In The Guardian Nigeria, the article titled, Nigeria’s new drive to industrialisation, the writer Mr. Matthew Agboma Ozah wrote, “For the better part of the life of this government, it is interesting to note that just about two years to the end of his administration, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government now suddenly realised that gas, a commodity that has been flared recklessly in the Niger Delta region for decades, is now crucial and economically viable.”
It is not true to assert that President Buhari now realises that gas is now crucial and economically viable to Nigeria, since President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had discovered that in 2008. At that time, gas flaring filled the air with toxic fumes in the Niger Delta, causing people with respiratory disease and cancer. Part of the toxic fumes fell as acid rain damaging crops and aluminium roofs on houses. Consequently, President Yar’Adua’s government decided in 2008 to end gas flaring by utilising oil-field gas to generate electricity.
A company that was given concession in 2010 was Process and Industrial Development Ltd (P & ID) that was registered in the British Virgin Islands but with no website or track records. The chairman of P & I. D. Ltd., was Michael ‘Mick’ Quinn, a 68-year-old Irishman who had had decades of experience in Nigeria as a military contractor. Mr. Quinn died of cancer in 2015, but before his death he had secured a nine billion dollars ($9 billion) award from United Kingdom Court of Arbitration against Nigeria in June 2014 for allegedly breaching the 2010 gas contract with P & I. D. Ltd. It was when Mr. Quinn’s associate, Mr Bredan Cahill, and others, many of whom were Nigerians wanted to enforce the UK’s Arbitration order to force the Nigerian government to pay the $9 billion that the EFCC under Mr. Ibrahim Magu and 12 of his colleagues now suspended under dubious circumstances, began investigation of the Gas Contract with P & I. D. Ltd. 
And what qualified Mr. Michael ‘Mick’ Quinn to obtain gas supply contract to generate electricity in Nigeria? Magu’s investigation revealed that Mr. Quinn was an Irish auto mechanic who later started managing music bands and later transformed into a commodity trader. Mr. Quinn was actually brought to Nigeria by A retired Army General. However, the former Irish auto mechanic turned Consultant, Michael ‘Mick’ Quinn, seized the gas flaring project, applying for the contract in the name of his own company, Process and Industrial Development  (P & ID) Limited. Magu’s EFCC discovered that the Executive, Legislature, and the Judiciary in collaboration with Mr. Michael ‘Mick’ Quinn, have been engaged in racketeering that encompassed the making of artificially engineered and factored breaches of contracts. Quinn, with the support of Nigerian officials and lawyers had been involved in regular and elaborate court cases/arbitrations in which Nigeria had paid millions of dollars shared between Mr. Quinn and his Nigerian collaborators. However, Mr. Quinn saw to it that the gas supply processing agreement which P & I. D., and Nigeria signed in 2010 contained a clause that arbitration for the breach of the agreement could be decided by a UK court of arbitration and not necessarily by a Nigerian court. 
Thanks to investigation by Magu and his 12 suspended colleagues, the 2014 UK arbitration decision against Nigeria was annulled by the UK Court of Appeal in 2020. As it is narrated above, Mr. Quinn had already secured arbitration judgment in his company’s (P & I. D.), favour in June 2014 when Jonathan was the President which Buhari’s government inherited in 2015. Thanks to the effort of Bredan Cahill, Quinn’s associate and others, to get the arbitration money paid by Nigerian government, Buhari became aware of gas flaring in the Niger Delta, which Yar’Adua had intended to utilise for generating electricity. Gas as a means of generating electricity is actually not Nigeria’s new drive to industrialisation but one of many decades of carried forward industrial development projects under various governments in Nigeria both at national, state and local government levels. However, the main question in this case of gas for electricity is, how was it possible for an Irish former auto mechanic and music band manager to obtain contract for the exploitation and supply of Nigeria’s gas to generate electricity, in spite of availability of all kinds of educated Professors in Nigeria?
 
While discussing with a comrade of mine, an aborigine, from the crude oil producing Niger Delta recently on the $1.5 billion to be expended on Turn Around Maintenance of Port Harcourt oil refinery, he complained about the lop-sidedness of Buhari’s appointments in favour of Northerners and Muslims.  He forwarded to me a list of 20 Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) top executive position holders to support his charge against Buhari. Here follows the list he posted to me :
1.     Mele Kyari – Group Managing Director (GMD).
2.     Umar Ajiya – Chief Finance Officer/ Finance and Accounts.
3.     Yusuf Usman – Chief Operating Officer.
4.     Farouk Garba Sa’id – Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services.
5.     Mustapha Yakubu – Chief Operating Officer, Refining and Petrochemicals.
6.     Hadiza Coomassie – Corporate Secretary/legal Adviser to the Corporation.
7.     Omar Ibrahim – Group General Manager, International Energy Relations.
8.     Kallamu Abdullahi – GGM Renewable Energy.
9.     Ibrahim Birma – GGM Governance Risk and Compliance.
10.   Bala Wunti – GGM NAPIMS. 
11.   Inuwa Waya – MD NNPC Shipping.
12.   Musa Lawan – MD Pipelines and Product Marketing.
13.   Mansur Sambo – MD Nigeria Petroleum Development Company.
14.   Lawal Sade – MD Duke Oil/NNPC Trading Company.
15.   Malami Shehu – Port Harcourt Refining Company.
16.   Muhammed Abah – MD Warri Refining & Petrochemical Company.
17.   Abdulkadir Ahmed – MD Nigeria Gas Marketing Company.
18.   Salihu Jamari – MD Nigeria Gas and Power Investment Company Limited.
19.   Mohammed Zango – MD NNPC Medical Services.
20.   Sarki Auwalu – Director Department of Petroleum Resources.
Although I have not been able to verify the truthfulness of the above list, I asked my friend if crude oil exploration and refinery are conducted with knowledge or with ethnicity and religion? As he stuttered in answering my question, I asked him, in particular, if the inability of the personnel at Nigeria’s oil refineries to refine crude oil depends on their religion and ethnicity or lack of knowledge of how crude oil is refined? It might be likely that lack of knowledge is responsible, he answered. My point is that instead of focusing on the religion and ethnicity of public officials, Nigerians should be querying the competence of public office holders who have failed to produce as required of their offices. As we have seen in the Nigerian oil refineries, and in fact all Nigeria’s industrial establishments, it is easy for a home cat to wear the fur of a tiger, but to prey like a tiger is impossible. Nigeria’s industrialisation will continue to be a dream as long as we priotise ethnicity and religion before knowledge and merit.
Kadiri wrote from U.S.A.

