Coronavirus vaccine shots given worldwide

[ghazi52]

US administers 468.5 m doses of Covid vaccines: CDC

The United States had administered 468,516,782 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and distributed 581,107,805 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Those figures are up from the 466,348,132 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by Dec. 3 out of 580,893,145 doses delivered.

The agency said 235,297,964 people had received at least one dose, while 198,592,167 people had been fully vaccinated as of 6:00 am on Saturday.

 

[ghazi52]

South Africa approves Pfizer vaccine booster amid Covid wave

South Africa's regulatory authority has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as a booster shot, opening the way for third doses to be administered to battle the current surge driven by the Omicron variant, reports AP.

South Africa's new Covid-19 cases continue to rise. In the last 24 hours, South Africa recorded 22,391 new cases, up from about 200 per day in early November. More than 90 per cent of the new cases are Omicron, according to genetic sequencing surveys.

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority approved the Pfizer vaccine as a booster shot for people 18 years and older, six months after they received their second dose.

The regulatory body also approved a third dose for people aged 12 years and older who were severely immunocompromised, which may be taken 28 days after their second dose

 

[ghazi52]

Armenia will allow employers to fire unvaccinated workers

Armenia's parliament has approved a law that will allow employers to fire workers who refuse to provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19 or a negative test result, reports AP.

The new rule follows an August order by the ministry of health which required Armenian citizens to provide their employers with proof of vaccination or a negative polymerase chain reaction test every two weeks or face a fine.

If the employee is not providing a vaccination certificate, or a negative Covid-19 test, the employer is given the right to turn the employee away from the workplace, suspend their pay and fire the employee, if they are off for 10 working days because of that, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ruben Sargsyan said on Friday.

The new vaccination requirement will not apply to the country's president, prime minister, members of parliament or the National Assembly, the ombudsman, judges of the Constitutional Court and a number of other officials, Sargsyan said.

 

[ghazi52]

France approves antibody therapy for high-risk Covid cases

French health authorities have approved the use of an anti-body treatment made by AstraZeneca for high-risk people who show resistance to vaccines against coronavirus, reports AFP.

The independent public health body, HAS, announced “a green light for the preventive use of Evusheld ... for patients with a very high-risk of contracting a severe form of Covid-19”.

Evusheld, developed by the British-Swedish pharma company, this week received emergency use authorisation in the US for adults and children aged 12 and above.

The French approval is for adults only.

 

[ghazi52]

UK scientists urge more restrictions to fight Omicron surge

British scientists say the government may need to introduce tougher restrictions to slow the growth of the Omicron variant and prevent a new surge in Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths, AP reports.

UK health officials say Omicron is spreading much more quickly than the Delta strain and is likely to replace it and become the dominant variant in Britain within days. The UK has recorded 58,194 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number since January, though what portion were the Omicron variant is unclear.

Concerns about the new variant led Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government to reintroduce restrictions that were lifted almost six months ago. Masks must be worn in most indoor settings, vaccine certificates must be shown to enter nightclubs and people are being urged to work from home if possible.

Many scientists say that’s unlikely to be enough.

 

[ghazi52]

US crosses 50m Covid-19 cases as Delta dominates amid Omicron emergence

The United States crossed 50 million coronavirus cases on Sunday, according to Reuters tally, as the Delta variant continues to threaten Americans and the newly discovered Omicron variant spreads.

After about two months of declining infections, the United States has reported daily increases for the past two weeks, driven by the more easily transmitted Delta variant.

The number of hospitalized Covid patients is rising as well, up 20 per cent since the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November.

 

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Omicron could trigger 'Inequity 2.0', says vaccine alliance chief

The head of vaccine alliance Gavi, which is leading an UN-backed push to get Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries, said that he's seen early signs that rich countries are beginning to withhold donations out of fears about the omicron coronavirus variant warning any new hoarding could lead to Inequity 2.0, AP reports.

Gavi chief executive Dr Seth Berkley took stock of the nearly two-year fight against the pandemic as the alliance released the latest update to its supply forecast for Covid-19 vaccines that it has repeatedly downscaled, largely because of export bans and vaccine hoarding by some producer countries that critics say it should have foreseen.

With the omicron variant, what we've seen is panic in many countries that has led to acceleration of boosters both to the numbers of people getting them, but also the timeline for getting them, Berkley told The Associated Press in an interview.

