, which employed a different method of development from Sputnik and EpiVacCorona, using an inactive virus. The vaccine is due to complete final stage clinical trial with 3,000 participants in March and has so far been recommended for people below the age of 60.

Russia says registers third coronavirus vaccine

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday (local time) slammed the 'wildly uneven and unfair' distribution of coronavirus vaccines and said that only 10 countries have administered 75 per cent of all vaccinations and demanding a global effort to get all people in every nation inoculated as soon as possible.&nbsp;

According to a report by Al Jazeera, Guterres, while addressing a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council, said 130 countries have not received a single dose of vaccine.&nbsp;

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"At this critical moment, vaccine equity is the biggest moral test before the global community," he said. The UN chief called for an urgent 'Global Vaccination Plan' to bring together those with the power to ensure fair vaccine distribution - scientists, vaccine producers and those who can fund the effort - to ensure all people in every nation get inoculated as soon as possible, Al Jazeera reported.&nbsp;He urged the leading economic members of G20 to establish an emergency task force to bring together "the pharmaceutical companies and key industry and logistics actors". &nbsp;

Earlier on Wednesday, US State Department Secretary Antony Blinken at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) emphasised the need to expand access to safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines. &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/one-in-two-south-africans-infected-with-coronavirus-study-says-364570">One in two South Africans infected with coronavirus, study says</a>

He also urged the countries to not allow 'usage of the vaccine as an excuse to violate human rights or fundamental freedoms'. &nbsp;

"To better understand this pandemic and prepare for the next one, all countries must make available all data from the earliest days of any outbreak. And going forward, all countries should participate in a transparent and robust process for preventing and responding to health emergencies, so the world learns as much as possible and as soon as possible. Transparency, information sharing, access for international experts - these must be the hallmarks of our common approach to what is truly a global challenge," he added. &nbsp;

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday (local time) slammed the 'wildly uneven and unfair' distribution of coronavirus vaccines and said that only 10 countries have administered 75 per cent of all vaccinations and demanding a global effort to get all people in every nation inoculated as soon as possible.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday (local time) slammed the 'wildly uneven and unfair' distribution of coronavirus vaccines and said that only 10 countries have administered 75 per cent of all vaccinations and demanding a global effort to get all people in every nation inoculated as soon as possible. According to a report by Al Jazeera, Guterres, while addressing a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council, said 130 countries have not received a single dose of vaccine. × "At this critical moment, vaccine equity is the biggest moral test before the global community," he said. The UN chief called for an urgent 'Global Vaccination Plan' to bring together those with the power to ensure fair vaccine distribution - scientists, vaccine producers and those who can fund the effort - to ensure all people in every nation get inoculated as soon as possible, Al Jazeera reported. He urged the leading economic members of G20 to establish an emergency task force to bring together "the pharmaceutical companies and key industry and logistics actors". Earlier on Wednesday, US State Department Secretary Antony Blinken at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) emphasised the need to expand access to safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines. Also Read: One in two South Africans infected with coronavirus, study says He also urged the countries to not allow 'usage of the vaccine as an excuse to violate human rights or fundamental freedoms'. "To better understand this pandemic and prepare for the next one, all countries must make available all data from the earliest days of any outbreak. And going forward, all countries should participate in a transparent and robust process for preventing and responding to health emergencies, so the world learns as much as possible and as soon as possible. Transparency, information sharing, access for international experts - these must be the hallmarks of our common approach to what is truly a global challenge," he added.

UN: 10 countries administered 75% jab, 130 haven't received single dose

Moderna and AstraZeneca to deliver vaccine dosage, to make up with the supply cuts. EU is negotiating new deal, this deal can double the vaccine doses. AstraZeneca had told EU that it had reduced its Supply target because of the production bottleneck. AstraZeneca has now agreed to increase the doses from 31 million to now 40 million.

EU Seeks new vaccine deal from manufacturers

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday that 18-19 potential vaccines against novel coronavirus were in different stages of clinical trials, adding that no new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 188 districts of the country in the last 7 days.

"About 18-20 vaccine candidates against COVID-19 are in the pipeline and are in preclinical, clinical and advanced stages," Vardhan said.

"Some are in Phase I, some in Phase II, and a few approaching Phase III of the clinical trials. We are elated to have a huge portfolio soon," he said at a press conference here.

Dispelling rumours surrounding the vaccines, Vardhan said the vaccines in the public domain are safe and effective. He said no new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 188 districts of the country in the last 7 days, while no new cases have been reported in 21 districts in 21 days.

Vardhan further urged people to keep following COVID appropriate behaviour. "It is crucial that people continue to follow COVID appropriate behaviour which I call social vaccine, along with real vaccines," he said. India has approved two vaccines -- Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India -- for emergency use in the country.

Till 8 AM on February 15, the cumulative number of healthcare workers (HCW) and frontline workers (FLW) vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country has reached nearly 83 lakh.

A total 82,85,295 beneficiaries have been vaccinated through 1,73,729 sessions, as per the provisional report till 8 am. These include 59,88,113 HCWs (1st dose), 24,561 HCWs (2nd dose) and 22,72,621 FLWs (1stdose).

India's cumulative recoveries have surged to 1,06,21,220 with9,489patients having recuperated in a span of 24 hours. The ministry said 79.5 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in six states.

The Union government has prioritised vaccination of 30 crore Indians, dividing them into three categories -- one crore healthcare workers, 2 crore frontline workers, and 27 crores general populace above the age of 50.

On January 3, the Drugs Controller General of India had approved 'Covishield' vaccine developed by Pune-based Serum Institute of India and 'Covaxin' of Bharat Biotech for emergency use authorisation in the country.

Both vaccines have been provided in the nationwide immunisation drive, that was kicked off on January 16. Till Sunday, more than 8 million (82,85,295) doses of vaccines had been administered across India. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday that 18-19 potential vaccines against novel coronavirus were in different stages of clinical trials, adding that no new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 188 districts of the country in the last 7 days.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday that 18-19 potential vaccines against novel coronavirus were in different stages of clinical trials, adding that no new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 188 districts of the country in the last 7 days. "About 18-20 vaccine candidates against COVID-19 are in the pipeline and are in preclinical, clinical and advanced stages," Vardhan said. "Some are in Phase I, some in Phase II, and a few approaching Phase III of the clinical trials. We are elated to have a huge portfolio soon," he said at a press conference here. Dispelling rumours surrounding the vaccines, Vardhan said the vaccines in the public domain are safe and effective. He said no new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 188 districts of the country in the last 7 days, while no new cases have been reported in 21 districts in 21 days. Vardhan further urged people to keep following COVID appropriate behaviour. "It is crucial that people continue to follow COVID appropriate behaviour which I call social vaccine, along with real vaccines," he said. India has approved two vaccines -- Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India -- for emergency use in the country. Till 8 AM on February 15, the cumulative number of healthcare workers (HCW) and frontline workers (FLW) vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country has reached nearly 83 lakh. A total 82,85,295 beneficiaries have been vaccinated through 1,73,729 sessions, as per the provisional report till 8 am. These include 59,88,113 HCWs (1st dose), 24,561 HCWs (2nd dose) and 22,72,621 FLWs (1stdose). India's cumulative recoveries have surged to 1,06,21,220 with9,489patients having recuperated in a span of 24 hours. The ministry said 79.5 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in six states. The Union government has prioritised vaccination of 30 crore Indians, dividing them into three categories -- one crore healthcare workers, 2 crore frontline workers, and 27 crores general populace above the age of 50. On January 3, the Drugs Controller General of India had approved 'Covishield' vaccine developed by Pune-based Serum Institute of India and 'Covaxin' of Bharat Biotech for emergency use authorisation in the country. Both vaccines have been provided in the nationwide immunisation drive, that was kicked off on January 16. Till Sunday, more than 8 million (82,85,295) doses of vaccines had been administered across India. (With inputs from agencies)

No new cases in 188 districts in a week, 18 covid vaccine candidates in the pipeline: Health Minister

Pakistan started registration of elderly people aged 65 years and above to vaccinate them against the coronavirus on Monday, as the national tally of the Covid-19 cases reached 564,077.&nbsp;

Planning Minister Asad Umar, who is also chief of the anti-corona National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), said that the vaccination of the registered elderly people would begin next month.&nbsp;

Pleased to announce that registration for getting Covid vaccine is now open for all citizens, who are 65 years of age and above. Just write down your computerised national identity card (CNIC) number and send message on 1166. Vaccinations for this age group will start in March, he tweeted.&nbsp;

The vaccination of the frontline healthcare workers in the country started on February 2, a day after China donated 500,000 Sinopharm doses to Pakistan.&nbsp;

According to the Ministry of National Health Services, 1,048 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours, while 26 patients died in the same period, taking the total number of fatalities to 12,333.&nbsp;

A total of 525,997 have recovered from the disease.&nbsp;

The authorities carried out 32,019 tests in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate stood at 3.27 per cent.

Pakistan started registration of elderly people aged 65 years and above to vaccinate them against the coronavirus on Monday, as the national tally of the Covid-19 cases reached 564,077.

Pakistan started registration of elderly people aged 65 years and above to vaccinate them against the coronavirus on Monday, as the national tally of the Covid-19 cases reached 564,077. Planning Minister Asad Umar, who is also chief of the anti-corona National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), said that the vaccination of the registered elderly people would begin next month. Pleased to announce that registration for getting Covid vaccine is now open for all citizens, who are 65 years of age and above. Just write down your computerised national identity card (CNIC) number and send message on 1166. Vaccinations for this age group will start in March, he tweeted. The vaccination of the frontline healthcare workers in the country started on February 2, a day after China donated 500,000 Sinopharm doses to Pakistan. According to the Ministry of National Health Services, 1,048 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours, while 26 patients died in the same period, taking the total number of fatalities to 12,333. A total of 525,997 have recovered from the disease. The authorities carried out 32,019 tests in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate stood at 3.27 per cent.