WASHINGTON  — The United States will likely move to resume Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine this coming week, possibly with restrictions or broader warnings after reports of some very rare blood clot cases, the government’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a series of news show interviews, said he expects a decision when advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meet Friday to discuss the pause in J&J’s single-dose vaccine.
“I would be very surprised if we don’t have a resumption in some form by Friday,” he said. “I don’t really anticipate that they’re going to want it stretch it out a bit longer.”
Fauci, who is President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said he believed that federal regulators could bring the shots back with restrictions based on age or gender or with a blanket warning, so that it is administered in a way “a little bit different than we were before the pause.”
The J&J vaccine has been in limbo after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration said last week they needed more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot — and if so, how big the risk is.
The reports are rare — six cases out of more than 7 million U.S. inoculations with J&J vaccine.
The clots were found in six women between the ages of 18 and 48. One person died.
The acting FDA commissioner had said she expected the pause to last only a matter of days. Still, the decision last Tuesday triggered swift action in Europe and elsewhere.
Fauci said he doubted very seriously that the U.S. would permanently halt use of the J&J vaccine.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said. “The pause was to take a look, make sure we know all the information we can have within that timeframe, and also warn some of the physicians out there who might see people, particularly women, who have this particular adverse event, that they treat them properly.”
“I think it’ll likely say, ‘OK, we’re going to use it. But be careful under these certain circumstances.'”
More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been given in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild side effects. Authorities stressed they have found no sign of clot problems with the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. — from Moderna and Pfizer.
Fauci appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CNN’s “State of the Union,” ABC’s “This Week” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to improving access to affordable, reliable energy and transitioning to the use of cleaner energy, in line with the global target of net-zero emissions.
Net-Zero entails that new emissions were not added to the atmosphere.
The president made the commitment through Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at a virtual Africa Regional Heads of Government Commonwealth Roundtable, on Thursday, according to a statement, in Abuja, by Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the vice president.
Buhari cautioned, however, that an end to international funding for gas, as a fossil fuel, would create dire challenges for gas-producing countries especially in Africa.
The president said that Nigeria was already transitioning from petrol–Premium Motor Spirit– to natural gas, which was accepted more or less as a transition fuel, the bridge to renewable energy.
According to Buhari, Nigeria supports the goal of the Commonwealth in outlining responsible transition pathways to decarbonise and achieve net and negative zero emissions.
He highlighted the efforts of his administration, through its Economic Sustainability Plan, to provide 5 million homes with cleaner energy through its solar power programme, as well as the Natural Gas Expansion Programme.
“We have the goal of installing solar homes systems in about 5 million homes, which means that 25 million Nigerians would have access to solar power.
“This is under our Economic Sustainability Plan. This is the first phase, and we think that this sort of programme will very quickly ramp up our progress towards zero emission.
“We also have our Natural Gas Expansion Programme, this is where we are using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), to replace the use of Petrol, and this is going on now. We are actually trying to fit and retrofit existing petrol stations, so that the use of cleaner fossil fuels will replace it.
“We hope that we will be able to achieve this objective as quickly as possible.
“So, we are resolutely committed to all of our national development contributions under all of our agreements, the Paris Agreement, and we will support all actions that are taken along the lines of zero emissions.”
Buhari called on the Commonwealth to consider ways to support African countries in achieving a just transition to net-zero emissions, especially given the fact that natural gas had been accepted as a transition fuel.
” But unfortunately, what we are seeing is the move towards defunding of natural gas projects by the EU, and the World Bank has also been indicated that natural gas projects would be defunded.
“Now, this obviously would put countries, such as ours, in a very dire situation and make the transition extremely difficult for us. What we are focused on trying to do is to ensure that our gas projects replace coal and fuels.”

When other businesses shut down during the COVID-19 lockdown, for the catering industry on the other hand, it blossomed despite economic devastation. Chinedu Eze reports that the recent one-day workshop held in Lagos showcased the prospect of the sector and provided an opportunity for more women to join the business.
The global economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to the slump of many industries- from manufacturing, air transport, tourism and others with attendant loss of jobs. But while many sectors of the economy were devastated by the pandemic, especially during the lockdown in 2020, the catering industry blossomed and became a multi-billion naira sector.
This was the verdict of caterers who converged recently on Lagos to sensitise young women to join the business instead of waiting for jobs that are scarce to come by.
Industry players said the catering sector is essential and during the lockdown, it was exempted from the suspension of its services because it provided food for people and in collaboration with the courier service sub-sector, the catering industry saved lives during the pandemic by supplying foods to homes of those in dire need who could not prepare their own foods.
Providing Succor
Speaking during the summit tagged 'Spend the Day with Successful Business Women in Catering and Events,' organised by Nonos Catering Mentoring Initiative (NCMI) programme, the Managing Director, Nonos Catering and founder, Abumere Uto said COVID-19 forced caterers to diversify and change the way they provide services.


The opening up of the catering industry still faces many problems, but it is also a good thing to be able to solve part of the employment problem. Catering companies must make preparations in advance, and still cannot relax their vigilance.

BOSTON (AP) — U.S. colleges hoping for a return to normalcy next fall are weighing how far they should go in urging students to get the COVID-19 vaccine, including whether they should — or legally can — require it.
Universities including Rutgers, Brown, Cornell and Northeastern recently told students they must get vaccinated before returning to campus next fall. They hope to achieve herd immunity on campus, which they say would allow them to loosen spacing restrictions in classrooms and dorms.
But some colleges are leaving the decision to students, and others believe they can't legally require vaccinations. At Virginia Tech, officials determined that they can’t because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only allowed the emergency use of the vaccines and hasn't given them its full approval.
The question looms large as more colleges plan to shift back from remote to in-person instruction. Many schools have launched vaccination blitzes to get students immunized before they leave for the summer. At some schools, the added requirement is meant to encourage holdouts and to build confidence that students and faculty will be safe on campus.
“It takes away any ambiguity about whether individuals should be vaccinated,” said Kenneth Henderson, the chancellor of Northeastern University in Boston. “It also provides a level of confidence for the entire community that we are taking all appropriate measures.”
Northeastern and other colleges requiring shots believe they’re on solid legal ground. It’s not unusual for colleges to require students to be vaccinated for other types of diseases, and a California court last year upheld a flu shot requirement at the University of California system.
But legal scholars say the COVID-19 vaccines' emergency use status moves the issue to a legal gray area that's likely to be challenged in court, and some colleges may take a more cautious approach to avoid litigation.
Harvard Law professor Glenn Cohen, who teaches health law and bioethics, said there's no legal reason colleges wouldn't be allowed to require COVID-19 vaccinations. It makes no difference that the shots haven't been given full approval, he said, noting that many colleges already require students to take coronavirus tests that are approved under the same FDA emergency authorization. But there’s also no federal guidance explicitly permitting vaccination mandates.
The biggest clashes could come in states taking a stance against vaccination requirements, he said.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis this month banned all businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination. The order raises questions about Nova Southeastern University's plan to require students and staff to get vaccinated. The college’s president said he’s still confident in the plan, but he also promised to “respect the laws of our state and all federal directives.”

Students are a very special group. They need to go back to school to study, but it is very contradictory to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The government should do a good job to help them return to school as soon as possible to study normally.

