Vaccine
FDA authorizes 1st COVID-19 shots for infants, preschoolers
U.S. regulators on Friday authorized the first COVID-19 shots for infants and preschoolers, paving the way for vaccinations to begin next week.
The Food and Drug Administration’s action follows its advisory panel’s unanimous recommendation for the shots from Moderna and Pfizer. That means U.S. kids under 5 — roughly 18 million youngsters — are eligible for the shots, about 1 1/2 years after the vaccines first became available in the U.S. for adults, who have been hit the hardest during the pandemic.
The FDA also authorized Moderna’s vaccine for school-aged children and teens. Pfizer’s shots had previously been the only ones available for those ages.
There’s one step left: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends how to use vaccines and its vaccine advisers are set to discuss the shots for the youngest kids Friday and vote on Saturday. A final signoff would come from CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
At a Senate hearing Thursday, Walensky said her staff was working over the Juneteenth federal holiday weekend “because we understand the urgency of this for American parents.”
She said pediatric deaths from COVID-19 have been higher than what is generally seen from the flu each year.
“So I actually think we need to protect young children, as well as protect everyone with the vaccine and especially protect elders,” she said.
Read: UNICEF finds Bangladesh as Covid-19 vaccine success story
For weeks, the Biden administration has been preparing to roll out the vaccines. States, tribes, community health centers and pharmacies preordered millions of doses. FDA’s emergency use authorization allows manufacturers to begin shipping vaccine across the country. Vaccinations could begin as early as Monday or Tuesday.
Some parents have been anxiously awaiting the chance to protect their little ones.
While young children generally don’t get as sick from COVID-19 as older kids and adults, their hospitalizations surged during the omicron wave and FDA’s advisers determined that benefits from vaccination outweighed the minimal risks. Studies from Moderna and Pfizer showed side effects, including fever and fatigue, were mostly minor.
The two brands use the same technology but there are differences.
Pfizer’s vaccine for kids younger than 5 is one-tenth of the adult dose. Three shots are needed: the first two given three weeks apart and the last at least two months later.
Moderna’s is two shots, each a quarter of its adult dose, given about four weeks apart for kids under 6.
The vaccines are for children as young as 6 months. Moderna next plans to study its shots for babies as young as 3-months-old. Pfizer has not finalized plans for shots in younger infants. A dozen countries, including China, already vaccinate kids under 5.
Dr. Beth Ebel, professor of pediatrics at University of Washington in Seattle, said the tot-sized vaccines would be especially welcomed by U.S. parents with children in daycare where outbreaks can sideline parents from jobs, adding to financial strain.
Read: Vaccine Diplomacy: Why it’s important for Bangladesh!
“A lot of people are going to be happy and a lot of grandparents are going to be happy, too, because we’ve missed those babies who grew up when you weren’t able to see them,” Ebel said.
Bangladesh thanks Kuwait for providing free vaccines to Bangladeshi expats
Bangladesh has expressed gratitude to the government of Kuwait for providing free vaccines and treatments to Bangladeshi expatriates living in Kuwait during the Covid-19 pandemic and for extending humanitarian support for the Rohingyas.
Outgoing Ambassador of Kuwait Adel Mohammed AH Hayat met Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Momen mentioned that Kuwait can recruit more medical professionals including nurse, medical technicians from Bangladesh, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The foreign minister appreciated the ambassador for his hard work and sincere efforts in strengthening bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Kuwait.
Read: Kuwait can recruit more medical professionals from Bangladesh: Shahriar Alam
He highlighted that Bangladesh and Kuwait enjoy excellent bilateral relations in the fields of manpower, trade and commerce, defense and energy sectors.
The envoy expressed his gratitude to the foreign minister for the cooperation and support he received during his tenure in Bangladesh.
He expressed hope that in the coming days, economic cooperation will be further strengthened for the mutual benefit of two countries.
Children aged 5-12 to be vaccinated by June: Health Minister
The government has taken steps to vaccinate children aged between five and 12 against Covid-19 by June, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Friday.
A special kind of (Pfizer) vaccine has been developed for the children. About two crore children will be vaccinated under this drive, said the minister at an Iftar mahfil in Manikganj Sadar Upazila.
Birth certificate is required to register for Covid vaccine for the children, he said.
The minister also urged the parents to register the birth of children from 5 to 12 years, so that there is no problem to get vaccinated.