Pak begins to register elderly for Covid-19 vaccination

United Kingdom hits an early target for the vaccines. Over 15 million got vaccinated within 2 months, "We have reached a significant milestone" said Boris Johnson while addressing to the people. Prime Minister even focused on re-opening of schools and considered as its top priority.

UK hits an early target for vaccine

French authorities recommended on Friday that people who have already recovered from COVID-19 infection, will receive a single prescribe dose, instead of prescribed two doses. With this France has become the first country in the world to advise single doses of vaccine to its people.

France recommends a single dose for people who have already recovered from COVID-19

US president Joe Biden has slammed Donald Trump's for preparing for mass vaccination effort. Biden said his transition team is led to believe that there is much more vaccine available than what was the actual truth.

US president Joe Biden slams Donald Trump's Pandemic response

South Africa hopes to vaccinate 40 million people, or two-thirds of the population, to achieve some level of herd immunity but has yet to administer a single shot.

South Africa puts hold on AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine

Even as vaccination drives are underway in various nations, West Asia continues to grapple with COVID-19 pandemic with countries imposing new restrictions. On The West Asia Post, Ghadi Francis takes a look at how the region is dealing with the pandemic.

The West Asia Post | Vaccination and Lockdowns in West Asia

The first vaccines against COVID-19 have gone mostly to wealthier countries and now several middle-income countries are getting their shots. Many come from Chinese and Russian drug makers however, critics know that developers are not forthcoming with data on their vaccine safety and efficacy.

COVID-19 Vaccine developers are not forthcoming with data on their vaccine safety

India, which is running the world`s biggest COVID-19 vaccination drive, is the fastest in vaccinating its citizens, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. He said that the Made in India vaccines are only a symbol of Atmanirbhar Bharat but is also a symbol of self-pride.&nbsp;

"Just as India`s war against coronavirus became an example to the world, similarly our vaccination programme is also becoming an example to the world. India is conducting the biggest vaccination drive in the world. Do you know what is an even better matter of pride? We are not only running the world`s biggest vaccination drive but we are also the fastest in vaccinating our citizens," Prime Minister Modi said in his 73rd episode of `Mann Ki Baat`.&nbsp;

"In merely 15 days, India has vaccinated more than 30 lakhs COVID-19 warrior, while a rich country like the US has completed the same target in 18 days and the UK in 36 days. The Made in India vaccines is only a symbol of Atmanirbhar Bharat but is also a symbol of self-pride," he added.

The number of healthcare workers vaccinated against COVID-19 has crossed the 37 lakh mark on the fifteenth day of the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination program, according to Health Ministry.

Highlighting that India is helping the world during the COVID-19 crisis, he said: "These days, I receive messages for India from Presidents and Prime Ministers of different countries of the world. You must also have seen recently how the President of Brazil, in a tweet thanked India - every Indian was proud of it. You must have noticed about the vaccination programme that India is able to help others because India today is self-reliant in the field of medicines and vaccines."

"In times of crisis, India is able to serve the world because India, today, is capable of medicines and vaccine, is self-sufficient. This is also the idea of a self-reliant India campaign. The more capable India is, the more it will serve humanity, the more the world will benefit," he added.

India has gifted the COVID-19 vaccine to several countries including Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bahrain.This was also Prime Minister Modi`s this year`s first Mann Ki Baat at 11. Mann ki Baat is the Prime Minister`s monthly radio programme to the nation, which is broadcasted on the last Sunday of every month.

India, which is running the world`s biggest COVID-19 vaccination drive, is the fastest in vaccinating its citizens, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. He said that the Made in India vaccines are only a symbol of Atmanirbhar Bharat but is also a symbol of self-pride.

India, which is running the world`s biggest COVID-19 vaccination drive, is the fastest in vaccinating its citizens, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. He said that the Made in India vaccines are only a symbol of Atmanirbhar Bharat but is also a symbol of self-pride. "Just as India`s war against coronavirus became an example to the world, similarly our vaccination programme is also becoming an example to the world. India is conducting the biggest vaccination drive in the world. Do you know what is an even better matter of pride? We are not only running the world`s biggest vaccination drive but we are also the fastest in vaccinating our citizens," Prime Minister Modi said in his 73rd episode of `Mann Ki Baat`. "In merely 15 days, India has vaccinated more than 30 lakhs COVID-19 warrior, while a rich country like the US has completed the same target in 18 days and the UK in 36 days. The Made in India vaccines is only a symbol of Atmanirbhar Bharat but is also a symbol of self-pride," he added. The number of healthcare workers vaccinated against COVID-19 has crossed the 37 lakh mark on the fifteenth day of the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination program, according to Health Ministry. Highlighting that India is helping the world during the COVID-19 crisis, he said: "These days, I receive messages for India from Presidents and Prime Ministers of different countries of the world. You must also have seen recently how the President of Brazil, in a tweet thanked India - every Indian was proud of it. You must have noticed about the vaccination programme that India is able to help others because India today is self-reliant in the field of medicines and vaccines." "In times of crisis, India is able to serve the world because India, today, is capable of medicines and vaccine, is self-sufficient. This is also the idea of a self-reliant India campaign. The more capable India is, the more it will serve humanity, the more the world will benefit," he added. India has gifted the COVID-19 vaccine to several countries including Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bahrain.This was also Prime Minister Modi`s this year`s first Mann Ki Baat at 11. Mann ki Baat is the Prime Minister`s monthly radio programme to the nation, which is broadcasted on the last Sunday of every month.

Mann Ki Baat: India fastest in world to vaccinate citizens, says PM Modi

Africa can expect to see at least 30 percent of its population immunised against coronavirus by the end of 2021, the World Health Organization said Thursday, as vaccines begin trickling into the continent.

It is estimated Africa will need 1.5 billion vaccine doses to immunise 60 percent of its 1.3 billion inhabitants, the threshold for herd immunity against Covid-19.

But the continent has fallen behind in the global vaccine scramble, as wealthier nations have been accused of bulk-buying excess doses directly from manufacturers.

Most African countries are relying on the World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union (AU) to shoulder at least part of their innoculation campaigns -- providing vaccines and helping to finance their roll out.

WHO Africa's immunisation coordinator Richard Mihigo said the WHO-backed Covax vaccine sharing facility and the AU's African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) would jointly deliver enough doses to vaccinate between 30 to 35 percent of the continent's population this year.

"Given the latest developments within the Covax facility, there is a very good prospect that the objective to supply 600 million doses by the end of 2021 will definitely be reached," Mihigo told a virtual press briefing.&nbsp;

The Covax vaccines will cover at least 20 percent of the population, with the rest "complemented" by AVATT, he added.

While the AU has so far secured 270 million doses through AVATT, Mihigo warned "some of those may not become available soon" and that the initiative could "realistically" only expect to reach between 10 and 15 percent of the continent in 2021.

The bulk of Covax and AVATT provisions will be shots of Oxford/AstraZeneca's vaccine, followed by a few million Pfizer-BioNTech jabs.

Mihigo said the WHO was exploring "additional candidates", with particularly high hopes for Johnson &amp; Johnson's one-shot vaccine.

So far only a small handful of African countries have started vaccinating their populations, including Guinea, Mauritius and the Seychelles.

Morocco is expected to begin administering the shots this week, while South Africa announced on Wednesday that a first batch of 1.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines would arrive on February 1.

Mihigo said the first Covax doses were likely to reach the continent by mid-February, and that "by March we will definitely see most of the countries start vaccinating".

"It is a slow start but we are expecting that in the coming months things are going to ramp up."

To date Africa has recorded close to 3.5 million coronavirus cases and 88,000 deaths, according to a tally compiled by AFP.

A new virus variant first detected in South Africa that is thought to be more contagious has cropped up in at least six African countries and 24 worldwide, according to the WHO.

Africa can expect to see at least 30 percent of its population immunised against coronavirus by the end of 2021, the World Health Organization said Thursday, as vaccines begin trickling into the continent.

Africa can expect to see at least 30 percent of its population immunised against coronavirus by the end of 2021, the World Health Organization said Thursday, as vaccines begin trickling into the continent. It is estimated Africa will need 1.5 billion vaccine doses to immunise 60 percent of its 1.3 billion inhabitants, the threshold for herd immunity against Covid-19. But the continent has fallen behind in the global vaccine scramble, as wealthier nations have been accused of bulk-buying excess doses directly from manufacturers. Most African countries are relying on the World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union (AU) to shoulder at least part of their innoculation campaigns -- providing vaccines and helping to finance their roll out. WHO Africa's immunisation coordinator Richard Mihigo said the WHO-backed Covax vaccine sharing facility and the AU's African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) would jointly deliver enough doses to vaccinate between 30 to 35 percent of the continent's population this year. "Given the latest developments within the Covax facility, there is a very good prospect that the objective to supply 600 million doses by the end of 2021 will definitely be reached," Mihigo told a virtual press briefing. The Covax vaccines will cover at least 20 percent of the population, with the rest "complemented" by AVATT, he added. While the AU has so far secured 270 million doses through AVATT, Mihigo warned "some of those may not become available soon" and that the initiative could "realistically" only expect to reach between 10 and 15 percent of the continent in 2021. The bulk of Covax and AVATT provisions will be shots of Oxford/AstraZeneca's vaccine, followed by a few million Pfizer-BioNTech jabs. Mihigo said the WHO was exploring "additional candidates", with particularly high hopes for Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine. So far only a small handful of African countries have started vaccinating their populations, including Guinea, Mauritius and the Seychelles. Morocco is expected to begin administering the shots this week, while South Africa announced on Wednesday that a first batch of 1.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines would arrive on February 1. Mihigo said the first Covax doses were likely to reach the continent by mid-February, and that "by March we will definitely see most of the countries start vaccinating". "It is a slow start but we are expecting that in the coming months things are going to ramp up." To date Africa has recorded close to 3.5 million coronavirus cases and 88,000 deaths, according to a tally compiled by AFP. A new virus variant first detected in South Africa that is thought to be more contagious has cropped up in at least six African countries and 24 worldwide, according to the WHO.