Pfizer on Friday requested to expand use of its Covid-19 vaccine to adolescents ages 12 to 15.
The request asks the Food and Drug Administration to amend the emergency use authorization, which the FDA originally granted late last year for people ages 16 and up.
Last week, Pfizer-BioNTech said its Phase 3 clinical trials showed its vaccine was safe and 100 percent effective in 12- to 15-year-olds, though the findings have not been peer-reviewed.
"The hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year," CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement when those results were released.
"Vaccinating our teenagers is the next step in seeing our way through the pandemic," said Dr. Buddy Creech, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
"By extending the age groups that can receive vaccine, we can continue our efforts to protect those that are most vulnerable: older adults as well as adults and teenagers with underlying medical conditions," said Creech, who was not involved in the Pfizer research.
The FDA's review process will probably take several weeks, provided the data look good and are consistent with what was seen in adults, said Dr. Jesse Goodman, director of the Center on Medical Product Access, Safety and Stewardship at Georgetown University and former FDA chief scientist.
Norman Baylor, president and chief executive of Biologics Consulting and former director of the FDA's Office of Vaccine Research and Review, agreed.
The FDA does not need to consult with its independent advisory panel before amending the Pfizer EUA, though they may decide to do so in the interest of full transparency, Baylor said.
One-third of Americans have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to an NBC News database. In order to vaccinate the entire population, however, vaccines will have to be authorized for children.
Pfizer is also studying how well the vaccine works in children ages 6 months to 11 years old. The first doses in that trial were administered in March.
The Pfizer vaccine is the only one currently authorized for teens ages 16 and over; the other vaccines available in the U.S., from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are for people ages 18 and up. In December, Moderna began testing its mRNA vaccine in adolescents between 12 and 18 years old. It is also studying its vaccine in children ages six months to 11 years old.
Pfizer's request comes as Covid-19 infections among younger teens and kids are driving outbreaks in some states. In Michigan, for example, case rates for children ages 10 to 19 are at an all-time high, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

As Nigeria vaccinates 964,387 persons; Kogi receives 16,900 doses
The Federal Government has urged Nigerians to continue to maintain all Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention measures against the COVID-19 virus, even after vaccination, noting that the COVID-19 vaccines had not proved largely effective against some new coronavirus variants.
Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce PTF on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Boss Mustapha, who gave the charge on Tuesday at a briefing in Abuja, however, said Nigeria had remained vigilant and was applying science and data to navigate the dangerous terrain.
"The global hope offered by the arrival of vaccines has been threatened by the detection of variants of concern as described by the WHO (B.1.1.7; B.1.351; P.1).
"These variants are associated with an increase in the spread of the virus (transmissibility), and account for the third wave of infections currently occurring in Germany, France, United Kingdom, Brazil, and a host of other countries.
"There is some evidence that existing vaccines are less effective against the variants. While research is ongoing looking at the impact of variants of concern on the global situation, Nigeria has remained very vigilant in this regard and shall continue to apply science and data to navigate this dangerous terrain", Mustapha stated.
According to the PTF boss, Nigeria was expecting more vaccine doses from the African Union's Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, AVATT, he explained that Nigeria would also be receiving about 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccines donated by the Government of India to vaccinate additional 50,000 Nigerians.
He said the overarching objective is to vaccinate 70 percent of Nigeria's population between 2021 and 2022.

Nigeria has begun clinical trials for the two covid-19 vaccines developed in the country.
Chairman of the presidential task force on covid-19, Boss Mustapha told reporters last week that the vaccines will be used after the completion of trials and obtaining of relevant certification.
The vaccines were developed by Nigerian scientists, and described as a scientific breakthrough which will ‘’ boost the morale and image of the medical industry in the country’’.
Mustapha asked all relevant agencies to provide the necessary support for the smooth running of the remaining protocols for the certification of the vaccines.
So far Africa’s most populous nation has taken delivery of 4 million doses of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines from the Covax initiative. The country plans to receive 16 million doses.
Earlier this year, the Federal government announced that it had pumped some $25 million to develop local vaccines to battle the coronavirus.
As at the time of filing this report, Nigeria has recorded 163,000 coronvarius cases, 152,000 have recovered and some 2,058 covid-19 related deaths have been registered.

In less than a month, Selina Herrera registered over 600 people to get Covid-19 vaccine appointments in Texas' Rio Grande Valley area.
Her volunteer initiative began when Herrera, 26, took it upon herself to register her relatives because she was the tech savvy one in her family.
The Texas resident figured that if her Latino family had trouble finding appointments — and she had time to do it — she could register others who might have difficulty doing so, such as native Spanish speakers, the elderly or people with disabilities.
"There are just so many barriers, and this is the solution I had," Herrera said. "I could offer this."
"I've been fortunate enough to be able to catch these appointments for them, and I just have to thank my really fast thumbs and super speed internet, which I know many people may not have," she said.
Sitting in her living room on her iPhone, Herrera uses a Google form she created at the beginning of March to schedule the appointments. It includes basic contact and health information, as well as how far the applicant is willing to travel to get a vaccine.
Her daily routine involves working on this during her lunch hour or in the evening after her full-time job, which involves providing quality assessment for case workers who work with clients enrolled in government programs like SNAP or Medicaid. Her weekends are solely dedicated to going through her Google form to facilitate appointments, she said.
The majority of her applicants are Latinos, which isn't surprising given they account for the overwhelming majority of the population in the Rio Grande Valley, a region on the southern border of Texas above Mexico.
Many of the people she signed up came through people she knew. Sometimes an applicant was signed up by a relative who didn't know about her work, so they were surprised or taken aback when she'd inform them of their appointment.
To reassure people they could trust her, she put a brief bio on her form. Many experts have said that the best way to get vaccines to hard to reach communities is through trusted sources, which also protects people from potential scammers.
The CDC and government officials have issued warnings about people soliciting money or personal identification information to make appointments that turn out to be fake.
People should be cautious about clicking on links, downloading anything and turning over identifying information online or by phone without carefully checking out the legitimacy of who is asking for the information.

WHO report finds coronavirus probably emerged in bats, 'extremely unlikely' to be result of lab leak
The coronavirus is likely to have emerged in bats and spread to another animal before it jumped into the human population, according to a study from the World Health Organization and Chinese scientists that is scheduled to be released Tuesday.
The 123-page report, which NBC News obtained ahead of its release, also found that it's "extremely unlikely" that the virus leaked from a lab, a theory that has flourished among China skeptics even though it is based largely on circumstantial evidence.
The findings are the result of a joint study by Chinese scientists and a WHO-led team that was in China last month to investigate the virus's origin. The inquiry has been the center of political tensions from its start; Biden administration officials have faulted China for what they say is a lack of transparency about how the virus emerged. Other critics said the inquiry was insufficient because many of the Chinese scientists involved with it are affiliated with government-run institutions and because the investigators didn't have full access to lab records and raw data.
In the report, the research team detailed the most likely scenarios that caused the virus to spill over into humans, but many questions remain unanswered. Identifying the source of a virus, which can take years — or even decades — is an important way for scientists to understand the emergence of infectious diseases and prevent similar outbreaks.
The most likely route of transmission, the researchers said, was from bats into humans through an intermediate animal host. Direct transmission from bats to humans was also thought to be a "possible-to-likely pathway."
The report recommended additional research for those and other scenarios, including retrospective studies of the earliest known cases that were tied to a seafood market in Wuhan, China.
The Wuhan market was the site of the first reported cluster of human cases, but the WHO report said it's not clear whether that was the initial source of the outbreak.
Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist who was a member of the WHO delegation, said in an interview this month that while the first major clusters were reported in Wuhan, it's not known for sure whether the virus originated there.
Koopmans said the investigation found no credible evidence that the coronavirus leaked from a lab. The lab leak hypothesis was touted by President Donald Trump and most recently promoted by Dr. Robert Redfield, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

President Biden and Vice President Harris called for unity after attacks against Asian Americans have surged since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
"There are simply some core values and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans," Biden said during a speech at Emory University in Atlanta on Friday. "One of them is standing together against hate, against racism, the ugly poison that has long haunted and plagued our nation."
Biden's remarks came three days after a gunman opened fire at three massage businesses in the Atlanta area, killing eight people, including six women of Asian descent.
While the suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long of Georgia, told investigators that the shootings were not racially motivated, physical violence and verbal harassment against members of the Asian American community have spiked over the past year.
"Whatever the motivation, we know this, too many Asian Americans walking up and down the streets are worried," Biden said. "They've been attacked, blamed, scapegoated, harassed, they've been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed."
The president said that these incidents are evidence that "words have consequences."

