H5N1

Vaccination against Ebola: The prefect of N'Zérékoré launches the operation in Gouécké

Via guineematin.com: Vaccination against Ebola: the prefect of N'Zérékoré launches the operation in Gouécké. The Google translation:

Let's go for the vaccination campaign against the Ebola hemorrhagic epidemic. The operation was launched in the afternoon of Tuesday, February 23, 2021, in the sub-prefecture of Gouécké (N'Zérékoré) , where the disease has reappeared recently. And, it is the prefect of N'Zérékoré who kicked off the work, reports the correspondent of Guineematin.com in the prefecture. 

Shortly after the arrival of the first doses of Ebola vaccines in Gouécké, the authorities launched the vaccination campaign. The ceremony took place in the presence of the Minister of Health, Doctor General Rémy Lamah, the chairman of the logistics commission for the response to Ebola, Dr Moussa Konaté, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Guinea, Prof. Georges Alfred Ki-Zerbo, and several local authorities.   

To set an example, the prefect of N'Zérékoré, Sâa Yola Tolno, was the first to be vaccinated. He was followed by the sub-prefect of Gouécké, Ibrahima Koné, local religious leaders, health workers and civil society actors from this sub-prefecture. 

It should be noted, however, that this first day of the anti-Ebola vaccination campaign did not meet with great enthusiasm among the populations concerned. Despite the awareness-raising carried out in the locality, reluctance remains very strong in Gouécké.

Reluctance in Gouécké (N'zérékoré): Citizens deny the existence of Ebola in the locality

Via guineematin.com: Reluctance in Gouécké (N'zérékoré): citizens deny the existence of Ebola in the locality. This sounds all too familiar, and it does not bode well. The Google translation:

There is great reluctance in Gouécké, a sub-prefecture of N'Zérékoré (in southern Guinea) where the Ebola epidemic has recently reappeared. The inhabitants of the locality deny the existence of the disease at home, and refuse to comply with the measures taken by the authorities. A situation that risks seriously complicating the response to this epidemic, noted a special envoy from Guineematin.com on the spot. 

“We recently heard that there is Ebola in Gouécké. But I do not agree with these false words, in which I do not believe at all, ”said Jacques Noël Haba, a resident of Gouécké. This citizen refuses to change his habits in the name of the fight against the Ebola virus. For him, the Guinean government is quite simply using this disease to get help from technical and financial partners. 

“If Ebola were here, we would have known it already, because we know the human damage that this disease leaves in its path. But here, since the death of the lady (the nurse) almost 4 weeks ago, we have not learned of another death or even a case of illness in her family. If there have been cases of death, it is not in Gouécké center here, it is perhaps outside our sub-prefecture. So if the government wants to lie in order to get something, they just have to do it, but there is no Ebola here,” says Haba. 

And, this position is widely shared in the sub-prefecture of Gouécké. Not believing at all in the presence of Ebola at home, the inhabitants of the locality do not respect any barrier measures. Even the closure of the weekly market in this urban municipality, announced by the authorities, was not respected. Met last Saturday in this market, Aimé Loua, a student at Gouéké college, says he does not understand why the Guinean authorities want to close this market when it is not the only place where Ebola could spread. 

“I came to the market to buy myself a bag, but I found the price to be very high because the market is not full. And, this is due to the government's decision to close our weekly market. But, why decide to close the market and leave the schools open? Or is it only in the market that Ebola can spread? In the classrooms, we are seated at 3 per table-bench, but there was no contamination there. We just want to tire our parents who are there suffering to feed us. So we ask the president to leave us in peace, because there is no Ebola here in Gouécké,” said this student. 

The vaccination campaign compromised? 

To avoid the 2013-2015 scenario (a period during which the Ebola virus had killed more than 2,500 people in Guinea), the authorities are betting this time on vaccination. The first doses of vaccines ordered by Guinea must arrive this Monday in Conakry so that the vaccination can begin tomorrow, Tuesday 23 February 2021. But, this operation may be complicated by the reluctance of the population. In Gouécké, some citizens suggest that vaccines against Ebola are not welcome in the locality. 