One third of Africa will be vaccinated this year: WHO

Pakistan will launch its COVID vaccination drive next week, said a government minister on Wednesday. Frontline health workers will be vaccinated first.

"God willing, the vaccination of frontline health workers will start next week," Asad Umar, who oversees Pakistan's efforts to stem the coronavirus pandemic, said in a tweet.

China has pledged a donation of 500,000 doses of COVID vaccines made by Sinopharm. Reuters mentioned government sources and said that first batch would be flown in on Saturday.

Pakistan has so far approved two vaccines for emergency use, one made by China National Pharmaceutical Group (SinoPharm) and the other by AstraZeneca.

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is also likely to get similar approval, officials say, adding that the authorisations will be reviewed quarterly with regard to safety, efficacy and quality.

Pakistan's Health Minister Faisal Sultan has said Pakistan could get "in the range of tens of millions" of vaccine doses under an agreement with China's Cansino Biologics Inc.

Cansino's Ad5-nCoV vaccine candidate is nearing completion of Phase III clinical trials in Pakistan, and preliminary results may be available by mid-February, Sultan said.

"There's going to be an accumulation of vaccines, a consortium available, there’s going to be Chinese vaccines, there's going to be AstraZeneca," said Dr Ghazna Khalid. She is the member of the government task force on COVID-19.

(With Reuters inputs)

Pakistan will launch its COVID vaccination drive next week, said a government minister on Wednesday. Frontline health workers will be vaccinated first. "God willing, the vaccination of frontline health workers will start next week," Asad Umar, who oversees Pakistan's efforts to stem the coronavirus pandemic, said in a tweet.

Pakistan will launch its COVID vaccination drive next week, said a government minister on Wednesday. Frontline health workers will be vaccinated first. "God willing, the vaccination of frontline health workers will start next week," Asad Umar, who oversees Pakistan's efforts to stem the coronavirus pandemic, said in a tweet. China has pledged a donation of 500,000 doses of COVID vaccines made by Sinopharm. Reuters mentioned government sources and said that first batch would be flown in on Saturday. Pakistan has so far approved two vaccines for emergency use, one made by China National Pharmaceutical Group (SinoPharm) and the other by AstraZeneca. Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is also likely to get similar approval, officials say, adding that the authorisations will be reviewed quarterly with regard to safety, efficacy and quality. Pakistan's Health Minister Faisal Sultan has said Pakistan could get "in the range of tens of millions" of vaccine doses under an agreement with China's Cansino Biologics Inc. Cansino's Ad5-nCoV vaccine candidate is nearing completion of Phase III clinical trials in Pakistan, and preliminary results may be available by mid-February, Sultan said. "There's going to be an accumulation of vaccines, a consortium available, there’s going to be Chinese vaccines, there's going to be AstraZeneca," said Dr Ghazna Khalid. She is the member of the government task force on COVID-19. (With Reuters inputs)

Pakistan to start COVID vaccination next week

People who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 could still spread the virus to others, England's deputy chief medical officer has claimed. Professor Jonathan Van-Tam urged vaccinated people to follow restrictions, further saying that scientists ''don't yet know the impact of the vaccine on transmission".

Van-Tam, writing in the Sunday Telegraph claimed that vaccines offer ''hope'' but that the focus should still be bringing down infection rates.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-pfizer-vaccine-governments-feel-the-pinch-of-shortages-358674/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Earlier, UK's Health Secretary Matt Hancock had claimed that 75 per cent of people aged above 80 have received their first virus jab.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccines require two doses. Hancock added that three-quarters of care homes had also been vaccinated.

Van-Tam added that "no vaccine has ever been" completely effective, so there may not be guaranteed protection from the virus.

In the immediate weeks following immunisation, people could contract the virus. He suggested people to allow "at least three weeks" for an immune response to develop among people who are old.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/eu-will-make-companies-respect-covid-vaccine-supply-contracts-358995" hreflang="en">EU: Will 'make' companies respect COVID vaccine supply contracts</a>

"Even after you have had both doses of the vaccine you may still give Covid-19 to someone else and the chains of transmission will then continue," Prof Van-Tam said.

"If you change your behaviour you could still be spreading the virus, keeping the number of cases high and putting others at risk who also need their vaccine but are further down the queue", he added. 
 
Last week, the person involved in Israel's coronavirus response claimed that a single dose of Pfizer's vaccine may simply not be as effective. 
 
Even then, Israel has one of the world's highest vaccination rates. Scientists around the world are using data from Israel as the benchmark to ascertain the effectiveness of the vaccine, especially when it is given to the whole population.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/italian-pm-says-vaccine-delays-unacceptable-threatens-to-sue-pfizer-358926" hreflang="en">Italian PM says vaccine delays 'unacceptable', threatens to sue Pfizer</a>

Yuli Edelstein, the country's health minister said that it is possible for people to ''still get sick'' after getting the pilot jab of any vaccine.

But the minister claimed that there were "encouraging signs of less severe diseases", adding that less people are getting hospitalisation after receiving the first jab. 
&nbsp;

People who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 could still spread the virus to others, England's deputy chief medical officer has claimed. Professor Jonathan Van-Tam urged vaccinated people to follow restrictions, further saying that scientists ''don't yet know the impact of the vaccine on transmission".

People who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 could still spread the virus to others, England's deputy chief medical officer has claimed. Professor Jonathan Van-Tam urged vaccinated people to follow restrictions, further saying that scientists ''don't yet know the impact of the vaccine on transmission". Van-Tam, writing in the Sunday Telegraph claimed that vaccines offer ''hope'' but that the focus should still be bringing down infection rates. Earlier, UK's Health Secretary Matt Hancock had claimed that 75 per cent of people aged above 80 have received their first virus jab. Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccines require two doses. Hancock added that three-quarters of care homes had also been vaccinated. Van-Tam added that "no vaccine has ever been" completely effective, so there may not be guaranteed protection from the virus. In the immediate weeks following immunisation, people could contract the virus. He suggested people to allow "at least three weeks" for an immune response to develop among people who are old. Also read: EU: Will 'make' companies respect COVID vaccine supply contracts "Even after you have had both doses of the vaccine you may still give Covid-19 to someone else and the chains of transmission will then continue," Prof Van-Tam said. "If you change your behaviour you could still be spreading the virus, keeping the number of cases high and putting others at risk who also need their vaccine but are further down the queue", he added. Last week, the person involved in Israel's coronavirus response claimed that a single dose of Pfizer's vaccine may simply not be as effective. Even then, Israel has one of the world's highest vaccination rates. Scientists around the world are using data from Israel as the benchmark to ascertain the effectiveness of the vaccine, especially when it is given to the whole population. Also read: Italian PM says vaccine delays 'unacceptable', threatens to sue Pfizer Yuli Edelstein, the country's health minister said that it is possible for people to ''still get sick'' after getting the pilot jab of any vaccine. But the minister claimed that there were "encouraging signs of less severe diseases", adding that less people are getting hospitalisation after receiving the first jab.

Vaccinated people may also spread COVID-19: England's deputy chief medical officer

Today is the biggest day for India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched World's biggest vaccination drive as India fight against the COVID-19. Virologist Michal Linal discusses more India's ambitious vaccination strategy.

3000 vaccination centers start inoculation today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with chief ministers of all states via video conferencing for reviewing the plan for nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

'India set to begin world's biggest vaccination drive', says PM Modi while interacting with CM's

The British government has started a major expansion of COVID-19 vaccinations and COVID-19 tests being made available more widely to people as part of efforts to control the rapid spread of a new coronavirus variant, which has led to Britain hitting the grim milestone of 81,000 deaths from the virus. 
 
<a href="wionews.com/world/who-experts-to-visit-china-from-thursday-to-investigate-virus-origin-355920">Also read | WHO experts to visit China from Thursday to investigate virus origin</a>

The UK government’s chief medical adviser has said that the next few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic will be the worst as the new highly infectious variants of the virus rampage across the country.

"The next few weeks are going to be the worst weeks of this pandemic in terms of numbers into the NHS (National Health Service)," Chris Whitty said. "What we need to do before the vaccines have had their effect, because it will take several weeks before that happens, we need to really double down." 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-is-the-new-coronavirus-strain-discovered-in-japan-about-355904#new-virus-strain-discovered-in-japan-354578">In pictures | What is the new coronavirus strain discovered in Japan about?</a> 
 
"Anybody who is not shocked by the number of people in hospital who are seriously ill at the moment and who are dying over the course of this pandemic, I think, has not understood this at all. This is an appalling situation," he told BBC TV.

In a bid to get on top of the pandemic and to try to restore some degree of normality by the spring, Britain is planning the country's largest ever vaccination programme, shots initially offered to all those in its top four priority categories - about 15 million people - by the middle of next month.

Having become the first country to approve vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Britain will open seven large-scale vaccination centres as it seeks to reach a target of offering shots to 15 million people by the middle of next month.