 

[ghazi52]

Sinopharm Covid-19 booster weaker against Omicron:


A Covid-19 booster shot produced by China's Sinopharm had "significantly lower" neutralising activity against the Omicron variant, Chinese researchers said in a paper, although they added the vaccine's efficacy against Omicron remained unclear

The study — conducted by researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a Shanghai-based lab specialising in respiratory infectious diseases — compared the activity of Sinopharm's booster vaccine against an older coronavirus strain from Wuhan.

The neutralising antibody activity of a Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV booster against Omicron showed a 20.1-fold reduction, compared with its activity against a Wuhan strain, according to the paper.

 

[ghazi52]

UK approves Covid jab for under 12s as govt shortens self-isolation

British regulators approved a new formulation of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine appropriate for use in children aged five to 11, as the government cut the isolation period required for positive cases, AFP reports.

The announcements came as Wales followed Scotland in unveiling new post-Christmas coronavirus curbs, primarily around hospitality and large events, as the UK's devolved nations move at different speeds to surging Omicron variant cases.

Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had approved the new age-appropriate Pfizer-BioNTech after finding it was “safe and effective” for children aged five to 11.

“We have carefully considered all the available data and reached the decision that there is robust evidence to support a positive benefit risk for children in this age group,” MHRA chief executive June Raine said in a statement.

 

[ghazi52]

