The shots were bought and given privately within the space of 29 months.
The 62-year-ols man appears to have suffered no ill effects, researchers from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg say.
“We learned about his case via newspaper articles,” Dr. Kilian Schober, from the university’s microbiology department, said.
“We then contacted him and invited him to undergo various tests in Erlangen. He was very interested in doing so.”
The man provided fresh blood and saliva samples.
The researchers also tested some frozen blood samples of his that had been stored in recent years.
Dr. Kilian Schober said: “We were able to take blood samples ourselves when the man received a further vaccination during the study at his own insistence.
“We were able to use these samples to determine exactly how the immune system reacts to the vaccination.”
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Evidence for 130 of the shots was collected by the public prosecutor of the city of Magdeburg, who opened an investigation with the allegation of fraud, but no criminal charges were brought.
Covid vaccines cannot cause infection but can teach the body how to fight the disease.
Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines work by showing the body’s cells a bit of genetic code from the virus.
The immune system should then recognise and know how to fight Covid should they encounter it for real.
Dr. Schober worried hyper-stimulating the immune system with repeated doses might have fatigued certain cells.
But the researchers found no evidence of this in the 62-year-old.
And there was no sign that he had ever been infected with Covid.
The researchers said: “Importantly, we do not endorse hyper-vaccination as a strategy to enhance adaptive immunity.”
And the results of their tests on the 62-year-old were insufficient for making far-reaching conclusions, let alone recommendations for the general public.
“Current research indicates that a three-dose vaccination, coupled with regular top-up vaccines for vulnerable groups, remains the favoured approach,” they say on the university’s website.
“There is no indication that more vaccines are required.”
Covid vaccines can have side effects. A common one is a sore arm from the injection.
Novak Djokovic’s entry to Australia has been delayed over an issue with his visa.
The No 1 tennis player arrived in Melbourne on January 5, where authorities noticed that his team had made a mistake on his application.
Novak Djokovic is due to play in the Australian Open, after being exempted from vaccination rules.
However, the Serbian player’s team had not requested a visa that permits medical exemptions for being unvaccinated.
All players and staff at the tournament must be vaccinated or have an exemption granted by an expert independent panel.
Djokovic has been quizzed for hours about his visa status and exemption evidence in a room in Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport and is still awaiting a decision. He has not spoken about his vaccination status, but last year he said he was “opposed to vaccination”.
Australia’s border force had sought clarification from the Victorian state government about his visa application, the Melbourne-based Age newspaper reports.
But state government Minister Jaala Pulford tweeted that Djokovic’s application would not be supported. Visa approvals were a matter for the federal government, she added.
Meanwhile, the player’s father, Srdjan Djokovic said his son was being held in a room guarded by police.
“I have no idea what’s going on, they’re holding my son captive for five hours.
“This is not just a fight for Novak, but a fight for the whole world. If they don’t let him go in half an hour, we will gather on the street” Novak’s father said in a statement released to the media.
Djokovic’s coach and fellow Grand Slam champion Goran Ivanisevic posted a photo of himself on Instagram from a room in Melbourne, along with the caption: “Not the most usual trip Down Under.”
Earlier, Australia’s prime minister said Novak Djokovic would be refused entry to the country unless he provided evidence that he could not be vaccinated for medical reasons.
Scott Morrison said the tennis player “could be on the next plane home” if the proof was insufficient.
The tournament’s organizers say the defending champion has not been given special treatment, but the decision has infuriated many Australians. Australia is seeing tens of thousands of Covid-19 cases for the first time after enduring some of the world’s strictest restrictions.
Scott Morrison said Novak Djokovic would be required to present evidence upon arrival that he has a genuine medical exemption from vaccination.
The Australian Open begins on January 17 in Melbourne.
The tournament’s chief executive, Craig Tiley, said 26 athletes had applied for medical exemptions. “A handful” had been granted, he said, under guidelines set by federal regulators.
“We made it extra difficult for anyone applying for an application to ensure it was the right process and to make sure the medical experts deal with it independently,” he told Channel 9.
More than 90% of Australia’s over-16 population is fully vaccinated, but some people still cannot travel interstate or globally because of current measures.
Many Australians had previously accused the government of allowing the rich and famous to do as they please while ordinary people remained separated from sick and dying loved ones.
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Twitter account has been suspended for posting “misleading” information about Covid-19.
