As the United States emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, Missouri is becoming a warning story in other parts of the country: due to the combination of the rapidly spreading delta variant and the stubborn resistance of many people, the number of cases has increased dramatically. vaccination.
The intensive care bed was packed with surprisingly young unvaccinated patients, and the staff were exhausted in this battle that should have entered the final throes.
Some health leaders hope that the rest of the United States can at least learn something from the plight of Missouri.
"It would be great if people in other parts of the country looked at us and said,'No thanks,' and they are getting vaccinated," said Eric Frederick, Chief Administrator of Springfield Mercy Hospital. The hospital has been overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients because the variant first discovered in India is raging in largely unimmunized communities. "We will become canaries."
The state now ranks first in the country with the highest rate of new COVID-19 infections, with the surge mainly occurring in a politically conservative agricultural area in the northern and southwestern corners of the state, including those in the country’s Springfield and Branson Ozark Mountains. The music mecca, the city’s theaters and other attractions once again gathered large crowds.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although more than 53% of Americans have received at least one injection, most counties in southern and northern Missouri are well below 40%. Only 13% in a county.
Frederick said the number of cases in southwest Missouri is still lower than the winter high, but the trajectory is steeper than the previous surge. County data shows that as of Tuesday, 153 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized at Mercy and another Springfield hospital, Cox Health, up from 31 more than a month ago.
Frederick said these patients were also younger than they were at the beginning of the pandemic—60% to 65% of patients in the Mercy ICU on weekends are under 40 years old. Frederick pointed out that young people are less likely to be vaccinated. Much-some people are pregnant.
He is hiring traveling nurses and respiratory therapists to help his tired employees as other parts of the country are trying to escape the epidemic.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — The Retail and Trade Brands Advocacy Malaysia Chapter (RTBA Malaysia) called on the government to be creative in its efforts to recover the billions of ringgit spent on curbing the pandemic and aid economic recovery.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on global and regional economies. In Malaysia, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the prime minister outlining details of the National Recovery Plan to take the country out of the health and economic crisis by year end,” said Datuk Fazli Nordin, managing director of RTBA Malaysia in a statement.
“Nevertheless, the road to recovery will be challenging, and will require additional creative measures that can facilitate economic recovery in the aftermath of the pandemic.”
A non-governmental organisation for advocating effective regulatory, financial and taxation policies affecting retailers and brands, RTBA Malaysia recommended several measures that the country can adopt.
“For one, we can look at opening up pathways to increase foreign direct investments (FDI). Due to supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, multinational enterprises are re-evaluating their global footprint and calibrating their sourcing strategies,” said Fazli.
He added that Malaysia should take this opportunity to “design appropriate policies aimed at attracting investment following the pandemic and beyond.”
He cited the example of Myanmar which has adopted an economic recovery plan that includes “an active investment promotion and facilitation policy, including fast-tracking approvals for investment in labour-intensive and infrastructure projects and a reduction in investment application fees.”
RTBA Malaysia further recommended the creation of new revenue streams.
One way of doing this is by regulating the Malaysian vape industry and expanding the taxation framework which is now only limited to vape devices and non-nicotine e-liquids.
“According to reports, the Malaysian vape industry is worth some RM2.27 billion and has the potential to grow to RM10 million in a few years if nicotine e-liquids are allowed for sale with regulations. Further, local players which are made up of primarily SMEs will have the bandwidth to expand their footprint,” added Fazli.
“Additionally, the government needs to consider expanding the taxation framework for vape e-liquids to include e-liquids with nicotine which make up 97 per cent of the market. By doing so, Malaysia stands to gain some RM300 million in excise duty in the first year alone.
“Indonesia is a prime example. According to recent reports, since the introduction of a vape tax in Indonesia, the industry has seen a growth of approximately 60 per cent between 2019 to 2020.
“In 2019, the industry succeeded in contributing tax revenue to the tune of 500 billion rupiah (RM144 million) to the government. In 2020, the tax revenue generated from this industry was approximately 700 billion rupiah.”
RTBA Malaysia also pointed out the need to rethink tourism in Malaysia as it is “at a crossroads and the measures put in place today will shape the tourism of tomorrow.”
The long-term implications of the pandemic on tourism is such that now is the time to put in measures “to promote the structural transformation needed to build a stronger, more sustainable and resilient tourism economy.”