“They said there is disease with us here, but it is wrong. There is no illness here. They must not send us vaccines, because there is no Ebola here. If there was disease here, we would get vaccinated. But, why are we going to vaccinate people who are not sick? You see that our market is full, everyone is going about their business. We haven't seen an Ebola patient in Gouécké here, so we don't need their vaccines, ”said Oumar Soumaoro, a resident of Gouécké.

Tanzania's leader denies COVID-19, and countrymen push back

Via The Associated Press: Tanzania's leader denies COVID-19, and countrymen push back. Excerpt:

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Tanzania’s president says God has eliminated COVID-19 in his country. His own church now begs to differ. 

From the local Catholic authority warning this week of a new wave of coronavirus infections, to government institutions now requiring staffers to take precautions, populist President John Magufuli is being openly questioned as the African continent fights a strong resurgence in cases and deaths.  

“We are not an island,” the Catholic secretariat of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference said in a widely shared statement this week. It urged followers, which include the president, to pray but also to adopt measures long practiced in the rest of the world, including avoiding public gatherings and close personal contact. The church’s newspaper on Friday stressed in a large front-page headline: “There is corona.” 

Tanzania has tried to be an island since April, when the East African country of 60 million people stopped updating its number of virus infections at 509 cases. Some health officials who questioned Magufuli’s stance that COVID-19 had been defeated were fired. The government promoted international tourism, eager to avoid the economic pain of neighbors who imposed lockdowns and curfews. 

The president even praised Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for not wearing a face mask during a visit this month, calling it another sign that Tanzania is free of the virus.  

But pandemic concerns have returned to the spotlight in Tanzania as the world focuses on the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines. 

While other African countries seek millions of doses, Magufuli this week accused people who had been vaccinated overseas of bringing the virus back into Tanzania. He also questioned whether the vaccines work.  

“If the white man was able to come up with vaccinations, then vaccinations for AIDS would have been brought, tuberculosis would be a thing of the past, vaccines for malaria and cancer would have been found,“ he said on Wednesday.  

“Be firm,” he added. “Vaccines are inappropriate.” He urged the health ministry not to rush into vaccinations without being satisfied about their safety. He offered no evidence for his claims.

COVID-19 fight hits defiance, suspicion in rural California

Tehama County. Google Maps

A discouraging report from The Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 fight hits defiance, suspicion in rural California. Excerpt:

RED BLUFF, Calif. —  Jeremiah Fears sat beneath an elk head mounted on the wall of the volunteer fire department in his little city and rolled up his sleeve for what he hopes is a step toward normality: his first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. 

“If we can get vaccinated and do our thing to protect one another and ourselves, we can hurry up and open and go from there,” said Fears, chief of the Corning Police Department. “I know there’s controversy behind it. But it is what it is.”  

Fears had come to a vaccination clinic in Corning — population 7,600 — aimed at firefighters and police officers. But in that fire station was a hint of the pandemic skepticism that runs deep in rural Northern California: two elderly people, both on dialysis, who were coming to get their shots.  

They had been put on standby because Tehama County health officials, who only brought two small vials containing 20 doses, suspected they might not attract enough firefighters or police officers to use them all. 

In the battle against COVID-19, health officials in Northern California face the daunting task of vaccinating more than 683,300 people spread across a mountainous, heavily forested region where calamity — either from illness or physical trauma — can mean hours-long drives to the nearest medical facility. 

Among their biggest obstacles: overcoming widespread skepticism that the virus is a serious threat in far-flung towns, fear that the new vaccine is unsafe, and open rebellion against health orders. The pushback in rural parts of California is emblematic of the challenge in many parts of the United States, particularly outside more liberal urban centers.  

“We’re getting very frustrated here in Northern California,” said Dr. Richard Wickenheiser, the Tehama County health officer. “We have a lot of anti-vaxxers and a lot of independent people who just feel that COVID was a hoax, that it was going to go away when the election was over. And that didn’t happen. ... The excuses just go on and on.” 