Twitter said Marjorie Taylor Greene’s account would be in “read-only mode” for 12 hours.
The Republican lawmaker has been an outspoken critic of vaccines and the use of masks.
Last month Marjorie Taylor Greene apologized for likening coronavirus mask rules to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.
In two tweets on July 19, she argued that vaccines should not be required, and that Covid was not dangerous for people aged under 65 who are not obese.
Both posts are still on display, but have been tagged by Twitter as “misleading”.
Marjorie Taylor Greene was suspended from Twitter in April, but the company later rescinded the ban, saying it was a mistake caused by its automated moderation system.
In response to her latest suspension, Marjorie Taylor Greene said Silicon Valley companies were attacking free speech with support from the White House.
“These Big Tech companies are doing the bidding of the Biden regime to restrict our voices and prevent the spread of any message that isn’t state-approved,” she said in a statement to the New York Times.
Last week, President Joe Biden urged social media companies to take more action against the spread of false information about coronavirus and vaccines on their platforms.
“They’re killing people,” he told reporters.
“The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated.”
Health officials have warned the country’s current spike in Covid-19 deaths and infections is exclusively hitting unvaccinated communities.
Twitter has repeatedly banned users for sharing false information, and in March it introduced a new policy with penalties for users.
Under the new rules, 12-hour suspensions are given for second and third violations of its policy. A fourth breach results in a week-long ban, and a fifth leads to a full ban.
In January, Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump for posts that it said incited violence after the storming of the Capitol by hundreds of his supporters.
Morgan Stanley’s staff and clients will be barred from entering the investment bank’s New York offices if they are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
According to a person familiar with the matter, unvaccinated employees will need to work remotely.
The policy comes into effect next month, in a move aimed to allow the lifting of other Covid-related rules.
Last week, the Wall Street giant’s chief executive called on workers to return to the office.
An internal memo said: “Starting July 12 all employees, contingent workforce, clients and visitors will be required to attest to being fully vaccinated to access Morgan Stanley buildings in New York City and Westchester.”
The move will allow the company to remove restrictions in offices on face coverings and social distancing.
The policy currently operates on an honor system, but the bank may later decide to require proof of vaccination status.
Morgan Stanley had already implemented so-called “vaccine-only” workspaces in some departments, including institutional securities and wealth management.
Earlier this month, Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman said: “If you can go into a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office.”
Speaking at a conference, James Gorman said he would be “very disappointed” if US-based workers had not returned by September.
It came as a number of banks are taking a tough position on home-working.
Jamie Dimon, the boss of America’s biggest bank JP Morgan, recently said he wanted US staff back in the office from July.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs bankers were instructed to report their vaccine status ahead of returning to their desks earlier this month.
In December, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency, gave the go-ahead for companies to bar unvaccinated staff from workplaces, subject to exceptions for religious and medical reasons.
Barclays’ chief executive Jes Staley, said in February that working from home was “not sustainable”. At a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum, he said: “It will increasingly be a challenge to maintain the culture and collaboration that these large financial institutions seek to have and should have.”
India has become the “fastest country in the world” to administer more than 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, amid a deadly second wave of infections.
The country achieved the feat in 85 days, whereas the US took 89 days and China 102 days, the Indian health ministry said.
However, India reported a record daily increase of over 150,000 cases – and more than 800 new deaths – on April 11.
There are reports the vast vaccination drive itself is struggling.
This week, half a dozen states reported a shortage of doses even as the federal government insisted that it had 40 million doses in stock and that the “allegations” of vaccine scarcity were “utterly baseless”.
The inoculation drive aims to cover 250 million people by July, but experts say the pace needs to pick up further to meet the target.
Everyone aged over 45 is now eligible for immunization at vaccination centers and hospitals. Most doses have so far been given to frontline workers and the over-60s.
The third phase – which began on April 1 – opened amid a sharp uptick in Covid-19 cases. India has been reporting an average of more than 90,000 cases every day since then.
On April 4, India became the second country after the US to report 100,000 new cases in a single day. More than half of those were confirmed in Maharashtra, which has India’s largest city Mumbai as its capital.
The country’s caseload had dropped sharply by the time it began vaccinating people early this year. It was adding under 15,000 infections daily. But cases began to spike again in March, largely driven by poor test-and-trace and lax safety protocols.
Experts say India’s second wave is being fuelled by people being less cautious – and mixed messaging by the government.