One of the most affected industries was the transport industry. The requirements to visit different countries keep changing now and then. With inconsistent regulations, it can be challenging and confusing for people who want to travel abroad, the same challenge applying even to those wishing to travel between Europe and the United States of America.
After the election of the new US president, the travel restrictions to the country became more strict; the governments did so to keep new Covid 19 variants at bay while they tried containing the already existing ones.
Which passengers were banned from traveling into the United States?
Every government is trying its best to contain and manage the spread of the Covid-19 disease. As a result, the www.estaform.org department instilled a travel ban for people who had visited some European countries. Some of these countries include Portugal, Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Greece, and Ireland.
Those who are to be permitted into the US from Europe must present a medical certificate that proves that they have tested negative for the disease. This means that everybody (apart from those in the military and children under the age of 2) had to be tested prior to their visit, preferably three days before their journey. The accepted testing methods include:
These restrictions have affected global trade immensely. In fact, by the end of the year 2020, the trade of global merchandise recorded the sharpest quarter-on-quarter decline ever to be recorded. Falling with a staggering 14.3%, much focus had to be directed towards breaking down supply chains and restructuring them in a way that keeps them relevant and functional. The collapse of these chains proved just how much countries depend on each other.
However, even with the numerous challenges, the wait seems to be nearly over. Vaccinated US citizens will soon be allowed to travel to Europe after a year-long ban. On May 19, 2021, ambassadors in the European Union decided that fully vaccinated visitors can now be allowed to visit the 27-nation bloc. Some of these countries include Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Georgia, and Iceland.
However, even with traveling being allowed, there are still measures that have to be followed. For example, if you want to travel on the COVID – tested flights, you must get tested before your departure and on arrival. This is mandatory for everyone, whether you have received the vaccine or not. However, the good news for those entering the US from Europe is that you will not be required to quarantine once the test results are out.
Conclusion
Every country has had to put in efforts to adjust to the new normal. However, with the vaccines out now, things seem to be getting easier and more manageable now.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — The Retail and Trade Brands Advocacy Malaysia Chapter (RTBA Malaysia) called on the government to be creative in its efforts to recover the billions of ringgit spent on curbing the pandemic and aid economic recovery.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on global and regional economies. In Malaysia, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the prime minister outlining details of the National Recovery Plan to take the country out of the health and economic crisis by year end,” said Datuk Fazli Nordin, managing director of RTBA Malaysia in a statement.
“Nevertheless, the road to recovery will be challenging, and will require additional creative measures that can facilitate economic recovery in the aftermath of the pandemic.”
A non-governmental organisation for advocating effective regulatory, financial and taxation policies affecting retailers and brands, RTBA Malaysia recommended several measures that the country can adopt.
“For one, we can look at opening up pathways to increase foreign direct investments (FDI). Due to supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, multinational enterprises are re-evaluating their global footprint and calibrating their sourcing strategies,” said Fazli.
He added that Malaysia should take this opportunity to “design appropriate policies aimed at attracting investment following the pandemic and beyond.”
He cited the example of Myanmar which has adopted an economic recovery plan that includes “an active investment promotion and facilitation policy, including fast-tracking approvals for investment in labour-intensive and infrastructure projects and a reduction in investment application fees.”
RTBA Malaysia further recommended the creation of new revenue streams.
One way of doing this is by regulating the Malaysian vape industry and expanding the taxation framework which is now only limited to vape devices and non-nicotine e-liquids.
“According to reports, the Malaysian vape industry is worth some RM2.27 billion and has the potential to grow to RM10 million in a few years if nicotine e-liquids are allowed for sale with regulations. Further, local players which are made up of primarily SMEs will have the bandwidth to expand their footprint,” added Fazli.
“Additionally, the government needs to consider expanding the taxation framework for vape e-liquids to include e-liquids with nicotine which make up 97 per cent of the market. By doing so, Malaysia stands to gain some RM300 million in excise duty in the first year alone.
“Indonesia is a prime example. According to recent reports, since the introduction of a vape tax in Indonesia, the industry has seen a growth of approximately 60 per cent between 2019 to 2020.
“In 2019, the industry succeeded in contributing tax revenue to the tune of 500 billion rupiah (RM144 million) to the government. In 2020, the tax revenue generated from this industry was approximately 700 billion rupiah.”
RTBA Malaysia also pointed out the need to rethink tourism in Malaysia as it is “at a crossroads and the measures put in place today will shape the tourism of tomorrow.”
The long-term implications of the pandemic on tourism is such that now is the time to put in measures “to promote the structural transformation needed to build a stronger, more sustainable and resilient tourism economy.”