Read: Govt procured over 29 crore Covid vaccine doses from abroad: PM
“We have already got the approval of the World Health Organization," he said.
The minister also said, “We have ordered for two crore covid vaccines in this regard. We have already received 30 lakh vaccines.”
The health minister further said that Bangladesh is one of the countries in the world where about 75 per cent of the population has been vaccinated, 95 per cent of the targeted population.
For the success in mass vaccination against Covid-19, the prime minister has become a vaccine hero earlier and this time he has been declared as the vaccine champion.
“We have so far administered about 25 crore doses. We are now administering booster doses. Those who have not jabbed with booster doses, get that quickly.”
Read: Vaccine seekers can get 1st dose at permanent centers: DGHS
Regarding the fourth wave of the pandemic, the health minister said, “Most people in our country have been vaccinated, so the fourth wave will not affect our country that way.”
Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is the only vaccine authorized or approved for children ages 5 through 17 years. Children and teens need two doses of a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Citing abstention at UNGA vote on Ukraine, Lithuania withdraws vaccine donation to Dhaka
Lithuania has cancelled its decision to donate COVID-19 vaccines to Bangladesh, the country's public broadcaster – Lithuanian Radio and Television (LRT) reported Monday.
The decision came after the country abstained during the United Nations General Assembly vote on condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, LRT reported quoting Rasa Jakilaitiene, a spokeswoman for the Lithuanian prime minister.
Earlier on March 2, the Lithuanian government announced that they will provide up to 444,600 doses of vaccine (manufactured by Pfizer) as “humanitarian assistance” to Bangladesh.
Lithuania has already donated vaccine doses to Ukraine, Latvia, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
On Sunday, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that Bangladesh abstained from the UN General Assembly vote on a resolution over the Ukraine crisis "for the sake of peace".
“We voted for peace,” he said, although Bangladesh actually abstained, neither voting for or against the resolution. In the government's assessment, the final text of the resolution was tilted towards blaming one side (Russia), rather than stopping the war, hence they could not support it.
Four South Asian countries - Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan - were among 35 abstentions as the UN General Assembly voted at an emergency session Wednesday on the Ukraine issue. The vote on the “Aggression against Ukraine” resolution however did cross the two-thirds threshold for adoption, with 141 countries having voted in favour of it. There were 5 voters against, by Moscow and its staunchest allies.
The abstentions included China, as expected, but also some surprises from usual Russian allies Cuba and Nicaragua.
Bangladesh rolls out Covid inoculation drive for 10 million people
Bangladesh on Saturday rolled out another phase of its mega Covid inoculation drive, aiming to cover a whopping 10 million people.
Across the country, including capital Dhaka, UNB found people thronging vaccine centres to get a shot in the arm.
“The special vaccination drive with an aim to inoculate one crore people in 24 hours started around 8.30am in districts across the country, including Dhaka,” said member secretary of Corona Vaccine Employment Committee of Health Services Division, Dr Shamsul Haque.
“There is no need for registration. People can just walk into the centres to get a shot of the Covid vaccine. People who are yet to get even their first shot should avail this opportunity. A vax card will be given to people, post-inoculation," he added.
Our Natore Correspondent reports: The local administration started the vaccination campaign in 250 centres across the district to bring around three lakh people under the ambit of the programme.
Deputy Commissioner Shamim Ahmed visited a number of vaccination centres in the morning.
Read: 2nd doses to be administered under mass vaccination on 3 days in cities, 1 day outside cities: PMO
Our Cumilla Correspondent adds: The special inoculation drive began in 701 vaccination centres across Cumilla, with an ambitious target to cover three lakh people.
Some 6.55 million vaccine shots will be provided at different levels on Saturday -- 4.14 million doses in 13,800 wards of the upazilas, 0.324 million doses in 1,068 wards of municipalities, and 2.0925 million shots in 465 wards across cities.
Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh kicks off 2nd dose mass vaccination campaign
Besides, 3.5 million vaccine doses will be provided to special communities, including workers at factories, markets, restaurants, boats, launches and ships, brick kilns and other floating communities.
Since the inauguration of the mass inoculation drive in Bangladesh on February 7 last year, some 8,19,39,878 people have been fully vaccinated with two shots and 10,958,331 people received their first doses till Friday (February 25). Besides, 3,59,826 people have received booster doses.
Covid-19: Vaccination campaign for Qawmi Madrasha students begins
The vaccination campaign for Qawmi Madrasha students began on Sunday.
Additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof. Meerjady Sabrina Flora and director of vaccination campaign Dr Shamsul Haque inaugurated the programme at Jamia Nurani Mohila Madrasha in Mirpur in the capital .
“The government is conducting the vaccination campaign successfully and those who have not received the jab yet are being included in the campaign, “said Sabrina.
Besides, director of the vaccination campaign Dr Shamsul Haque, said, “The campaign to vaccinate Madrasha students began across the country through the vaccination of Qwami madrasha students and this programme be expanded gradually.”
Earlier on January 10, Education Minister Dipu Moni said all the students, aged above 12 or above, will be vaccinated with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by January 31 so that they could attend schools and colleges.
The education minister said 48,19,554 students have been vaccinated against Covid so far.
“Those who have not been vaccinated yet will join classes online after January 12 and they will be allowed to attend classes after receiving the vaccine,” said the minister at a press briefing at the secretariat.
After a long closure due to the pandemic, the students of schools and colleges in Bangladesh returned to their classrooms on September 12 last year.
Amid the growing concern over the Coronavirus’ new Omicron variant, the government on January 13 imposed 11-point restrictions.
The government has extended the period of the existing restrictions on people’s movement and other activities until February 21 and imposed two new ones considering the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country.
READ: Pfizer asks FDA to allow COVID-19 vaccine for kids under 5
These restrictions will remain in force from February 7 to 21, said a notification issued by the Cabinet Division on February 3.
Besides, in-person classes of schools, colleges and equivalent educational institutions will remain suspended during this period, said the notification.
READ: Canada PM tests positive for Covid, rips anti vaccine demo
US donates another 10mn doses of Pfizer to Bangladesh
The United States has donated an additional 10 million (1 crore) doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh as a gift from the American people.
Delivered via COVAX, these donations of Pfizer vaccines bring the total U.S. government vaccine contribution to more than 38.6 million (3.86 crore) doses.
“With the latest spike in COVID-19 infections, the United States is redoubling our efforts to help Bangladesh turn the tide against this surge," said U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Helen LaFave on Monday.
These doses will help expand vaccinations for students and those who are awaiting their first doses, while enabling vulnerable people to receive boosters to protect themselves against the growing presence of the Omicron variant, said the US diplomat.
Read: US donates additional 9.6 million Pfizer vaccine doses to Bangladesh
This delivery of Pfizer vaccines is part of the United States’ commitment to lead the global COVID-19 response by donating a billion doses of Pfizer vaccine around the world through 2022.
The US side says millions more doses are scheduled to arrive here over the coming months.
In addition to vaccine donations, the United States continues to work closely with Bangladesh to support the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign and strengthen the government’s response to the pandemic.
The United States has provided training to over 7,000 healthcare providers on the proper management and administration of vaccines.
To date, the United States has contributed over $121 million in COVID-related development and humanitarian assistance through USAID, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This assistance has saved lives and treated individuals infected with COVID-19, strengthened testing capacity and monitoring, enhanced case management and infection prevention and control practices, and improved the supply chain and logistics management systems.
U.S. support has also "protected" front line workers and increased the public’s knowledge on how to better protect themselves from infection.
The United States has donated $4 billion to support the worldwide COVAX effort, which includes support for ultra-cold chain storage, transportation, and safe handling of COVID-19 vaccines, making the United States the world’s largest donor for equitable global COVID-19 vaccine access.
Govt school in Chandpur charging students Tk 50 per jab of vaccine!
Parents and students alleged the authority of Chhengarchar Government Model High School in North Matlab upazila of Chandpur of taking Tk 50 per Covid-19 vaccine jab to students.
When asked, Benzir Ahmed, headmaster of the only government school in the area, even accepted the allegation saying, “To meet the many expenses of conducting the vaccine campaign from our school as a center we are taking Tk 50 from the students per jab.”
Read: US donates additional 9.6 million Pfizer vaccine doses to Bangladesh
Parents claimed some students had to pay more than Tk 50.
There are 1,000 students currently enrolled in the school which indicates only from its own students the authority could collect Tk 50,000 in this regard.
The government directed to vaccinate the school students on an emergency basis by January 31 to ensure the quality of education and their attendance in the schools amid a surge in the Covid-19 cases.
Though the government is vaccinating the students free of cost, collecting money by the Chhengarchar Government Model High School authority has agitated the parents and concerned locals.
Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 3,447 fresh cases with 7 more deaths
However, Abdul Kayum Khan, Upazila Secondary Education officer told UNB he didn’t receive any complaint in this regard and will take actions after an inquiry.
Meanwhile, Md Gias Uddin patwari, District Secondary Education officer also said he had no such information and will take administrative measures if it's true.
Should kids be vaccinated? Brazil turns to online survey
As world leaders rely on public health specialists to inform their decisions about whether and how to vaccinate children against the coronavirus, Brazil’s government is asking the online public for guidance.
In recent weeks, President Jair Bolsonaro has staked out a position against immunizing kids aged between 5 and 11, and his administration took the unusual step of creating a platform that could validate a stance that is widely opposed by experts. Since his government on Dec. 23 unveiled its online questionnaire on the issue, the president’s supporters have been highly engaged on messaging apps trying to pressure parents to swing the results.
One widely shared post Wednesday on the Telegram group ‘Bolsonaro Army,’ which has about 37,000 members, said the vaccine is experimental and suggested that receiving shots could be more harmful than getting infected, although several studies have shown the opposite is true. It also included a link to the government’s survey, which other people were posting along with instructions to relay to friends and family.
The rally for resistance resembles online behavior observed earlier this month, which catapulted Bolsonaro to the top of the heap in TIME magazine’s readers poll for Person of the Year, David Nemer, an expert on Brazil’s far-right groups on messaging apps, told The Associated Press. Bolsonaro garnered about one-quarter of the more than 9 million votes — nearly triple that of the runner-up, former U.S. President Donald Trump. The magazine’s editors instead chose Elon Musk as 2021 Person of the Year.
This time, however, online efforts are aimed at something far more significant than bestowing an honorific on the president. The survey, which concludes Jan. 2, stands to shape vaccination policy in Latin America’s most populous nation, home to 20 million kids aged 5 to 11. Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga has said they will soon be eligible for vaccination, but survey results will help determine guidelines including whether shots could only be administered with parental consent and a doctor’s prescription.
READ: French kids line up to get vaccine shots as omicron spreads
“This is a tool of democracy, it widens the discussion on the topic and it will bring more ease for parents so they can take their children to immunize against COVID-19,” Queiroga said Wednesday.
Health experts, for their part, are aghast. Some Brazilian states’ health secretariats have already pledged to ignore any health ministry guidelines on childhood vaccination if based on the public consultation. Gonzalo Vecina, founder and director of Brazil’s health regulator between 1999 and 2003, says public consultation on vaccines is “unprecedented”.
“Bolsonaro is against the vaccine and his employee, the health minister, believes that health is a matter of public opinion. It is a spurious and nonsensical approach,” Vecina told the AP. “If only deniers send their opinion in the public consultation, is the government going to say that the vaccine doesn’t have to be used?”
Denialism from the top in Brazil is a bit of deja vu. Even as COVID-19 exploded, driving the nation’s death toll to the second highest in the world, Bolsonaro spent months sowing doubts about vaccines and was obstinate in his refusal to get a shot. He has cited the fact he contracted the coronavirus in 2020 to claim, incorrectly, that he is already immune, and routinely characterizes vaccination as an issue of personal choice rather than a means for ensuring the common good.
So when Brazil’s health regulator authorized use of Pfizer’s shot for children on Dec. 16, Bolsonaro was stunned.
“Kids are something very serious,” he said the same night in his weekly live broadcast on social media. “We don’t know about possible adverse future effects. It’s unbelievable — I’m sorry — what the agency did. Unbelievable.”
A study released Thursday by U.S. health authorities confirmed that serious side effects from the Pfizer vaccine in children ages 5 to 11 are rare. The findings were based on approximately 8 million doses dispensed to youngsters in that age group.
Bolsonaro added that he would name and expose the public servants who issued the approval, prompting a union representing health agency workers to express concern about online abuse or even physical attacks.
Despite fervent support among his base, Bolsonaro’s anti-vaccine stance hasn’t gained as much traction in Brazil — which has a proud history of inoculation campaigns — as in the U.S. More than two-thirds of Brazilians are fully vaccinated, as compared to 63% in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University’s vaccination tracker, though American children have been eligible for shots since early November.
