Booster shot is good way to protect from variants: Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel

Moderna CEO further suggests that in order to protect the ‘fragile unvaccinated people,’ all adults, adolescents must also receive a booster jab

Vaccination with a booster shot among as many people as possible is a good way to protect those most at risk against ever-emerging new Coronavirus variants, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said on Sunday.

“We believe that our vaccine will be effective for a comparable period, except that the arrival of variants increases the threat level. This is why we must anticipate and vaccinate all people at risk with a third dose by the end of summer, in particular the residents of nursing homes who received their first dose at the beginning of the year,” Bancel told French newspaper Journal Du Dimanche. The CEO of the US drugmaker further suggested that in order to protect the “fragile unvaccinated people,” all adults and adolescents must also receive a booster jab.

Bancel warned that three or even two months of delay in vaccinations could lead to an increase in the number of hospitalisations and deaths, which could, in turn, lead to a fourth Covid-19 wave in France. Moderna is now testing three different booster strategies, he said. The first is against the original Wuhan strain, the second is against the South Africa strain and the third is a combination of both. The effectiveness of these three boosters is later on measured on the four variants deemed to be the most dangerous by the World Health Organization.

The company is planning to launch a study on people near early June and aims to get approval from regulatory agencies by September. Starting May 28, the Moderna vaccine will be joining AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson in French pharmacies and general practitioners offices.

HK residents must get vaccinated before travel

People walk through a market street in Hong Kong. Pic/AFP

Hong Kong residents will need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 if they want to travel abroad, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Sunday. “When the special administrative region government discusses travel arrangements with other countries or places, it will require Hong Kong residents to be vaccinated, to make sure they would not be infected when they are abroad, and would not bring the virus back,” Lam wrote on social media, in a discussion about the government’s plan to tackle the fact that relatively few residents have availed themselves of vaccines.

Malaysia further tightens curbs

The Malaysian government has announced further tightening of restrictions under its nationwide movement control order (MCO) as the country’s accumulative Covid-19 cases topped 500,000.

B’desh eases public transport curbs

Bangladesh has extended the ongoing lockdown to May 30 but eased restrictions on transportation, which had been suspended since last month to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Bangladesh’s Cabinet Division announced the decision in a circular on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Also Read: Sense of Kashmir in our Covid woes

5,63,692
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

16,67,95,083
Total no. of cases worldwide

34,56,189
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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