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recently released the estimated world population. Nigeria's population, according to its estimation, will hit 211.4 million by the end of 2021, a sharp rise by 69 million from 142.5 million recorded in the 2006 head-count. With an unemployment rate of 32.5 percent projected for 2021, and no hope of stimulating productivity for economic growth, this growing population figure does not give one a reason to be cheerful.
Apart from the estimated figure generated by the UNFPA, other indicators about the country's population are not encouraging. For instance, the use of contraceptives by women all over the country is put at 17 percent. That of Ghana is about 30 percent. This means our population growth is not under control. If individuals fail to use contraceptives to ensure child spacing, government may take the blame for it. The UNFPA report states specifically that in Nigeria, there are "no laws and regulations that guarantee access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, information and education... "That is to say there is no population policy in Nigeria; and if there is one, such a policy is ineffective or never implemented.
Population policy is defined in Encyclopaedia.com as "deliberately constructed or modified institutional arrangements and/or specific programmes through which governments influence, directly or indirectly, demographic change." It offers a way for any country to be prepared and respond to the current and future needs of its citizens. Many developed societies have population policies. They may not pursue them aggressively like China would do, but with access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, information and education, citizens of developed societies determine or control the number of children they bring into this world. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, many state governments do not make budgetary provisions for family planning, for instance. Rather, they absolutely depend on interventions by donor agencies which may not be adequate. Worse still, many states fail to provide their counterpart fund in donor-funded interventions, making it impossible to deepen and sustain such funded projects.
At the rate the country's population is growing, it could attain the predicted 450 million by year 2050, and become the third largest population in the world, after China and India. Economists have argued that high population could be an advantage because it means high demand for goods and services. But Nigeria's experience is in the reverse, with poor human capital development that has made graduates to be unemployable, and low industrial production that has relegated the country to a net importer of consumer goods. Under this atmosphere, the burgeoning youth population has produced beggars, social deviants, bandits, fraudsters, and thugs who constitute low-hanging militia for politicians and dubious political leaders. High population becomes an advantage if the population is well-educated and involved in the production of capital and consumer goods, not just for local consumption, but also for export. China is a classical example of a nation that has taken advantage of its population for economic growth.
We call on the federal and state governments to rise from their complacency about the uncontrolled population growth and put in place mechanisms for evading the predicted doom. A Nigerian proverb says, it is only a goat that grazes unperturbedly even when faced with certain death by slaughter. Nigerians must embrace child spacing and every technique and products that would enhance it to prevent the tragedy of unmanageable population in the near future. Women should be made to play an active role in the timing and number of children they would bring into this world. Religious leaders, who influence matrimonial and family disposition and decisions in this respect, should play an integral role in popularising population control measures by government.
On its part, government should ensure a genuine, credible and transparent population census takes place in Nigeria, instead of depending and making policy decisions on the estimated 2.6 percent annual growth. Also, government must put in place fiscal and monetary policies necessary to stimulate the economy, enhance productivity, and create employment for the population. The future is not a far distance away; it is here with us with its associated troubles.
We must tackle this unrestrained population growth immediately.

About 11,000 new cases of Tuberculosis (TB) have been identified in Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Oyo states in the last one year through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nigeria IHVN TB LON 3 project.
Meanwhile, Lagos State has been described as the epicentre of TB in Nigeria owing to its population density, the landscape and a whole lot of other factors.
Chief of Party, USAID Nigeria TB LON 3 project, Dr. Aderonke Agbaje, who disclosed this in a zoom interview with journalists in Abuja, said TB is the number one infectious disease killer worldwide and Nigeria has the highest prevalence of the disease in Africa and sixth globally.
Agbaje, who was represented by the Director, Technical Programmes, USAID TB LON 3 project, Dr. Olugbenga Daniel, stated that Nigeria has 300,000 TB cases yearly that are yet to be identified.
According to him, of the 11,000 cases that were found in Lagos Ogun, Osun and Oyo states, 90 to 95 per cent of them were diagnosed using Gene Xpert and with that, the agency was able to identify at the point of diagnosis the Drug-Resistant (DR-TB) and the Drug-Sensitive (DS-TB) cases.
According to him, this had been possible through innovative public health approaches such as engaging the private sector and community activities. He added that facility intervention has really helped in improving the case finding across the four supported states.
Agbaje explained that Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN) USAID Tuberculosis Local Organisation Network is a five-year project that is primarily focused on finding missing TB cases and based on studies. He said that Nigeria is expected to identify 432,000 TB cases yearly but up on till last year, Nigeria’s case finding has been staggering around 24 to 25 per cent that comes to a range of about 100,000 or 105,000 cases.
He said: “In 2019, we increased to about 116,000/120,000 cases and thereafter we had an increase last year to about 130,000 cases. All these are out of the expected 432,000. All these were due to the concerted efforts of the public facility intervention, the private facility intervention as well as the community. So, this boils down to the fact that we still have over 300,000 TB cases yearly that are yet to be diagnosed and another insight to that is that one positive index TB patient infects 15 people yearly and if you do the geometric progression of that, you will see that it is a critical emergency.”
Agbaje stressed the need for domestic resource mobilisation, considering that TB funding is currently majorly donor-driven, stressing that though the federal government is contributing, it’s not really that significant.
On the impact of COVID-19 on the project, Agbaje said: “The project started April 1, 2020. The central state for the project was Lagos and then the other three states were contiguous states?”

