Austria has become the first European country to instate a vaccine mandate. Monday, it was the first to initiate a nation-wide lockdown during this surge, despite protests against the restrictions.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex has tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from a trip to Belgium. Five Belgian ministers, including PM Alexander De Croo, have self-quarantined as a precaution as well.
Castex, who is fully vaccinated, announced on Monday that he tested positive for the virus. He will be quarantined for 10 days but continue to work, his office said in a statement.
The French PM found out his daughter had tested positive for the coronavirus when he returned from Brussels, where he met with De Croo and other ministers. In response to his announcement, five Belgian ministers have entered precautionary quarantine and will be tested on Wednesday, a government spokesperson said.
Castex, 56, was not yet eligible for booster vaccines French President Emmanuel Macron has advocated as an alternative to lockdowns along the lines implemented by Austria and Germany in response to the rising number of Covid-19 cases on the continent. France currently offers boosters only to those 65 and older, though an advisory body has urged extending them to anyone over 40.
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Israel has begun administering Covid-19 vaccines to kids aged between five and 11, the youngest age group yet to be approved for the jabs, with tens of thousands of immunizations scheduled for youths in the coming days.
Health officials said “several hundred” children in the five to 11 age group were vaccinated on Monday, as cited by the Times of Israel, noting that another 24,000 are booked for their shots on Tuesday, or about 2.5% of those eligible in the younger demographic.
“The disease is mild [in children], but there are cases where the disease can continue with long-term symptoms such as insomnia and muscle aches,” Israel’s Covid-19 czar Salman Zarka told reporters, adding “Along with protecting children, the vaccine provides a solution to a normal and uninsulated life. It will help parents get back to normal.”
The health official also stressed that millions of children in the same age group had already been vaccinated in the United States with “effective results” in a bid to reassure parents, noting that the government would make the process “as easy as possible” using mobile immunization sites.
The move comes just one day after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned that Israel could be seeing an outbreak disproportionately affecting children, despite younger age groups largely being spared the worst symptoms of the virus throughout much of the global pandemic.
Of Israel’s population of around 9.4 million, 1.2 million kids fall into the five-to-11 age group. As of this month, that group makes up more than a third of new Covid infections in the country, according to Health Ministry data. The ministry has suggested that one in every 3,500 children infected with Covid-19 will later develop a condition known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, in which organs become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidney and even brain, requiring intensive treatment. The ailment is fatal in between 1 and 2% of cases.
Nonetheless, some parents remain hesitant, with Health Ministry spokesperson Sharon Alroy-Preis recently estimating that “around half” of Israeli parents are currently opposed to vaccinating their children, though noted that “it makes sense that part of the population is undecided and wants more data.”
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KINGSTON, Nov 22 (IPS) – When face-to-face Cabinet meetings resumed in Jamaica following more than a year of virtual meetings due to COVID-19, Ministers lined up to have their immunisation cards inspected.
Beginning on 7 December, ministers from around the world will discuss the technology and medical capacity building of UN Peacekeeping, UN officials said at a press conference on Monday.
Austria has become the first European country to instate a vaccine mandate. Monday, it was the first to initiate a nation-wide lockdown during this surge, despite protests against the restrictions.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex has tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from a trip to Belgium. Five Belgian ministers, including PM Alexander De Croo, have self-quarantined as a precaution as well.
Castex, who is fully vaccinated, announced on Monday that he tested positive for the virus. He will be quarantined for 10 days but continue to work, his office said in a statement.
The French PM found out his daughter had tested positive for the coronavirus when he returned from Brussels, where he met with De Croo and other ministers. In response to his announcement, five Belgian ministers have entered precautionary quarantine and will be tested on Wednesday, a government spokesperson said.
Castex, 56, was not yet eligible for booster vaccines French President Emmanuel Macron has advocated as an alternative to lockdowns along the lines implemented by Austria and Germany in response to the rising number of Covid-19 cases on the continent. France currently offers boosters only to those 65 and older, though an advisory body has urged extending them to anyone over 40.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
Israel has begun administering Covid-19 vaccines to kids aged between five and 11, the youngest age group yet to be approved for the jabs, with tens of thousands of immunizations scheduled for youths in the coming days.
Health officials said “several hundred” children in the five to 11 age group were vaccinated on Monday, as cited by the Times of Israel, noting that another 24,000 are booked for their shots on Tuesday, or about 2.5% of those eligible in the younger demographic.
“The disease is mild [in children], but there are cases where the disease can continue with long-term symptoms such as insomnia and muscle aches,” Israel’s Covid-19 czar Salman Zarka told reporters, adding “Along with protecting children, the vaccine provides a solution to a normal and uninsulated life. It will help parents get back to normal.”
The health official also stressed that millions of children in the same age group had already been vaccinated in the United States with “effective results” in a bid to reassure parents, noting that the government would make the process “as easy as possible” using mobile immunization sites.
The move comes just one day after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned that Israel could be seeing an outbreak disproportionately affecting children, despite younger age groups largely being spared the worst symptoms of the virus throughout much of the global pandemic.
Of Israel’s population of around 9.4 million, 1.2 million kids fall into the five-to-11 age group. As of this month, that group makes up more than a third of new Covid infections in the country, according to Health Ministry data. The ministry has suggested that one in every 3,500 children infected with Covid-19 will later develop a condition known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, in which organs become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidney and even brain, requiring intensive treatment. The ailment is fatal in between 1 and 2% of cases.
Nonetheless, some parents remain hesitant, with Health Ministry spokesperson Sharon Alroy-Preis recently estimating that “around half” of Israeli parents are currently opposed to vaccinating their children, though noted that “it makes sense that part of the population is undecided and wants more data.”
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