Europe’s vaccine campaign has hit a crisis of confidence. Just as the coronavirus pandemic appears to be setting off a new wave of infections, leading European countries have paused the rollout of the AstraZeneca/ Oxford University two-dose vaccine following isolated reports of blood clots. Naturally, any adverse affects must be thoroughly investigated, but this is a race against time, and the virus isn’t waiting around. European leaders must get the vaccine train back on track—and fast.
More than a dozen countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain, temporarily suspended the AstraZeneca rollout after reports last week that some people in Denmark and Norway who got a dose had developed blood clots. There was no evidence that the shot caused them. The company says that out of 17 million doses given in Britain and Europe as of March 8, there were only 37 incidents of blood clots, less than what would be expected to occur naturally in a population of this size.
The governments insisted they were acting out of an abundance of caution, with a goal of keeping public trust. But the European Medicines Agency urged the governments not to halt use of the vaccine at a time when the pandemic is still taking thousands of lives each day, saying the benefits outweighed any possible risk.
European vaccine uptake is already lagging. In the European Union, just 11 doses for every 100 people have been administered, compared with 32 in the United States and 38 in Britain. The AstraZeneca vaccine is based on conventional viral-vector technology, like the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but has been buffeted by problems, including questions about the clinical trial data, doubts raised (and later determined to be unfounded) about whether it would work for those older than 65, and a shortfall of the supply promised to the EU.
The “pause” in the vaccine rollout may well deepen doubts about getting the shot. That is the last thing Europe needs. Weekly infection rates are high in the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, France and elsewhere. The vaccine is a bulwark against the pandemic, but only if people are vaccinated.
A lesson of this moment is that no medicine is 100 percent safe and effective. The flu vaccine must be reformulated every year to cope with mutations. Despite widespread use of the measles vaccine, outbreaks still occur.
Europe has an enormous job ahead to vaccinate tens of millions. Everyone should expect speed bumps, be vigilant for serious problems—but avoid panic.
BRUSSELS. KAZINFORM - EU Special Representative for Central Asia Peter Burian has congratulated all Kazakhstanis on Nauryz holiday, Kazinform correspondent reports.
«I wholeheartedly congratulate all Kazakhstanis on Nauryz holiday. I wish people of Kazakhstan happiness, prosperity, and health» Peter Burian extended his congratulations in Kazakh.
«Dear friends, on behalf of the European Union I wish you a Happy Nauryz. Nauryz holiday has a special meaning and symbolism today when our countries are facing COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. I wanted to use this opportunity and reassured you that the European Union wants to continue to be a strong partner for Kazakhstan in good times, but also in difficult times», the EU Special Representative for Central Asia continued.
“During my pregnancy, my family planned to help me deliver my baby at home, following in the footsteps of my ancestors”, says tea worker Ruma Munda. “I was never aware that there were alternative, safe methods of childbirth delivery, in health care facilities with clinical specialists.
“My husband, Sunil, is also a tea garden worker, and we were never introduced to modern medicine or midwives.”
Ms. Munda’s story is an example of the health challenges faced by tea workers, most of whom have more than three children, partly because of difficulties in receiving family planning services. However thanks to the programme, couples can improve their knowledge and take advantage of their right to access family planning methods.
“One day, I participated in an awareness session, which is where I learned about prenatal care, birth planning, and safe delivery care at a clinic”, says Ms. Munda. “When I shared the information with my husband and family, we decided to seek health care from a secure clinic.
“As a result, I visited the facility for prenatal care, and they made me aware of what to expect and how to tend to my new-born child after birth.”
“During the delivery, I was aided by a tea garden volunteer who transferred me to a health facility where I delivered my healthy baby with the assistance of a midwife. Now I am a strong advocate for the Rajghat tea garden maternal health care for all expecting mothers, so they know they have the same right to access quality care”.
ILO/Alexius Chicham
Approx. 360,000 workers and their families in 166 commercial tea gardens, especially women and girls who represents 64 perfect of the working population, are some of the last mile marginalized people in Bangladesh. Over half of the tea garden workers are women and most of them are tea leaf pickers, and others work in tea factories.
Making a difference
Bangladesh is amongst the leading tea exporters in the world, with hundreds of plantations across the country. The tea industry is dominated by female workers who, despite long hours and labour-intensive work, receive very little pay and face harsh conditions.
