US plans to jab kids under 5

A child is comforted by her mother as she receives her first dose of COVID vaccine, in Michigan. File pic/AFP

The US government is planning to roll out Covid-19 shots for children under the age of 5 as soon as February 21, according to a document from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering authorising the use of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine in the age group, even though it did not meet a key target in a clinical trial of two- to four-year-olds.

Outside advisers to the FDA are scheduled to meet on February 15 to discuss whether to recommend the regulator to authorise the vaccine. According to the CDC document, the US government is planning to ship an initial 10 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to states and other entities before the end of February, should the FDA authorise their use. There are about 18 million children aged between 6 months to 4 years in the US, the CDC said.

The first roll out, which begins on February 21, will prioritise areas where children are at higher risk for severe Covid-19 disease. Jurisdictions and federal pharmacy partners will receive second and third shipments of doses on Feb. 23 and Feb. 25 or about a week after the CDC recommendation.

COVAX cuts North Korea's vaccine allotment

Meanwhile, COVAX, the global Covid-19 vaccine-sharing programme, has scaled back the number of doses allocated for North Korea, international aid organisations said, as the country has so far failed to arrange for any shipments.

Nepal falling into Chinese debt trap

Nepal is falling into the Chinese debt trap through vaccine diplomacy amid Covid-19, as Beijing is exploiting Kathmandu's helplessness to have control over its natural resources and even on its foreign policy.

With vaccine diplomacy, China is trying to gain a foothold in the political and economic spheres in Nepal and also nudging its way into Nepal by claiming Nepalese territory as Chinese on one hand and is trying to cower down the protests by dangling the carrot of the vaccine, Pardafas News reported.

Risk of new heart problems jumps

Long after recovery from Covid-19, people are facing significantly higher risks for new heart problems, a large study has found. Researchers at the US Department of Veterans Affairs found Covid-19 survivors had a 63% higher risk for heart attack, a 69% higher risk for problematic irregular heart rhythm, a 52% higher risk of stroke, a 72% higher risk of heart failure, and a nearly three times higher risk of a potentially fatal blood clot in the lungs compared to people unaffected by Covid-19. The elevated risks were evident in young and old, and even in people who had mild Covid-19, said Ziyad Al-Aly of Washington University.

28,93,613
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

40,39,11,482
Total no. of cases worldwide

57,79,884
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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