Public health messaging, he said, “isn’t working.”

COVID-19: Vaccine skepticism hurts East European anti-virus efforts

Via The Associated Press: Vaccine skepticism hurts East European anti-virus efforts. Excerpt:

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Vaccines from the West, Russia or China? Or none at all? That dilemma faces nations in southeastern Europe, where coronavirus vaccination campaigns are off to a slow start — overshadowed by heated political debates and conspiracy theories. 

In countries like the Czech Republic, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania and Bulgaria, vaccine skeptics have included former presidents and even some doctors. Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic was among those who said he did not want to be forced to get inoculated. 

False beliefs that the coronavirus is a hoax or that vaccines would inject microchips into people have spread in the countries that were formerly under harsh Communist rule. Those who once routinely underwent mass inoculations are deeply split over whether to get the vaccines at all.  

“There is a direct link between support for conspiracy theories and skepticism toward vaccination,” a recent Balkan study warned. “A majority across the region does not plan to take the vaccine, a ratio considerably lower than elsewhere in Europe, where a majority favors taking the vaccine.”  

Only about 200,000 people applied for the vaccine in Serbia, a country of 7 million, in the days after authorities opened the procedure. By contrast, 1 million Serbians signed up for 100 euros ($120) on the first day the government offered the pandemic aid. 

Hoping to encourage vaccinations, Serbian officials have gotten their shots on TV. Yet they themselves have been split over whether to get the Western-made Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or Russia’s Sputnik V, more divisions in a country that is formally seeking European Union membership but where many favor closer ties with Moscow.

One year, 400,000 coronavirus deaths: How the US guaranteed its own failure

Via The New York Times, what journalists like to call a "damning indictment": One Year, 400,000 Coronavirus Deaths: How the U.S. Guaranteed Its Own Failure. Excerpt, with my bolding:

“We will manage the hell out of this operation,” Mr. Biden said on Friday. “Our administration will lead with science and scientists.” 

The strategy signals a shift from the past year, during which the Trump administration largely delegated responsibility for controlling the virus and reopening the economy to 50 governors, fracturing the nation’s response. Interviews with more than 100 health, political and community leaders around the country and a review of emails and other state government records offer a fuller picture of all that went wrong:  

• The severity of the current outbreak can be traced to the rush to reopen last spring. Many governors moved quickly, sometimes acting over the objections of their advisers. The reopenings nationally led to a surge of new infections that grew over time: Never again would the country’s average drop below 20,000 new cases a day.  

• Science was sidelined at every level of government. More than 100 state and local health officials have been fired or have resigned since the beginning of the pandemic. In Florida, leading scientists offered their expertise to the governor’s office but were marginalized, while Gov. Ron DeSantis turned to Dr. Scott W. Atlas, a Trump adviser, and others whose views were embraced in conservative circles but rejected by scores of scientists. 

• While the president publicly downplayed the need for masks, White House officials were privately recommending that certain states with worsening outbreaks require face coverings in public spaces. But records show that at least 26 states ignored recommendations from the White House on masks and other health issues. In South Dakota, Gov. Kristi Noem, boasted to political allies about not requiring masks even as her state was in the midst of an outbreak that became one of the worst in the nation. 

Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said states had faced difficult choices in balancing the virus — often hearing competing voices on how to do it best — and said Mr. Trump had left them without the political support they needed as they urged the public to accept masks and social distancing. “The single biggest thing that would have made a difference was the clarity of message from the person at the top,” Mr. Polis said in an interview.  

The pandemic indeed came with significant challenges, including record unemployment and a dynamic disease that continued to circle the globe. Without a national strategy from the White House, it is unlikely that any state could have fully stopped the pandemic’s spread.  

But ​the majority of deaths in the United States have come since the strategies needed to contain it were clear to state leaders, who had a range of options, from mask orders to targeted shutdowns and increased testing. Disparities have emerged between states that took restrictions seriously and those that did not.  