"The vaccinations are really beginning to ramp up, 200,000 a day, we've done an incredible job this past week," vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News, saying they would offer shots to those in the highest risk levels, the eldest and frontline health workers, by February 15.

More than 81,400 people in the United Kingdom have died within 28 days of receiving a positive COVID-19 test, the fifth-highest official death toll globally.

On Friday, London's Mayor warned the British capital's hospitals were in danger of being overwhelmed by COVID patients, and ministers and health chiefs have pleaded with people to respect lockdown measures and stay at home unless it was essential to go out.

"We have got to be able to maintain this for several more weeks now," said Whitty, adding it would require "significant action" until sometime in the spring.

"We are now very close to the point, with the vaccinations, where we are able to get on top of this, but it is not yet."

There have been calls for the government to take tougher action against those who break the rules, such as refusing to wear masks in supermarkets, amid concern the disease is being spread by shoppers in the stores.

"These rules are not boundaries to be pushed against. These rules are there to try and make sure we bring this virus under control," Zahawi said.

(With inputs from agencies)

The British government has started a major expansion of COVID-19 vaccinations and COVID-19 tests being made available more widely to people as part of efforts to control the rapid spread of a new coronavirus variant, which has led to Britain hitting the grim milestone of 81,000 deaths from the virus.

The British government has started a major expansion of COVID-19 vaccinations and COVID-19 tests being made available more widely to people as part of efforts to control the rapid spread of a new coronavirus variant, which has led to Britain hitting the grim milestone of 81,000 deaths from the virus. Also read | WHO experts to visit China from Thursday to investigate virus origin The UK government’s chief medical adviser has said that the next few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic will be the worst as the new highly infectious variants of the virus rampage across the country. "The next few weeks are going to be the worst weeks of this pandemic in terms of numbers into the NHS (National Health Service)," Chris Whitty said. "What we need to do before the vaccines have had their effect, because it will take several weeks before that happens, we need to really double down." In pictures | What is the new coronavirus strain discovered in Japan about? "Anybody who is not shocked by the number of people in hospital who are seriously ill at the moment and who are dying over the course of this pandemic, I think, has not understood this at all. This is an appalling situation," he told BBC TV. In a bid to get on top of the pandemic and to try to restore some degree of normality by the spring, Britain is planning the country's largest ever vaccination programme, shots initially offered to all those in its top four priority categories - about 15 million people - by the middle of next month. Having become the first country to approve vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Britain will open seven large-scale vaccination centres as it seeks to reach a target of offering shots to 15 million people by the middle of next month. "The vaccinations are really beginning to ramp up, 200,000 a day, we've done an incredible job this past week," vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News, saying they would offer shots to those in the highest risk levels, the eldest and frontline health workers, by February 15. More than 81,400 people in the United Kingdom have died within 28 days of receiving a positive COVID-19 test, the fifth-highest official death toll globally. On Friday, London's Mayor warned the British capital's hospitals were in danger of being overwhelmed by COVID patients, and ministers and health chiefs have pleaded with people to respect lockdown measures and stay at home unless it was essential to go out. "We have got to be able to maintain this for several more weeks now," said Whitty, adding it would require "significant action" until sometime in the spring. "We are now very close to the point, with the vaccinations, where we are able to get on top of this, but it is not yet." There have been calls for the government to take tougher action against those who break the rules, such as refusing to wear masks in supermarkets, amid concern the disease is being spread by shoppers in the stores. "These rules are not boundaries to be pushed against. These rules are there to try and make sure we bring this virus under control," Zahawi said. (With inputs from agencies)

Britain steps up vaccinations as coronavirus cases surge, worst weeks still to come

Hospitals all over China have almost everything necessary for a mass vaccination drive: Millions of doses. Refrigerators to store them. Health care workers trained to administer them.

Everything, that is, except proof that any of their vaccines work.

Unlike their Western competitors, the Chinese companies have not disclosed data from late-stage clinical trials that would show whether their vaccines are effective, and regulators in China have not officially approved them.

That has not deterred local governments across the country, which have begun an ambitious vaccination campaign. The goal is to inoculate 50 million people — roughly the population of Colombia — by the middle of February, before the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel.

China, where the virus first emerged a year ago, is going to great — and scientifically unorthodox — lengths to prevent a resurgence of the outbreak. While Beijing has not officially announced the vaccine target, the government has signaled the rollout will be managed in much the same way as the outbreak, through a top-down approach that can mobilize thousands of workers to produce, ship and administer the shots. Local officials were told that the drive was a “political mission.”

The campaign will focus on what China calls “key priority groups,” including doctors, hotel employees, border inspection personnel, food storage and transportation workers, as well as travelers. Irene Zhang, a 24-year-old student, got a vaccine on Dec. 22 in the city of Hangzhou before going to Britain next month for graduate school.

“Because my situation is pretty urgent and all the students around me going abroad have taken it, I feel it’s relatively reliable,” Zhang said.

Even before this current campaign, more than 1 million people had lined up to get vaccinated, bewildering scientists who have warned that taking unproven vaccines poses potential health risks. Their efforts now, which are wider in scope, are being rolled out in a similarly ad hoc fashion.

In southern Guangdong province, 180,000 people — mostly workers involved in food storage and transportation, quarantine facilities and border inspection — had been inoculated as of Dec. 22. In the eastern province of Zhejiang, 281,800 people had been vaccinated. In Wuhan, where the outbreak was first detected, the government said it had designated 48 vaccination clinics for its emergency program, which started Thursday.

China, which is testing five vaccines in Phase 3 trials, has not provided any information from this last stage to show the efficacy of these vaccines. By contrast, the United States and Britain started inoculations after reviewing and approving such trial data.

Instead, Chinese officials have issued broad statements with few details, assuring the public that the vaccines are safe and effective. Three of the vaccines have been approved only for emergency use. Last month, Liu Jingzhen, the chairman of Sinopharm, a state-owned vaccine-maker that has two vaccines in late-stage trials, said that none of the roughly 1 million people vaccinated so far had any adverse reactions and that “only a few had mild symptoms.”

The data and approval are expected to come within weeks. While there have been promising signs, they have come with caveats.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said this month that a vaccine made by Sinopharm was effective, although they offered few details on how the conclusions were reached. Turkey said a vaccine made by Sinovac, a private Beijing-based vaccine-maker, has an efficacy rate of 91.25%, a finding that was based on preliminary results from a small clinical trial. Officials in Brazil said the Sinovac vaccine had an efficacy rate over 50% but put off releasing detailed data.

The scale and speed of the vaccination drive are the outgrowth of a centralized public health infrastructure in an authoritarian system. During the crisis, China showed how it can mobilize thousands of workers to reach millions of people; it tested 11 million people in Wuhan in 10 days.

Chinese vaccine-makers have worked to ramp up their production, both for the country’s own needs and global exports. The Chinese government has promised to produce 610 million doses by the end of the year and expects to make more than 1 billion doses next year.

“When they say 50 million, they probably will do it,” said Jennifer Huang Bouey, a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corp. and a public health researcher. “The question is how much it would cost and what is the effect.”

The all-out effort has taken months of preparation. Since June, hospitals in Guangdong province have started construction on vaccination clinics, equipped them with refrigerators and installed refrigerated storage systems.

Sinopharm conducted drills this month. In the trial run, workers loaded boxes with the vaccines and ice packs, while company official tracked the vaccines’ temperature in real time during shipment.

China has some advantages in its rollout. Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, those made by Sinopharm and Sinovac are based on traditional methods that use inactivated or weakened forms of the virus, making them easier to store and distribute.

But the pitfalls are plenty, as the U.S. experience has shown. In the United States, just over 2 million people have received a COVID-19 vaccine, far short of the 20 million goal the government had set for this month. Hospitals had to prepare the frozen shots and find employees to staff the clinics.

As China has geared up, local officials have been surveying the number of people in the “key priority groups.” They had to “ensure there were no omissions,” according to a government document from Xinchang County in Zhejiang province.

Just two months ago, it appeared that demand could outstrip supply. The eastern city of Yiwu had offered 500 doses, which were used within hours.

Zhang, the student, said she had initially been hesitant to get a vaccine because everyone around her had told her to “wait and see.” Still, she tried to sign up in Yiwu but failed to secure a spot.

Then, on Dec. 21, Zhang heard that Hangzhou was going to start its own vaccination drive. She took a high-speed train that night and signed a rental contract with her friend in the city since the local authorities required proof of residence. The next day, she paid $35 and got the shot from Sinovac.

At the hospital, four or five people were waiting to get the vaccine, according to Zhang. The process took one hour, which included registering, getting the shot and waiting for 30 minutes to see if there were any adverse reactions.

“Everything was very calm and orderly,” she said. Before she left, the doctor warned her: Don’t take a shower. Don’t stay up late. Don’t eat foods that could irritate your stomach.

The government has stressed that the vaccination drive is voluntary, and people will have to pay for the inoculations. Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on health care in China, noted that the two-dose regimen could cost about $70, putting it out of reach for the rural poor.

China could also have problems trying to persuade people to take the vaccine. Scientists warn that the lack of transparency could set off fears about taking a new vaccine, especially in an industry that has a history of quality scandals.

Tao Lina, a vaccine expert and a former immunologist at the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said he knew of several health care workers who had declined the shots. “In the minds of doctors, they feel that any drug that has not passed Phase 3 trials is unreliable,” Tao said.

Tao, who got a Sinopharm vaccine on Monday, said he felt confident that the vaccines were safe and effective, echoing officials’ comments that there have been no reports of serious, adverse reactions. But he added that the companies could do better in their messaging.

“If you say that it’s safe, then you should show all kinds of evidence to show that it’s safe,” he said.

