Starting October 11, Germany will cancel free COVID-19 tests for those who had the chance to get vaccinated but chose not to, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Merkel held an online meeting with the prime ministers of the country's federal states, discussing how to counteract another COVID-19 wave this autumn and winter.
"As we can already offer vaccination to every German citizen, we will cancel free testing from October 11 for all who could get vaccinated," Merkel told journalists, adding that it will not affect those who cannot have their shots due to a chronic disease or some other reason.
Germany launched its vaccination campaign on December 27. The country has approved four vaccines — those made by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson&Johnson and AstraZeneca. More than 55% of the German population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of the federal states called on the Bundestag to extend the state of emergency in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic in the country beyond September 11, according to a statement released on Tuesday after an online meeting.
The meeting discussed issues of countering the next wave of the coronavirus epidemic in Germany in the fall-winter of 2021 and measures to restore regions in the west of the country after the floods in mid-July.
"The Federal Chancellor and the heads of government of the federal states share the assessment that Germany as a whole is still in a pandemic situation and that appropriate legal frameworks for the measures to be taken by the relevant authorities are still needed to counter the situation. Therefore, they ask the German Bundestag to consider the possibility of declaring an epidemic situation on a national scale after September 11, 2021," the document, seen by Sputnik, says.
A pilot study of 200 recent recipients of a kidney transplants will attempt to determine whether a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine will create antibodies to the coronavirus following failure by the first two jobs, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Tuesday.
“Between 50 and 100 participants will have had no detectable antibody response to two doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, and 50 to 100 participants will have had a low response,” the NIH said in a press release.
The goal is to determine the proportion of participants who achieve a designated antibody response 30 days after receiving a third dose, the release said.
The pilot study also aims to identify characteristics that could help distinguish those kidney transplant recipients who would benefit from a third dose of an mRNA vaccine from those who will require a different approach to achieve protection, the release added.
The lifelong immunosuppressive therapy that organ transplant recipients must take to prevent organ rejection blunts their immune response to both pathogens and vaccines, meaning reimmunization is especially important among these patients.
The US biotechnology firm Moderna on Monday announced its plans to build a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine manufacturing plant in Canada.
"As Moderna expands internationally, we are delighted to bring mRNA manufacturing to Canada," CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement after the company inked a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian government.
The partnership aims to provide Canada access to a domestic supply of injections against several respiratory diseases including COVID-19, the seasonal flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as well as other potential vaccines in the research and development phase, the statement said.
The federal government, which had largely attributed the vaccine shortages to a lack of domestic vaccine production capability, welcomed Moderna's plans.
"Moderna’s plans to establish a state-of-the-art vaccine facility here in Canada is a key move in our plan to grow a strong, competitive domestic life sciences sector with cutting-edge biomanufacturing capabilities," Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement.
He also said the Moderna facility will ensure that Canada is prepared for future pandemics and health emergencies.
Earlier this year, Procurement Minister Anita Anand admitted before a parliamentary committee that all seven manufacturers, who have contracts to supply Canada with coronavirus vaccines, declined Ottawa’s offer to make the vaccines in Canada, citing the country’s lack of appropriate production facilities.
The European Union has allocated an additional 35 million euros ($41 million) to the Eastern Partnership countries, including Belarus, to accelerate their vaccination programs, the European Commission said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“As part of the EU’s efforts to support vaccination in partner countries, the Commission today increased from €40 million to €75 million its assistance package to deploy safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and speed up the vaccination campaigns in the six Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine,” the commission said.
According to the statement, with this additional assistance package, the EU intends to “substantially increase access to vaccines in the Eastern Partnership region amid the global vaccine shortage, facilitating the vaccine sharing by the EU Member States and reimbursing the cost.”
In November of last year, amid deteriorating relations with the EU, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said that Minsk was reducing participation in the EU's Eastern Partnership initiative to an expert level owing to the politicized approach of its partners. At the end of June, it was reported that in connection with new sanctions imposed by the EU against Belarus, the republic would be suspending its participation in the Eastern Partnership.
Revaccination against the coronavirus will begin in Austria on 17 October, Health Minister Wolfgang Muckstein said on Tuesday.
The decision concerns those who were among the first to be vaccinated and received the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine no later than 17 January, Muckstein said.