The programme is making a difference to their lives in several ways, helping couples to improve their knowledge and right to access family planning methods, and providing education on sexually transmitted diseases and, for adolescents, information on health and child marriage prevention methods.
“I had no idea about menstrual hygiene”, says Akhi, an adolescent girl from Mirzapur Teagarden. “I now know, for the first time in my life, why this is so important, and why cleanliness, changing clothes frequently, and taking a regular bath is essential.
“I started following those messages and now I feel more confident. I am also encouraging my peers to do the same and share the information from the awareness sessions for adolescent girls”.
‘Vicious cycle of deprivation’
The sessions have helped women feel more empowered, and more likely to stick up for their rights. Srimoti Bauri, a tea garden worker is one of the three women Vice-Chairmen of the Cha Sramik Union (Tea Garden Workers’ Union) valley committees.
“I am forever grateful to this programme for providing me with the opportunity to speak on behalf of my fellow left-behind women tea garden workers and share their struggles”, says Ms. Bauri. “I never thought I could speak up for our rights and contribute to the empowerment of women tea garden workers like me. This gives us courage and strength to fight for our rights and change this system for the better.”
“I am hopeful that women like me will be able to break the vicious cycle of deprivation and exploitation of tea garden workers. Through this initiative, women tea garden workers and their families can finally achieve improved access to better education and skills, and raise their voices against discrimination and injustice in the tea gardens”.
UN Bangladesh/Tanjim Ferdous
Bangladeshi tea garden workers attend a UN-led awareness session.
ATHENS, Greece — The interior ministers of the five Mediterranean countries on the front line of mass migration to Europe want their EU partners to share the burden more equitably.
“We can no longer be punished for our geographical position,” Malta’s Byron Camilleri said Saturday, summing up his position and that of his colleagues from Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain after they met in Athens.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas joined part of the meeting, Schinas is coordinating the commission’s work to revise the European Union’s pact on migration and asylum.
Ministers from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain created a “MED 5” group last year in an effort to present a united front and influence the new EU pact.
Their demands are threefold: better cooperation with the countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia where most Europe-bound migrants and asylum-seekers come from; greater willingness by other EU member nations to accept newly arrived migrants; and a centralized European repatriation mechanism overseen by the EU’s executive commission.
More than a thousand people protested in solidarity with migrants and refugees in the center of Athens on Saturday.
Southern European countries with extensive coastlines have borne the brunt of arriving asylum-seekers hoping to enter the EU. Most Europe-bound migrants travel by boat on dangerous smuggling routes, either from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands or across the Mediterranean from north Africa.
The ministers discussed whether Turkey played an active role in pushing migrants toward Europe in contravention of a 2016 migration-control effort between the EU and Turkey.
On this year’s World Down Syndrome Day, marked annually on 21 March, UN News’, Nabil Al Midani, shares his personal experience of caring for his daughter Sedra, who has Down syndrome.
” ‘I did it, Dad … I can do it!’ This phrase will continue to ring in my ears for the rest of my life. My daughter, Sedra, said it when we were in a water adventure park; she was trying hard for more than an hour to take part in a game that involved walking a path above a swimming pool without falling in.
‘I did it, Dad … I can do it!’
I tried to help her, but she refused my help, and asked me to stay away. I pretended to move away from her, but my eyes did not lose sight of her, even for a second. My heart would sink whenever she fell into the pool. But she was finally able to balance her body and pass over without falling, then she cried out to me and I saw the joy in her eyes. I hugged her and my heart was beating with joy. I said to her, ‘Of course you can do it…you are a hero!’
It was God’s will that Sedra was born with Down syndrome, but He also endowed her with awareness, intelligence, determination, and the ability to deal with anything in her life. She is extremely social, she loves people, is empathetic with children, and cares for everyone around her.
Sedra is 22 years old. She was born in Damascus, Syria, and began receiving medical care and physical therapy at the age of six months, and participated in speech therapy before she was one year old. When we were in Syria, we met regularly with other families of Down syndrome children, to share experiences and learn from eachother. I worried about her future, and the challenges that she would have to overcome.
I spent a lot of time searching for information, and contacting organizations that I thought could help me. I travelled to many countries, from Lebanon and the UAE, to Germany and the US, and got in touch with many institutions and centres, to learn how to give my daughter the best care possible.
A child with special needs requires special care so that they don’t feel there is any difference between themselves and other children, and so that they don’t feel that they are disabled, or that they cannot do anything by themselves.
