The Czech Republic will implement third vaccination doses for vulnerable population groups starting September 20, Health Minister Adam Vojtech said on Monday.
"The third vaccine doses will be given primarily to people who are at risk. These include people aged 60 years and older, as well as chronic patients. Vaccinations will be carried out at least eight months after the end of the previous vaccination," Vojtech told a press conference.
So far, the Czech authorities have delivered nearly 11.5 million doses, with more than 5.6 million people fully vaccinated and nearly 6 million having received at least one shot.
As of Monday, the country has confirmed more than 1.6 million COVID-19 cases with 81 fresh infections over the past day, and over 30,000 related fatalities.
The Thai health authorities are considering the use of a mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccine made of Sinovac and AstraZeneca in the near future to fend off new strains of coronavirus, the Disease Control Department (DCD) said on Monday.
"Soon we can switch from the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, which still prevail in our immunization program, to a new vaccination scheme. For those who have not yet received the shots, Sinovac will be used as the first dose, and AstraZeneca as the second," DCD’s Emergency Health Hazard and Disease Control Director Chawetsan Namwat told reporters.
According to the health official, such a combination protects against new COVID-19 strains.
The doses will be administered within an interval of 12 weeks.
The mix-and-match vaccine has already been used in Thailand for two months to immunize healthcare workers, and volunteers who were in direct contact with COVID-19 patients. Pfizer vaccine is used as a booster shot.
Thailand initially aimed at vaccinating at least 70% of the 69 million population by the first quarter of 2022. Delays in the vaccination program have occurred mostly because the Thai AstraZeneca vaccine manufacturer had not managed to produce 60 million doses, which the government ordered in 2020, on time. Moreover, according to the protocol from AstraZeneca, only one-third of the output can be used domestically, while the remaining part must be exported.
The EU, due to the increase in the incidence of coronavirus, removed five countries, including the United States, from the list of states with which it was recommended to open the bloc's external borders, the Council of the EU said on Monday.
"Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted. In particular, Israel, Kosovo[1], Lebanon, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia and the United States of America were removed from the list," the document says.
Until the last moment, 23 states were included in the EU list.
Immuno-compromised Danes will be allowed to receive a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to avoid a severe course of the disease, the Danish Health Authority said on Monday.
"People with extremely weakened immune systems may be offered a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Among them are patients with serious illnesses undergoing treatment that reduces immunity, which have no contraindications," the authority said in a statement.
The so-called booster shots will be administered to patients with blood and bone marrow diseases, cancer, dialysis or chemotherapy, organ transplants and other medical conditions.
The third dose should be administered within an interval of one to nine months after the preceding inoculation.
According to official statistics, over 4.3 million people in Denmark have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Monday that he does not support the introduction of mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 in the country despite widespread speculation.
Poland administers vaccines to both adults and minors above 12 on voluntary basis and free of charge.
"There have been rumors about the introduction of mandatory vaccinations. I just want to say that I am an absolute opponent of compulsory vaccinations," Duda said at the Cabinet Council meeting.
Over 18 million of the 38 million Polish population received both doses of the vaccine.
The Australian branch of the Virgin Airlines company intends to make vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory for all its employees starting November 15, the branch's CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said on Monday.
“The majority of our team at Virgin Australia are already vaccinated, and we will be listening to our team members to ensure we find the best fit policy for our organization. We will now commence discussing the proposed vaccination requirement in detail with our team through our internal safety committees, unions, and other appropriate forums," Hrdlicka was quoted as saying in a statement.
The final decision on the matter will only be made public next month, after the consultations with unions and employees.
Over 75% of the company's frontline personnel have been vaccinated at least once, according to the statement.
More than 2 million Israeli citizens have been administered a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the country's health ministry said on Monday.
Israel started offering COVID-19 booster shots to people over 60 on August 1 and since then has been gradually lowering the age threshold. On Sunday, the country allowed all citizens over 12 to have a third dose.
"A third jab against the coronavirus has been received by 2,041,949 people. One dose has been received by 5.962 million, and two [doses] have been received by 5.474 Israelis," the ministry said in a statement.
Israel began its vaccination drive on December 20 last year, using the Pfizer vaccine.
More than 236,000 COVID-19-related deaths are expected in Europe within the next three months according to certain estimates, the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe said on Monday.
"Several countries are starting to observe an increased burden on hospitals and more deaths. Last week there was an 11% increase in the number of deaths in the region, with one reliable projection expecting 236,000 deaths in Europe by December 1," Hans Kluge told a press conference.
The reason for this development is the highly contagious Delta variant, which is confirmed to be present in fifty countries in the region, as well as the easing of restrictions and a surge in travel in the summer season, the official explained.
"We now have 64 million confirmed cases and 1.3 million deaths [Europe], 33 member states report a greater than 10% increase in 14-day case incidence. This high transmission is deeply worrying, particularly in light of low vaccination uptake in priority populations in a number of countries," Kluge added.
Over 76% of the EU/EEA population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China will keep providing Cuba with aid to fight COVID-19, President Xi Jinping said on 30 August in a phone call with his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
"China has always considered it necessary to respect the right of all countries to choose their path of social development, oppose unilateral sanctions and foreign interference in the internal affairs of other states," Xi said, as quoted by China Central Television.
Beijing supports Havana's path toward building prosperous and sustainable socialism, as well as its fight to protect national sovereignty and security, and combat brutal intervention, the Chinese leader added.
"China will continue providing aid to Cuba within its capabilities to help fight the pandemic and improve the living standards of its people," Xi stated.