Hminem Zhang, a 27-year-old sales employee in an internet company, said he wanted to get a vaccine because he traveled for work and feared a run on the shots if there was a resurgence of the virus. But he worries about the Chinese-made ones because “not many people have received it,” he said.

“I want to wait another month or two for some official data to come out,” said Hminem Zhang, who is based in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing. “And then, if there is no news about any side effects, I will get a shot.”

Hospitals all over China have almost everything necessary for a mass vaccination drive: Millions of doses. Refrigerators to store them. Health care workers trained to administer them.

Hospitals all over China have almost everything necessary for a mass vaccination drive: Millions of doses. Refrigerators to store them. Health care workers trained to administer them. Everything, that is, except proof that any of their vaccines work. Unlike their Western competitors, the Chinese companies have not disclosed data from late-stage clinical trials that would show whether their vaccines are effective, and regulators in China have not officially approved them. That has not deterred local governments across the country, which have begun an ambitious vaccination campaign. The goal is to inoculate 50 million people — roughly the population of Colombia — by the middle of February, before the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel. China, where the virus first emerged a year ago, is going to great — and scientifically unorthodox — lengths to prevent a resurgence of the outbreak. While Beijing has not officially announced the vaccine target, the government has signaled the rollout will be managed in much the same way as the outbreak, through a top-down approach that can mobilize thousands of workers to produce, ship and administer the shots. Local officials were told that the drive was a “political mission.” The campaign will focus on what China calls “key priority groups,” including doctors, hotel employees, border inspection personnel, food storage and transportation workers, as well as travelers. Irene Zhang, a 24-year-old student, got a vaccine on Dec. 22 in the city of Hangzhou before going to Britain next month for graduate school. “Because my situation is pretty urgent and all the students around me going abroad have taken it, I feel it’s relatively reliable,” Zhang said. Even before this current campaign, more than 1 million people had lined up to get vaccinated, bewildering scientists who have warned that taking unproven vaccines poses potential health risks. Their efforts now, which are wider in scope, are being rolled out in a similarly ad hoc fashion. In southern Guangdong province, 180,000 people — mostly workers involved in food storage and transportation, quarantine facilities and border inspection — had been inoculated as of Dec. 22. In the eastern province of Zhejiang, 281,800 people had been vaccinated. In Wuhan, where the outbreak was first detected, the government said it had designated 48 vaccination clinics for its emergency program, which started Thursday. China, which is testing five vaccines in Phase 3 trials, has not provided any information from this last stage to show the efficacy of these vaccines. By contrast, the United States and Britain started inoculations after reviewing and approving such trial data. Instead, Chinese officials have issued broad statements with few details, assuring the public that the vaccines are safe and effective. Three of the vaccines have been approved only for emergency use. Last month, Liu Jingzhen, the chairman of Sinopharm, a state-owned vaccine-maker that has two vaccines in late-stage trials, said that none of the roughly 1 million people vaccinated so far had any adverse reactions and that “only a few had mild symptoms.” The data and approval are expected to come within weeks. While there have been promising signs, they have come with caveats. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said this month that a vaccine made by Sinopharm was effective, although they offered few details on how the conclusions were reached. Turkey said a vaccine made by Sinovac, a private Beijing-based vaccine-maker, has an efficacy rate of 91.25%, a finding that was based on preliminary results from a small clinical trial. Officials in Brazil said the Sinovac vaccine had an efficacy rate over 50% but put off releasing detailed data. The scale and speed of the vaccination drive are the outgrowth of a centralized public health infrastructure in an authoritarian system. During the crisis, China showed how it can mobilize thousands of workers to reach millions of people; it tested 11 million people in Wuhan in 10 days. Chinese vaccine-makers have worked to ramp up their production, both for the country’s own needs and global exports. The Chinese government has promised to produce 610 million doses by the end of the year and expects to make more than 1 billion doses next year. “When they say 50 million, they probably will do it,” said Jennifer Huang Bouey, a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corp. and a public health researcher. “The question is how much it would cost and what is the effect.” The all-out effort has taken months of preparation. Since June, hospitals in Guangdong province have started construction on vaccination clinics, equipped them with refrigerators and installed refrigerated storage systems. Sinopharm conducted drills this month. In the trial run, workers loaded boxes with the vaccines and ice packs, while company official tracked the vaccines’ temperature in real time during shipment. China has some advantages in its rollout. Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, those made by Sinopharm and Sinovac are based on traditional methods that use inactivated or weakened forms of the virus, making them easier to store and distribute. But the pitfalls are plenty, as the U.S. experience has shown. In the United States, just over 2 million people have received a COVID-19 vaccine, far short of the 20 million goal the government had set for this month. Hospitals had to prepare the frozen shots and find employees to staff the clinics. As China has geared up, local officials have been surveying the number of people in the “key priority groups.” They had to “ensure there were no omissions,” according to a government document from Xinchang County in Zhejiang province. Just two months ago, it appeared that demand could outstrip supply. The eastern city of Yiwu had offered 500 doses, which were used within hours. Zhang, the student, said she had initially been hesitant to get a vaccine because everyone around her had told her to “wait and see.” Still, she tried to sign up in Yiwu but failed to secure a spot. Then, on Dec. 21, Zhang heard that Hangzhou was going to start its own vaccination drive. She took a high-speed train that night and signed a rental contract with her friend in the city since the local authorities required proof of residence. The next day, she paid $35 and got the shot from Sinovac. At the hospital, four or five people were waiting to get the vaccine, according to Zhang. The process took one hour, which included registering, getting the shot and waiting for 30 minutes to see if there were any adverse reactions. “Everything was very calm and orderly,” she said. Before she left, the doctor warned her: Don’t take a shower. Don’t stay up late. Don’t eat foods that could irritate your stomach. The government has stressed that the vaccination drive is voluntary, and people will have to pay for the inoculations. Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on health care in China, noted that the two-dose regimen could cost about $70, putting it out of reach for the rural poor. China could also have problems trying to persuade people to take the vaccine. Scientists warn that the lack of transparency could set off fears about taking a new vaccine, especially in an industry that has a history of quality scandals. Tao Lina, a vaccine expert and a former immunologist at the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said he knew of several health care workers who had declined the shots. “In the minds of doctors, they feel that any drug that has not passed Phase 3 trials is unreliable,” Tao said. Tao, who got a Sinopharm vaccine on Monday, said he felt confident that the vaccines were safe and effective, echoing officials’ comments that there have been no reports of serious, adverse reactions. But he added that the companies could do better in their messaging. “If you say that it’s safe, then you should show all kinds of evidence to show that it’s safe,” he said. Hminem Zhang, a 27-year-old sales employee in an internet company, said he wanted to get a vaccine because he traveled for work and feared a run on the shots if there was a resurgence of the virus. But he worries about the Chinese-made ones because “not many people have received it,” he said. “I want to wait another month or two for some official data to come out,” said Hminem Zhang, who is based in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing. “And then, if there is no news about any side effects, I will get a shot.”

China has all it needs to vaccinate millions, except proof its vaccines work

<article>
On Easter weekend in 1947, New York City buzzed with an air of invincibility. The miseries of World War II were finally over, and New York, like the rest of the country, was buoyant. The future promised great things. The Polaroid Land camera had just been invented. Consumer TV sets were appearing in living rooms. The transistor radio was in the works.

What the public didn’t know was that smallpox, the scourge of civilizations, had improbably reemerged in the city five weeks earlier.

On March 1, a 47-year-old American businessman, Eugene Le Bar, arrived in New York after a long bus ride from Mexico City. He was on his way to Maine, but he had been feeling sick and checked into a Midtown hotel with his wife. After sightseeing, he collapsed into bed, exhausted, with a headache and a pain in the back of his neck.

By March 5, Le Bar was in Bellevue Hospital with a 105-degree fever and a peculiar rash on his face and hands. Three days later, he was transferred to Willard Parker, the city’s communicable disease hospital. His doctors considered several diagnoses, none definitive. Because he had a vaccination scar, they ruled out smallpox. On March 10, Le Bar was dead.

Soon, more patients at Willard Parker began exhibiting symptoms similar to Le Bar’s: first, a 22-month-old from the Bronx named Patricia; then a 27-year-old man from Harlem, Ismael Acosta. A 30-month-old toddler, John, followed. The doctors thought they were looking at chickenpox but were flummoxed by the patients’ rashes, which didn’t fit the diagnosis.

On April 4, the results came back from the U.S. Army Medical School Laboratory in Washington. All three were confirmed cases of smallpox, which had not been seen in New York City since before the war. Health officials began connecting the dots, and the dots led back to Le Bar, patient zero.

The city’s health commissioner, Israel Weinstein, had taken the job 10 months earlier. He had been a child on the Lower East Side when a smallpox outbreak brought the city to its knees in the early 1900s, killing 720 New Yorkers in two years. Now he was both a medical doctor and a scientist; he had a doctorate from New York University, along with a doctorate and an M.D. from Columbia.

So when he got the lab results, he knew what he was up against.

Smallpox had plagued humankind for thousands of years. According to the World Health Organization, it claimed the lives of 300 million people in the 20th century alone.

All it takes for smallpox to spread is a cough, a sneeze or a touch. Then, it’s only a matter of days before the virus triggers fever, aches, pains and nausea. A rash appears on the face and soon covers the body, sprouting into fluid-filled pustules. Three out of 10 cases are fatal. Those who survive are often left deeply scarred, blind or both.

“In the pantheon of infectious diseases, smallpox is in the top five,” said Dr. Charles DiMaggio, professor of surgery and population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “It was thoroughly horrifying because it disfigured people it didn’t kill, and it killed indiscriminately.”

Thanks to a vaccine developed in the late 1700s and refined in the decades that followed, smallpox outbreaks had generally been contained.