The Miami Heat is opening a new brand of VIP seating for a select group of fans who want to watch the team play at American Airlines Arena — the vaccinated fan section.
And they’re floor seats.
Starting April 1, fans with proof from federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they got their last shot at least 14 days prior to the game will be allowed to enter the arena through a separate gate, given “vaccine verified” wristbands and directed to these primo seats.
“The Heat have allocated two sections in the lower level to fully vaccinated fans,” the team said in a statement. “These seats will be located in Sections 117-118 and the pods of seats will be separated by just one seat.”
But within those sections, everybody will still have to wear masks. And those lucky enough to snag seats closest to the action will get some extra Covid-19 scrutiny.
“Guests seated within 30 feet of the court in the Vaccinated-Fan Sections will still be required to undergo an on-site rapid test at the Arena prior to the game and be cleared by our testing provider,” the Heat said in a statement.
Fans sitting further back will not need to undergo on-site rapid testing or get sniffed by the stadium’s trained “Covid-19 Detection Dogs,” the statement said.
Finally, tickets in the vaccinated section are non-transferable and cannot be resold. And if you’re part of a group, “a guest’s entire party must be fully vaccinated and enter the Arena together.”
Summer Johnson McGee, dean of the University of New Haven’s School of Health Sciences, was of two minds about The Miami Heat’s special seating for vaccinated fans.
“From a public health perspective, any incentive that motivates people to vaccinate would be a good thing,” McGee said. “However, ethically speaking, such policies are concerning as they discriminate on the basis of immunity status. Small perks for those who are immunized could be harmless, but organizations may take this to an extreme like vaccinated-only airline flights or other restrictions on access to services to only the vaccinated.”
Also, said McGee, a “VIP vaccine bubble may work so long as it doesn’t encourage riskier behavior like removing masks.”
There are other red flags, she said.

Nigeria has suspended Emirates from flying into or out of its territory after the carrier imposed additional COVID-19 test requirements on passengers from the country, Nigeria aviation minister said on Monday.
Emirates said last week passenger flights to and from Nigeria had been suspended until further notice in line with government directives, but did not give details.
Aviation minister Hadi Sirika told a news conference that the airline had demanded passengers from Nigeria undertake three COVID-19 tests within 24 hours, leading the government to suspend its operations, with the exemption of cargo and humanitarian flights.
"To make us go through three tests within 24 hours does not make sense. Since they insist, their operations remain suspended," Sirika said.
Last month Nigeria lifted a suspension of Emirates airlines flights imposed after the carrier sought additional COVID-19 tests for passengers from Nigeria.
In addition to requiring a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test before flying from Nigeria, the airline added an extra requirement of having a rapid test four hours before departure.

Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba on Monday received the first jab of the Oxford Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccine was administered to the governor by his personal physician, Dr David Tukula.
The speaker of the State House of Assembly, Dr Albasu Kunini, the Secretary to State Government, Mr Anthony Jellason, and other Executive Council Members also received the vaccine.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the vaccination exercise was coming two weeks after the vaccine arrived in Jalingo the capital, through the Yola international airport.
Ishaku said the arrival of the vaccine would help in minimising the spread of the virus in the state.
The governor, who called for a seamless rollout of the vaccine, said that he was optimistic that by the year 2022 all Nigerians would have been vaccinated.
He urged health workers in the state to take advantage of the vaccine to boost their immunity as they provide health care services for others.
Ishaku, also appealed to the residents of the state to ignore the misconception that the vaccine was not safe.
He said the vaccine was safe for use and called for more awareness for people to know the importance of it.

The safety of vaccines is related to the safety of life. On the premise of ensuring safety, the supply of vaccines should be increased and the vaccination rate should be increased.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken a key step toward extending an order aimed at preventing evictions during the ongoing COVID outbreak. The CDC order is currently set to expire in less than 2 weeks.
Housing advocates have warned for months that allowing this protection for renters to lapse would spark a tsunami of evictions, putting upward of 1 million people out of their homes.
The CDC has now sent a proposal to the Office of Management and Budget for regulatory review. The CDC hasn't responded to a request for comment. And the listing on the OMB site doesn't indicate how long the CDC might extend the eviction order for. The move doesn't mean absolutely that the the agency will extend the order. But that now appears likely.
"It means that CDC likely intends to extend and perhaps improve the CDC order on evictions," says Shamus Roller, the executive director of the National Housing Law Project. He says the order is preventing many evictions but that it has loopholes and needs to be strengthened.
Nearly 10 million Americans are behind on their rent payments, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In the last two COVID relief bills, Congress has approved more than $50 billion for rental assistance.
But the state and local application portals that the money will flow through are only just now opening up to take applications. So the vast majority of people who need the help won't have gotten it by the end of March when the CDC eviction order expires. That's one reason advocates have been calling on the CDC to extend the order.
Studies have found that evictions spread COVID and result in more deaths from the disease since people are forced into more crowded living situations and often double up with other families or family members. That's the reason the CDC issued its order back in September to try to contain the outbreak.
Landlord groups have applauded the rental assistance money from Congress, but they are opposed to the CDC extending its order, saying landlords need to have the right to move forward with eviction cases a year into the pandemic.