Global vaccine rollout

2021

Location	Percent fully vaccinated	Total doses
World	49	9,097,104,632
China	84	2,795,716,000
India	43	1,435,195,841
US	61	506,313,935
Brazil	67	330,718,457
Indonesia	41	271,240,030
Japan	78	199,596,362
Pakistan	30	153,477,237
Mexico	56	148,689,393
Vietnam	57	148,198,862
Germany	70	148,010,358
Russia	46	146,163,749
Bangladesh	27	132,282,376
UK	69	132,121,605
Turkey	61	130,571,857
France	73	122,386,879
Iran	60	116,210,697
Italy	74	109,976,998
Philippines	44	107,277,506
Thailand	65	102,681,943
South Korea	83	102,272,231
Spain	81	86,237,508
Argentina	71	75,644,660
Canada	77	68,084,993
Colombia	55	63,992,507
Malaysia	78	57,305,127
Egypt	20	52,819,190
Saudi Arabia	65	50,477,457
Morocco	62	50,265,580
Peru	63	48,228,055
Poland	56	46,549,512
Chile	86	43,713,928
Australia	76	42,272,089
Uzbekistan	33	38,864,733
Taiwan	66	34,493,865
Sri Lanka	64	33,516,336
Myanmar	24	31,859,036
Cambodia	81	30,336,200
Cuba	85	30,090,996
Venezuela	40	30,049,714
Ukraine	31	28,296,720
South Africa	26	27,850,779
Ecuador	70	27,304,608
Netherlands	71	26,595,765
United Arab Emirates	91	22,406,584
Nepal	33	21,988,516
Belgium	76	21,451,272
Portugal	89	19,229,373
Sweden	73	17,517,091
Kazakhstan	45	17,453,484
Greece	67	17,100,487
Israel	64	16,665,409
Austria	71	16,323,415
Romania	41	15,796,163
Czech Republic	62	15,335,120
Hungary	62	15,074,636
Mozambique	18	14,408,516
Nigeria	2	14,149,682
Iraq	14	14,140,578
Dominican Republic	52	14,057,252
Switzerland	67	13,663,542
Algeria	13	12,545,356
Rwanda	37	12,316,233
Denmark	78	11,993,187
Tunisia	49	11,979,466
Azerbaijan	46	11,286,004
Guatemala	25	11,247,608
Angola	11	11,164,918
Ethiopia	1	10,894,936
Hong Kong	62	9,886,743
Uganda	3	9,763,030
Kenya	7	9,739,482
Norway	72	9,691,822
Honduras	43	9,589,064
Bolivia	38	9,556,929
El Salvador	64	9,553,791
Singapore	87	9,543,800
Ireland	77	9,510,367
Finland	74	9,489,226
Jordan	38	8,265,793
Serbia	47	8,239,799
New Zealand	75	8,143,384
Nicaragua	43	7,785,141
Costa Rica	68	7,756,348
Ghana	7	7,755,231
Belarus	34	7,708,200
Turkmenistan	52	7,580,976
Zimbabwe	21	7,222,341
Uruguay	77	6,959,931
Kuwait	74	6,942,690
Paraguay	41	6,833,614
Tajikistan	28	6,287,345
Slovakia	44	6,073,488
Oman	55	6,046,310
Panama	56	5,869,229
Laos	42	5,830,021
Mongolia	65	5,337,594
Sudan	3	5,251,235
Afghanistan	9	5,228,706
Qatar	76	5,182,058
Ivory Coast	6	4,812,235
Croatia	48	4,684,781
Lebanon	27	4,351,154
Lithuania	68	4,083,697
Bulgaria	28	3,682,460
Palestinian Territories	28	3,315,774
Bahrain	67	3,212,489
Slovenia	57	2,894,044
Guinea	7	2,770,451
Libya	12	2,664,009
Latvia	67	2,542,389
Georgia	29	2,495,435
Tanzania	2	2,431,769
Togo	12	2,377,399
Albania	36	2,316,606
Senegal	5	2,269,383
Kyrgyzstan	15	2,245,084
Botswana	42	2,137,289
Mauritius	71	2,036,896
Mauritania	15	1,843,386
Benin	11	1,773,592
Moldova	24	1,770,434
Malawi	3	1,764,634
Syria	4	1,753,522
North Macedonia	39	1,741,245
Zambia	6	1,669,400
Kosovo	44	1,666,176
Armenia	23	1,626,738
Bosnia and Herzegovina	22	1,553,874
Cyprus	68	1,541,159
Estonia	62	1,515,552
Somalia	5	1,504,914
Trinidad and Tobago	47	1,397,059
Congo	10	1,295,601
Fiji	67	1,267,045
Jamaica	19	1,199,076
Timor-Leste	40	1,195,990
Bhutan	72	1,154,843
Mali	2	1,057,653
Burkina Faso	3	1,053,330
Malta	84	1,052,035
Luxembourg	68	1,045,759
Cameroon	2	986,281
Niger	2	971,636
Macau	70	970,888
Sierra Leone	5	923,880
Liberia	15	880,313
Central African Republic	7	790,782
Brunei	87	790,506
Maldives	68	788,978
Yemen	1	786,027
Guyana	40	764,898
Madagascar	2	742,069
Namibia	13	736,133
Iceland	83	715,062
Lesotho	30	688,097
Montenegro	43	630,634
Cape Verde	46	571,130
Gabon	8	566,021
Comoros	28	527,119
Papua New Guinea	2	504,018
Suriname	38	488,364
Equatorial Guinea	14	452,666
Belize	49	424,634
Guinea-Bissau	1	413,938
Eswatini	26	399,616
Chad	0.4769	366,585
Bahamas	37	300,214
Barbados	50	298,361
DR Congo	0.1147	291,286
Gambia	9	276,276
South Sudan	2	268,640
Samoa	61	263,189
Solomon Islands	8	235,918
Jersey	76	202,739
Haiti	0.6247	194,341
Seychelles	79	183,472
Isle of Man	77	177,242
Vanuatu	16	152,711
Sao Tome and Principe	23	137,612
Djibouti	3	135,032
Cayman Islands	86	130,608
Tonga	53	130,236
Antigua and Barbuda	59	120,786
Andorra	65	115,709
Bermuda	74	112,695
Gibraltar	119	108,149
Guernsey	21	106,109
Saint Lucia	27	104,729
Faroe Islands	83	95,287
Kiribati	19	82,167
Greenland	67	78,500
Grenada	31	78,476
Liechtenstein	67	62,997
St Vincent and the Grenadines	24	61,198
Dominica	38	57,044
Turks and Caicos Islands	69	56,343
Saint Kitts and Nevis	48	54,868
San Marino	64	53,942
Monaco	59	49,980
British Virgin Islands	56	35,799
Cook Islands	71	25,339
Anguilla	61	20,284
Nauru	67	14,863
Tuvalu	49	12,114
Saint Helena	58	7,892
Burundi	0.0288	7,543
Falkland Islands	50	4,407
Montserrat	30	3,020
Niue	71	2,352
Tokelau	71	1,936
Pitcairn	100	94
British Indian Ocean Territory	0	0
Eritrea	0	0
North Korea	0	0
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	0	0
Vatican	0	0

This information is regularly updated but may not reflect the latest totals or vaccines administered for each location. Total vaccinations refers to the number of doses given, and may include booster doses in addition to those required for full vaccination. The definition of full vaccination varies by location and vaccine type and is subject to change over time.

Full vaccination can refer to one dose of a one-shot vaccine, two doses of a two-dose vaccine, etc., or sometimes recovery from infection plus one dose of a vaccine. Definitions have not yet been updated to account for booster campaigns to control the spread of new variants.

