coronavirus vaccine
MoU signing on coproduction of Sinopharm jab Aug 16
Bangladesh will sign a memorandum of understanding on coproduction of Sinopharm vaccine with relevant parties on August 16.
The signing ceremony will be held at 3pm at BCPS auditorium Mohakhali in the city, said the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming will attend and witness the signing of the MoU.
Read: A million more Sinopharm doses land in Bangladesh
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen earlier said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on coproduction of Sinopharm vaccine in Bangladesh is ready for signing and it should be done without any delay.
“We’ve received it (MoU) and it’s with the Health Ministry. It should be done at any moment. I think the Health Ministry should dispose of it very quickly,” he told reporters.
Read: US okays Covid booster dose for those with weak immune systems
Dr Momen said the government of Bangladesh, Sinopharm and a local company (Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd) will sign the agreement.
He said Incepta will bring in bulk and bottling, labeling and finishing of the vaccine will be done locally making the price relatively very cheap.
US okays Covid booster dose for those with weak immune systems
Transplant recipients and others with severely weakened immune systems can get an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines to better protect them as the Delta variant continues to surge, US regulators said Thursday.
The late-night announcement by the Food and Drug Administration applies to several million Americans who are especially vulnerable because of organ transplants, certain cancers or other disorders. Several other countries, including France and Israel, have similar recommendations.
It is harder for vaccines to rev up an immune system suppressed by certain medications and diseases, so those patients do not always get the same protection as otherwise healthy people – and small studies suggest for at least some, an extra dose may be the solution.
"Today's action allows doctors to boost immunity in certain immunocompromised individuals who need extra protection from Covid-19," Dr Janet Woodcock, the FDA's acting commissioner, said.
The FDA determined that transplant recipients and others with a similar level of compromised immunity can receive a third dose of the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna at least 28 days after getting their second shot. The FDA made no mention of immune-compromised patients who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The announcement comes as the extra-contagious Delta version of the coronavirus surges through much of the country, pushing new cases, hospitalisations and deaths to heights not seen since last winter.
Read: Why might COVID-19 vaccine boosters be necessary?
However, the FDA's decision only applies to this high-risk group, estimated to be no more than 3% of US adults. It’s not an opening for booster doses for the general population.
Health authorities consider the extra dose part of the initial prescription for the immune-compromised. For example, France since April has encouraged that such patients get a third dose four weeks after their regular second shot. Israel and Germany also recently began recommending a third dose of two-dose vaccines.
Separately, US health officials are continuing to closely monitor if and when average people's immunity wanes enough to require boosters for everyone – but for now, the vaccines continue to offer robust protection for the general population.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to formally recommend the extra shots for certain immune-compromised groups after a meeting Friday of its outside advisers.
Transplant recipients and others with suppressed immune systems know they are at more risk than the average American, and some have been seeking out extra doses on their own, even if it means lying about their vaccination status. The change means now the high-risk groups can more easily get another shot – but experts caution it is not yet clear exactly who should.
"This is all going to be very personalised," cautioned Dr Dorry Segev, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins University who is running a major National Institutes of Health study of extra shots for organ recipients. For some people, a third dose "increases their immune response. Yet for some people, it does not seem to. We do not quite know who is who yet."
Read: Head of UN health agency seeks vaccine booster moratorium
One recent study of more than 650 transplant recipients found just over half harboured virus-fighting antibodies after two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines – although generally less than in otherwise healthy vaccinated people. Another study of people with rheumatoid arthritis and similar autoimmune diseases found only those who use particular medications have very poor vaccine responses.
There is little data on how well a third dose works, and if it causes any safety problems such as an increased risk of organ rejection.
Wednesday, Canadian researchers reported that transplant recipients were more likely to have high levels of antibodies if they got a third dose than those given a dummy shot for comparison. Other small studies have similarly found that some transplant recipients respond to
A million more Sinopharm doses land in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Friday received ten lakh (1 million) doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine from China as a gift.
