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Pfizer to test Covid booster dose on infants, young kids
18 Dec, 2021 02:17
Northern Ireland, December 4, 2021 © Reuters / Clodagh Kilcoyne
Pfizer will start testing Covid-19 vaccine booster doses in children aged six months to five years old after finding that its lower-dose shot may not provide enough protection in one age group.
The pharmaceutical giant announced on Thursday that it would start testing a third dose on young children “at least two months after the second dose” in an effort “to provide high levels of protection in this young age group.”
Explaining its decision, the company cited clinical data showing that the smallest ‘baby’ dose administered to children under five does not appear to be effective in protecting those in the 2-to-5 age bracket.
Vaccine doses vary across different age groups involved in the study. Children aged 5-12 received two 10-microgram doses – one-third of the adult 30-microgram dose. Children younger than five, including infants, were vaccinated with three-microgram shots.
Pfizer claimed that no safety concerns were identified during the trial, and said it would seek emergency authorization of the new three-dose vaccination regimen for young children next year, provided the three-dose study is a success.
The announcement comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week reported eight cases of myocarditis, a potentially deadly heart inflammation, in children aged 5-11 years old after they received the Pfizer vaccine.
As of November, everyone in the US aged five and above is eligible to be vaccinated for Covid-19. Americans who are at least 16 are also eligible for a Pfizer booster, while those 18 and above can receive a booster from Moderna or Johnson & Johnson.
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Baby gets adult dose of Covid-19 vaccine instead of flu shot
19 Dec, 2021 00:31
© REUTERS/Mike Segar
A South Korean doctor has reportedly been sued after giving a seven-month-old infant an adult Covid-19 vaccine, rather than the age-appropriate flu shot that the child was meant to receive.
The incident occurred on September 29 in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday, citing the municipal government. The unidentified doctor gave the baby a dose of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, which had been set aside for the child’s mother.
South Korea’s government limits use of the Moderna vaccine to people 18 and older. It’s also reviewing whether it should follow the lead of other countries in further restricting use of the shot, citing concerns over side effects. For instance, Japanese health officials have called for men under 30 to be inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway also suspended the use of the vaccine for younger age groups.
The Seongnam infant was taken to a nearby hospital and kept under observation for five days. Officials said the child showed “no special signs of side effects,” according to Yonhap. However, the baby’s parents have reportedly sued the doctor, demanding compensation for the mix-up.
Pfizer has tested its Covid-19 vaccine in babies as young as six months old, but doses are much smaller than those given to adults. The shot has been authorized for use in US children as young as 5 years old. Children 5-11 are given two doses of 10 micrograms each, one-third the amount injected into teenagers and adults.
26-y/o Kiwi dies after one dose of Pfizer Covid vaccine
20 Dec, 2021 10:29
New Zealand officials announced on Monday that a 26-year-old’s death has been formally linked to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after he suffered a rare heart inflammation following his first dose of the Covid jab.
In a statement, the country’s Covid-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board, confirmed the myocarditis that had led to his death “was probably due to vaccination.”
The man died within two weeks of receiving his first dose, and had not sought any medical advice or treatment for his symptoms. Myocarditis, which is listed as a rare potential side effect of the Pfizer jab, causes an inflammation of the heart muscle, restricting blood flow and causing irregular heartbeats.
His death is the second in New Zealand that has been linked to this side effect. In August, a woman suffered a rare heart muscle inflammation after she received the Pfizer vaccine, according to a statement from the Health Ministry, and it led to her death.
While they have not yet been formally linked to the Pfizer vaccine, officials said they were investigating reports of two further deaths of individuals who had been administered the jab, including of a 13-year-old. While the safety monitoring board said more information about the child’s death was still required, the New Zealand authorities said they believed it was unlikely the second case – the death of a man in his 60s – had been due to the vaccine.
While Pfizer did not release a statement in response to the latest development, a company spokesperson stated that the pharmaceutical giant was aware of the reports but still believed the benefits of the vaccine outweighed any risks.
So, probably 3 deaths attributed to Pfizer-BioNTech in NZ. I wonder how many deaths are attributed to Omicron, if any? When the number of deaths from a vaccine outnumber the number of deaths from the disease the vaccine is meant to prevent, then it's time for the madness to stop.
Since beginning its inoculation campaign, New Zealand has administered 7,855,438 Covid jabs, according to data provided to the World Health Organization. While it primarily uses the Pfizer vaccine, officials have also approved the use of those made by Johnson & Johnson and Oxford-AstraZeneca.
Elite gathering of billionaires canceled over Omicron
Davos, Switzerland. © Getty Images / Simon Dawson
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has deferred its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, planned for January 17-21, 2022, due to “continued uncertainty” over the Omicron-strain viral outbreak.
WEF made the announcement on its website, saying that the current circumstances surrounding the spread of the new variant of coronavirus make it “extremely difficult to deliver a global in-person meeting.”
The statement goes on the explain that “Despite the meeting’s stringent health protocols, the transmissibility of Omicron and its impact on travel and mobility have made deferral necessary.”
The Forum will instead hold a series of online sessions that bring participants together “to focus on shaping solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted the traditional January gathering in the Swiss Alps for a second consecutive year.
The 2021 forum was initially rescheduled to take place in August 2021 in Singapore but was then canceled. The 2022 business event is now expected to take place in the early summer, WEF organizers said.
The World Economic Forum was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva. It is the world’s biggest annual economics event, attracting business leaders and politicians from around the globe.
Pope reveals what’s ‘almost satanic’ about Covid-19 pandemic
20 Dec, 2021 12:24
Pope Francis offered a strongly worded rebuke to those who abuse women and children in their own home, saying such people were universally seen as evildoers. Domestic violence is on the rise due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The remarks by the pontiff were among the Catholic Church’s most stringent condemnations yet of domestic abuse. They were made during a special program that aired on Italy’s TG5 network on Sunday, which introduced to the audience four people struggling with serious hardships in their life and seeking consolation from the Pope.
The first guest, Giovanna, said she had fled a violent and miserable home, taking her four children with her, but Covid restrictions had made her situation much worse, trapping them in trauma and destitution.
“The number of women who are beaten and abused at home, even by their own husbands, is very large,” the Pope said. “For me, this problem is almost satanic, because abusers take advantage of the weakness of those who cannot defend themselves.”
Abuse by a spouse or a parent is particularly vile and humiliating, Francis added. Preserving one’s dignity in such a situation is hard, he said, pointing to the inspiring example of Jesus’ mother, Mary, who kept her dignity even as her son was denounced as a criminal and hung near-naked on a cross.
“I see dignity in you,” he told Giovanna, “because if you did not have dignity, you would not be here.”
The Christmas special, titled ‘Pope Francis and the Invisibles’, also featured a homeless woman who spoke about how people living on the streets are barely noticed by passersby, a convict trying to rebuild his life after spending 25 years behind bars, and a teenage girl who said she was struggling with being isolated from her peers and the outside world during the pandemic.
The teen is a poor representative of the horrors children face these days. It would have been much better had they interviewed a child struggling with her gender identity or with being sexually abused by someone online, or, perhaps, by a priest.
Domestic abuse has been on the rise in many nations since last year, when governments started to impose lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19, and the economic slowdown impacted many families. In Italy, police say some 90 cases of violence against women are reported every day, with over 60% of them happening in the woman’s own home.
Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken out against domestic violence in his interviews and public appearances, calling out the abusers’ cowardice and urging society to provide better protection for victims.
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