International
WHO fears Omicron could spur fresh vaccine hoarding
AFP
The World Health Organization said Thursday it remained unclear whether additional Covid-19 vaccine doses are needed to protect against the new Omicron variant, and urged wealthy countries to avoid hoarding the jabs.
The UN health agency’s vaccine advisors warned that a rush to stockpile more jabs, especially without clear evidence they are needed, would only exacerbate the already glaringly inequal vaccine access around the globe.
“As we head into whatever the Omicron situation is going to be, there is a risk that the global supply is again going to revert to high-income countries hoarding vaccine to protect (their populations) … in a sense in excess,” WHO vaccines chief Kate O’Brien told reporters.
Her comment came after preliminary results published Wednesday indicated that three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine were needed to obtain the same level of protection against Omicron as two doses provided against the initial strain.
O’Brien said the WHO was examining the data, and that it may turn out that “additional doses have benefit to provide added protection against Omicron”, but stressed it was still “very early days”.
While there was still little evidence that additional doses were needed to protect against developing severe Covid disease, many vulnerable people and health workers in poorer nations have yet to receive a single dose and remain at great risk.
O’Brien pointed out that the world had only just begun addressing the dangerous inequity in vaccine access in the past two months, with more donated doses and large shipments going to underserved countries.
“We have to make sure that it continues,” she said, warning that efforts by wealthy countries to stockpile more jabs for their people would only prolong the pandemic.
“It’s not going to work from an epidemiologic perspective, and it’s not going to work from a transmission perspective, unless we actually have vaccine going to all countries,” she said.
“Where transmission continues … is where the variants are going to come from,” she warned, urging “a much more rational global perspective from countries about what’s actually going to shut down this pandemic.”
International
Six killed, including baby, in armed attack near tourist beach in Ecuador
Six people, including a baby girl about two years old, were killed on Sunday in an armed attack near a tourist beach in southwestern Ecuador, police said. The shooting, carried out with rifles, also left three people wounded.
The incident took place in the coastal town of Puerto López, in the province of Manabí, a popular tourist destination known for whale watching. The attack occurred amid a surge of violence over the weekend that left at least nine people dead nationwide, according to local media reports.
“There are six fatalities and three injured,” Colonel William Acurio, the local police commander, told reporters on Sunday. He confirmed that one of the victims was a baby “approximately two years old.”
Authorities have not released further details about the motive behind the attack or whether arrests have been made.
International
Man accused of killing nine in Paramaribo dies by suicide in police custody
The man who killed nine people, including five children, on Saturday night in Paramaribo died by suicide while in custody, Suriname police confirmed in a statement on Monday.
The suspect, identified by the initials D.A., 43, “hanged himself inside a holding cell at the Keizerstraat police station” in the capital, Paramaribo, according to the official report.
Police said the man sustained leg injuries during his arrest and was taken to a hospital before being transferred to the detention facility on Sunday night. Authorities did not provide further details on the circumstances surrounding his death.
International
Winter storm disrupts holiday travel, forcing 1,500 flight cancellations in the U.S.
Airlines canceled around 1,500 flights across the United States during the peak Christmas travel season after warnings of a severe winter storm and forecasts of heavy snowfall in the Midwest and Northeast. An additional 5,900 flights were delayed due to adverse weather conditions.
More than 40 million Americans were under snowstorm warnings or weather advisories one day after Christmas. Meanwhile, another 30 million people faced flood or storm alerts in California, where an atmospheric river triggered intense rainfall.
New York City was bracing for up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) of snow overnight, which would mark its heaviest snowfall in four years. Cold weather was expected to persist through the weekend in the nation’s largest city. According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, airports in the New York area recorded about 850 flight cancellations.
Six killed, including baby, in armed attack near tourist beach in Ecuador
Man accused of killing nine in Paramaribo dies by suicide in police custody
Winter storm disrupts holiday travel, forcing 1,500 flight cancellations in the U.S.
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
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