The European Union on Wednesday threatened to take tougher measures to curb the export of Covid-19 vaccines, escalating a feud with the U.S. and Britain over their handling of deliveries to the 27-nation bloc.
With the E.U. facing a third wave of the pandemic, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a news conference Wednesday that bloc members were "ready to use whatever tools we need" to ensure it got its fair share.
Noting that the E.U. had exported around 41 million vaccine doses to other countries, she said that "open roads run in both directions, and this is why we need to ensure that there is reciprocity and proportionality."
Without naming any country, she added that if the situation did not change "we will have to reflect on how to make exports to vaccine-producing countries dependent on their level of openness."
Von der Leyen said that the flow of vaccine products was smooth with the U.S. but aired frustration over the lack of deliveries from AstraZeneca in Britain.
She said 10 million doses had gone from E.U. plants to the U.K., but the bloc was "still waiting for doses to come from the U.K."
In the six weeks from Jan. 30, when the E.U. put in place a system requiring authorization of vaccine exports, drugmakers shipped 9.1 million doses to Britain and 1 million to the United States from plants in the bloc.
Von der Leyen also criticized the Anglo-Swedish vaccine-maker AstraZeneca, accusing the pharmaceutical company of slowing the E.U.'s vaccination campaign and warning that the bloc was "weighing export bans to ensure supplies."
"AstraZeneca has unfortunately underproduced and underdelivered, and this painfully, of course, reduced the speed of the vaccination campaign," she said.
The company originally pledged to deliver 90 million doses in the first three months of the year, but later said it could provide only 40 million, then more recently only 30 million, she added. However, she said the E.U. still aimed to vaccinate 70 percent of all adults by September.
AstraZeneca has also had to deal with reports of some recipients of its shot developing dangerous blood clots, although the company and international regulators say there is no evidence the vaccine is to blame. Several countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain, have suspended its use.
The European Medicines Agency has said it was investigating reports of 30 cases of unusual blood disorders out of 5 million recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In total, 45 million Covid-19 shots have been delivered across the region.
The E.U. regulator will release its findings on Thursday, but Chief Executive Emer Cooke said she saw no reason to change its recommendation of AstraZeneca — one of four vaccines that it has approved for use.
A World Health Organization vaccine safety panel also said Wednesday that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh its risks and recommends that vaccinations continue.
The WHO listed AstraZeneca and Oxford University's vaccine for emergency use last month, widening access to the relatively inexpensive shot in the developing world.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the United States is in talks with several countries about who will get any extra doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
“We’re talking with several countries already,” Biden told reporters as he left the White House to promote his coronavirus stimulus package in Pennsylvania. “I’ll let you know that very shortly.”
Biden has promised to make sure every American has access to a vaccine before giving any to other nations. He did not identify the countries.
Mexico has asked the United States to share doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine it has in stock, a senior diplomat said, following up on a request made by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to Biden.
Mexico’s deputy foreign minister for multilateral affairs, Martha Delgado, said that since the United States had not yet approved the AstraZeneca vaccine, it would be a good candidate to offer to Mexico, which has started using it already.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the health sector is set to witness unprecedented growth in a resurgent Nigerian economy with the investments being recorded in the sector.
A statement by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, in Abuja, quoted Osinbajo as making the comment, yesterday, in his virtual remarks at the official unveiling of the Evercare Hospital in Lekki, Lagos.
The hospital, part of the Evercare Group, operates as an integrated healthcare delivery platform in emerging markets across Africa and South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya and Nigeria. The international group has set aside a $1billion healthcare fund.
“The business case for more top quality medical care in Nigeria has always seemed quite obvious, but I think the fact that the Evercare Health Fund (a $1 billion emerging markets healthcare fund) has chosen to invest in Nigeria clearly confirms even to the greatest skeptics that we are seeing the birth of what may well become one of the fastest growth areas in a resurgent Nigerian economy,” Osinbajo submitted
On the importance of having such a medical institution in Nigeria, the vice president said: “We must reverse the trend of outbound medical tourism. There is the need to attract, not just medical tourists from our neighbors in the region, but also become the place of choice for even developed countries’ medical tourists looking to jump long queues for specialised procedures at home.”
Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, commended the management of the hospital for their collaboration with residents of Lagos, local and foreign investors in building a first-class edifice catering for the people.
Others present at the event were Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi; Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budgeting, Mr. Samuel Egube; Chairman of Evercare Hospital, Mr. Tosin Runsewe; Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rajeev Bhandari and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ayo Shonibare.

The staff of El Centro de Corazón health clinics knew that Covid-19’s strike would be more vicious in Houston’s East End, where many Latinos live on the economic edge.
When the first of the clinics’ employees reported symptoms in early 2020, the staff wept, said Dr. Kavon Young, medical director of El Centro’s four clinics.
They wept for their colleague and “they wept not only for themselves, but for their family members that were living in their houses,” Young said. “That was a huge moment for us, because the pandemic had finally hit home."
Many of the more than 100 employees of El Centro de Corazón were as vulnerable as the patients who would come in, contending with the same challenges as their clients, like staff members at other community clinics in the U.S. 
They live in the clinics' neighborhoods, in small homes or single-bedroom apartments, sometimes sharing with multiple family members. 
They have unreliable or no transportation, higher incidences of certain diseases and limited health care options. They don’t all have broadband access at home and some grapple with language barriers. 
Across the country, Latino clinics like El Centro de Corazón, a Federally Qualified Health Center, have acted as levees against the coronavirus, which has threatened from the start to devastate their communities.  
Early on in the pandemic, they knew they would have to find their own ways to inform their communities about the virus and treat them when they got sick, at the same time cutting through patients' fears of medical costs or of the government — ensuring that their populations weren't forgotten.
As the country has moved to massive vaccination hubs and online vaccination appointment systems, some Latino health clinics are calling on federal and state governments to use them more to reach vulnerable communities, in particular people of color and immigrant populations, and to stock them with resources to do so.
“Community health centers are perfect for these times, because we have been looking at the social determinants of health well before the pandemic,” Young said. 
The need to step up vaccinations while still trying to stop the spread of Covid-19 makes the clinics' role even more relevant.
Of the slightly more than half of the 62.5 million people who have received at least one vaccine dose, 65.5 percent were white, compared to just 8.5 percent who were Latino, according to demographic data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the Hispanic Federation, said African Americans have been successful in using black churches for vaccinations but Latinos are less successful because the most vulnerable in the community are undocumented.
“We’re a trusted source in our communities,” said Dr. Viju Jacob, an assistant vice president for Urban Health Plan, a network of health centers in New York that serve 90,000 predominantly Latino patients in the South Bronx, Central Harlem, Corona and Queens. 
Urban Health Plan is one of the largest employers in many of the ZIP codes where it has clinics, “so that in itself has a built-in level of trust. Our employees essentially represent the community,” Jacob said.
El Centro de Corazón, Urban Health Plan and other similar clinics are generally nonprofits that charge on a sliding scale or not at all and take patients on Medicaid or Medicare.

JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska has become the first state to drop eligibility requirements for Covid-19 vaccines and allow anyone 16 or older who lives or works in the state to get a vaccine, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Tuesday.
The governor made the announcement after his own bout with Covid-19, which he described as an inconvenience and said underscored his own desire to be vaccinated. He said he did not become severely ill but did not want “to be laid up in the house again,” impact his family or possibly spread the virus to others.
He described expanding eligibility for vaccines in Alaska as a “game changer,” particularly with the summer tourist season looming and as the state seeks to rebuild its pandemic-tattered economy.
He said he respects those who do not wish to get a vaccine and wanted to relay his personal experience for those mulling vaccination. “I would ask that you give some due consideration,” the Republican said.
Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer, said officials were seeing open vaccine appointments and wanted to act to allow as many people who want a vaccine to get one. More appointments will be added as vaccine is moved around the state and additional doses come in, she said.
“This does feel like a gigantic milestone in so many ways to get to the point where we can offer protection for anyone who wants it in the state,” Zink said during a news conference with Dunleavy.
Alaska has led states in the percentage of its population to have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker.
The state last week vastly expanded eligibility to include those ages 55 to 64 and those 16 and older who are classified as essential workers, at or potentially at high risk for severe illness from Covid-19 or who live in multigenerational households or communities lacking in water or sewer systems.
Groups from prior tiers included health care workers, those 65 and older and teachers.
Two approved vaccines require two doses. A third, requiring one shot, is being rolled out.
The state has reported about 57,300 resident Covid-19 cases and 301 related deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Misinformation And Mistrust Among The Obstacles Latinos Face In Getting Vaccinated
Vaccination programs work best when as many people as possible get vaccinated, but Latinos in the United States are getting inoculated at lower rates.
In Florida, for example, Latinos are 27% of the population but they've made up only about 17% of COVID-19 vaccinations so far, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Oscar Londoño is working to change that. He's executive director of WeCount!, a membership-based organization for immigrant workers in Homestead, Fla., which is home to many Latino farmworkers.
In an interview with Weekend Edition, Londoño says Latinos are relying on social media and word-of-mouth for information on vaccines — even when it's wrong. "There's myths circulating around the vaccine, whether you can trust it, the long-term effects," he says.
And it's not just obstacles to getting information in Spanish, he says, "but also in many of the native Mayan indigenous languages that farmworkers speak in South Florida."

