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Global distribution of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine remains undisturbed by the shot’s suspension in much of Europe following reports of blood clots in some people shortly after immunization, the World Health Organization said.
The U.N. agency, which continues to recommend the vaccine jointly produced by Oxford University and British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca, is helping provide doses to many poorer nations and said that the majority of those injections are being produced outside of Europe where the suspensions are now taking place.
The move by the WHO to reassure some countries comes as Australia said Tuesday that it would continue to use the vaccine, which Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said in a statement “is successful in protecting against COVID-19.” Thailand’s prime minister also became the country’s first person to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot Tuesday after the country briefly halted its rollout due to blood clot concerns in Europe. The vaccine has not been approved for use in the United States.
Here are some significant developments:
- Four of Europe’s most populous countries have now suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine over the reports of blood clots in some recently inoculated patients.
- A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention review identified several controversial recommendations about the coronavirus authored under the Trump administration that played down the severity of the pandemic and did not reflect the best scientific evidence.
- The coronavirus has disproportionately affected the nation’s Latino neighborhoods, as it has other minority communities. Even more stunning has been the deadly efficiency with which it has targeted Latinos in their 30s and 40s.
- Mississippi became the second state to remove eligibility requirements for vaccinating residents, joining Alaska. Starting Tuesday, “ALL new appointments will be open to ALL Mississippians,” its governor tweeted.
- The District is lifting some restrictions as deaths and hospitalizations from the coronavirus continue to decline. Every adult in the District will be eligible for a vaccine appointment starting May 1, the mayor said.
- The decline in the number of new cases across the country, continues to slow in March after dramatic drops in February, but deaths over the past week are still down a sharp 23.7 percent. More than 533,000 people have died from the virus in the United States.
French vaccine adviser defends suspension of AstraZeneca vaccine as criticism mounts
The French government’s top vaccine adviser, Alain Fischer, on Tuesday defended the suspension of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, citing a “small number of unusual side-effects” observed across several countries.
The concerns over blood clots as a possible side effect of the vaccine led to the suspension of the vaccine in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and a number of smaller European Union nations in recent days — a move that prompted criticism from some scientists and medical authorities elsewhere.
Fischer said that under the most optimistic scenario, a resumption of AstraZeneca vaccinations in France may be announced as early as Tuesday afternoon.
France’s European Affairs Minister Clément Beaune linked the country’s decision to suspend the vaccine to advice from German authorities, according to Radio France Internationale.
Germany had become the largest country to suspend the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday, after authorities detected seven cases of thrombosis among people who have received the vaccine in the country.
German health authorities urged anyone who has experienced side effects for over four days after receiving the shot to seek medical advice.
France’s vaccine adviser Fischer said Tuesday that recently vaccinated people should consult their doctors “if something abnormal happens.”
The WHO and AstraZeneca have maintained that the vaccine is safe and effective. The European Medicines Agency is expected to issue updated guidance this week.
China says foreigners inoculated with Chinese vaccines will enjoy streamlined visa process
TAIPEI — In its latest move to promote its coronavirus vaccines, China has said that foreigners inoculated with Chinese-made injections will enjoy certain “conveniences” when applying for entry into the country.
In announcements made in more than half a dozen countries, China said it would simplify the application process for those with certificates proving they had been given a Chinese vaccine.
Notices of the new policy to “resume people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries” were issued by Chinese embassies or consulates in the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Germany, Italy, the United States, Israel and India as of Monday.
China has approved four vaccines for emergency use, exporting them mainly to developing countries. Its latest vaccine, approved last week, was developed by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical company and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The final phase trials were being conducted in Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Indonesia, according to a statement from the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Monday.
For most of the last year, China has maintained tight border entry requirements, barring most foreigners, including journalists, students and business people. Those allowed entry are required to quarantine for at least two weeks and often need special approval.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian did not specify how the application process would be streamlined. A notice on the Chinese embassy’s website in the United States only said that foreign nationals and their family members visiting China to resume “work and production in various fields” could apply.