This new batch of China-aided vaccine doses arrived just after former batches of 11 lakh gifted Chinese Sinopharm vaccine doses received on May 12 and June 13.
Read: Dhaka to receive 10 lakh Sinopharm vaccine doses shortly
A chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the consignment arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 6pm.
Besides, another Biman flight is scheduled to leave for China on 14 August to bring more doses of the vaccine.
Tahera Khandaker, deputy general manager (Public Relations) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, confirmed the information.
Earlier, 17 lakh more doses of Sinopharm reached here as part of the Covax facility.
On the other hand, the government on Wednesday approved a proposal to purchase six crores more doses of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine from China.
Besides, the government previously paid China for 1.5 crore doses of the vaccine, of which 70 lakh doses have already arrived in the country.
In fighting against the virus, China and Bangladesh have always been standing together, supporting and assisting each other in times of difficulties and challenges, vividly illustrating the profound friendship between the two countries, said the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka.
The pandemic is yet another reminder that the humanity rise and fall together with a shared future, it said.
Confronted by a pandemic like COVID-19, the vision of building a global community of health for all, tide over this trying time through solidarity and cooperation must be championed and any attempt to politicize, label or stigmatize the virus be firmly rejected, said the Embassy.
The link between the COVID-19 vaccine and pregnancy
Earlier this week we reported the government has decided to include pregnant and lactating women in the nationwide Covid-19 inoculation programme amid a worrying rise in Covid-19 hospital admissions across the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) issued a notice regarding this Sunday. Although the pregnant women are now eligible for Covid-19 vaccination, they must follow some instructions before getting vaccinated, according to the DGHS.
They have to take the Covid shots from government vaccination centres with medical facilities after getting counselling from a registered physician there.
Read: Pregnant woman with Covid-19 unlikely to pass infection to newborns: Study
Pregnant women, who are unwell or suffering from chronic illness or have a history of vaccine allergy, will not be allowed to take the jabs.
Medical experts say there’s no biological reason the shots would affect fertility. And the AP reports real-world evidence offers more assurance for anyone worried about their chances of conceiving: In Pfizer’s study, a similar number of women became pregnant in the group given the vaccine as in the group given dummy shots.
Researchers are starting to study anecdotal reports of short-term changes to periods after the vaccine, but there’s no indication so far that the shots put fertility at risk, said Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, a gynecologist and professor at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Read: Pregnant, lactating women to get Covid jab: DGHS
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and obstetrician groups also recommend COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant individuals, who have a higher risk of severe illness if infected with the coronavirus. Research shows pregnant people who get the virus are more likely to be admitted to intensive care, receive invasive ventilation and die than their non-pregnant peers.
The CDC also followed tens of thousands of pregnant women who got the vaccines and found they had comparable pregnancy outcomes to pregnant women before the pandemic.
So whether you are thinking about having a baby, trying to conceive or undergoing fertility treatments, you should not delay vaccination, Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of the department of gynaecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine, told AP.
How Mamtaz Begum got double-jabbed in 5 minutes
A 60-year-old woman Thursday allegedly received back-to-back two jabs of the Covid-19 vaccine within five minutes at Sheikh Sayera Khatun Medical College and Hospital in Gopalganj upazila.
The woman named Mamtaz Begum, 65, resident of municipal ward-3 has received the jabs around 12pm today.
Mamtaz Begum said after entering the female room and showing her card at the centre a nurse gave her the first shot, sitting her on the bench.
As she felt dizzy, Mamtaz Begum remained in the seat for a few minutes.
In the meantime, another nurse came and hurriedly gave her another shot telling her to move from the seat fast, said Mamtaz Begum.
When she asked if she had to take two back to back doses of the vaccines the nurse became aware of the mistake.
However the UNB reporter couldn’t contact the nurse who was on duty at that time.
Sakibur Rahman, an official from the civil surgeon’s office said the nurse mistakenly went to give her the second jab to Mamtaz Begam as she was sitting at the spot of receiving the jab starching her hand.