EL PASO, Texas – A Canadian cargo jet landed in Mexico City on Tuesday, taxied to a stop and met the sort of fanfare typically afforded to heads of state, with government officials and a gaggle of press awaiting its arrival.
Aboard the plane: refrigerated steel containers filled with 852,150 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.
"It's the most vaccines we've received in any week," Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico's secretary of foreign relations, posted on Twitter, followed by a 32-minute video of the shipment's landing. "We keep going."
A year into a pandemic that forced a partial closure of the U.S.-Mexico border, Mexico's ability to vaccinate its citizens stands as a critical issue in the bilateral relationship, underpinning discussions over an eventual reopening of the border.
Mexico has been slow to secure and distribute vaccines, administering 2.6 million doses in the country of 117 million citizens.
This week, the U.S. topped 80 million administered doses, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The imbalance between neighbors is felt acutely at the El Paso-Juárez border, where health authorities in El Paso County, Texas, have vaccinated more than 138,000 people with a first dose and 84,000more with two doses, while federal authorities in Juárez have vaccinated numerous health care workers but not the public at large.
The metropolitan area includes nearly 840,000 people in El Paso County and 1.4 million people in Juárez, according to U.S. and Mexico census figures.
After health care workers, Mexico's national vaccine strategy is focused on rural seniors and it's unclear when the vaccine will arrive for the public in Juárez. The nation's defense ministry, tasked with distributing the vaccine, didn't respond to requests for the exact number of doses administered in Juárez, and Chihuahua state health authorities declined to say.

Throughout the pandemic, R.S., a janitor at Tyson Foods in Dakota City, Nebraska, has been working 17- to 18-hour shifts to keep the building clean and safe for her fellow employees.
The 39-year-old, who immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador in 2015, has worked at the meatpacking plant since September 2018. When Covid-19 first began to spread throughout the country last spring, she said the plant and its employees were unprepared for the impact the virus would have.
“Everyone thought, ‘No, not here.’ People were in denial. They didn’t want to use the masks, back when it wasn’t obligated but rather optional,” said R.S., who didn't feel comfortable talking publicly about the company using her full name. “Just in the area where I work, about five people died.”
The plant briefly paused production last May to deep clean the facility after a number of employees tested positive for the virus.
R.S. said that conditions had drastically improved inside the plant since the outbreaks last spring.
“Now I can tell you that I go to work with peace of mind. We have access to masks. We have access to gloves. We have access to [cleaning] alcohol,” she said.
NBC News reached out to Tyson Foods to learn more about how many of its employees were affected by the virus, but a company spokesperson declined to comment on the numbers.
The company said in a statement that it is "taking care of our team members," and they "continue to do our best to stay ahead of this challenging and ever-evolving pandemic."
Local reports, published last spring but not independently confirmed by NBC News, stated that 786 employees had tested positive and four employees had died from Covid-19.
As Nebraska works to improve conditions for employees of the state’s many meatpacking plants, public health officials have set their focus on vaccination.

Art recognizing Orange County COVID-19 deaths unveiled as U.S. memorial efforts take root

Adorning the entryway of the Orange County Museum of Art through Sunday is an art installation whose vibrancy takes on a poignant new meaning when viewers contemplate the message behind it.
A swath of vibrant red felt roses provides a sobering visual representation of the nearly 4,000 county residents who have lost their lives to COVID-19 and the countless individuals impacted by that loss. As of Tuesday, the county’s death toll stood at 3,952.
Partially handcrafted by community volunteers, many of whom wish to memorialize loved ones lost, the Orange County display is one of several cropping up in Southern California near the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
Each rose signifies a life lost to COVID-19, according to Los Angeles-area artist Marcos Lutyens, who’s created “Rose River” memorial projects in Santa Monica, East L.A. and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
“One rose represents one family that has lost someone and is grieving. Or work mates who were best buddies for life,” Lutyens said Monday outside OCMA, where he and a handful of museum staff participated in a virtual nationwide “COVID-19 Memorial Day Vigil.”
An artist interested in exploring consciousness through a variety of media, Lutyens, 56, began offering virtual hypnosis sessions last year for friends and others feeling overwhelmed by the pandemic.
“There was a lot of fear and anxiety and this kind of feeling Western civilization was collapsing,” he recalled. “It started dawning on me that this wasn’t going away and that we need to memorialize this.”
He came up with the idea of using red roses, the national flower of the United States and a symbol of courage and valor, to stand in for the mothers, fathers, friends and other loved ones lost to the coronavirus.
Located in the county seat of Santa Ana, where residents have endured a disproportionateimpact of coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths, the currently closed Orange County Museum of Art seemed a fitting place to house the outdoor Rose River Memorial installation.
OCMA Senior Curator Cassandra Coblentz said when the museum put out the call for volunteers to pick up some 400 rose assembly kits over two days in early February, the community response was overwhelming. Ultimately, staff handed out more than 900 kits.
“We couldn’t buy enough glue to meet the demands of all the people who wanted to make roses for us,” Coblentz said Saturday. “People were so eager to come together and share their stories and grieve. There haven’t been enough opportunities to do that yet.”
Some rose shapers inscribed or even stitched names among the felt petals, while others affixed tags or messages of support. “Rodolfo Andrade, November 15, 1950 – February 9, 2021, My Loving Husband,” one tag reads.
Orange county resident Sarah Sambolich created roses to honor her uncle, whom she could not be with in his final days due to the pandemic. She shared her “COVID grief story” with Lutyens and Rose River Memorial organizers.
“He was a great support to me growing up and was there when I needed him — I wish I could have been there for him in his last days,” she said of her uncle. “These roses are the most tangible way of saying goodbye and, at the same time, giving comfort to those who also lost loved ones.”
The Rose River memorials are among hundreds of vigils and tributes being assembled nationwide to honor the pandemic’s increasing death toll. The effort to memorialize such losses is gaining national momentum as organizations beseech lawmakers to pass a resolution that would annually recognize the first Monday in March as “COVID-19 Victims and Survivors Memorial Day.”
On Monday, San Francisco-based nonprofits Marked by COVID and Reimagine launched a COVID-19 Memorial Day virtual vigil that aimed to unite the individual efforts of politicians and organizers of memorial projects. Lutyens and Coblentz participated live from the OCMA installation.
Lutyens has a goal of joining the Orange County art piece with other regional Rose River Memorial tributes and recruiting even more volunteers to handcraft roses to represent the nationwide death toll during the pandemic which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s online COVID Data Tracker, stood Tuesday at 513,122 individuals.
His plan is to take the giant installation to Washington, D.C., to mark a second annual COVID-19 Memorial Day. He acknowledges he will need a few more hands to bring that vision to life.
“We will really need people’s help to make roses,” he said.

(Washington, DC) – The United States government has made little progress in stemming the rise in poverty and inequality during the Covid-19 pandemic, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should take urgent action to address the rights of millions of people suffering the compounded economic and social impacts of the pandemic.