In India and the Philippines, notices on the embassy websites said those interested could prepare their applications “in accordance with requirements before the pandemic.” A statement issued by the embassy in Germany said applicants would not need to provide invitation letters by provincial foreign affairs or commercial departments.
The Foreign Ministry also said the criteria for emergency humanitarian visas, such as visiting family, attending funerals or seeing critically ill relatives, would be expanded.
Turkey relaxes its restrictions — and reports highest number of new daily covid-19 cases this year
Turkey recorded its highest number of new daily coronavirus cases this year just two weeks after authorities relaxed restrictions across most of the country.
The Health Ministry Monday reported 15,503 new cases and 63 deaths in the previous 24 hours, the most infections in a single day since Dec. 30.
Case numbers have been rising steadily since schools and restaurants opened again at the beginning of the month and despite a nighttime curfew that remains in place nationwide.
Turkish officials had said that they would calibrate restrictions by province every few weeks based on both infection and vaccination rates, but no new curbs were announced Monday. Instead, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that Turkey ranks fifth in the world in terms of vaccinations, despite a slow rollout.
In Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, the infection rate stood at 178 per 100,000 people from March 6 to March 12, according to a map posted on Twitter by the Turkish health minister. The minister, Fahrettin Koca, said last week that more transmissible virus variants were spreading rapidly through Turkey and that authorities recorded nearly 42,000 cases of the variant first identified in Britain.
Koca has come under fire for failing to release transparent coronavirus figures, including the total number of procured vaccine doses. Right now Turkey has only made the Chinese vaccine CoronaVac made by Sinovac available for use, despite concerns over its efficacy, particularly against new variants.
Erdogan said Monday that Turkey has administered 11.5 million doses so far. According to official figures, however, just 3.5 million people have received a second dose, out of a population of 82 million.
Sweden, home of AstraZeneca, joins other European countries in suspending use of its vaccine
Sweden’s Public Health Agency has suspended the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine citing the ongoing investigation by the European Medicines Agency into any connection with blood clots.
The move comes after Sweden originally declined to follow its Nordic neighbors Denmark and Norway in halting use of the vaccine after suspicions that it could be linked to some fatal cases of blood clots.
On Thursday, Swedish authorities argued that no link had been found between the vaccine and the blood clot cases, a finding that has been echoed by the EMA, the World Health Organization and AstraZeneca itself, which is partly based in Sweden. In a press release, the country’s state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said it was a “precautionary” measure.
On Monday, four of Europe’s most populous countries followed Denmark in suspending the use of the vaccine, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Ireland and Indonesia have also done so.
Australia and Britain, home of Oxford University, which helped develop the vaccine, have reiterated their faith in its safety and effectiveness.
WHO officials are still recommending the vaccine, and they said Monday that the greatest threat facing countries is a lack of access to vaccines — not blood clot concerns. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose health officials have approved the AstraZeneca shot, called it “safe and effective.” The company has said there is no evidence of a link between its vaccine and clotting.
The International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, which is concerned with blood clotting-related ailments, recommended that adults continue to use the vaccine because “the small number of reported thrombotic events relative to the millions of administered COVID-19 vaccinations does not suggest a direct link.”
Every adult in D.C. to be eligible for vaccine by May 1; Prince George’s County expands eligibility
Every adult in the District will be eligible for coronavirus vaccine appointments starting on May 1, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said Monday, in keeping with the national goal set last week by President Biden.
The announcement applies to District residents 16 and older and people who work in the city in essential jobs.
In neighboring Prince George’s County, officials said county-run vaccination clinics expanded eligibility as of Monday to include people ages 65 to 74 and some additional categories of essential workers.
Bowser also announced the lifting of some restrictions on gatherings and entertainment, and said she hopes broader vaccination will make it possible to loosen more limits on businesses and social activities.
WHO says no interruption to vaccine rollout amid AstraZeneca controversy
The global distribution of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine remains undisturbed by decisions in some European countries to suspend its use amid reports of blood clots developing in patients shortly after immunization, the World Health Organization said.