"There are certain groups, for example, people with weakened immunity, who can be revaccinated earlier after consulting a doctor. Also, a test for neutralizing antibodies can be done. In general, I would not recommend doing this, but for certain groups it is possible," the minister said on the Austrian O1 radio station.
The first vaccines in Austria were administered in December 2020 to residents of nursing homes, as well as health workers; thus, they received a second dose in January 2021.
To date, 59.98% of the population has received at least one vaccine dose in Austria.
The US is set to donate $50 million in humanitarian aid for Myanmar and $5 million to fight the coronavirus pandemic in Thailand, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.
“Today, during an official visit to Thailand, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that the United States is providing more than $50 million in critical humanitarian assistance to the people of Burma [Myanmar], including those forced to flee violence and persecution,” Price said in a statement. “In addition, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield announced $5 million in aid to help Thailand fight COVID-19.”
The humanitarian aid for Myanmar is necessary to provide emergency food assistance, essential healthcare, water and hygiene services to over 700,000 Myanmar people who have either fled or been displaced from their homes in the aftermath of the 1 February coup, the statement said.
The COVID-19 assistance to Thailand will strengthen the vaccine supply chain for the benefit of the most vulnerable social groups in the country, Price noted in the statement.
More than 55% of the German population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
"On August 9, 2021, 275,000 shots were administered in Germany. Thus, 45.8 million people (55.1% of the population) have been fully vaccinated. In total, 52 million people have received at least one vaccine dose (62.5%)," the statement read.
Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Twitter that more than a million teenagers at the age of 12-17 years have been vaccinated against the coronavirus (22% of this age group). The sparsely populated Saarland and Bremen states have the biggest share of fully vaccinated people in the whole country – 59.5% and 64.5%, respectively.
Germany launched the vaccination campaign on 27 December. The country has so far approved four vaccines — those made by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson&Johnson and AstraZeneca.
Uruguay will begin inoculating its citizens with a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on August 16, President Luis Lacalle Pou told reporters.
"From tomorrow [August 10], citizens will be appointed the dates for receiving the third dose, starting 16 August," he said on Monday, referring to the Pfizer booster shot that will be administrated to all those who have been vaccinated with China's CoronaVac.
Uruguay is also set to open borders to vaccinated foreigners with negative PCR test results from 1 November, Luis Lacalle Pou added.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the South American country has registered over 380,000 cumulative COVID-19 cases, including 5,989 deaths.
Bangladesh launched COVID-19 vaccination campaign for Rohingya refugees in camps near the southeastern city of Cox's Bazar, the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia said on Tuesday.
"#Bangladesh today rolled out #COVID19 vaccination for Rohingya refugees in #Cox’s Bazar camps. Mohammed Shofi, 64, was the first to get the #vaccine. Nearly 48000 refugees over 55 years of age are to be vaccinated in the first phase," WHO's office wrote on Twitter.
Cox's Bazaar camps host over 1.1 million refugees, with many of them suffering from health problems, limited access to water, poor hygiene. Over 200,000 of its inhabitants have been infected with the coronavirus and 200 died of the disease.
Russia registered 21,378 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, down from 22,160 the day before, taking the overall tally to 6,491,288, the federal response centre said on Tuesday.
"Over the past day, 21,378 COVID-19 cases were confirmed across 85 Russian regions, including 1,537 cases (7.2%) without clinical symptoms," the centre said, adding that the rate of increase fell to 0.33%.
For the first time in several months, St. Petersburg has the highest number of new cases with 1,811 daily infections, down from 1,895 the day before. It was followed by Moscow with 1,639 cases, down from 2,150, and the Moscow region with 1,309 cases, down from 1,487.
The response centre reported 792 new deaths linked to the coronavirus, up from 769 the day before, raising the country's total death toll to 166,442.
In the same 24 hours, 18,729 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals across the country, up from 14,474 the day before, bringing the total to 5,788,710.
India has recorded 28,200 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, which is the lowest single-day tally since the onset of the second wave in March, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
The second wave of COVID-19 hit India in the spring, with daily news cases topping 300,000 from 21 April to 17 May, which is the world’s highest numbers.
In total, the country has logged some 32 million cumulative cases, including more than 31 million recoveries and over 428,000 deaths,
Some 514 million people, or 36.9% of India’s population, have received at least one COVID-19 shot, with 114.2 million people being fully vaccinated.