The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it plans to distribute the first 25 million of the 80 million vaccines the United States plans to send worldwide.That 25 million, 19 million, or 75% of those doses will be distributed through COVAX. It aims to help the most endangered countries. Dose shared through COVAX is prioritized in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. The remaining 6 million doses of vaccine will be directed to areas where the United States has priority, such as Canada and Mexico. Overall, the Biden administration plans to distribute 80 million COVID-19 vaccines worldwide by the end of this month.
According to the White House, the 25 million doses include the Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Modana COVID-19 vaccines, but not AstraZeneca, which is under review by the Food and Drug Administration.
Specifically, of the 19 million doses distributed through COVAX, approximately 6 million doses are from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Haiti. , Go to the Dominican Republic. Approximately 7 million doses are planned for India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan and the Pacific Islands. Then, coordinated by the African Union, about 5 million doses will be given to Africa.
6 million doses given directly from the United States go to Mexico, Canada, South Korea, West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haitian, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, and frontline workers of the United Nations. .. The United States has already shared 4 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine with neighboring Canada and Mexico.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan emphasized that the United States does not favorably exchange vaccines. The United States has been requested “from all over the world,” Sullivan said, and the Biden administration on how to distribute vaccines is to achieve global coverage, respond to spikes, and support as many doses as possible. He added that it was woven into the decision.
The United States shares more surplus doses than any other country, but 25 million, or even 80 million, is far short of what the world needs to end a pandemic. India alone can benefit from hundreds of millions of doses as the world’s largest democracy is fighting a serious and deadly surge.
“America’s strong leadership is essential to end this pandemic now, strengthen global health security for tomorrow, and better prevent, detect, and respond to the next threat. In a statement, the United States will become the world’s arsenal of vaccines in our common fight against this virus. “
According to the White House, the process of exporting these 25 million batches is “in progress.”

Vaccines play an increasingly important role in the global fight against the epidemic, and all countries should work together to promote vaccination, especially in developed countries, to provide necessary help to developing countries.

People under 60 are accounting for the majority of new Covid-19 cases across the country — likely a testament to the success of the vaccines that have been administered to primarily older, more vulnerable Americans.

The number of cases is rising again following a steep decline and then plateauing for several weeks. During a White House Covid-19 briefing Monday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the rise in cases — an average increase of 10 percent from the previous week — gave her a sense of "impending doom."

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

But doctors say that patients seeking care this time around are younger and, notably, not as sick.

In New York, where cases are rising, some Covid-19 patients still require hospitalization, but the numbers of such patients are nowhere near the "astronomical" levels from a year ago, said Dr. Frederick Davis, an associate chair of emergency medicine at Northwell Health's Long Island Jewish Hospital.

Now, Davis said, Covid-19 cases are mostly mild.

"The cases we are seeing are the younger groups that probably aren't eligible for vaccines just yet," Davis said.

More than 73 percent of people over age 65 has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and nearly half are fully vaccinated. Monday, the CDC reported that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are 90 percent effective against Covid-19 in the real world.

The increase in immunity among older adults is illustrated in the shift in age groups most likely to seek care for Covid-19.

Nationwide, "the number of 25-to-49-year-olds visiting U.S. emergency departments for diagnosed Covid-19 is now higher than the number of visits among patients 65 and older," the CDC said in a statement to NBC News.

