This file photo taken on Nov 17, 2020 shows vials with COVID-19 Vaccine stickers attached and syringes with the logo of US biotech company Novavax. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
WASHINGTON / PARIS / HAMILTON / Bolivia / BRUSSELS – Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine produced by US biotech firm Novavax has been underwhelming in the European Union's main countries in the early rollout, so far undermining hopes that it could convince vaccine sceptics to get a shot.
Over 85 percent of adults in the 27-country EU bloc have received at least one dose and nearly two-thirds of them have also had a booster, but tens of millions remain unvaccinated.
Over 85 percent of adults in the 27-country EU bloc have received at least one dose and nearly two-thirds of them have also had a booster, but tens of millions remain unvaccinated
The Novavax vaccine, the latest to receive the EU regulators' approval under the trade name of Nuvaxovid, was expected to persuade some sceptics because it is based on a more conventional technology than the other four vaccines authorized so far in the EU.
But initial data on Nuvaxovid's rollout show that it has had a small impact on vaccination campaigns.
In Germany, the EU's most populous country and home to more than 10 million unvaccinated adults, only about 38,000 Novavax doses have been administered since the start of the rollout on Feb 24, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
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In March so far on average nearly 90,000 COVID vaccines have been administered daily in Germany, mostly boosters. Only 3 percent of them were Novavax's, despite over 2 million doses distributed to the country.
A similar situation is emerging in Italy, where less than 16,000 Nuvaxovid doses have been administered since Feb 28, when the rollout started after the delivery of one million shots to vaccination centers. In the same period, the country injected over 70,000 COVID-19 vaccines a day, largely boosters, data from the government show.
Novavax said its protein-based shot will play a role in driving vaccination among those who have been hesitant to get immunized and it has started an educational effort on vaccine choices.
The arrival of the vaccine so far into the region's campaign which started in late 2020 and amid the easing of restrictive measures were among the reasons for the "disappointing performance," former head of the EU's drugs agency, Guido Rasi, said.
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Data from the European Center for Disease prevention and Control show that boosters amount to about two-thirds of all vaccinations in recent weeks, with the (messenger) mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech remaining the most used.
Nuvaxovid is used almost exclusively as a first dose for unvaccinated.
"The hope that the (Novavax) vaccine could convince the undecided has been dashed. Unfortunately, there is no upsurge in the number of newly vaccinated people," said Nino Cartabellotta, who chairs the Gimbe Foundation, a research group.
In France, only about 1,300 people received the Novavax vaccine in the first 10 days of the rollout.
Demand for boosters was far higher, with over 12,000 of Pfizer's third doses administered on March 10 alone, the last day for which data is available, data from the French health agency showed.
A child arranges his facemask amid the COVID-19 pandemic as face to face classes resume after vacations at the Antonio Diaz Villamil education unit in La Paz on Feb 1, 2022. (LUIS GANDARILLAS / AFP)
Bolivia
Schools in Bolivia will return to in-person classes on Monday, with biosecurity measures in place to avoid the spread of COVID-19, Deputy Minister of Education Bartolome Puma announced Sunday.
On Feb 1, most Bolivian schools began the year with a mixture of distance, face-to-face and hybrid learning.
Minister of Education Edgar Pary said Saturday that schools had gradually begun to return to face-to-face learning, with a full return expected on Monday.
The Health and Sports Ministry said it plans to send medical teams to schools to ensure the enforcement of sanitary measures and offer testing and vaccination to students.
Canada
Canadian hockey fans celebrated the end of most COVID-19 restrictions in predictable fashion on Sunday, packed into a football stadium in a raging blizzard to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres faceoff in the Heritage Classic.
Cars pull up to a free COVID-19 testing station on Jan 14, 2022 in Monterey Park, California. (FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)
COVID-19 study
Instead of the official estimate of 5.9 million COVID-19-related deaths, a more realistic estimate is 18.2 million, according to a report in The Lancet on Thursday.
Researchers compared data from 74 countries and territories collected from January 2020 through December 2021 with data collected during the previous 11 years.
On average, among every 100,000 people worldwide, there were 120 deaths that would not have been expected had the pandemic not occurred, they estimated.
The highest estimated excess death rates were in Andean Latin America (512 deaths per 100,000), Eastern Europe (345 deaths per 100,000), Central Europe (316 deaths per 100,000), Southern sub-Saharan Africa (309 deaths per 100,000), and Central Latin America (274 deaths per 100,000). The United States and the UK had an estimated 179 and 127 excess deaths per 100,000, respectively.
"Further research will help to reveal how many deaths were caused directly by COVID-19, and how many occurred as an indirect result of the pandemic," the study leader of the University of Washington in Seattle said in a statement.
A couple holds each other at a COVID-19 intensive care unit of the la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France on Dec 23, 2021. (DANIEL COLE / AP)
France
France will on Monday start offering a fourth COVID-19 vaccination shot to people over 80 years old who have received their booster dose, French Prime Minister Jean Castex has said.
The vaccination campaign will also be extended to people having an immunocompromised system who were not eligible for the vaccine until now, Castex told daily Le Parisien in an interview published on Saturday.
Of France's 4.1 million people over the age of 80, 3.1 million have already had the booster shot, it said.
France is witnessing a rebound of COVID-19 cases. The National Health Agency on Saturday reported 72,443 new cases.
ALSO READ: France to launch 4th COVID-19 shot for over-80s
France is to drop the vaccine pass requirement before entering public spaces and indoor mask mandate on Monday.
Despite the easing of restrictions, the prime minister said that he strongly recommended fragile people keep the mask on in indoor and crowded areas.
In this file photo taken on Nov 8, 2021, former US President Barack Obama speaks during a session at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. (PAUL ELLIS / AFP)
US
Former US President Barack Obama said on Sunday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
"I've had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise," Obama tweeted.
He also wrote that he and his wife, Michelle, "are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, and she has tested negative."
"It's a reminder to get vaccinated if you haven't already, even as cases go down," the former US president added.
Obama, 60, served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.
The United States has reported more than 79 million COVID-19 infections and about 967,000 deaths as of Sunday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Meanwhile, US Senator Jeanne Shaheen said on Sunday night that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and was "abiding by all public health protocols to quarantine."
"Grateful for 3 shots that made this a mild case, and a reminder to all who have not been vaccinated to do so ASAP," tweeted the 75-year-old Democrat from New Hampshire.
More than 150 US lawmakers or more than one-quarter of all members of the US Congress reported having COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, according to data analyzed by The Hill.