The vaccine is a mainstay of the U.N. agency’s effort to get shots to poorer nations through its Covax facility, which signed an agreement with AstraZeneca to roll out as many as 237 million doses worldwide by May. Those doses are being manufactured in India and South Korea.
“We understand these are precautionary measures,” WHO assistant director general Mariangela Simao said of the suspensions in Europe, the Associated Press reported. “I would like to say this to countries from other regions that are not Europe: that the vaccines [at issue] so far are from European manufacturing, not vaccines that are provided through the COVAX facility.”
The WHO has helped facilitate the global delivery of 29 million vaccine doses, most of which are AstraZeneca shots.
The move by the WHO to reassure some countries comes as Australia said Tuesday that it would continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine in its national immunization campaign. Thailand’s prime minister also became the country’s first person to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot Tuesday after briefly halting its own rollout due to the blood clot concerns in Europe
Australia “remains confident in the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine and there is currently no evidence that it causes blood clots,” Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said in a statement.
“While the European Medicines Agency is investigating these events, it has reinforced its view that the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine is successful in protecting against covid-19 and should continue to be used in the rollout,” Kelly said.
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In D.C. suburbs, tens of thousands of children return to school
Tens of thousands of children in the Washington suburbs are returning to in-person schooling this week, marking the end — for many — of more than a year of wholly virtual instruction.
Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest school district, opened the doors of its 135 elementary schools to more than 19,000 children from kindergarten to third grade. For the kindergartners, the day meant taking their first steps ever inside their schools.
Over the next few days, three major districts in Northern Virginia will send large cohorts of middle-schoolers and high-schoolers back into classrooms, where they will join peers who returned earlier this semester. This final phasing-in fulfills promises, issued separately by leaders of the systems in Fairfax County, Arlington and Alexandria City, that families who prefer it will be able to pursue in-person learning by mid-March.
Spring break has arrived in Florida. Officials are begging the unmasked revelers to behave.
After the fledgling pandemic forced an early end to Florida’s annual spring break bacchanal in 2020, the state is wide open this time around and — for some — irresistible.
Walt Disney World’s four parks, operating at reduced capacity, have no more tickets available through March 25. Photos from popular beach destinations this month have shown large, occasionally raucous crowds of unmasked revelers. Over the weekend, Miami Beach police arrested 100 and pepper-sprayed “unruly” spring breakers.
Flights are cheap. Travel restrictions are nonexistent, and the state reopened its economy months ago.
Public health experts point out that spring break visitors are likely to be young and unvaccinated — and participants in high-risk behavior such as hanging out in bars and packed clubs.
Covid-19 proves especially lethal to younger Latinos
THERMAL, Calif. — Her lungs aching with each breath, Blanca Quintero, a 53-year-old cancer survivor, sought care for the coronavirus from physicians almost two hours away in Mexicali, Mexico, because her calls to doctors here went unanswered.
Was she being overlooked in the flurry of the winter surge or simply ignored, another instance of the mistreatment she and other Latino patients have faced as Spanish-speaking immigrants, she wondered.
Was the risk of venturing across the border worth it? Yes.
Throughout the pandemic, the coronavirus has disproportionately carved a path through the nation’s Latino neighborhoods, as it has in African American, Native American and Pacific Islander communities. The death rate in those communities from covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, is at least double that for Whites and Asian Americans, federal data shows.
Even more stunning: the deadly efficiency with which the virus has targeted Latinos in their 30s and 40s.
Prescription to expand Medicaid in the coronavirus relief package
Kelly Percival had insurance through her customer service job with a Tampa roofing company when, early last year, she severely fractured her right ankle. She called her boss last March to say she could come back to work. Don’t bother, she was told. Amid the newly begun coronavirus pandemic, the company was downsizing.
If Percival, long divorced and now unemployed, lived in most of the United States, she could have turned to Medicaid after her Blue Cross Blue Shield plan disappeared. Instead, she is among 4 million people the insurance does not reach because they live in one of a dozen states that have not expanded Medicaid.
But the vast coronavirus relief strategy that President Biden signed into law last week might allow Percival to stop skipping the follow-up orthopedic appointments for her ankle that she cannot afford.