Since the pandemic began, India has confirmed more than 12 million cases and over 167,000 deaths. It’s the third-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world after the US and Brazil.
India launched its vaccination program on January 16, but it was limited to healthcare workers and frontline staff – a sanitation worker became the first Indian to receive the vaccine.
From March 1, the eligibility criteria was expanded to include people over 60 and those aged between 45 and 59 with other illnesses.
The third phase included everyone above the age of 45.
India’s drugs regulator has given the green light to two vaccines – one developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University (Covishield) and one by Indian firm Bharat Biotech (Covaxin). Several other candidates are at different stages of trials.
The Dalai Lama has received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine while urging others eligible to “take this injection”.
“This is very very helpful, very good,” he said as he was given the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at a facility in the Indian city of Dharamsala on March 6.
The Tibetan spiritual leader had enrolled himself to be vaccinated, officials said.
India launched its vaccination drive on January 16, but it was limited to healthcare workers and frontline staff.
Since March 1, however, the scheme has been extended to people aged over 60 and those between the ages of 45 and 59 with underlying illnesses.
Receiving his first shot in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, the Dalai Lama said people needed to be vaccinated to “prevent some serious problems”.
The chief medical officer of Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district, Dr. Gurdarshan Gupta, said the Dalai Lama had offered to visit the vaccination centre “like a common man”, Reuters reported.
“We arranged the session in the morning, considering the security concern,” he added.
India aims to cover 300 million “priority people” with its vaccination drive by the end of July.
Its drugs regulator has given the green light to two vaccines – one developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University (Covishield) and one by Indian firm Bharat Biotech (Covaxin).
Indian PM Narendra Modi, 70, was among the first to get his vaccine shot.
Since the pandemic began, India has confirmed more than 11 million cases and over 157,000 deaths.
Much of the country has reported a sharp fall in cases recently – with daily infections for the county falling to less than 20,000 from a peak of over 90,000 in September.
However, a handful of states have recently reported a sharp increase in the number of cases.
The FDA has formally approved the single-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, the third to be authorized in the US.
The vaccine is set to be a cost-effective alternative to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and can be stored in a refrigerator instead of a freezer.
Trials found the vaccine prevented serious illness but was 66% effective overall when moderate cases were included.
It is made by the Belgian firm Janssen.
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to provide the US with 100 million doses by the end of June. The first doses could be available to the public as early as next week.
The UK, EU and Canada have also ordered doses, and 500 million doses have also been ordered through the Covax scheme to supply poorer nations.
President Joe Biden hailed it as “exciting news for all Americans, and an encouraging development”, but warned that the “fight is far from over”.
He said in a statement: “Though we celebrate today’s news, I urge all Americans – keep washing your hands, stay socially distanced, and keep wearing masks..
“As I have said many times, things are still likely to get worse again as new variants spread, and the current improvement could reverse.”
The FDA authorization came after an external committee of exerts unanimously backed the vaccine on February 27.
Results from trials conducted in the US, South Africa and Brazil showed it was more than 85% effective at preventing serious illness, and 66% effective overall when moderate cases were included.
Notably, there were no deaths among participants who had received the vaccine and no hospital admissions after 28 days post-vaccine.
Overall protection was lower in South Africa and Brazil, where virus variants have become dominant, but defense against severe or critical illness was “similarly high”.
South Africa began administering the unapproved Johnson & Johnson vaccine to healthcare workers as part of a study earlier this month. It came after early trials suggested the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine offered “minimal protection” against mild disease from the variant dominant in large parts of the country.
So far the only other country to approve the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for emergency use is Bahrain, which gave it the green light on February 25.
Because the vaccine will require fewer doses than its two-shot Pfizer and Moderna counterparts, it will also require fewer vaccine appointments and medical staff.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses a common cold virus that has been engineered to make it harmless.
It then safely carries part of the coronavirus’s genetic code into the body. This is enough for the body to recognize the threat and then learn to fight coronavirus.
This trains the body’s immune system to fight coronavirus when it encounters the virus for real.
This is similar to the approach used by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
North Korea closed its borders in January 2020 soon after the virus began to emerge in China.
In November 2020, Microsoft said at least nine health organizations including Pfizer had been targeted by state-backed organizations in North Korea and Russia.
It said North Korean groups dubbed Zinc and Cerium, and a Russian group nicknamed Fancy Bear, were responsible.