UN News/Nabil Midani
Twenty-two-year-old Sedra Midani.
The impact of education
Education had a great impact on Sedra’s early life. When Sedra was three, my work brought us to the United States, where she was enrolled in an educational programme for people with special needs, a continuation of the care she had received in Syria, and she began to learn a second language, English.
Within a short period, she was comfortable in this language, and understood her teachers and classmates. At home, we followed what Sedra was learning in school, and encouraged her to write, draw, and learn numbers. Sedra’s school plays a big role in shaping a child’s personality. It offered a self-help curriculum for people with special needs in which students learn personal hygiene, tidying up, cooking and cleaning.
Special needs pupils are integrated in the school’s activities, and Sedra participates in the musicals presented by high school students every year. The school also prepares her for appropriate work in the county in which we live, for a few hours each week, or during the summer period.
A gold-medal winning athlete
When I was looking for weekend activities for Sedra, I decided to teach her to swim. It was a little difficult in the beginning, until she settled into it, wearing a life jacket. After a while she became upset with the life jacket: her brothers were all swimming in deep water without help, and one day she took off the jacket and jumped into the 11 feet deep end. I was looking at her and my heart was beating, but then I saw her swimming and diving alone, full of joy, laughing and telling me “I can swim!”
Now, Sedra participates in the Special Olympics, held each year in the United States. She has won a large number of gold, silver and bronze medals.
She also enjoys a number of other activities. She is trained in ballet, performs and takes part in competitions; she loves drawing, music and technology.
Hong Kong Down Syndrome Association
Hong Kong Down Syndrome Association offers assistance to children with Down syndrome.
Shaping a child’s personality
I believe that people with special needs can play a role in their societies, if we are able to guide and motivate them. Each of us has a part to play, as father, mother, brother, friend, school teachers, as well as the wider society and the state.
People with Down syndrome are able to manage their lives on their own, when directed and provided with appropriate care.
Those with special needs are not a burden on society. Society’s view of them should be one of encouragement, and not one of compassion, which is what we sometimes see. And if the investment in people with special needs is made in a correct way, and they are able to develop their skills, then they can become an integral part of the world we live in.”
According to the United Nations World Health Organisation, Down Syndrome is a naturally occurring chromosomal arrangement, which having always been a part of the human condition, exists in all regions across the globe. Photo: UNICEF/Dormino
The extra material in chromosome 21, which characterises Down Syndrome, commonly results in variable effects on learning styles, physical characteristics and/or health. Photo: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras
Early intervention programmes that include education, as well as appropriate research, are vital to the growth and development of the affected individual. Photo: UNICEF/Noorani
Member States, relevant organizations of the UN system and other international organizations, as well as civil society, are invited to observe the Day and raise public awareness of Down Syndrome. Photo: Fundown Caribe
The quality of life of affected individuals can be improved by meeting health care needs that include: regular medical exams to monitor mental and physical condition and timely intervention, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, counselling and/or special education. Photo: UNICEF/Shubuckl
Individuals with Down Syndrome can achieve optimal quality of life through parental care and support, medical guidance and community based support systems like inclusive education at all levels. Photo: Margaret Thompson
Under the hashtag #MyVoiceMyCommunity, this year’s commemoration aims to enable people with Down Syndrome to speak up, be heard and influence government policy and action. UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras
Not for the first time, I find myself in disagreement with the case made by John Carpay whose current position as president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has him appearing to suggest that freedom of religion is protected in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as though it is an “absolute right.” He appears to ignore the fact that all rights in the Charter, including freedom of religion, can be limited by reasonable laws which can be justifiably sustained in a democracy.
I am inclined to support the accuracy of the position put forward by Prof. Eric Adams that suggests that in a time of pandemic and a patently urgent health crisis, reasonable health orders placing limitations on how people may gather would be considered justifiable. The limitations on the conditions under which people may gather for church gatherings have been accepted by the vast majority of churches and religious groups worldwide as well as in Edmonton.
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What may not be clear however, is whether or not the government has merely provided “guidelines” to church communities or whether the restrictions are in any way intended to be legally binding.
I usually find Daniele Smith’s column simply annoying, often filled with highly selective information, employed to prove a point. However, her column published in this Friday’s Journal is offensive and outrageous. Smith invokes the Nuremberg Codes to argue that public health measures incentivizing people to get one of the COVID vaccines are authoritarian in the extreme. The Nuremberg Codes were brought into place in response to horrendous, often racially motivated “medical experiments” in Nazi concentration camps. The subjects of these experiments typically did not survive.