“As soon as she said she got jabbed once the nurse stopped and she only received a poke of the needle,” he said.
However Mamtaz Begum has been asked to contact the health authorities in case of any health difficulties, said Sakibur Rahman.
Although certainly not advised, no real adverse effect as such has been identified from getting double-jabbed in quick succession, mainly because cases are extremely, extremely rare.
Bangladesh seeks Covid jabs from Canada
Dhaka has urged Canada to consider providing Covid-19 jabs to Bangladesh directly as well as through the COVAX initiative to help the country inoculate the Rohingya refugees and host communities.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen held a virtual meeting with Canadian Minister of International Development Karina Gould on Wednesday and made the request.
Canada has so far contributed 545 million dollars and 30 million surplus Covid vaccine doses to COVAX. The Canadian Minister is a co-chair in the COVAX Humanitarian Buffer.
Read:Canadian Minister to begin virtual visit to Bangladesh this evening
Gould assured Momen that Canada would give due consideration to Bangladesh’s request to provide jabs, including for the displaced Rohingya Muslims and the host communities.
She also recalled that Canada has already provided medicine and oxygen concentrator support to Bangladesh through UNICEF and some NGOs, and said that such assistance, including vaccine support, may come again.
Informing that the government has already commenced vaccinating the refugees over 55 years numbering around 48,000, the Foreign Minister highlighted the fact that not a single Rohingya person in Bangladesh has so far died due to Covid.
Underscorimg the natural hazards that Kutupalong camps have been facing, Momen said the UN and the international community need to come forward to support the humanitarian operations in Bhashan Char as soon as possible.
The Bangladeshi Foreign Minister also thanked Canada for its consistent political and humanitarian support for the displaced and persecuted Rohingyas, including for the ongoing genocide case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Global Covid cases near 205 million
The overall number of global Covid cases is fast approaching the 205-million mark as several countries continue their battle against the deadlier Delta variant of coronavirus even with mass inoculations underway.
According to US-based Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 204,626,055 while the death toll from the virus reached 4,322,964 on Thursday morning.
So far, 4,527,785,425 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.
Read: US Hospitals run low on nurses as they get swamped with COVID
The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 36,177,914 cases. Besides, 618,434 people have lost their lives in the US to date, as per the JHU data.
Brazil, which has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload after the United States and India, recorded 565,748 deaths and 20,245,085 cases, respectively, on Wednesday.
Neighbouring India's total Covid cases surpassed 32 million on Wednesday, with 38,353 new infections reported in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry's data.
Besides, 497 deaths were recorded since Tuesday morning, taking the death toll to 429,179.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Wednesday reported 237 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours, a figure that shows how bad the situation is in the country.
Read:Covid kills 237 more in Bangladesh as Delta strain raging
On August 5, the country reported 264 deaths shattering its previous single-day record of 258 Covid-related fatalities on July 27. On August 10 too, the country logged 268 deaths.
Besides, 10,420 more people came out Covid positive during the period after testing 44,430 samples, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Chaos at vaccination centres
Vaccination centres across the country drew huge crowds on the fifth day of the mass vaccination drive, creating a chaotic situation everywhere and raising the risk of the virus transmission.
Hundreds of jab-seekers, both male and female, turned up at small vaccination centres with or without online registrations, overwhelming its medical staff.
Read:1.77 mln doses of Sinopharm vaccine on way to Dhaka
On Saturday, Bangladesh kicked off another phase of its mass vaccination drive aimed at vaccinating 35 lakh people in six days.
Covid jabs will be administered simultaneously in 4,600 unions, 1,054 municipality areas and 433 wards of the city corporations, Director General of Health Services Dr ABM Khurshid Alam told the media on August 6.
Vaccine Stock
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, at a virtual meeting on Wednesday, said, “We’ve to vaccinate some 13.82 crore people of the country. We need to buy a total of 27.65 crore vaccine doses. We have 2.55 crore vaccine doses in our hands and the remaining ones need to be collected.”
