Before COVID-19, the 1918-19 flu was universally considered the worst pandemic disease in human history. Whether the current scourge ultimately proves deadlier is unclear.
In many ways, the 1918-19 flu — which was wrongly named Spanish flu because it first received widespread news coverage in Spain — was worse.
Now, nearly 64 per cent of the US population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. And yet, average deaths per day have climbed 40 per cent over the past two weeks, from 1,387 to 1,947, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Health experts say the vast majority of the hospitalised and dead have been unvaccinated. While some vaccinated people have suffered breakthrough infections, those tend to be mild.
That essentially means the globally popular vaccines, which their makers have pledged not to sell to private parties during the pandemic, will not be available for now in the world’s two most populous countries – China and India. The Indian government has also declined to meet the U.S. companies’ requests for legal protection over any side-effects from the use of their shots, which are currently made only in the United States or Europe, two of the sources said.
The death toll increased to 1,52,274 with 181 more fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
There are 2,08,826 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which constitute 1.98 per cent of the total caseload, the data showed.
A statement shared following a meeting of the government’s coronavirus HQ said that the four countries were seeing fewer than 40 new cases per fortnight per 100,000 people.
Official reports of allergic reactions have been rare as governments rush to roll out vaccines to try to contain the global pandemic. U.S. authorities reported 21 cases of severe allergic reactions from Dec. 14-23 after administration of about 1.9 million initial doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The first Europe-wide safety report on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is due to be published at the end of January.
Addressing a press briefing, the ministry”s Additional Secretary Manohar Agnani said out of the 447 adverse events following immunisation, only three required hospitalisation
India, the world’s most populous country after China, has said it may not need to vaccinate all of its 1.35 billion people to create herd immunity. Still, covering even half its population will make it one of the largest immunisation programmes in the world, even if countries like the United States were to vaccinate every resident.
Today’s ruling had other bad news for insurers. Under the original judgement, cover for BI losses due to business closures during lockdown would have been based on a strict definition of lockdown, when closures were mandatory. The Court decided that this interpretation was too narrow and that cover should include closure instructions from a public authority, even if not backed by the force of law.
Customers who have made claims that are affected by the test case will be contacted by their insurer to discuss what the judgment means for their claim. All valid claims will be settled as soon as possible and in many cases the process of settling claims has begun, said UK’s Association of British Insurers.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), any untoward medical occurrence which follows immunisation and does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine, is known as AEFI.
The COVID-19 vaccination trial, has been temporarily halted in Maharashtra until January 18 due to technical issues with the CO-WIN app..
The Odisha government said it would pause the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive for a day.
Sinovac said its trial designs are not identical among countries, but the results are sufficient to prove that the vaccine is safe and effective.
Jerome Kim, head of vaccine research group International Vaccine Institute said it would be possible to combine data from multiple studies with varied trial designs but it could involve additional statistical manipulation.
“That could compromise the clean interpretation of the results, and may impact the chance for these data to be accepted by regulatory bodies.”
Scientists suspect the virus that has killed 1.9 million people since late 2019 jumped to humans from bats or other animals, most likely in China’s southwest. The ruling Communist Party, stung by complaints it allowed the disease to spread, says the virus came from abroad, possibly on imported seafood, but scientists reject that.
A more disciplined focus on vaccination is the new and widely anticipated game-changing element, but that’s far from the whole story. Biden is asking Americans to override their sense of pandemic fatigue and recommit to wearing masks, practicing social distancing, and avoiding indoor gatherings, particularly larger ones. That’s still the surest way to break the Covid-19 wave, with more than 4,400 deaths reported just on Tuesday.