In 1980, the WHO officially declared smallpox eradicated.

“The smallpox eradication program is absolutely considered one of the crowning achievements of global public health,” DiMaggio said. “And it’s never been duplicated. Just the very idea that a disease was eradicated — a disease that ravaged humankind for millennia — is remarkable. And the reason we were able to do that is because of vaccinations.”

In 1947, most New Yorkers had been inoculated against smallpox. They had been told the inoculation would protect them for life, but there was no guarantee. In some cases, the vaccine didn’t take. In others, the immunity wore off. Le Bar was proof of that.

Weinstein had some tough decisions to make.

The lab results reached him on Good Friday, April 4. In two days, New Yorkers would be gathering for the annual Easter Parade. If only one of them had smallpox, even among a vaccinated population, the resulting outbreak could be devastating.

“Imagine the Easter Parade and all these people crowded together on Fifth Avenue,” said Dr. Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. “All of them cheering and chanting and potentially coughing and sneezing, and you have smallpox introduced into that picture. That is a public health nightmare.”

Weinstein wasted no time. Knowing there was only one way to deal with the virus — vaccination — he took action. At 2 p.m. that day, he held a news conference, urging all city dwellers to get vaccinated immediately, even if they had been inoculated as children. Revaccinations were necessary, he said, in case people had lost their immunity.

It was hardly without risk. Not only could the announcement cause mass hysteria, but in 1947, vaccines were not tested the way they are today. The vaccine available at the time could trigger rare but dangerous side effects, especially in people with weakened immune systems or particular skin conditions.

According to Dr. David Oshinsky, professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, Weinstein acted in line with the scientific knowledge of the era. He made the right move, which was to vaccinate as many people as possible.

Markel agreed. “Weinstein was doing his job as best he could,” he said. “The risk of smallpox spreading and causing disease and death was far, far greater than the tiny risk of getting encephalitis or dying of the vaccine. So I come not to bury Weinstein but to praise him.”

In a series of daily radio addresses, Weinstein focused on transparency and a consistent message. The vaccine, he said, was free, and there was, in his words, “absolutely no excuse for anyone to remain unprotected.” In a calm, clear voice, he promoted the rallying cry that would appear on posters throughout the city: “Be Sure. Be Safe. Get Vaccinated!”

“The first thing he did was level with the public,” Oshinsky said. “He told them that smallpox had arrived in the city and that it was possible there was going to be a spread — and that it was an extremely communicable and dangerous disease. And he said, ‘We will provide enough vials of vaccine to effectively protect the city.’”

But the municipal stockpile contained nowhere near enough to vaccinate all of the city’s 7.8 million residents.

With the full cooperation of Mayor William O’Dwyer, Weinstein secured 250,000 units of vaccine from the naval medical supply depot in Brooklyn. He had 780,000 doses flown in from military bases in California and Missouri. He bought an additional 2 million from private manufacturers, and then he ordered more.

He directed his Bureau of Laboratories to convert its bulk supplies into single-dose units, and he began a tracing program to locate and vaccinate those who had been in contact with the victims.

The vaccine rollout was remarkably swift and uncomplicated, and it’s one that almost certainly couldn’t happen today.

“In 1947, the city was able to act alone, as opposed to navigating a complicated relationship with the governor of New York and the federal government,” said Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. “The city was able to say, ‘We’re going after this,’ and then make it happen.”

At first, the public’s response was lackluster. Easter Sunday turned out to be surprisingly warm and sunny — the temperature hit a record 79 degrees — and more than 1 million New Yorkers turned out for the parade. That weekend, only 527 people requested vaccines. But days later, when news broke that Ismael Acosta’s wife, Carmen, had died from smallpox and that three more cases had been discovered, people’s minds changed — and, as it happened, so did the weather.

New Yorkers were soon standing for hours, often in chilly rain, outside public and private hospitals, clinics and police stations, waiting to get their inoculations. For them, vaccinations were nothing new. Many had served as soldiers in World War II; they had been vaccinated against a host of viruses and saw the inoculations as a matter of course. Moreover, today’s anti-vaccination movement did not exist.

Oshinsky, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Polio: An American Story,” offers yet another reason. “This was the height of polio in the United States,” he said. “People had a much better sense of the impact of infectious disease. They saw it all the time, and they were rightly fearful. But they were also optimistic that medical science could conquer this. In 1947, there was tremendous faith in the medical community, unlike today.”

In front of news cameras, Weinstein vaccinated O’Dwyer, who had already been inoculated four times in the Army. President Harry Truman also got into the act. His visit to New York on April 21 was accompanied by news reports that he, too, had rolled up his sleeve.

“In today’s vernacular, O’Dwyer and Truman were influencers,” said Lisa Sherman, president of the Ad Council, the nonprofit group working on a campaign for the COVID-19 vaccines. “They could deliver important information that people wanted to hear. They were trusted messengers.”

The response was so great that the city enlisted thousands of civilian volunteers to help deliver inoculations. Armed with vials of vaccine, the volunteers, along with professional health care providers, administered as many as eight doses per minute. Making their way through every school in the city, they inoculated 889,000 students. In the first two weeks, 5 million New Yorkers were vaccinated against smallpox.

By mid-April, the city’s stockpile was nearly depleted. O’Dwyer convened an emergency meeting of drug company representatives, all but threatening them with public scorn if they didn’t ramp up delivery. Within 48 hours, 1 million more doses arrived.

In early May, 10 weeks after Le Bar stepped off a bus in Manhattan, Weinstein announced that the danger had passed.

Later that year, he summed up the case in The American Journal of Public Health. “In a period of less than a month, 6,350,000 people were vaccinated in New York City,” he wrote. “Never before had so many people been vaccinated in such a city and on such short notice.”

The final tally was 12 infections and two deaths.

“What Dr. Weinstein did in 1947 is something we’re still studying and referring to,” Markel said. “The fact that they developed the logistics — the delivery of vaccine, the large public spaces where people could line up to get vaccines, the manpower in the form of nurses and doctors who would give the vaccine — is pretty incredible. Weinstein is to be credited.”

“It stands out as a remarkable achievement by any measure,” DiMaggio said. “It was a public health triumph.”

Weinstein resigned from his post in November 1947, seven months after the smallpox outbreak. He left behind a blueprint for containing an infectious disease in a large, dense city.

But this time, with the coronavirus pandemic, New York faces a logistical hurdle. Experts in infectious disease point to a hollowing out of the public health infrastructure — not just in the city but across the country. Yet they believe the biggest obstacle is not distribution but the public’s distrust of government, science and the media.

“We’re coming out of a train wreck of messaging,” Redlener said. “We’ve learned that politics is poison to a public health initiative, especially during a crisis. Honesty and straightforward, clear messaging are absolutely critical.”

In 1947, Weinstein was the only voice with a megaphone. He spoke, and people listened.

“Back then, there was a much simpler media landscape,” Sherman said as she laid out the Ad Council’s campaign, which is due to kick off early next year. “In today’s environment, we’re dealing with a highly, highly fragmented media. We’ll be relying on microinfluencers who are the trusted voices.”

So, as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in New York City began this past week, a major question remains: Can the city come close to what it accomplished 73 years ago?

Redlener, who serves as an adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio on emergency response, said he believes that New York will meet the challenge again. But, he added, “It’s almost inconceivable that we’re going to be able to do something similar as rapidly and as effectively.”
</article>

On Easter weekend in 1947, New York City buzzed with an air of invincibility. The miseries of World War II were finally over, and New York, like the rest of the country, was buoyant.