Frustration grows as chaos continues at Bangladesh’s vaccination centres
Vaccination centres across the country drew huge crowds on the 5th day of the mass vaccination drive, creating a chaotic situation everywhere and raising the risk of the virus transmission.
After a reality check at different vaccination centers, UNB correspondents saw long queues of people standing close to each other with little or no regard to social distancing rules.
Hundreds of jab-seekers, both male and female, turned up at the small vaccination centres with or without online registrations, overwhelming its medical staff.
The medical staff at the vaccination centres and the vaccine aspirants pointed fingers at each other because of mismanagement and slow pace of vaccination.
According to the UNB correspondents, the number of staff was too inadequate to smoothly vaccinate such a huge number of people.
As the ruthless Delta variant of Covid-19 keeps spreading like wildfire, Bangladesh on Saturday kicked off another phase of its mass vaccination drive aimed at inoculating 35 lakh people in six days.
However, the drive has not been free of controversies as mismanagement and anomalies across the country became a topic of discussions in the last few days.
Even on the very first day of the drive, UNB reported about the chaotic situation which arose at the city’s Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital.
Nearly 4,000 vaccine seekers, including men and women, were seen waiting in queues in the corridors of its first and second floors with the vaccination going on at a snail’s pace.
Read: Covid kills 237 more in Bangladesh as Delta strain takes hold
Outraged by the “mismanagement”, the vaccine seekers said the situation turned worse as there was no arrangement for women to stand in any separate queue.
Tired of the long wait in the queue, the irate crowds got involved in quarrels with Ansar personnel and the hospital staff.
Some of them were seen trying to push each other to enter the vaccination rooms venting their anger amid chaos.
Inside the vaccination rooms, it was found that only two to three nurses were providing shots while another two or three medical staff were checking vaccination registration papers. They had to struggle a lot to cope with the situation for lack of manpower.
Will we need vaccine passports to do fun things?
Ready to go out on the town before summer ends? In parts of the U.S., you might have to carry your COVID-19 vaccine card or a digital copy to get into restaurants, bars, nightclubs and outdoor music festivals.
After resisting the divisive concept of vaccine passports through most of the pandemic, a fast-growing number of private venues and some local officials are now requiring proof of immunization in public settings to reduce the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus — and to assuage wary customers.
It’s unlikely the U.S. will adopt a national mandate like the one in France, which on Monday began requiring people to show a QR code proving they have a special virus pass before they can enjoy restaurants and cafes or travel across the country.
Read: COVID vaccines to be required for military under new US plan
But enough venues are starting to ask for digital passes to worry some privacy advocates, who fear the trend could habituate consumers to constant tracking.
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WHO’S ASKING FOR VACCINE PASSPORTS?
New York City set the tone last week when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city will soon require proof of COVID-19 vaccination for anyone who wants to dine indoors at a restaurant, see a performance or go to the gym.
But a growing number of private venues, from Broadway theaters to music clubs in Minneapolis and Milwaukee, have established their own similar rules for patrons.
“I’m a firm believer in the right for people to choose whether or not they get the vaccine,” said Tami Montgomery, owner of Dru’s Bar in Memphis, Tennessee, which will start asking for paper vaccine cards along with photo identification on Thursday. “But it’s my business and I have to make decisions based on what will protect my staff, business and customers.”
Organizers of the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago said on its opening day in late July that more than 90% of some 100,000 attendees presented proof of a vaccination, while most of the rest showed they’d recently had a negative COVID-19 test. Hundreds of others were turned away for lack of paperwork.
Only in a handful of states — Texas and Florida are the biggest — are private businesses prohibited from requiring proof of vaccination.
HOW DO THEY WORK?
In some places, venues are simply asking you to bring your vaccination card — the same piece of paper you get from health providers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Taking a picture of that card at home and then showing the image to the bouncer at the club can also work.
New York City offers a streamlined way of showing a photo through its NYC COVID Safe App, in which people can store images of their vaccine cards and then display them in the app when needed.