America now makes up 4 percent of the world’s population but accounts for about 20 percent of global deaths. While Australia, Japan and South Korea showed it was possible to keep deaths low, the United States — armed with wealth, scientific prowess and global power — became the world leader: it now has one of the highest concentrations of deaths, with nearly twice as many reported fatalities as any other country.

Netherlands: Anti-mask protests get out of hand in Amsterdam

Via De Telegraaf: Verboden demonstratie op Museumplein Amsterdam loopt uit de hand | Binnenland | Telegraaf.nl. Excerpt from the Google translation:

AMSTERDAM - Although the demonstration 'No more Rutte cabinet' was canceled, protesters still came to Museumplein in Amsterdam on Sunday. It concerns about a thousand people. The situation has gotten out of hand as protesters refuse to go home. The police have used a number of water cannons to disperse the groups.

Officers on horseback are also on site to get the protesters off Museumplein. Bricks and fireworks are thrown at the police. Several arrests have now been made, according to AT5. The protesters chant 'We are the Netherlands'. 

Around 3.30 pm the police and the riot police succeeded in removing the protesters from the Museumplein. The demonstration will continue in the streets around the square. Log in as a subscriber and experience the best of De Telegraaf. Or take a subscription if you are not yet a subscriber 

Emergency order 

The triangle of Amsterdam issued an emergency order earlier in the afternoon. Despite the many warnings from the municipality and the police and the issued emergency order, the demonstrators on the Museumplein do not disperse. The police are now acting according to the script ”, the municipality said on Twitter. "After several warnings via amplified sound, the water thrower was deployed." 

 “The ME occurs. Due to the danger to public health, it is important that everyone adheres to the applicable measures. The demonstrators present do not do this.”

Westerpark

The Amsterdam triangle (mayor, justice and police) previously put a stop to organizer Michel Reijinga's plan to demonstrate at Museumplein. The demonstration should be held in the Westerpark with a maximum of five hundred participants. These restrictions would make it easier to prevent additional influx, as well as the spread of the corona virus.

Reijinga filed a lawsuit because he disagreed with the triangle's decision. However, he was blunt with the administrative judge, whereupon Reijinga canceled the event.

'No need for vaccines and masks'

Physiotherapist Anne, present on Museumplein, informs De Telegraaf that she works with the elderly and sees how seriously they suffer from the measures taken. “Despite the prohibition to demonstrate, I came anyway. The measures that are now being taken against the corona virus are thus against all humanity. There is no need for a vaccine and masks,” says Anne.

Another woman has come to Museumplein with her son. “I am here on a field trip for my son for social studies. Show what really happens.”

Most people came on without masks and without keeping a distance of 1.5 meters. Someone walked with a banner saying 'Covid vaccine = poison'. Another demonstrator held up a sign saying "Trump."

COVID-19: Making vaccines go viral

Via The Los Angeles Times, today's update: Coronavirus Today: Making vaccines go viral. Excerpt:

As public officials continue driving the slow and bumpy vaccine rollout forward, they’re still worried about a major roadblock that could stop it in its tracks: the reluctance of many people to get these lifesaving shots. That’s why Orange County leaders voted to hire a public relations firm to help them reassure skeptical people about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.  

Who are these vaccine-hesitant folks? Officials didn’t specify where they’d like the PR masters to focus their efforts, but a recent survey conducted by the county’s healthcare agency suggests that women, Latino and Black people, adults between the ages of 35 and 54, and residents of Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana were the least willing to roll up their sleeves for a jab. 

That list is so long, it’s got to make you wonder who’s left. And indeed, only 58% of the survey’s 26,000-plus respondents indicated they‘d be willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. That’s a problem because vaccines will help us achieve herd immunity only if as much as 85% of the population takes them, experts now estimate. Only then would we be able to contemplate a return to normal life.  

This problem is hardly unique to Orange County. An early December survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only about half of American adults planned to get the shots. “It is clear that willingness to be vaccinated for COVID-19 is much lower than past or present willingness to be vaccinated for the seasonal flu,” the survey states.  