A Human Rights Watch analysis of public-use microdata from the Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey shows that the pandemic’s economic fallout has had a devastating and disproportionate impact on the rights of low-income people who were already struggling. President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed by the US House of Representatives on February 27, 2021, provides key investments to mitigate the growing economic hardship affecting these parts of the population. The legislation is now with the Senate, where it may be amended before it is sent back to the House for a final vote.

“Millions of people in the US are falling into preventable poverty and hunger,” said Lena Simet, senior poverty and inequality researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The measures put forth in President Biden's relief proposal are urgently needed and the government shouldn’t cut corners when so many lives and livelihoods are at risk.”

Federal policymakers should ensure that relief not only reaches everyone in need, but also provides sufficient levels of support. It should also lay the foundation for a human rights-based economic recovery that ensures an adequate standard of living to everyone in the United States and addresses racial, gender, and other disparities, Human Rights Watch said.

Since the start of the pandemic, 74.7 million people have lost work, with the majority of jobs lost in industries that pay below average wages. Many of those who lost work and income are running out of money and savings. In January, some 24 million adults reported experiencing hunger and more than six million said they fear being evicted or foreclosed on in the next two months due to their inability to make housing payments. By contrast, higher-income people have been relatively unscathed economically. Despite the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression, the collective wealth of the US’ 651 billionaires has jumped by over $1 trillion since the beginning of the pandemic, a 36 percent leap.

Recent Census Bureau data show how households with different incomes are coping with the pandemic and that low-income households are disproportionally struggling for their social and economic rights to be met. Among households with incomes below $35,000, 47 percent of adults report being behind on housing payments, and 25 percent say they struggle to put food on the table. Thirty-two percent of low-income adults said they had felt depressed in the previous seven days. These low-income households urgently need a comprehensive rescue plan.

One-third of adults reported using past stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment benefits to cover normal household expenses in the previous seven days; with 37 percent of them also going into debt by using credit cards and loans for routine expenses.

Former president Donald Trump’s office revealed Monday that he received a coronavirus vaccine at the White House in January, the first time his advisers have acknowledged his inoculation.
Trump and former first lady Melania Trump, who both tested positive for the virus in the fall, received vaccines at some point before their final departure from the White House on Jan. 20, though a staffer did not specify the exact date or type of vaccine they received.
News of Trump’s vaccination comes one day after he encouraged a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference to get vaccinated, a message he often avoided when he was president.
“Everybody, go get your shot,” he said.
Johnson & Johnson began distributing its one-shot vaccine Monday morning, giving the country three effective tools to combat the pandemic. It comes at a crucial time, with new infections on the rise once again. So far, 15 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine shot.

Nigeria plans to draw up a supplementary budget for COVID-19 vaccinations in March, the finance minister said on Thursday.
Zainab Ahmed told reporters in the capital Abuja that the government was already releasing money to health authorities to fund the rollout of vaccines. She said the first doses were due to arrive in one week.

Last month, the nation watched as Winston the gorilla came down with COVID-19 and then recovered. So far, the virus has been detected in zoo animals like Winston, domestic animals like cats and dogs, and most worryingly, in farmed and wild animals like mink and ferrets.
Now, animal experts are warning that if the virus is circulating freely in wild animals, it might develop mutations and evolve into a new version – one that is capable of jumping back into humans.
January has been the deadliest month in the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, as efforts to distribute and administer the new vaccines continue.
And just as the United States is ramping up its efforts to find new COVID variants among people, many scientists are speaking out that we should be doing the same for animals.
“In the current pandemic, we know that the virus originated in wildlife, most likely bats, then jumped to people,” said Dr. Jonathan Epstein, an epidemiologist and vice president for science and outreach at EcoHealth Alliance. “And we know that there are a lot of other animals that are susceptible to this virus.”
Epstein explained that the COVID virus is so widespread and so many people are infected that there is a significant possibility that wildlife could be exposed through the environment, contaminated waste water or direct contact with humans.Minks are small, carnivorous mammals that are raised mostly for their furs. So far, six countries, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the United States, have reported COVID virus infections in their mink farms to the World Health Organization.
While there is no evidence yet that the virus found in the farmed mink population is more dangerous than what has already been detected in humans, the virus does spread easily among minks that are housed closely together.
But infections in farmed and captive animals can be managed. Some farmed mink populations in Europe, for example, have been culled. Meanwhile, zoo animals like Winston are isolated and treated for their infections to limit the spread of disease.
But it's a different story once the virus jumps into wildlife.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 645 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total number of infections in the country to 151,553.
The NCDC disclosed this on Saturday on its official Twitter handle.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the country has tested 1,441,013 people since COVID-19 index case was announced on Feb. 27, 2020.
The NCDC registered 18 COVID-19-related deaths on Saturday, raising the total fatalities in Nigeria to 1,831.
The health agency announced that the 645 new infections were reported from 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The agency said that Lagos State took the lead with 282 cases, Ogun had 72, the FCT reported 50, while Kaduna, Osun, and Imo reported 33, 24, and 23 cases, respectively.
Other states with new infections are Abia (21), Borno (18), Oyo (17), Edo (15), Nasarawa (15), Taraba (14), Ekiti (11), Ondo (11), Plateau (11), Kano (10), Rivers seven, Delta five, Bauchi, three and Jigawa, three.
The NCDC also disclosed that 505 COVID-19 have recovered from the ailment at the various isolation centres in the last 24 hours.

Every time I see these numbers, I feel distressed. You must not let your guard down!

President Joe Biden will pledge US$4 billion (RM16.2 billion) in US aid to the Covax global Covid-19 vaccination program meduring his virtual meeting with other G7 leaders today, White House officials said.
An initial US$2 billion will be released “by the end of this month,” with the rest coming over the next two years, said a senior White House official, who asked not to be identified, yesterday.
Covax is a global project to procure and distribute coronavirus vaccines for at least the most vulnerable 20 per cent in every country, allowing poorer nations to catch up with the rush by dozens of wealthy countries to vaccinate.
“The United States is really excited to be making our first contribution to Covax,” the White House official said. “We do think it is vital to take a role in beating the pandemic globally.”
Although the United States is “prioritising” domestic needs, assistance to other countries “decreases the risk to everyone in the world, including Americans, and also decreases the risk of variants,” the official said.
For now, the focus is on contributing funds for purchase of new vaccines but “when we have a sufficient supply it is our intention to consider donating surplus vaccines,” the official said.
Group of Seven leaders will be discussing international coordination on ending the deadly and disruptive pandemic when they meet virtually on today. — AFP

