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WHO calls distribution of boosters a 'scandal'
NEW YORK • Six times more booster shots of Covid-19 vaccines are being administered around the world daily than primary doses in low-income countries, the director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday, calling the disparity "a scandal that must stop now".
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and others at the WHO have regularly criticised wealthy nations for hoarding vaccines while lower-income countries do not have enough doses to vaccinate their elderly, front-line healthcare workers and other high-risk groups. In August, he called for a global moratorium on boosters that he later extended until the end of the year.
However, nations including Germany, Israel, Canada and the United States have gone ahead with booster programmes.
NYTIMES
Long Covid study sparks controversy
PARIS • A large-scale French study suggesting symptoms of so-called long Covid may be due more to psychological factors than to infection with the virus has sparked debate among patients and scientists.
The report that appeared earlier last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association focused on nearly 27,000 participants across France who took antibody tests to screen for Covid-19 infection.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
US court affirms hold on Biden vaccine mandate
WASHINGTON • A US appeals court on Friday upheld its decision to put on hold an order by President Joe Biden for companies with 100 workers or more to require Covid-19 vaccines for their staff, rejecting a challenge by his administration.
A three-member panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed its ruling despite the Biden administration's position that halting implementation of the vaccine mandate could lead to dozens or even hundreds of deaths.
REUTERS
Thousands in Melbourne in anti-vaccine rally
MELBOURNE • Several thousand people rallied in Melbourne against new vaccination mandates yesterday, with a few comparing the state government to Nazis and calling for violence against politicians, local media said.
In Australia, where 83 per cent of people aged 16 and above have been fully inoculated, nationwide vaccinations are voluntary.
But states and territories have mandated vaccinations for many occupations and barred the unvaccinated from activities such as dining out and concerts. Victoria state requires construction workers to be fully inoculated.
REUTERS
