I certainly would have thought Captain Kirk would have been involved. And I'd have hoped I'd have a robot maid named Rosie to clean up the mess. https://t.co/KxIJ8e6qaI
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) December 8, 2021
Today @CDCDirector @WhiteHouse
– The 7-day average of cases is up⬆️ = 103,800/day
– 7-day average of hospital admissions ⬆️= 6,800/day.
– 7-day average of daily deaths ⬆️ = 1,100/day.
– >99% of sequenced cases in ?? = #DeltaVariant
– #Omicron cases in >50 countries & 19 states. pic.twitter.com/evy75Ol2os— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 7, 2021
Today the official US death toll from #Covid will hit 790,000.
Nearly 115,000 of those deaths have occurred in the past 12 weeks — when vaccine is readily available here, good masks can be purchased & it's well understood how to mimimize risk.
And yet people choose not to. pic.twitter.com/5nINa51kD1— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) December 7, 2021
U.S. boosters surge to all-time high on Omicron fears https://t.co/Xst67XDE8s pic.twitter.com/AlZAGJ6k6k
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
Amid the push to vaccinate children, other challenges are confronting pediatricians. At one clinic serving low-income children, treatment for health problems that have gone unchecked during the pandemic is more in demand than coronavirus shots https://t.co/xjbcpyywWv
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 8, 2021
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Omicron reported in 57 countries, hospitalisations set to rise, WHO says https://t.co/gwsdIXYU5B pic.twitter.com/Uy2bGWcEYy
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
China reports 74 new COVID-19 cases on Dec 7 vs 94 a day earlier https://t.co/1mlz6flyUa pic.twitter.com/5plZ5Ndhmo
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
India vaccine maker Covishield halves production https://t.co/9MxXCaoKR8
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 8, 2021
… India’s Serum Institute is sitting on a stockpile of half a billion doses of Covishield, the local version of AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria jab, the firm’s CEO Adar Poonawalla told CNBC-TV18.
The jab accounts for 90% of the 1.3 billion doses given so far in India.
India has fully vaccinated half of its eligible adults since January.
“I am in a dilemma which I never imagined to be in. I am producing 250 million doses [of Covishield] a month but the good news is India has covered a large part of the population and we will have completed all our orders to the ministry of health in a week’s time,” Mr Poonawalla said .
“We have no other orders at hand. So I am going to be reducing the production by at least 50% to begin with on a monthly basis until orders again pick up either in India and the world.”
Some 85% of Indians have been administered one dose. However, tens of millions of people are still to receive their second dose.
Serum Institute halted vaccine exports in April to cater to domestic demand as infections shot up in India. The firm is the largest single supplier to Covax, the international scheme to ensure equal access to Covid-19 vaccines. India resumed Covid vaccine exports from October…
Mr Poonawalla said Covax was placing orders “but that’s very slow and the uptick will pick up in the second quarter”.
He said he was in touch with the leaders of countries which needed more vaccines, but many of them would not be “sadly” able to lift from India unless they improved their logistics and cold storage facilities.
“All these other nations cannot vaccinate at 7 or 8 million beneficiaries a day like India has done. They don’t have that kind of infrastructure. Hopefully by this time next year they would have hopefully reached 60-70% of the target for double vaccination,” Mr Poonawalla said…
S.Korea considers expanded COVID-19 home care as new cases top 7,000 https://t.co/t90lGSdizn pic.twitter.com/cXARe5FZFf
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
More than three quarters of Russians are against the Kremlin’s plans to introduce mandatory vaccine passports on trains and domestic flights, a poll by the independent Levada Center has found https://t.co/WbVimVkXyG
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) December 7, 2021
EU agencies endorse mix-and-match of COVID-19 vaccines https://t.co/kxuEIWnNq8 pic.twitter.com/nzg2d0twq7
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
There is now officially community transmission with omicron in Denmark. ~50 % increase per day for the past few days.
Remember: Denmark has a very high capacity for testing and variant detection and, hence, is without blindfolds.