However, Russia has denied targeting other countries’ vaccine research.
While many of the break-in attempts failed, Microsoft warned at the time that some had been successful.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has been awarded Israel’s prestigious Dan David $1million prize for his commitment to science.
The US top infectious diseases expert, who was often at odds with former President Donald Trump over how to handle the pandemic, was given the Dan David Prize for “defending science”.
The 80-year-old was also praised for advocating for Covid vaccines, and for his leadership on HIV research and AIDS relief.
Dr. Fauci has advised seven US presidents.
He was recognized for “courageously defending science in the face of uninformed opposition during the challenging Covid crisis”, the awards committee said in a statement.
He “is the consummate model of leadership and impact in public health,” it added.
The Dan David Prize Twitter account wrote: “Congratulations to Dr. Anthony Fauci, global leader in research and control of infectious diseases and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases @NIAIDNews and Public Health hero, for being awarded the 2021 @DanDavidPrize in Public Health @TelAvivUni”
“As the Covid-19 pandemic unraveled, [he] leveraged his considerable communication skills to address people gripped by fear and anxiety and worked relentlessly to inform individuals in the United States and elsewhere about the public health measures essential for containing the pandemic’s spread.
“In addition, he has been widely praised for his courage in speaking truth to power in a highly charged political environment.”
Anthony Fauci has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984.
He helped to found George W. Bush’s US government AIDS initiative in Africa and now serves as explainer-in-chief to the public amid the Covid-19 outbreak of the Trump and now Biden eras.
The Dan David Prize was established in 2000 by the late international businessman Dan David. It gives $1 million awards in three categories each year for contributions addressing the past, present and future.
South Africa is considering swapping or selling the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the health minister announces.
The African country has 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
However, plans to use it to vaccinate health workers have been put on hold after a small study suggested a “minimal” effect against the South African new variant in young people.
South Africa now intends to use a vaccine from Johnson & Johnson instead.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told at a news conference: “There are already some countries that are asking that we must sell it to them.
“Our scientists will continue with further deliberations on the AstraZeneca vaccine used in South Africa and depending on their advice, the vaccine will be swapped before the expiry date.”
Zweli Mkhize added that he was due to speak with the WHO shortly after the news conference.
South Africa has recorded almost 1.5 million cases of coronavirus, and 47,000 deaths – far more than anywhere else on the continent.
Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and the UK’s Oxford University carried out the trial, which has not yet been published or peer-reviewed, on around 2,000 healthy, young people with an average age of 31.
They found that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine offered “minimal protection” against mild and moderate cases of the South Africa variant of coronavirus in that low-risk group.
This means that even in people who’ve been vaccinated, the virus could still spread from person to person.
However, the research did not look at the impact of the vaccine on severe disease from Covid-19 because there was no-one in the study who was in a high-risk category (over 50) or had an underlying health condition.
Oxford University researchers say promising results from other trials using similar vaccines in South Africa suggest their shot should be effective at preventing severe cases – the main aim of all Covid vaccines.
South Africa now plans to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to a group of 100,000 older nurses and healthcare workers.
That’s to see if it is effective against the new variant and in preventing severe illness in an older age group.
The South Africa variant carries a mutation that appears to make it more contagious or easy to spread.
However, there is no evidence that the variant causes more serious illness for the vast majority of people who become infected.
As with the original strain, the risk is highest for people who are elderly or have significant underlying health conditions.
Scientists say the variant accounts for 90% of new Covid-19 cases in South Africa.
At least 20 other countries, including the UK, Austria, Japan, Kenya and Norway have found cases of the variant.
The health minister for neighboring Eswatini, previously known as Swaziland, said on February 9 that it would no longer use the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The health authorities in Malawi have said they still plan to use the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Negotiations are still going on over the amount and the price South Africa will pay for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is made by Belgian pharmaceutical firm Janssen.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has not yet been approved for use in South Africa.
The first of the nine million doses it has ordered are due to arrive next week.
The South African health minister said these would be provided to some 500,000 health workers as “an implementation study”, possibly starting as early as next week, but this was still to be confirmed.
He also promised to explain next week just how much of the vaccine will be coming to South Africa.
Zweli Mkhize said that South Africa had already secured vaccine doses from Pfizer which it has agreed to bring in earlier than originally agreed.
South Africa is also in discussions with other manufactures, including the makers of Sputnik V, Sinovac and Moderna vaccines, he added.