Other places are encouraging people to register their credentials using a scannable digital pass like New York’s statewide Excelsior Pass or similar systems adopted by California, Hawaii and Louisiana and private companies like Walmart and the airport security app Clear. Some of the state-sponsored digital passes verify a person’s vaccine credentials through a state or local immunization registry.
Read: Canada begins allowing vaccinated US citizens to visit again
Such passes are designed for convenience and to prevent fraud. But that’s also where the biggest privacy concerns emerge, said Adam Schwartz, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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WHAT’S WRONG WITH QR CODES?
The barcode known as a QR code was originally designed to help track products in a factory. These days, it’s increasingly being used to track people’s devices.
“Those systems are a giant leap towards tracking people’s location,” Schwartz said. “There’s a very real risk of mission creep once there are scanners at doors and people are showing their scannable token to pass through.”
But the coalition that helped create the Smart Health Card framework used by New York, California and the Canadian province of Quebec say they’ve already set privacy safeguards to guard against misuse of health data.
So long as a venue is using a VCI-compliant scanner, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about, said Dr. Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at MITRE and co-lead of the Vaccination Credential Initiative, which counts Apple, Microsoft and the Mayo Clinic among its members. “That app won’t store an individual’s data beyond the time that the QR code is scanned,” he said.
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WHY NOT STICK WITH PAPER?
Proponents of digital passports say they’re more convenient for already-overwhelmed restaurants and other venues because workers don’t have to peer at everyone’s vaccine cards before letting them in. Lines move faster, and the digital scan reassures those who don’t want to risk damaging or losing their paper cards. It’s also easy to fake a paper card or a photo of one.
The startup CrowdPass, which generates QR codes so vaccinated people can attend events, said it helped get about 15,000 people swiftly admitted into the recent Newport Folk and Newport Jazz festivals in Rhode Island. The events required attendees to digitally upload proof of full vaccination or a recent negative test.
Demand was slow at first, said Duncan Abdelnour, the startup’s co-founder and president. “But since the delta variant has sprung, we’ve had a huge uptick.” Among its clients are couples planning weddings and organizers of other small events. Abdelnour said the biggest spike in calls came after New York City’s announcement.
Read: Saudi Arabia opens Umrah pilgrimage to vaccinated worshipers from abroad
It’s a crowded market that includes apps made by Clear and Walmart, many of which have now signed onto the VCI’s privacy standards and code of conduct.
But for Schwartz, of the EFF, the best advice for venues that need to see proof of vaccination is to stick to asking for the CDC card or a photo of it.
The process of making vaccination checks should end when the pandemic does, Schwartz said. “Some of the companies that are in this space have a track record of being in the business of monetizing data,” he added. “I’m not going to name names, but they’re the last people that should be involved in developing scanners for proof of vaccination.”
2 held over taking vaccine at home in Chattogram
Police arrested a businessman after he uploaded a Facebook post boasting of taking Covid vaccine at his home in the port city on Monday.
Mohammad Hasan’s trouble began as his post, along with his image taking the shot in the arm, went viral. Another man Mobarak Ali, who assisted him in taking the jab, was also arrested.
Read:Another black fungus case detected in Chattogram
Aftab Hossain, inspector of Khulshi Police Station, said Hasan also uploaded a statement thanking Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Mobarak Ali for getting the first dose of Moderna vaccine, said Aftab.
Mohammad Shahinuzzaman, officer-in-charge of Khulshi Police Station, said “We have got an oral complaint. Later, a team of police conducted a drive at the house of Hasan at Zakir Hossain Road and arrested him early Monday.”
Read:Chattogram receives 2.6 lakh jabs ahead of vaccination push
Police are looking for Hasan’s friend who took the vaccine in the same manner, said OC.
Civil Surgeon Sheikh Fazle Rabbi, said “We will find out who were behind this and who took the shots at home. The health worker, who is responsible for that, will be brought under law as taking a jab at home is a crime.”