In neighboring Argentina, the government has allowed kids 12 years and older to be vaccinated since August, and more recently began giving shots to children as young as 3. In the face of subsequent criticism, the nation’s health ministry cited the recommendation of the nation’s association of pediatricians. In Chile, two-thirds of kids aged between 3 and 17 have already received both their shots, after the nation’s health regulator analyzed an immunization study of 100 million children.
For the time being, Mexico isn’t vaccinating children except those 12 years or older with illnesses that put them at greater risk. Mexico’s point man for the pandemic, Hugo López-Gatell, said Tuesday the World Health Organization hasn’t recommended vaccinating children aged 5 to 11, and that countries with ample vaccine coverage, like Mexico, shouldn’t vaccinate kids until developing nations with limited coverage can raise their adult vaccination rates.
READ: Pfizer tests extra COVID shot for kids under 5 in setback
In Brazil, Mauro Paulino, general director of prominent pollster Datafolha, said one problem with the Bolsonaro government’s survey is the way questions are framed, repeatedly asking interviewees, “Do you agree that...?” Such failure to present questions neutrally can induce responses.
“Datafolha always gives the two possible alternatives: whether the interviewee agrees or disagrees with the statement,” he said. “Both sides of the question are necessary.”
Bolsonaro told supporters on Tuesday that pressure to inoculate kids stems from the “vaccine lobby” — a veiled reference to pharmaceutical companies. Many Bolsonaro supporters the next day were sharing a post from the Telegram group “Doctors for life,” which has more than 60,000 followers and frequently echoes the president’s unscientific COVID-19 advice.
One Telegram post with more than 200,000 shares said no child should be a guinea pig for the pharmaceutical industry. Tens of millions of doses have been administered to children around the world, with rare serious side effects. While few children die from COVID-19, vaccinating them can minimize the virus’ spread in society.
Bolsonaro also said this week he won’t allow the vaccination of his 11-year-old daughter. Meantime, his wife and politician sons received their shots, along with at least 16 of his 22 ministers — including Health Minister Queiroga.
Politicians from the party Bolsonaro joined to run for re-election in 2022 have advocated not only for vaccination, but also requiring proof of vaccination to enter certain places — another supposed infringement on personal liberties Bolsonaro opposes.
His chaotic management of the pandemic since its onset has been roundly criticized, and a Senate investigative committee recommended he face criminal charges.
But the president and his die-hard supporters on Telegram and WhatsApp aren’t backing down. Many interpreted his comments regarding his daughter in particular as a directive to reject the immunization of kids.
“There are a lot of messages about the dangers of vaccines, studies that aren’t true,” said Nemer, the expert on far-right groups, and an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia. “They’re bringing a lot of disinformation about vaccinating kids to motivate the base.”
Pro-Bolsonaro messaging app groups brought the topic back hours before the New Year arrived after the president once more attacked child vaccination in a six-minute national address on television.
“We defend that vaccines for kids between ages 5 and 11 are only given with the consent of parents and a medical prescription. Liberty must be respected,” Bolsonaro said.
Many Brazilians went to their balconies to bang on their pots in protest against the president.
How can I protect myself from the new omicron variant?
How can I protect myself from the new omicron variant?
The same way you guard against COVID-19 caused by any other variant:
Get vaccinated if you haven’t yet, get a booster if you’re eligible and step up other precautions you may have relaxed, like wearing a mask and avoiding crowds.
READ: India's Omicron cases rise to 21
For all the attention omicron is getting, the overwhelming cause of infections and deaths in many places remains the extra-contagious delta variant.
“Delta is the real risk right now. Omicron is an uncertain threat,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, told The Associated Press. Regardless of the coronavirus type, Collins said “we do know what to do.”
It will take a few weeks to learn key aspects about this latest variant, including whether it’s more contagious, causes more severe illness or evades immunity -- and if so, how by much.
In the meantime, “what we need to do is add more layers of protection,” says Dr. Julie Vaishampayan of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. That’s especially important with holiday travel and gatherings around the corner.
READ: Nepal reports first cases of omicron variant
A booster shot is one of those layers. The added dose triggers a big jump in virus-fighting antibodies. Even if the antibodies don’t prove quite as effective against omicron as they are against other variants, simply having more of them might compensate -- in addition to bolstering protection against delta.
In addition to masking, avoiding crowds and improving ventilation, testing is another protective step. That’s recommended for anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms or was potentially exposed to the virus. But it also could help ensure safety before holiday gatherings, even if everyone attending has been vaccinated, Vaishampayan says.