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Eco/Invest/Demography

Regular booster vaccines are the future in battle with COVID-19 virus, top genome expert says

“We have to appreciate that we were always going to have to have booster doses; immunity to coronavirus doesn’t last forever,” Peacock told Reuters at the non-profit Wellcome Sanger Institute’s 55-acre campus outside Cambridge.

“We already are tweaking the vaccines to deal with what the virus is doing in terms of evolution – so there are variants arising that have a combination of increased transmissibility and an ability to partially evade our immune response,” she said.

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Facebook finds social media users responsible for spreading vaccine doubt

“Public health experts have made it clear that tackling vaccine hesitancy is a top priority in the COVID response, which is why we’ve launched a global campaign that has already connected 2 billion people to reliable information from health experts and remove false claims about COVID and vaccines. This ongoing work will help to inform our efforts,” Facebook representative Dani Lever said. 

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Climate finance still not on table for developing countries: Javadekar

To a query on progress made under the Paris agreement, the minister said besides renewable energy targets, 35 per cent reduction in emission was one of the targets under the Paris pact. ”So far, we have achieved 26 per cent. We will be over achieving our targets. Along with the government, corporates have taken steps to reduce carbon emission,” he added. Responding to another query on any plans to review CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) funds guidelines to ensure it is not used for other than activities for afforestation, the minister said a directive has been issued to states to use 80 per cent funds for afforestation and water/fodder augmentation alone.

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India only G-20 country implementing Paris accord commitments: Javadekar

”Five states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and Nagaland — have shown significant decreasing trends in southwest monsoon rainfall during the recent 30 years period (1989-2018), as per the IMD report,” he said.

The annual rainfall over these five states along with the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh also shows significant decreasing trends, the minister added.

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