On Easter weekend in 1947, New York City buzzed with an air of invincibility. The miseries of World War II were finally over, and New York, like the rest of the country, was buoyant. The future promised great things. The Polaroid Land camera had just been invented. Consumer TV sets were appearing in living rooms. The transistor radio was in the works. What the public didn’t know was that smallpox, the scourge of civilizations, had improbably reemerged in the city five weeks earlier. On March 1, a 47-year-old American businessman, Eugene Le Bar, arrived in New York after a long bus ride from Mexico City. He was on his way to Maine, but he had been feeling sick and checked into a Midtown hotel with his wife. After sightseeing, he collapsed into bed, exhausted, with a headache and a pain in the back of his neck. By March 5, Le Bar was in Bellevue Hospital with a 105-degree fever and a peculiar rash on his face and hands. Three days later, he was transferred to Willard Parker, the city’s communicable disease hospital. His doctors considered several diagnoses, none definitive. Because he had a vaccination scar, they ruled out smallpox. On March 10, Le Bar was dead. Soon, more patients at Willard Parker began exhibiting symptoms similar to Le Bar’s: first, a 22-month-old from the Bronx named Patricia; then a 27-year-old man from Harlem, Ismael Acosta. A 30-month-old toddler, John, followed. The doctors thought they were looking at chickenpox but were flummoxed by the patients’ rashes, which didn’t fit the diagnosis. On April 4, the results came back from the U.S. Army Medical School Laboratory in Washington. All three were confirmed cases of smallpox, which had not been seen in New York City since before the war. Health officials began connecting the dots, and the dots led back to Le Bar, patient zero. The city’s health commissioner, Israel Weinstein, had taken the job 10 months earlier. He had been a child on the Lower East Side when a smallpox outbreak brought the city to its knees in the early 1900s, killing 720 New Yorkers in two years. Now he was both a medical doctor and a scientist; he had a doctorate from New York University, along with a doctorate and an M.D. from Columbia. So when he got the lab results, he knew what he was up against. Smallpox had plagued humankind for thousands of years. According to the World Health Organization, it claimed the lives of 300 million people in the 20th century alone. All it takes for smallpox to spread is a cough, a sneeze or a touch. Then, it’s only a matter of days before the virus triggers fever, aches, pains and nausea. A rash appears on the face and soon covers the body, sprouting into fluid-filled pustules. Three out of 10 cases are fatal. Those who survive are often left deeply scarred, blind or both. “In the pantheon of infectious diseases, smallpox is in the top five,” said Dr. Charles DiMaggio, professor of surgery and population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “It was thoroughly horrifying because it disfigured people it didn’t kill, and it killed indiscriminately.” Thanks to a vaccine developed in the late 1700s and refined in the decades that followed, smallpox outbreaks had generally been contained. In 1980, the WHO officially declared smallpox eradicated. “The smallpox eradication program is absolutely considered one of the crowning achievements of global public health,” DiMaggio said. “And it’s never been duplicated. Just the very idea that a disease was eradicated — a disease that ravaged humankind for millennia — is remarkable. And the reason we were able to do that is because of vaccinations.” In 1947, most New Yorkers had been inoculated against smallpox. They had been told the inoculation would protect them for life, but there was no guarantee. In some cases, the vaccine didn’t take. In others, the immunity wore off. Le Bar was proof of that. Weinstein had some tough decisions to make. The lab results reached him on Good Friday, April 4. In two days, New Yorkers would be gathering for the annual Easter Parade. If only one of them had smallpox, even among a vaccinated population, the resulting outbreak could be devastating. “Imagine the Easter Parade and all these people crowded together on Fifth Avenue,” said Dr. Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. “All of them cheering and chanting and potentially coughing and sneezing, and you have smallpox introduced into that picture. That is a public health nightmare.” Weinstein wasted no time. Knowing there was only one way to deal with the virus — vaccination — he took action. At 2 p.m. that day, he held a news conference, urging all city dwellers to get vaccinated immediately, even if they had been inoculated as children. Revaccinations were necessary, he said, in case people had lost their immunity. It was hardly without risk. Not only could the announcement cause mass hysteria, but in 1947, vaccines were not tested the way they are today. The vaccine available at the time could trigger rare but dangerous side effects, especially in people with weakened immune systems or particular skin conditions. According to Dr. David Oshinsky, professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, Weinstein acted in line with the scientific knowledge of the era. He made the right move, which was to vaccinate as many people as possible. Markel agreed. “Weinstein was doing his job as best he could,” he said. “The risk of smallpox spreading and causing disease and death was far, far greater than the tiny risk of getting encephalitis or dying of the vaccine. So I come not to bury Weinstein but to praise him.” In a series of daily radio addresses, Weinstein focused on transparency and a consistent message. The vaccine, he said, was free, and there was, in his words, “absolutely no excuse for anyone to remain unprotected.” In a calm, clear voice, he promoted the rallying cry that would appear on posters throughout the city: “Be Sure. Be Safe. Get Vaccinated!” “The first thing he did was level with the public,” Oshinsky said. “He told them that smallpox had arrived in the city and that it was possible there was going to be a spread — and that it was an extremely communicable and dangerous disease. And he said, ‘We will provide enough vials of vaccine to effectively protect the city.’” But the municipal stockpile contained nowhere near enough to vaccinate all of the city’s 7.8 million residents. With the full cooperation of Mayor William O’Dwyer, Weinstein secured 250,000 units of vaccine from the naval medical supply depot in Brooklyn. He had 780,000 doses flown in from military bases in California and Missouri. He bought an additional 2 million from private manufacturers, and then he ordered more. He directed his Bureau of Laboratories to convert its bulk supplies into single-dose units, and he began a tracing program to locate and vaccinate those who had been in contact with the victims. The vaccine rollout was remarkably swift and uncomplicated, and it’s one that almost certainly couldn’t happen today. “In 1947, the city was able to act alone, as opposed to navigating a complicated relationship with the governor of New York and the federal government,” said Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. “The city was able to say, ‘We’re going after this,’ and then make it happen.” At first, the public’s response was lackluster. Easter Sunday turned out to be surprisingly warm and sunny — the temperature hit a record 79 degrees — and more than 1 million New Yorkers turned out for the parade. That weekend, only 527 people requested vaccines. But days later, when news broke that Ismael Acosta’s wife, Carmen, had died from smallpox and that three more cases had been discovered, people’s minds changed — and, as it happened, so did the weather. New Yorkers were soon standing for hours, often in chilly rain, outside public and private hospitals, clinics and police stations, waiting to get their inoculations. For them, vaccinations were nothing new. Many had served as soldiers in World War II; they had been vaccinated against a host of viruses and saw the inoculations as a matter of course. Moreover, today’s anti-vaccination movement did not exist. Oshinsky, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Polio: An American Story,” offers yet another reason. “This was the height of polio in the United States,” he said. “People had a much better sense of the impact of infectious disease. They saw it all the time, and they were rightly fearful. But they were also optimistic that medical science could conquer this. In 1947, there was tremendous faith in the medical community, unlike today.” In front of news cameras, Weinstein vaccinated O’Dwyer, who had already been inoculated four times in the Army. President Harry Truman also got into the act. His visit to New York on April 21 was accompanied by news reports that he, too, had rolled up his sleeve. “In today’s vernacular, O’Dwyer and Truman were influencers,” said Lisa Sherman, president of the Ad Council, the nonprofit group working on a campaign for the COVID-19 vaccines. “They could deliver important information that people wanted to hear. They were trusted messengers.” The response was so great that the city enlisted thousands of civilian volunteers to help deliver inoculations. Armed with vials of vaccine, the volunteers, along with professional health care providers, administered as many as eight doses per minute. Making their way through every school in the city, they inoculated 889,000 students. In the first two weeks, 5 million New Yorkers were vaccinated against smallpox. By mid-April, the city’s stockpile was nearly depleted. O’Dwyer convened an emergency meeting of drug company representatives, all but threatening them with public scorn if they didn’t ramp up delivery. Within 48 hours, 1 million more doses arrived. In early May, 10 weeks after Le Bar stepped off a bus in Manhattan, Weinstein announced that the danger had passed. Later that year, he summed up the case in The American Journal of Public Health. “In a period of less than a month, 6,350,000 people were vaccinated in New York City,” he wrote. “Never before had so many people been vaccinated in such a city and on such short notice.” The final tally was 12 infections and two deaths. “What Dr. Weinstein did in 1947 is something we’re still studying and referring to,” Markel said. “The fact that they developed the logistics — the delivery of vaccine, the large public spaces where people could line up to get vaccines, the manpower in the form of nurses and doctors who would give the vaccine — is pretty incredible. Weinstein is to be credited.” “It stands out as a remarkable achievement by any measure,” DiMaggio said. “It was a public health triumph.” Weinstein resigned from his post in November 1947, seven months after the smallpox outbreak. He left behind a blueprint for containing an infectious disease in a large, dense city. But this time, with the coronavirus pandemic, New York faces a logistical hurdle. Experts in infectious disease point to a hollowing out of the public health infrastructure — not just in the city but across the country. Yet they believe the biggest obstacle is not distribution but the public’s distrust of government, science and the media. “We’re coming out of a train wreck of messaging,” Redlener said. “We’ve learned that politics is poison to a public health initiative, especially during a crisis. Honesty and straightforward, clear messaging are absolutely critical.” In 1947, Weinstein was the only voice with a megaphone. He spoke, and people listened. “Back then, there was a much simpler media landscape,” Sherman said as she laid out the Ad Council’s campaign, which is due to kick off early next year. “In today’s environment, we’re dealing with a highly, highly fragmented media. We’ll be relying on microinfluencers who are the trusted voices.” So, as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in New York City began this past week, a major question remains: Can the city come close to what it accomplished 73 years ago? Redlener, who serves as an adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio on emergency response, said he believes that New York will meet the challenge again. But, he added, “It’s almost inconceivable that we’re going to be able to do something similar as rapidly and as effectively.”

How New York City vaccinated 6 million people in less than a month

Saudi Arabia kicked-off its three-phase coronavirus vaccination programme on Thursday. The country's health minister was among those inoculated after first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in the kingdom.

Along with Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah, a woman in a wheelchair and another man were among the first to be administered the vaccine at a centre in Riyadh, an AFP photographer reported.

"This is the beginning of the end of the crisis," Rabiah told reporters.&nbsp;

In the first stage, people aged over 65 and those with chronic ailment or high risk of infection will receive the vaccine. In second stage, those aged over 50 will be given the vaccine.

Everyone else will be vaccinated in the third phase.

The phases have been decided by the health ministry. It has not specified the dates for each phase or how long the mass vaccination would take. The ministry has said that the vaccine would be "free for all citizens and residents"

Last week, the kingdom approved the use of the vaccine developed by US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, becoming the second Gulf country to do so after Bahrain.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-fda-advisory-panel-endorses-moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-350590">US FDA advisory panel endorses Moderna coronavirus vaccine</a>

Britain, Canada and the United States have also approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and have already launched mass inoculation campaigns. Neighbouring Jordan green-lighted the drug on Monday.