Why the lower trust in the COVID-19 vaccines? Some people have worried that vaccine development was rushed, given how quickly they were designed, tested and authorized. But there are reasons that it was able to happen so fast — including a decade of behind-the-scenes work that gave researchers a huge head start. 

For the record, the scientific evidence is clear that the authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective — a conclusion reached after clinical trials involving tens of thousands of patients, including the elderly and those with chronic conditions. A review of nearly 2 million doses given during the first 10 days of vaccinations found that reports of adverse events were rare, with only 21 cases of severe allergic reactions. None were fatal. 

Here’s the challenge: It takes only one point of contact with an infected person to get the virus. But it’s going to take far more exposure to high-quality information about vaccines even to have a chance in persuading skeptics to sign up, officials say.

Anti-mask rally amid BC COVID-19 case surge ‘really concerning’: Respirologist

Via Globalnews.ca: Anti-mask rally amid B.C. COVID-19 case surge ‘really concerning’: respirologist. Click or tap through for videos. Excerpt and then a couple of related links:

A leading B.C. respirologist says it is “disconcerting” that hundreds of people would gather in Vancouver to rally against masks and protocols to stop the transmission of COVID-19, as case numbers continue to rise. 

Crowds gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Saturday, for a “B.C. Christmas Freedom Rally” opposing masks and restrictions on activities and social gatherings implemented by public health order.  

“It’s really concerning, because at an individual level, masks protect you against the virus and at the population level, if there is not sufficient buy-in in terms of mask wearing, the community transmission of the virus will continue to escalate,” said Dr. Don Sin, head of respiratory medicine at Providence Healthcare and UBC professor of medicine.  

“We have to put in every possible intervention to contain the virus while we wait for the vaccine to come and hopefully eliminate the virus altogether.” 

Sin cited a recent study which found mandatory masks in Germany cut virus transmission by about 45 per cent, and added that there is no scientific evidence that wearing a mask cuts oxygen intake or can make someone sick.  

Sin added that the rally risked drawing people from around the region who could potentially spread the virus into different communities.  

Fifty-one people have died of COVID-19 in B.C. in December alone. Active cases in the province and hospitalizations have continued to set daily records in recent weeks.

A similar event took place yesterday in Lethbridge, Alberta, even as Alberta reported a new daily record for COVID-19 cases: 1,879. Canadians are not quite as enlightened as we wish we were.

South Dakota gripped by COVID-19 pandemic amid Kristi Noem's no-mask approach

Via The Guardian, a long, scathing report:South Dakota gripped by pandemic amid Kristi Noem's no-mask approach. Excerpt:

Isolating herself from family after a Covid-19 diagnosis on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, grandmother Cheryl Angel had few options for safe shelter and ended up far afield traipsing from one lonely hotel room to another. 

“Our tribe didn’t have anything set up, and if it weren’t for my relatives, I would have died in there,” she said.  

Relatives made two-hour drives to leave breakfast and supper outside her impromptu isolation ward, while inside she followed instructions to use a steroid inhaler four times a day and learned to inject herself with an epinephrine medication when she felt faint. 

She vowed that if she survived the deadly disease, she would do all she could to help others receive better treatment, as South Dakota fell further into the grip of the coronavirus pandemic. 

By the time her two sons caught coronavirus this fall, Angel had recovered and become involved in a grassroots community encampment taking care of homeless fellow Native Americans on Sioux land on the outskirts of Rapid City, in the west of the state.  

Physician Nancy Babbitt, who agreed to supervise training for coronavirus testing at the settlement, Camp Mniluzahan, lamented the heightened risks such vulnerable residents are facing amid state governor Kristi Noem’s determinedly hands-off pandemic policy – including being the only state without a mask mandate to curb infection.  

“My experience dealing with Covid-19 in South Dakota is one of failed leadership. Our governor has made it clear it’s up to the people, so we have to come up with creative ideas to help stop the spread,” Babbitt said.