The Russian coronovirus vaccine showed around 92% protection against Covid-19, late stage trial results published in The Lancet reveal.
Sputnik V vaccine has also been deemed to be safe – and offer complete protection against hospitalization and death.
The vaccine was initially met with some controversy after being rolled out before the final trial data had been released.
However, scientists said the Russian vaccine’s benefit has now been demonstrated.
Sputnik V joins the ranks of proven vaccines alongside Pfizer, Oxford/AstraZeneca, Moderna and Janssen.
It works in a similar way to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine developed in the UK, and the Janssen vaccine developed in Belgium.
Sputnik V uses a cold-type virus, engineered to be harmless, as a carrier to deliver a small fragment of the coronavirus to the body.
Safely exposing the body to part of the virus’s genetic code in this way allows it to recognize the threat and learn to fight it off, without risking becoming ill.
After being vaccinated, the body starts to produce antibodies specially tailored to the coronavirus.
This means the immune system is primed to fight coronavirus when if it encounters it for real.
The Russian vaccine can be stored at temperatures of between 2 and 8C degrees (a standard fridge is roughly 3-5C degrees) making it easier to transport and store.
But unlike other similar vaccines, Sputnik V uses two slightly different versions of the vaccine for the first and second dose – given 21 days apart.
They both target the coronavirus’s distinctive “spike”, but use different vectors – the neutralized virus that carries the spike to the body.
The idea is that using two different formulas boosts the immune system even more than using the same version twice – and may give longer-lasting protection.
As well as proving effective, it was also safe with no serious reactions linked to the vaccine during the trial.
Some side effects to a vaccine are expected but these are usually mild, including a sore arm, tiredness and a bit of a temperature.
There were no deaths or serious illness in the vaccinated group linked to the Russian vaccine.
As well as Russia, Sputnik V is being used in a number of other places, including: Argentina, Venezuela, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Palestinian territories.
The authors of the Lancet paper pointed out the analysis only included symptomatic cases of Covid, and more work would need to be done to understand whether it stops even asymptomatic cases, and prevents the virus from being passed on by vaccinated people.
France has restricted the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to people under age of 65.
The move is the latest recommendation from an EU member state approving the vaccine with such restrictions, citing insufficient data on its efficacy for older people.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU drugs regulator, has approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for all adults, but it is up to each member to set its own rollout policy.
Germany and Austria have already recommended the vaccine be limited to under-65s.
There has been criticism of the slow pace of vaccinations in the EU and the campaign has been hit by delays to deliveries of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines, among others.
The European Commission – the EU executive – was caught up in a row with AstraZeneca last week, after the company said it could not supply the expected doses on time.
The president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in particular, has been under fire for her own handling of the rollout, but she defended her stance on February 2.
Ursula von der Leyen told France’s Le Monde: “I am convinced that the European strategy on vaccination is the right one.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also backed the EU’s approach in a TV interview.
France’s health regulator said there was still not enough data about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine for patients over 65 years of age.
“These data will arrive in the coming weeks. In the meantime we recommend its use for people under 65 years old,” it said.
It recommended the vaccine for health workers and vulnerable people between the ages of 50 and 65.
More than 1.5 million people have received a Covid vaccine so far in France.
Last week Germany’s vaccine commission said it could not recommend the use of the vaccine in people aged over 65.
On February 2, health authorities in Sweden and Poland made similar announcements and Belgium’s health minister said the vaccine, for the moment, would only be given to people below the age of 55. Italy’s medicines agency on Saturday also approved the jab for all adults under 55.
In a study yet to be formally published, scientists at Oxford University have said the vaccine could lead to a “substantial” fall in the spread of the virus.
Individual EU countries are free to decide who vaccines should be given to once they have been approved at EU level.
In her TV interview on Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “every vaccine is welcome in the European Union”, adding that good data had emerged for the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
In her interview with Le Monde, Ursula von der Leyen admitted that the EU had made missteps.
She said: “When you make urgent decisions – and in this year of crisis we’ve taken around 900 – there’s always the chance of missing something.”
However, Ursula von der Leyen said 18 million vaccine doses had been delivered across the EU so far and many more would follow over the next two months.
No-one who received the Oxford vaccine in trials was hospitalized or became seriously ill due to Covid-19.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine is given via two injections to the arm, the second between 4 and 12 weeks after the first.
When it approved it last week, the EMA noted that most participants in test studies were under 55 years of age.
