Shoppers wearing face coverings to combat the spread of the coronavirus, walk past stores in Camden Market in London, on Jan 7, 2022. (TOLGA AKMEN / AFP)
BRUSSELS / MILAN / LJUBLJANA / BUEENOS AIRES / NAIROBI – England's health service said it will expand its COVID-19 booster vaccination program to include 16- and 17-year-olds from Monday.
Until now, booster jabs have been limited to 16- and 17-year-olds most at risk from the coronavirus.
Until now, booster jabs have been limited to 16- and 17-year-olds most at risk from the coronavirus
"More than four in five adults in England have already been boosted, helping to protect them from severe illness," British health minister Sajid Javid said in a statement.
"We're now extending the programme to 16- and 17-year-olds so they can top-up their immunity this winter to keep themselves and their friends safe."
Since the vaccination programme rolled out to the age group in August, more than 889,700 teenagers – or seven in 10 people aged 16 and 17 – have had their first dose and more than 600,000 have had their second.
COVAX
The COVAX global vaccine-sharing programme has delivered 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, one of the organizations which manages it said on Saturday.
Supplies to poorer nations have long been very limited because of lack of vaccines, as wealthier states secured most of the doses initially available from December 2020.
But in the last quarter shipments have exponentially increased, allowing COVAX to reach the milestone of 1 billion doses shipped to 144 countries, said Gavi, which co-leads the programme alongside the World Health Organization (WHO).
COVAX was launched in 2020 with the goal of delivering 2 billion doses by the end of 2021, but was slowed by wealthier states' initial hoarding of limited shots, export restrictions and frequent changes within its organization.
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The program began delivering vaccine doses in February 2021. About one-third have been donated by rich nations, despite COVAX's initial plans to supply only jabs procured directly by the programme with a budget of over $10 billion in donors' funds.
The change of strategy has led to delays, as donors have often requested to send doses to countries selected by them.
Despite the recent surge in deliveries, vaccine inequity remains high. The latest WHO data shows 67 percent of the population in richer nations have been fully vaccinated, compared with only 5 percent in poorer nations. Over 40 percent of the world's population has not yet received a first dose.
Gavi, a vaccine alliance which co-manages COVAX, is seeking more funds to reach the WHO's goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the population in poorer nations by July.
Argentina
Argentina registered 96,652 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 7,029,624, the Ministry of Health said Saturday.
Meanwhile, another 88 deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 117,989.
A total of 1,965 patients are currently hospitalized in intensive care units, with a bed occupation rate of 42.6 percent nationwide.
According to local authorities, a total of 82,026,588 doses of vaccines have been administered in the country.
Italy
Italy reported 180,426 COVID-19 related cases on Saturday, after 186,253 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths fell to 308 from 360.
Italy has registered 140,856 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth highest in the world. The country has reported 8.55 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 18,370 on Saturday, up from 18,019 a day earlier.
There were 141 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 136 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients dropped slightly to 1,677 from a previous 1,679.
Some 1.22 million tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with 1.13 million previously, the health ministry said.
Medical staff members tend to a COVID-19 patient at the intensive care unit of Cremona hospital, in Cremona, northern Italy, on Jan 11, 2022. (MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP)
Kenya
Kenya intends to administer 4.2 million COVID-19 booster shots by June to all eligible adults and fully vaccinate 19 million, the Ministry of Health said in a vaccination strategy document released on Saturday.
"Kenya plans to fully vaccinate 19 million people (70 percent of the adult population) by the end of June and the entire adult population of 27 million people by the end of the year," said the ministry.
During the period, the East African nation also aims to fully vaccinate 2.9 million teenagers aged 15-17 and the entire teenage population of 5.8 million by year-end, said the ministry.
Kenya started the rollout of booster shots this month amid a surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the Omicron variant.
The ministry said the Kenyan government had laid out plans to administer at least 20 million vaccine doses between January and June to achieve the mid-year targets.
Slovenia
Slovenia recorded 7,580 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, which is a new all-time high, up from 6,918 a day before, the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) reported on Saturday.
The previous high was reached on Tuesday with 7,420 cases.
The report comes during a three-day vaccination campaign which started on Thursday and during which vaccination centers all over the country are open at least 12 hours a day with no appointment needed.
Health Minister Janez Poklukar had said on Tuesday that Omicron variant represents most new cases.
Although Slovenia has been badly hit by the epidemic, so far only 57 percent of the country's 2.1 million population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The government has decided against another lockdown in order not to hurt the export-oriented economy, Only citizens who have been vaccinated, have overcome COVID-19 or have recently tested negative are allowed to enter most public spaces. A face mask is required in all public areas.
Global vaccine-sharing program reaches milestone of 1 billion doses
England's health service said it will expand its COVID-19 booster vaccination program to include 16- and 17-year-olds from Monday.
Until now, booster jabs have been limited to 16- and 17-year-olds most at risk from the coronavirus.
"More than four in five adults in England have already been boosted, helping to protect them from severe illness," British health minister Sajid Javid said in a statement.
"We're now extending the programme to 16- and 17-year-olds so they can top-up their immunity this winter to keep themselves and their friends safe."
Since the vaccination programme rolled out to the age group in August, more than 889,700 teenagers – or seven in 10 people aged 16 and 17 – have had their first dose and more than 600,000 have had their second.