Halfway through a bleak winter, Dr. Diane Griffin started to feel something in recent weeks that had been missing for much of the past year: optimism.
Griffin, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said recent declines in hospitalizations, daily deaths and confirmed new infections were fueling hope that the U.S. has arrived at a turning point in the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic.
"What we're seeing is incremental and encouraging," Griffin said, "but we're not out of the woods yet."
More than a year into the pandemic, developments that seem at odds with one another have made it difficult to determine just where the U.S. and the world stand.
Griffin's optimism is tempered by the fact that while case numbers have been decreasing steadily, they are still much higher than they were during the first wave, which overwhelmed parts of the country last spring and summer. And looming over all the recent progress is the threat of more contagious coronavirus variants that are already spreading rapidly in the U.S. — along with concerns that variants could pose problems for the current round of vaccines.
Scientists say that while it's heartening to see declines after some of the deadliest and most challenging months of the pandemic, it may be too soon to know whether the U.S. is experiencing a temporary reprieve or whether it is finally starting to get control of the pandemic.
And while some optimism is warranted, the psychological challenges of the pandemic — in which human behavior and collective responsibility remain crucial to keep outbreaks under control — mean communities must remain vigilant.
"We are seeing a dip right now, but I don't think that changes the thought that we have to be very careful in the weeks ahead," said Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, a professor of health policy and management at the City University of New York. "Whether this is a momentary dip or whether we reached the peak and now things are coming down — that's not completely clear."
Further clouding the forecasts are questions about how the known coronavirus variants, including a more transmissible strain that is thought to have emerged in the U.K., might alter the pandemic's course.
Some research suggests there's already cause for concern.
A recent study that was published to the preprint server medRxiv but hasn't yet been peer-reviewed found that cases of the U.K. variant are doubling in the U.S. every 10 days. The findings seem to confirm a report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last month that projected that the U.K. variant could become the predominant strain in the country by March. 
Lee said case numbers are likely to rise again as the U.K. variant becomes more widespread and as other strains that were first reported in South Africa and Brazil circulate in the U.S. But it's possible that other forces — including increased rates of vaccination across the country, the anticipation that people will spend more time outdoors in the spring and other shifts in behavior — will help counteract a new surge and prevent another wave of runaway outbreaks.
"It was expected that January and February were going to be tough months, because of winter and because of the holidays, but by March or April, we may start to see things improving," Lee said.
For one, spring will bring warmer temperatures to much of the country, making it easier to spend time outdoors, where the risk of infection is thought to be lower.
And improvements are likely to continue as more Americans are vaccinated, Griffin said.
Early results from Israel, where more than a third of the population has received at least the first of two vaccine doses, provide the first real-time glimpses that efforts to administer shots rapidly and widely appear to be working. Preliminary analyses show that the vaccines appear to be contributing to sharp declines in infections and illness, particularly in people over age 60, who were among the first to get the shots.
Israel has administered more than 60 doses of either the Moderna or the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for every 100 residents, far outpacing every other country. (Israel's vaccine strategy has come under fire for excluding Palestinians.)
Figures released last week by Israel's Health Ministry indicated that out of nearly 750,000 people over 60 who were fully vaccinated, only 0.07 percent, or 531 people, tested positive for the virus. Of that group, 38 people were hospitalized for moderate or severe illness.
Griffin said the early results from Israel's vaccine program were "very encouraging," adding that vaccines could at least stave off serious disease and deaths in the U.S., even if the variants cause an overall rise in cases.
The rollout of vaccines in the U.S. was hampered early on by supply constraints and a lack of overall strategy during the Trump administration. Since then, the federal government under President Joe Biden has been trying to ease bottlenecks in manufacturing and distribution, and it is expanding how and where vaccinations can be administered. The efforts are part of Biden's goal of giving at least 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office. As of Sunday, the U.S. had administered 40 million doses, according to the CDC. 
Experts have said the U.S. is in a race against time to vaccinate as many people as possible before more troublesome variants emerge, but there are ways to mitigate outbreaks even as people wait to become eligible for the shots, said Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington.
"Throughout the course of the pandemic, one of the most important drivers has been changes in our collective behavior," Bergstrom said. "That's what makes modeling the long-term trajectory of the pandemic so extraordinarily difficult."
Indeed, behavioral changes have at times been associated both with spikes in cases, as people adopted more lax attitudes and states rolled back restrictions, and with valleys, as new measures were put in place and people became more vigilant.
The dynamic was largely to blame for the alarming surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Los Angeles County, California, in December and January.
To avoid another spike in the spring, the U.S. has to stay aggressive with vaccinations and mitigation tactics, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, Bergstrom said. These strategies are even more crucial to combat more transmissible variants of the coronavirus, he said. The U.K. strain has already been reported in more than half of the states, but as in the U.K., the numbers could increase rapidly. 
"That's just how exponential growth works," Bergstrom said. "It comes in at a low frequency, and the first few doublings you don't really notice because it's overwhelmed by what you're seeing with the regular strain. But when it shifts, it shifts quite suddenly, and then you really see it take off."
That prospect is why many experts approach the recent declines with cautious optimism. Also of concern is the possibility that progress could be wiped out if a strain emerges that evades the current vaccines. Some early research has already shown that the Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are less effective against the South African variant, although levels of neutralizing antibodies are expected to still be protective.
It's also possible, Bergstrom said, that other problematic variants are already circulating in the U.S. undetected.
All of those factors combine to make it difficult to assess where the U.S. stands and to predict how the coming months could play out, he said.
"There are so many moving parts, and it's so complicated," Bergstrom said, "but whatever we can do to stay aggressive, the more people we can get vaccinated and the longer we can hang in there, the more we can stave off a huge spring spike."

Weeks ahead of the potential arrival of 41 million COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria, there are already many problems on the ground that could hamper successful distribution, experts say.
Nigeria has so far recorded 139,748 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,667 related deaths, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. And the figure will likely rise further following a surge in fresh infections in recent days.
Vaccine hesitancy and the poor state of roads across the country present significant barriers to the successful distribution of vaccines, especially in semi-urban and rural communities.
Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said that the country applied for 41 million doses of a combination of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines adding that the Nigerian government had had to increase its request through the African Union from an initial 10 million doses to effectively combat the spread of the virus.
Shuaib said that the vaccine doses are expected in Nigeria by the end of April, adding that the country has the capacity to store the vaccines.
But Sam Ohuabunwa, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, told SciDev.Net: “As far as I am concerned, Nigeria is not ready to receive the vaccine and distribute it accordingly. There are no -70 degrees Celsius freezers needed to store the [Pfizer] vaccine. If the government claims to have it in place, they should show it to Nigerians.”
Ohuabunwa believes the response to COVID-19 has been poor. He added: “It is the same for the rest of the continent where the response to vaccination has been quite slow. I am hoping that things can improve fast.
“Even if the vaccines arrive, how does the government plan to smoothly distribute them across the country in a timely manner? Our bad roads will certainly slow down travel time and delay the smooth distribution of the coronavirus medicine to far-flung areas of the country.”
According to Nigeria’s Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, only 60,000 kilometres of the country’s 195,000 kilometres of road network are tarmacked, with the rest in shambles.
Chigozie Ubani, a security consultant and fellow at the Institute of Security, Nigeria, said that persistent insecurity in the northern part of Nigeria and rising criminality in other regions of the country could also hamper the delivery of vaccines to communities.
“Also, due to the perception of residents of that area to such activities, medical workers deployed to administer the vaccine in the North could be exposed to grave danger as they could be attacked by religious extremists who see this as an affront on their belief,” Ubani said.
“Nigeria is not the only one with this security problem in the West African region,” Ubani told SciDev.Net, adding that violence by Boko Haram terrorists, whose reign of terror extends to Cameroon, Chad and Niger could hinder vaccine distribution. “The threat of Boko Haram and other terror groups is real and must be collectively addressed by African leaders.”
According to an essay published by the Pan African Medical Journal last month ( 5 January), vaccine hesitancy on the continent could also hamper the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.
The article authored by Aanuoluwapo Afolabi, from the college of medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria blames African governments for failing to dispel unfounded claims of immunity of its people to the virus.