Source: Our World in Data

Last updated: 30 December 2021, 12:48 GMT

 

[JSCh]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1477210487897169920

 

[ghazi52]

Covid cases top 300 million worldwide: AFP tally

The total number of Covid-19 cases registered worldwide since the start of the pandemic have topped 300 million, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

The figure stood at 300,042,439 cases at 15:45 GMT, including all the cases announced since the World Health Organisation office in China first reported the outbreak of the disease in late December 2019.

Over 13.5 million virus cases have been detected worldwide in the past week, a massive rise of 64 per cent over the previous seven days, averaging out at 1,938,395 new infections per day.

 

[ghazi52]

 

[ghazi52]

Location	% fully vaccinated	Total doses
World	50	9,455,141,858
China	84	2,899,557,000
India	45	1,517,705,282
US	62	519,335,422
Brazil	67	335,742,922
Indonesia	42	286,963,578
Japan	79	201,259,462
Pakistan	33	162,115,885
Vietnam	57	160,033,187
Germany	71	153,899,268
Mexico	56	148,938,454
Russia	46	147,390,352
Turkey	61	136,281,040
UK	70	135,127,965
Bangladesh	27	132,282,376
France	74	126,736,410
Iran	62	122,153,249
Italy	75	115,492,102
Philippines	47	113,364,030
South Korea	84	106,910,694
Thailand	65	102,681,943
Spain	81	84,998,186
Argentina	73	79,722,026
Canada	78	71,315,287
Colombia	56	65,895,507
Malaysia	78	59,278,598
Egypt	23	58,836,189
Saudi Arabia	66	52,689,404
Peru	66	51,466,857
Morocco	62	50,804,376
Poland	56	48,215,692
Chile	87	45,041,534
Australia	77	44,086,608
Uzbekistan	33	39,808,447
Myanmar	28	36,388,358
Taiwan	69	35,306,926
Sri Lanka	64	34,186,959
Cuba	86	31,344,582
Cambodia	81	30,764,313
Netherlands	71	30,291,622
Venezuela	40	30,049,714
Ukraine	32	28,792,562
South Africa	27	28,296,823
Ecuador	71	27,566,331
Nepal	36	25,275,254
United Arab Emirates	92	22,856,527
Belgium	76	22,179,940
Portugal	90	19,872,031
Sweden	73	17,887,449
Greece	68	17,847,989
Kazakhstan	45	17,566,051
Israel	64	16,936,490
Austria	73	16,749,794
Romania	41	16,035,037
Czech Republic	62	16,012,615
Mozambique	20	15,480,413
Nigeria	2	15,252,779
Hungary	63	15,219,498
Iraq	14	14,577,185
Dominican Republic	52	14,211,317
Switzerland	67	14,177,368
Rwanda	42	13,447,741
Algeria	13	12,545,356
Denmark	80	12,451,953
Tunisia	51	12,376,388
Angola	12	12,099,891
Singapore	87	11,834,312
Guatemala	26	11,682,768
Azerbaijan	46	11,498,372
Ethiopia	1	10,956,131
Kenya	8	10,609,955
Bolivia	40	10,400,210
Hong Kong	62	10,233,794
Norway	72	10,046,271
Finland	75	9,963,908
Ireland	77	9,891,809
Honduras	43	9,871,482
Uganda	3	9,763,030
El Salvador	64	9,651,029
Ghana	8	8,848,172
Belarus	38	8,651,776
New Zealand	76	8,388,408
Serbia	47	8,290,461
Jordan	38	8,265,793
Nicaragua	45	7,980,576
Costa Rica	69	7,879,899
Turkmenistan	52	7,580,976
Zimbabwe	21	7,354,591
Ivory Coast	8	7,113,233
Kuwait	75	7,100,784
Paraguay	42	7,088,227
Uruguay	77	6,997,151
Tajikistan	30	6,605,225
Slovakia	48	6,307,995
Oman	56	6,118,018
Panama	57	6,072,508
Laos	42	5,830,021
Mongolia	65	5,369,265
Qatar	76	5,279,265
Sudan	3	5,251,235
Afghanistan	10	4,903,368
Croatia	53	4,832,185
Lebanon	28	4,570,269
Lithuania	68	4,243,152
Bulgaria	28	3,856,671
Guinea	10	3,409,297
Palestinian Territories	29	3,383,211
Bahrain	68	3,274,860
Syria	5	2,894,288
Slovenia	58	2,807,725
Libya	12	2,752,390
Latvia	68	2,621,742
Georgia	29	2,553,749
Togo	12	2,446,683
Tanzania	2	2,431,769
Mauritania	20	2,424,087
Albania	37	2,398,207
Senegal	6	2,360,122
Kyrgyzstan	15	2,292,871
Botswana	43	2,206,312