Let’s be clear: vaccination saves lives. Large numbers of unvaccinated individuals guarantee that the virus, including the variants, will continue to circulate in the population, putting everyone at risk. Vaccine hesitancy is a complicated and sensitive matter, however, does any rational person really believe that a code meant to prevent atrocities applies to public health measures designed to save lives? Ms. Smith’s column is outrageous and misleading.
Anthony McClellan, Edmonton
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Grateful to AHS for seamless vaccinations
We can all complain, we can all find fault but I have to write to say that our vaccination experience for my family from booking to vaccination has been exemplary. For Mom, (93 years) the booking was expertly managed through Rosedale working with AHS. When my husband’s and my
birth years came up, the online process, was seamless. Mom’s two shots and now my first were organized, safe, fast and provided by caring nurses who are a credit to the profession. Bravo Alberta Health Services! We are so grateful.
Colleen Norris, Edmonton
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During the early ‘90s, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan successfully raised funds to get antiretroviral drugs to those affected by the HIV epidemic. Many of the children of those patients are still alive today thanks to her work. As part of the podcast series, Awake At Night, she shares her insights with the UN’s head of communications, Melissa Fleming.
“We’ve seen time and time again that products developed in high income countries take decades to find their way to low income countries. This has happened with influenza pandemics, with HIV, and with hepatitis B vaccines.
It took 30 years for hepatitis B vaccines to get to developing countries and that’s exactly the reason why COVAX [the UN-led scheme to distribute two billion COVID-19 vaccines to mostly poorer countries] was set up, to make sure that as vaccines get developed, that there’s also equity in access.
I think that it was a good move and that it’s going to be successful. I’m very hopeful that, for the first time ever, COVAX is going to bring vaccines to people in every country in the world, having taken lessons from HIV and all of the other diseases for which the richer world found treatments and vaccines. The funding was slow but finally, there is rollout and there is hope.
The promise of science
To me, what has happened with science and the scientific collaboration that happened during the past year is very positive, the fact that people have been so willing and open to share knowledge. It’s helped us in the WHO, to be ahead of the curve, and I think it’s the reason that we’ve had so many dozens of vaccine candidates being developed.
Of course, there’s still a technology gap between the high, middle and lower income countries, and we want to focus on bridging that gap by enabling a technology transfer, particularly for some of these new technology platforms like the mRNA vaccines, which offer the possibility of being able to very quickly adapt to COVID-19 variations, as well as to create vaccines against new pathogens.
So, it’s a perfect platform for pandemic response. This is the time that the world needs to think about getting to the end of this pandemic but also, at the same time, preparing for the next one by making sure that this technology is not limited to a few sites in the world, but is more broadly available, and could be used to control some of our other big public health problems, like TB.
MO Dilip Gosai checking chest X- Ray of for TB and other lung infection at the Antela Primary Health Center in Baria, Gujarat, India..
The deadly toll of tuberculosis
Most of my career has essentially involved research on tuberculosis (TB), on HIV, and on other infectious diseases. TB patients usually come from the poorest sections of society, so I’ve been to all the slums in Chennai, and I know the conditions in which those patients live.
It gave me a better appreciation for why a purely biomedical approach is unlikely to work in a disease like tuberculosis, where there are so many social, economic and environmental risk factors driving that disease.
One and a half million people die of tuberculosis every year. It’s takes such a huge toll on people and yet we get used to deadly diseases that are often invisible because they hit the poor.
So, in a country like India, a person who dies of dengue fever in a city would make headlines, whereas you’d have had 1000 deaths due to TB on the same day and they would not feature in any news story at all.
Perhaps, the lesson that we’ve learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that, because we live in a globalized world, it doesn’t take much for a disease that starts in one part of the world to travel and infect people in other countries.
I hope that there’ll be a new public health paradigm now, not focusing only on your own country, but really thinking about global health security. And it’s not only humans, but animals that we need to think about, and the environment, because we know that the pandemics arise from interactions between animals, humans and the environment”.
The interior ministers of the five Mediterranean countries on the front line of mass migration to Europe want their EU partners to share the burden more equitably.
“We can no longer be punished for our geographical position,” Malta’s Byron Camilleri said Saturday, summing up his position and that of his colleagues from Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain after they met in Athens.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas joined part of the meeting, Schinas is coordinating the commission’s work to revise the European Union’s pact on migration and asylum.