Saudi Arabia has so far recorded more than 360,000 novel coronavirus cases, including more than 6,000 deaths –- the highest among the Gulf Arab states. But the kingdom has also reported a high recovery rate.&nbsp;

(With AFP inputs)

Saudi Arabia kicked-off its three-phase coronavirus vaccination programme on Thursday. The country's health minister was among those inoculated after first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia kicked-off its three-phase coronavirus vaccination programme on Thursday. The country's health minister was among those inoculated after first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in the kingdom. Along with Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah, a woman in a wheelchair and another man were among the first to be administered the vaccine at a centre in Riyadh, an AFP photographer reported. "This is the beginning of the end of the crisis," Rabiah told reporters. In the first stage, people aged over 65 and those with chronic ailment or high risk of infection will receive the vaccine. In second stage, those aged over 50 will be given the vaccine. Everyone else will be vaccinated in the third phase. The phases have been decided by the health ministry. It has not specified the dates for each phase or how long the mass vaccination would take. The ministry has said that the vaccine would be "free for all citizens and residents" Last week, the kingdom approved the use of the vaccine developed by US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, becoming the second Gulf country to do so after Bahrain. Also Read | US FDA advisory panel endorses Moderna coronavirus vaccine Britain, Canada and the United States have also approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and have already launched mass inoculation campaigns. Neighbouring Jordan green-lighted the drug on Monday. Saudi Arabia has so far recorded more than 360,000 novel coronavirus cases, including more than 6,000 deaths –- the highest among the Gulf Arab states. But the kingdom has also reported a high recovery rate. (With AFP inputs)

Saudi Arabia begins coronavirus vaccination campaign

President Donald Trump said Sunday night that he would delay a plan for senior White House staff members to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, hours after The New York Times reported that the administration was planning to rapidly distribute the vaccine to its staff at a time when the first doses are generally being reserved for high-risk health care workers.

Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus in October and recovered after being hospitalized, also implied that he would get the vaccine himself at some point in the future, but said he had no immediate plans to do so.

“People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary,” Trump tweeted, hours after a National Security Council spokesperson had defended the plan. “I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!”

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-pence-among-top-us-officials-to-be-offered-covid-19-vaccine-on-priority-report-349600">Trump, Pence among top US officials to be offered COVID-19 vaccine on priority</a>

It was not immediately clear why the president decided to change the policy, or whether he had even been aware of it ahead of time. But White House staff members who work in close quarters with him had been told that they were scheduled to receive injections of the coronavirus vaccine soon, two people familiar with the distribution plans said.

The goal of distributing the vaccine in the West Wing was to prevent additional government officials from falling ill in the final weeks of the Trump administration. The hope was to eventually distribute the vaccine to everyone who works in the White House, one of the people said.

It was not clear how many doses were being allocated to the White House or how many were needed, since many staff members had already tested positive for the virus and recovered. While many Trump officials said they were eager to receive the vaccine and would take it if it were offered, others said they were concerned it would send the wrong message by making it appear as if Trump staff members were hopping the line to protect a president who has already recovered from the virus and bragged that he is now “immune.”

The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine left a facility in Michigan early Sunday, with UPS and FedEx teaming up to ship doses to all 50 states for distribution.

“Senior officials across all three branches of government will receive vaccinations pursuant to continuity of government protocols established in executive policy,” John Ullyot, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, had said in a statement earlier Sunday, defending the planned vaccinations. “The American people should have confidence that they are receiving the same safe and effective vaccine as senior officials of the United States government.”

The picture was murky on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have struggled for months to balance the need to carry on with legislative business despite fluctuating numbers of coronavirus cases in its own ranks. A congressional aide said Sunday evening that leaders on Capitol Hill had not yet been told how many doses would initially be available for lawmakers. Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician of Congress, has overseen the coronavirus response inside the Capitol complex, but he has yet to make public any plans for vaccine distribution there.

A spokesperson for President-elect Joe Biden declined to say whether Biden or incoming officials would receive early doses of the vaccine. But the president-elect said in a recent CNN interview that he would take the vaccine to serve as an example once Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said it was safe. “It’s important to communicate to the American people it’s safe; it’s safe to do this,” Biden said.

After months during which Trump and his senior advisers played down the virus, hosting campaign rallies and holiday parties where face masks were encouraged but never required, the news of White House officials suddenly taking the virus seriously enough to claim early doses of a vaccine was greeted by outrage from Democrats as well as the president’s longtime critics.

George T. Conway III, a prominent conservative lawyer and a vocal critic of Trump, noted that because the vaccine required a second dose 21 to 28 days after the first injection, there was little public benefit for White House staff members to receive them. The president has only 37 days left in office.

“If they were truly interested in protecting staffers,” Conway wrote on Twitter, “they would have been better off not holding super spreader events.”

Tim Hogan, a Democratic consultant and a former top aide to Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s presidential campaign, said that Washington “will not come close to covering every health care worker with its first allotment of the vaccine, but a White House that downplayed the virus and held a half-year nationwide superspreader tour gets to cut the line.”

He called the White House vaccinations “a final middle finger to the nurses and doctors on the front lines from the Trump administration.”

A senior administration official said that vaccinating officials was necessary for “providing visible leadership to the nation and the world, and maintaining the trust and confidence of the American people.” The official added that vaccinating West Wing officials would help to “continue essential operations, without interruption” to help continue to fight the pandemic nationwide.

There have been multiple outbreaks of the coronavirus at the White House in recent months. Trump, the first lady and a half-dozen advisers tested positive at the end of September and in early October. Fauci later called a Rose Garden ceremony to announce Trump’s choice of Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court a “superspreader event.”

A few weeks later, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, and a group of other Pence staff members and advisers tested positive.

And a third wave hit the West Wing after the president’s election night party at the White House, where supporters gathered indoors and did not wear masks. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, got sick around that time, as did a number of other Trump advisers.

Most recently, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani tested positive, along with Jenna Ellis, another lawyer on the president’s legal team.

President Donald Trump said Sunday night that he would delay a plan for senior White House staff members to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, hours after The New York Times reported that the administration was planning to rapidly distribute the vaccine to its staff at a time when the first doses are generally being reserved for high-risk health care workers.

President Donald Trump said Sunday night that he would delay a plan for senior White House staff members to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, hours after The New York Times reported that the administration was planning to rapidly distribute the vaccine to its staff at a time when the first doses are generally being reserved for high-risk health care workers. Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus in October and recovered after being hospitalized, also implied that he would get the vaccine himself at some point in the future, but said he had no immediate plans to do so. “People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary,” Trump tweeted, hours after a National Security Council spokesperson had defended the plan. “I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!” Also read: Trump, Pence among top US officials to be offered COVID-19 vaccine on priority It was not immediately clear why the president decided to change the policy, or whether he had even been aware of it ahead of time. But White House staff members who work in close quarters with him had been told that they were scheduled to receive injections of the coronavirus vaccine soon, two people familiar with the distribution plans said. The goal of distributing the vaccine in the West Wing was to prevent additional government officials from falling ill in the final weeks of the Trump administration. The hope was to eventually distribute the vaccine to everyone who works in the White House, one of the people said. It was not clear how many doses were being allocated to the White House or how many were needed, since many staff members had already tested positive for the virus and recovered. While many Trump officials said they were eager to receive the vaccine and would take it if it were offered, others said they were concerned it would send the wrong message by making it appear as if Trump staff members were hopping the line to protect a president who has already recovered from the virus and bragged that he is now “immune.” The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine left a facility in Michigan early Sunday, with UPS and FedEx teaming up to ship doses to all 50 states for distribution. “Senior officials across all three branches of government will receive vaccinations pursuant to continuity of government protocols established in executive policy,” John Ullyot, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, had said in a statement earlier Sunday, defending the planned vaccinations. “The American people should have confidence that they are receiving the same safe and effective vaccine as senior officials of the United States government.” The picture was murky on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have struggled for months to balance the need to carry on with legislative business despite fluctuating numbers of coronavirus cases in its own ranks. A congressional aide said Sunday evening that leaders on Capitol Hill had not yet been told how many doses would initially be available for lawmakers. Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician of Congress, has overseen the coronavirus response inside the Capitol complex, but he has yet to make public any plans for vaccine distribution there. A spokesperson for President-elect Joe Biden declined to say whether Biden or incoming officials would receive early doses of the vaccine. But the president-elect said in a recent CNN interview that he would take the vaccine to serve as an example once Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said it was safe. “It’s important to communicate to the American people it’s safe; it’s safe to do this,” Biden said. After months during which Trump and his senior advisers played down the virus, hosting campaign rallies and holiday parties where face masks were encouraged but never required, the news of White House officials suddenly taking the virus seriously enough to claim early doses of a vaccine was greeted by outrage from Democrats as well as the president’s longtime critics. George T. Conway III, a prominent conservative lawyer and a vocal critic of Trump, noted that because the vaccine required a second dose 21 to 28 days after the first injection, there was little public benefit for White House staff members to receive them. The president has only 37 days left in office. “If they were truly interested in protecting staffers,” Conway wrote on Twitter, “they would have been better off not holding super spreader events.” Tim Hogan, a Democratic consultant and a former top aide to Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s presidential campaign, said that Washington “will not come close to covering every health care worker with its first allotment of the vaccine, but a White House that downplayed the virus and held a half-year nationwide superspreader tour gets to cut the line.” He called the White House vaccinations “a final middle finger to the nurses and doctors on the front lines from the Trump administration.” A senior administration official said that vaccinating officials was necessary for “providing visible leadership to the nation and the world, and maintaining the trust and confidence of the American people.” The official added that vaccinating West Wing officials would help to “continue essential operations, without interruption” to help continue to fight the pandemic nationwide. There have been multiple outbreaks of the coronavirus at the White House in recent months. Trump, the first lady and a half-dozen advisers tested positive at the end of September and in early October. Fauci later called a Rose Garden ceremony to announce Trump’s choice of Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court a “superspreader event.” A few weeks later, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, and a group of other Pence staff members and advisers tested positive. And a third wave hit the West Wing after the president’s election night party at the White House, where supporters gathered indoors and did not wear masks. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, got sick around that time, as did a number of other Trump advisers. Most recently, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani tested positive, along with Jenna Ellis, another lawyer on the president’s legal team.

Trump rescinds plan for White House staff to be quickly vaccinated

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