The agency said that while there were not yet enough results to show how well the vaccine will work in older people, “protection is expected, given that an immune response is seen in this age group and based on experience with other vaccines”.
AstraZeneca has said a US study will shortly provide additional data on the vaccine’s efficacy in older adults.
The use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for people aged over 18 has been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
The EU’s drugs regulator said the AstraZeneca vaccine was about 60% effective in the trials on which it based its decision.
The move comes amid a dispute over whether Anglo-Swedish drug-maker is breaking its vaccine delivery commitments to the EU.
The European Commission has published its contract with Astra-Zeneca, hoping to show a breach.
Last week, AstraZeneca said vaccine supplies would be reduced because of problems in one of its EU factories.
The shortfall is expected to be about 60% in the first quarter of 2021. The EU has also received fewer than expected doses of the two other vaccines it has approved – from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
The EU has said AstraZeneca must honor its commitments and deliver the doses it ordered by diverting doses manufactured in the UK. However, the company said its contract for UK supplies prevents this.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told German radio on January 29 that the EU contract signed in August contained “binding orders”, and called for an explanation.
The commission later said it had agreed a plan to introduce export controls on coronavirus vaccines. It means individual member states will decide whether to allow the export of vaccines produced in their territory. It will be in place until the end of March.
A European Commissioner said it was being introduced to enhance transparency and to ensure that all EU citizens had access to vaccines.
Germany’s vaccine commission said this week that it could not recommend the use of AstraZeneca vaccine in people aged over 65, citing a lack of data on how it affected this age group.
The UK has been using the AstraZeneca vaccine in its mass immunization program for weeks now, and public health officials say it is safe and provides “high levels of protection”.
Confirming it had approved the vaccine, the EMA said that most participants in the test studies were between 18 and 55 years old. It said that while there were not yet enough results to show how the vaccine will work in older people, “protection is expected, given that an immune response is seen in this age group and based on experience with other vaccines.”
Individual EU countries can still decide who vaccines should be given to, once they have been approved.
President Joe Biden has said he expects the United States will soon be able to vaccinate 1.5 million people a day after critics said his original goal was not bold enough.
The new president had announced last week that 1 million vaccines would be administered daily in the first 100 days of his presidency.
However, some media noted the US had already nearly reached that target under the Trump administration.
President Biden also renewed Trump-era Covid bans on January 25, adding South Africa.
In the first time formally taking reporters’ questions during his presidency, President Biden said on January 25 that he hoped they would be able to get to 1.5 million vaccinations administered daily.
He said: “I think with the grace of God… we’ll be able to get that to 1.5 million a day.”
Adding: “I hope we’ll be able to increase as we go along so we’ll get to 1.5 million. That’s my hope.”
Some media had questioned whether President Biden’s target of one million shots per day was ambitious enough.
Last week, at the tail-end of the Trump administration, the US had already reached an average of around 980,000 vaccine doses administered daily.
On January 25, the Biden administration renewed Trump-era Covid-19 travel bans on non-US visitors from Brazil and most of Europe, including the UK and Ireland.
The White House also imposed a new ban on South Africa over its virus variant.
Former President Donald Trump had ordered the bans to end on January 26 as one of his final acts in office.
The new travel restrictions came as Minnesota recorded the first US case of the Brazil variant from a resident who had recently travelled to that country.
The unnamed patient lives in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, said the department.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the decision to continue the restrictions on foreign travelers on January 25.
All international travelers must also present a negative test within three days of air travel to the US.
Travel restrictions have been in place since mid-March.
Israel has expanded its Covid-19 vaccination campaign to teens aged 16 -18, in an effort to enable them to sit exams.
More than 25% of Israel’s population of 9 million have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine since December 19, the health ministry says.
Israel started with the elderly and others at high risk, but people aged 40 and over can also now get the vaccine.
It hopes to start reopening its economy in February.
The inclusion of 16 to 18-year-olds – with parental permission – is meant “to enable their return (to school) and the orderly holding of exams”, an education ministry spokeswoman said.
The matriculation exams that Israeli students sit at the end of high school play an important role in deciding where they will go to university. Their results can also affect their placement in the military, where many young Israelis do compulsory service.
However, the education ministry has said it is too early to say whether schools will reopen next month.
Israel started its rapid vaccination drive – the fastest in the world – in on December 19, reaching 10% of its population by the end of 2020.