Ministers from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain created a “MED 5” group last year in an effort to present a united front and influence the new EU pact.
Their demands are threefold: better cooperation with the countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia where most Europe-bound migrants and asylum-seekers come from; greater willingness by other EU member nations to accept newly arrived migrants; and a centralised European repatriation mechanism overseen by the EU’s executive commission.
Southern European countries with extensive coastlines have borne the brunt of arriving asylum-seekers hoping to enter the EU. Most Europe-bound migrants travel by boat on dangerous maritime smuggling routes, either from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands or across the Mediterranean from north Africa.
The ministers discussed whether Turkey played an active role in pushing migrants toward Europe in contravention of a 2016 migration-control between the EU and Turkey.
Frontex
Cyprus’ interior minister, Nikos Nouris, said most of the migrants arriving in his country enter from the Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern part of the island nation. He called for Turkey to accept inspections on its southern shoreline by Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency.
At one point last year, Turkey’s president said his government would no longer discourage migrants from trying to cross the border into Greece.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
From left, Greece’s Minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarachi, Interior Minister of Spain Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Italy’s Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese, Cyprus’ Interior Minister Nicos Nouris and Byron Camilleri, Malta’s Interior Minister make statements following their meeting in Athens. The ministers of Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta, which are on the front line of migration flows into Europe have met in Athens to discuss the European Union’s migration policy as the bloc works toward a new migration pact.
ATHENS, Greece >> The interior ministers of the five Mediterranean countries on the front line of mass migration to Europe want their EU partners to share the burden more equitably.
“We can no longer be punished for our geographical position,” Malta’s Byron Camilleri said Saturday, summing up his position and that of his colleagues from Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain after they met in Athens.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas joined part of the meeting, Schinas is coordinating the commission’s work to revise the European Union’s pact on migration and asylum.
Ministers from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain created a “MED 5” group last year in an effort to present united front and influence the new EU pact.
Their demands are threefold: better cooperation with the countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia where most Europe-bound migrants and asylum-seekers come from; greater willingness by other EU member nations to accept newly arrived migrants; and a centralized European repatriation mechanism overseen by the EU’s executive commission.
Southern European countries with extensive coastlines have borne the brunt of arriving asylum-seekers hoping to enter the EU. Most Europe-bound migrants travel by boat on dangerous maritime smuggling routes, either from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands or across the Mediterranean from north Africa.
The ministers discussed whether Turkey played an active role in pushing migrants toward Europe in contravention of a 2016 migration-control between the EU and Turkey.
Cyprus’ interior minister, Nikos Nouris, said most of the migrants arriving in his country enter from the the Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern part of the island nation. He called for Turkey to accept inspections on its southern shoreline by Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency.
At one point last year, Turkey’s president said his government would no longer discourage migrants from trying to cross the border into Greece.
Click here to see our full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. Submit your coronavirus news tip.
The Ambassador, who is the Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, voiced the view that efforts should be made to address the root of religious conflict and hatred, to further facilitate people’s participation in religious activities at the local, national and global levels, and to strengthen cooperation and dialogue among religious groups.
Stressing that Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups with different religions and beliefs, who are living peacefully and harmoniously together, the diplomat affirmed that Vietnam always spares no effort to promote solidarity and equality, and create favourable conditions for the operations of groups of different religions and beliefs.
The virtual Arria-formula meeting on “Religion, Belief and Conflict: the protection of members of religious and belief groups in conflict and religious actors in conflict resolution” was initiated by the UK and co-sponsored by Estonia, Norway and the US.
Chaired by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, UK Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the event gathered representatives of all UNSC member states and invited speakers.
Guest speakers spoke highly of religious communities’ contribution to peace progress, humanitarian works, and development cause in many nations and territories worldwide. With some expressing concerns over increasing terrorism and violent extremism related to religion and belief in recent years, they emphasised the importance of ensuring freedom of religion and belief and called on the international community to strengthen the protection of religious groups and communities in conflict.
Participating member nations also backed the freedom of religion and belief, and underlined the need to promote efforts to fight violent extremism. They said they opposed all forms of attacks and oppression against religious groups and communities in conflict.
Arria-formula meetings are informal meetings of the UN Security Council with the attendance of the council’s members, other UN member states, and international organisations to look into important and emerging issues.