Mauritius	72	2,051,003
Benin	11	1,897,214
Zambia	7	1,896,642
Malawi	4	1,816,292
Moldova	25	1,797,147
North Macedonia	39	1,755,026
Kosovo	44	1,687,782
Armenia	24	1,668,198
Cyprus	69	1,595,454
Bosnia and Herzegovina	22	1,553,874
Estonia	62	1,524,742
Somalia	5	1,504,914
Trinidad and Tobago	48	1,435,282
Congo	10	1,295,601
Fiji	68	1,272,805
Jamaica	20	1,236,487
Timor-Leste	41	1,210,070
Mali	2	1,196,941
Burkina Faso	3	1,192,663
Bhutan	73	1,159,639
Liberia	19	1,146,910
Malta	85	1,128,125
Luxembourg	68	1,076,765
Cameroon	2	1,024,333
Macau	71	989,499
Niger	2	971,636
Madagascar	3	971,426
Sierra Leone	5	923,880
Central African Republic	7	855,775
Maldives	68	792,296
Brunei	87	790,506
Yemen	1	786,027
Namibia	13	749,624
Iceland	77	721,464
Guyana	37	718,219
Lesotho	30	688,097
Montenegro	44	640,239
Cape Verde	46	591,452
Comoros	28	581,547
Gabon	8	566,021
Papua New Guinea	2	510,910
Suriname	39	492,421
Equatorial Guinea	14	452,666
Belize	49	424,634
Eswatini	27	417,510
Guinea-Bissau	1	414,465
Chad	0.4769	366,585
DR Congo	0.1422	340,509
Bahamas	38	308,249
Barbados	50	299,968
South Sudan	2	288,900
Gambia	9	280,797
Samoa	61	263,189
Solomon Islands	9	246,124
Jersey	76	211,427
Djibouti	10	206,820
Haiti	0.6501	199,874
Seychelles	79	183,472
Isle of Man	77	182,162
Vanuatu	16	152,711
Guernsey	21	142,792
Sao Tome and Principe	23	137,612
Tonga	59	136,773
Cayman Islands	86	130,608
Antigua and Barbuda	60	121,415
Andorra	66	117,246
Bermuda	73	114,241
Gibraltar	119	108,577
Saint Lucia	27	105,945
Kiribati	31	104,560
Faroe Islands	83	99,594
Greenland	67	78,558
Grenada	31	78,476
Liechtenstein	67	64,609
St Vincent and the Grenadines	24	61,198
Dominica	40	59,332
San Marino	64	56,799
Turks and Caicos Islands	69	56,343
Saint Kitts and Nevis	48	55,590
Monaco	59	49,980
British Virgin Islands	56	35,799
Cook Islands	72	25,548
Anguilla	61	20,284
Nauru	67	14,863
Tuvalu	49	12,114
Burundi	0.0288	9,007
Saint Helena	58	7,892
Falkland Islands	50	4,407
Montserrat	30	3,020
Niue	71	2,352
Tokelau	71	1,936
Pitcairn	100	94

This information is regularly updated but may not reflect the latest totals or vaccines administered for each location. Total doses may include booster doses in addition to those required for full vaccination. The definition of full vaccination varies by location and vaccine type and is subject to change over time.

Full vaccination can refer to a person receiving all required doses of a specific vaccine or sometimes recovery from infection plus one dose of a vaccine. Definitions have not yet been updated to account for booster campaigns to control the spread of new variants. Some locations may reach vaccination rates over 100%, such as Gibraltar, due to population estimates that are lower than the number of people who have now been vaccinated in that place.

Source: Our World in Data
Last updated: 10 January 2022, 16:27 GMT

Some countries have secured more vaccine doses than their populations need, while other lower-income countries are relying on a global plan known as Covax, which is seeking to ensure everyone in the world has access to a vaccine.

Of those countries that have moved on to booster campaigns, Chile, Denmark and Bahrain have currently vaccinated the highest proportion of people.

 

[ghazi52]

Omicron especially dangerous for unvaccinated: WHO

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is dangerous, and especially so for those who have not been vaccinated against the disease, the World Health Organization said.

“While Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference.