“We’re already engaging in conversations about incremental procurement for the second half of 2022, as well as early 2023, especially given current vaccination rates around the globe,” said John Trizzino, chief commercial officer at Novavax, adding that the booster strategy would create additional demand for its vaccines.
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COVID-19: further lockdowns unlikely but some winter restrictions are possible
The drop and levelling off may be due, in part, to the school summer holidays, as previously noted. The risk now is that infection rates could rise again from their already high levels due to a gradual increase in social contact, including through schools returning and possibly from more parents and other adults returning to workplaces.
Surges and vaccines: Here’s what next six months of pandemic will bring
With billions of people around the world yet to be vaccinated and little chance now of eliminating the virus, we can expect more outbreaks in classrooms, on public transport and in workplaces over the coming months, as economies push ahead with reopening. Even as immunization rates rise, there will always be people who are vulnerable to the virus: Newborn babies, people who can’t or won’t get inoculated, and those who get vaccinated but suffer breakthrough infections as their protection levels ebb.
Nations like Denmark and Singapore, which have managed to keep cases relatively contained, are already moving toward a post-pandemic future with fewer safety restrictions. Others, such as the U.S. and U.K., are opening up even as infection numbers near records. Meanwhile, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand have vowed to keep vigilantly working to eliminate the virus locally. As a result, they are likely to be among the last places to leave behind the disruption wrought by walling out the pandemic.
India records 16,504 new COVID-19 cases
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 99,46,867 pushing the national recovery rate to 96.19 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.
Accidental death insurance cover for Delhi Police personnel raised to ₹78 lakh
Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava said that the Delhi Police negotiated a better insurance claim structure with Axis Bank, therefore, insurance cover for natural deaths has been raised from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 28 lakh and from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 78 lakh for accidental death. Apart from this, the family of the cop will be compensated with Rs 10 lakh if he commits suicide.
Israel could become 1st nation to vaccinate all its citizens
Health professionals have attributed the success of the vaccination programme to several factors, including the fact that Israel’s population is relatively small and young. PM Benjamin Netanyahu has taken on the vaccination drive as a personal mission and has taken credit for securing millions of Pfizer and Moderna doses
More than 50 countries launch Covid-19 vaccination campaigns
In Asia, Singapore launched its campaign on Wednesday with the same vaccine.
Other countries on the Asian continent however have decided to take their time: India, Japan and Taiwan plan to begin vaccinations in the first quarter of 2021 and the Philippines and Pakistan in the second quarter, while Afghanistan and Thailand plan to start in mid-2021.
India records less than 20,000 fresh COVID-19 cases; no. of recoveries goes past 99 lakh
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 99,06,387, pushing the national recovery rate to 96.12 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stood at 1.45 per cent.
There are 2,50,183 active coronavirus cases in the country, which accounts for 2.43 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
Most prioritised beneficiaries will get vaccine free of cost In the first phase of vaccination: Harsh Vardhan
Earlier in the day, the Health Minister had said that the vaccine will be free across the country. “Not just in Delhi, it will be free across the country,” Vardhan said when asked for the government’s position on the issue.
Britain will allow mixing of COVID-19 vaccines on rare occasions
Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at Public Health England, said this would only happen on extremely rare occasions, and that the government was not recommending the mixing of vaccines, which require at least two doses given several weeks apart.
Finland confirms first adverse reaction to Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
“When there are at least five such reports, we will put information on our website about the type of reactions that have occurred,” the agency’s Chief Physician Maija Kaukonen told the broadcaster, adding that no further details could be disclosed due to patient confidentiality.
Have to assume pandemic is going to get worse: Fauci
Fauci’s comments on Tuesday came after the US registered a record high 65,000 deaths in the past 28 days, making December the worst month for coronavirus fatalities since the start of the pandemic.
December’s figure, roughly equivalent to over 1.6 Americans lost to the virus every minute, marked a significant surge from that in the entire month of November which registered 36,964 fatalities.
The country’s overall the overall death toll currently stood at 338,544, the highest in the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
China’s Fosun plans plant to make BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine: Caixin
Fosun Pharma had said it aims to move from importing finished vaccine from the German company to conducting some filling procedures on its own, using imported bulk ingredients and then eventually making vaccines from scratch, though it has not announced a specific timeline.