The country has recorded more than 596,000 cases and 4,392 deaths with Covid-19, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
On January 24, the government said it would ban passenger flights in and out of the country from January 25 for the rest of the month, in an effort to halt the spread of new virus variants.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Other than rare exceptions, we are closing the sky hermetically to prevent the entry of the virus variants and also to ensure that we progress quickly with our vaccination campaign.”
Foreigners have largely been blocked from entering Israel during the pandemic.
If you were offered a COVID-19 vaccine, would you take it? Research paints a mixed picture. In one poll mentioned by The Drum, 28% of 18- to 34-year-old respondents in the UK said they would reject a vaccine if offered one. However, marketers can play a major part in encouraging vaccine uptake.
Ultimately, the success of vaccines in helping to bring the COVID-19 pandemic to a close will depend on how many people take them. Here is how pharmaceutical companies, medical providers and healthcare agencies could persuade members of the general public to do exactly that.
Vaccine hesitancy: a challenge predating the COVID-19 pandemic
You don’t have to look far beyond the COVID-19 picture to see examples of skepticism about vaccines in general. Such reticence has, in some instances, led an array of vaccine-preventable diseases, like measles, to re-emerge.
In 2019, long before the current pandemic erupted, the World Health Organization ranked vaccine hesitancy among the ten leading threats to global health.
The world’s first malaria vaccine could be approved for use in 2015
It’s unsurprising, then, that Glen Halliwell, business unit director at Publicis healthcare agency Langland, believes that government and health services must engage in “broad education” about the COVID-19 vaccine – including “what it is for, what it will protect you against, how to get it and how many injections are required to be protected.”
He added: “Critical here is ensuring we reach the members of the community where English is not their first language, or where cultural or religious concerns regarding vaccine ingredients may lead to some hesitation.”
What threshold do we need to reach to achieve herd immunity?
Lee Fraser, who has served as Digitas Health’s chief medical officer since 2014, insists: “In order for vaccines to be successful in ending the pandemic, we will need to get vaccination rates into the mid-70% range at a minimum.”
However, he warned: “In a climate where we have seen a decline in the public’s belief in science and erosion of fact in favor of social and public opinion, studies suggest only 60% of people are currently willing to get a vaccine.”
Which marketing strategies could help – and which probably wouldn’t?
While some individual vaccines have been given their own branding by marketers, WPP Health Practice’s international chief executive officer Claire Gillis says: “I actually think that the important brand is the corporate brand. Go to the doctor and ask for the ‘Pfizer vaccine’.”
Meanwhile, though the UK government’s reported attempt to apply patriotic livery to each AstraZeneca vaccine kit would unlikely have been of much use, the UK’s National Health Service has, more encouragingly, decided to partner with influencers to promote vaccine adoption.
Los Angeles county residents who get coronavirus vaccine will be able to keep proof of immunization in their iPhone’s digital wallet.
The record will live in the Apple Wallet, usually used for payment cards, boarding passes, or event tickets.
According to officials, it will first be used to remind people to get their second required dose of the vaccine.
However, it could also be used as proof of vaccination in the Covid-19 hotspot of Los Angeles.
Bloomberg first reported news of the county’s partnership with software firm Healthvana.
The digital card could be used “to prove to airlines, to prove to schools, to prove to whoever needs it,” that a recipient has been immunized, Healthvana CEO Ramin Bastani told Bloomberg.
Los Angeles County has a high level of infection of the disease, with nearly 13,000 new cases reported on December 29, and 227 deaths – bringing the number of those who have died with the disease to 9,782 to date.
The county’s vaccine chief Claire Jarashow told Bloomberg that officials were keen to make sure people came back for their second vaccine dose – as the paper document given to recipients is easily lost.
She said: “We just don’t have the capacity to be doing hundreds of medical record requests to find people’s first doses and when they need to get their second.”
Healthvana has a track record of handling sensitive patient data, having delivered millions of HIV test results to US patients in recent years.
However, there has been some resistance to the idea of a “vaccine passport”, which some fear could be used to deny entry to venues if people are unwilling to share personal medical information.
There are also some potential problems – such as not having the digital vaccine record on all phones, including Android users.
And there is no way to prove that the person holding the phone is the same person who received the vaccine, without some other identifier.
Those people might see this idea as a “hostile approach”, designed to withhold access to getting on board a flight, or attending an event.
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