The spread is likely similar in your country. pic.twitter.com/mYTMkFftg2
— Michael Bang Petersen (@M_B_Petersen) December 7, 2021
Germany records highest daily COVID deaths since February https://t.co/SgWT2HVJfo pic.twitter.com/Uj6QU0VgVK
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
Speaking of pandemic-heightened domestic violence…
A new level of #COVID19 insanity:
"Police found 2 adults & 3 children aged 4, 8 and 10 dead from gunshot wounds in a family home in Koenigs Wusterhausen south of Berlin…In a farewell note the man said he forged a #vaccination certificate for his wife…"https://t.co/yOfF5hSsMg— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 8, 2021
Swiss group lights 11,288 candles for COVID-19 victims https://t.co/ppkoLxNBQN pic.twitter.com/gURMkFD9ao
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
Britain could implement COVID-19 'plan B' as early as Thursday – reports https://t.co/iJhacWXQmc pic.twitter.com/wQ6x1eHlhU
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
Britain marks one year since giving first Pfizer COVID-19 shot https://t.co/KxJeq74adn pic.twitter.com/cmKbfcfIxE
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
African Union calls for end to Omicron travel curbs on some African nations https://t.co/1hshNJzSmZ pic.twitter.com/9Etzs8zrhM
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
France's Martinique territory imposes new curfew as COVID infections surge https://t.co/b3JrR1ZJ4X pic.twitter.com/n0ebyVNryk
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
Factbox: How cruises are trying to keep U.S. passengers safe from COVID-19 https://t.co/O2UFbJieJZ pic.twitter.com/M8qderJC3s
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 7, 2021
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Breaking News: A preliminary study offered a first glimpse at how vaccinated people might fare against Omicron, suggesting breakthrough cases were likely. https://t.co/oGKt8maj4A
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 8, 2021
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus can partially evade the protection from two doses of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, the research head of a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said https://t.co/rmCOsXBq1K
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 8, 2021
3 studies today on antibodies & Omicron.
? There may be a large drop in neutralization of Omicron
? Antibodies stop Omicron well in hybrid immunity (infected+vax)
? Sotrovimab is active versus OmicronTake home: Get vaccinated. Get boosted. Immune system is clever. ? 1/n
— Prof. Shane Crotty (@profshanecrotty) December 8, 2021
We started off with everyone more or less susceptible.
Now we have a patchwork of immunity from different vaccines administered at different times and immunity from infections with different variants.
Extrapolating real-world data from one place to another has become harder.
— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) December 7, 2021
1st plant-based coronavirus vaccine shows ‘positive’ results. It's under development by GlaxoSmithKline & biotech innovator Medicago. It has been studied in 24k adults in 6 countries w/ an efficacy rate of ~71%. Tests show it guards against #delta variant https://t.co/KvOcSlWjns
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 8, 2021
The World Health Organization strongly recommends against use of convalescent plasma for any patient with Covid, calling it a costly therapy that doesn't improve survival or cut the need for mechanical ventilation https://t.co/S8UFsFj8MO
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 7, 2021
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Reading the linked reddit thread — trigger warning for literally fatal stupidity! — made me realize why anti-vaxxers bring their loved ones to hospital despite claiming ‘the medics just want to kill you’. These people don’t want help, they want someone to blame when their spouse / parent / child dies. Not my fault Daddy died, even though he came in with a pulse ox of 37, it’s just the doctors wouldn’t give the ‘right’ treatments, like I told them to!
A MD who texts as "thanosrain" posted an utterly heart-wrenching essay on quitting the medical profession after a series of horrible encounters with Q-Anon followers, demanding #ivermectin and refusing to wear masks inside his hospital.https://t.co/JuI3n4HiCJ
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 7, 2021
Mass General Brigham wants to keep identities of most panelists who decided who got Covid-19 shot exemptions secret to protect them from threats or worse https://t.co/UcOM8u97Mh
— Adam Gaffin (@universalhub) December 7, 2021
Yea imagine if there was a yearly shot to help you stay healthy against a formerly pandemic level coronavirus
Oh wait that’s a freaking flu shot you babies https://t.co/jEAatKmb7L
— Daniel Windham (@danieljwindham) December 8, 2021
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday / Wednesday, Dec. 7-8Post + Comments (63)