In Michigan, where cases have more than doubled in the past two weeks, doctors are seeing increases in patients between the ages of 10 and 60, with hospitalizations among people in their 50s rising at the fastest rate, said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state's chief medical executive.

"Even if you may be at lower risk for getting the virus, you can still get the virus," Khaldun said. "People simply cannot let their guard down now. No one lives in a bubble."

Dr. Usamah Mossallam, an emergency department physician at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, cautioned that even younger people can get quite ill from Covid-19.

"I've also seen my fair share of people who require hospitalization and ICU admissions, and they're in their 40s," Mossallam said.

At Northwell health system in New York, Davis said that many of the Covid-19 cases are due to domestic travel.

"They went to a gathering somewhere out of state, whether it was family they hadn't seen in a long time, or maybe a wedding," Davis said. "Sometimes multiple family members come in from the same event."

Spring break may also be partly to blame for the recent rise in cases, particularly as some states have rolled back restrictions and mask mandates, said Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, a pulmonary and critical care medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. But vaccinations among the highest-risk demographics may prevent hospitalizations from rising as precipitously this time as they did during previous surges, he said.

"A lot of places opened up and we saw more travel for spring break, so we certainly expected a bump in cases," Khabbaza said. "But when these people go back home to their workplace or to their loves ones and family members, at least more of the higher risk people are going to be vaccinated."

Download the NBC News app for full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

The trend toward younger patients with milder illness is likely the reason many intensive care units are no longer inundated with severe cases.

At the pandemic's peak last year, Dr. Todd Rice, director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's medical intensive care unit in Nashville, Tennessee, said he had 60 Covid-19 patients at once. Now, he has five.

The shift is likely because "we've changed the demographics of the people who are being affected" by the illness, Rice said.

The virus itself, however, is shifting and changing. "We know that about 26 percent of all sequenced virus is now the B.1.1.7" variant, Walensky said during Monday's briefing. That variant has been shown to be more contagious.

"This variant is probably less forgiving, and more infections will occur," Walensky said.

Khabbaza said that while he remains hopeful that a new wave of infections won't be accompanied by as many hospitalizations and deaths, it's hard to predict the full impact of the variants.

"We haven't had a surge with a variant yet, so we're not really sure what to expect for these next couple weeks and months," he said.

Even if cases are milder, they can still result in debilitating "long-hauler" symptoms.

The possibility of long-term illness combined with more transmissible variants are major reasons to get vaccinated, even as cases are trending toward younger, healthier patients.

"The good news with the variants is, they are all mostly responsive to vaccinations," said Dr. James McDeavitt, senior vice president and dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

"We can still vaccinate our way out of this crisis."

Nigeria: Fact Check - Is It True That Nigeria's Life Expectancy Is Responsible for Low Covid-19 Mortality?
Several social media users have claimed that Nigeria's low life expectancy has been responsible for the low COVID-19 mortality recorded in the country.
Data from the Coronavirus Resource Centre of John Hopkins University show that as at May 30, 2021, Nigeria had recorded 166,285 cases of COVID-19, out of which there have been 2,071 deaths.
The claim
Some social media users in Nigeria claim that the low COVID-19 deaths recorded in Nigeria have been due to the country's low life expectancy. This claim may have been accentuated by media coverage of fatalities from the disease that less deaths are recorded in Africa than projected.
The World Health Organisation defines life expectancy as the average number of years that a newborn could expect to live, if he or she were to pass through life exposed to the sex- and age-specific death rates prevailing at the time of his or her birth, for a specific year, in a given country, territory, or geographic area.
Responding to the tweet, a Twitter user, Olamide Eyinla, claimed via his handle, that is due to low reporting of cases and "low life expectancy, so a small group aged 60 years and above."
Similarly, a Facebook user, Jaafar Lawan, also claimed in a post on May 30, 2020, that low COVID-19 deaths in Nigeria and some African countries is largely due to low life expectancy.
"The ages below these averages of life expectancy have relatively good immune systems and low numbers of patients with co-morbidities such as diabetes mellitus, asthma and heart diseases compared with those over 70 years," he claimed.
Even the mainstream media in Nigeria spread this claim to justify low COVID-19 deaths in Nigeria.

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak (Najib Razak) said that Malaysia should negotiate with the United States to purchase Covid-19 vaccine from its excess inventory to speed up the country's vaccine distribution.
He said in a Facebook post that, in addition to the United States, as the United Kingdom reaches its vaccination target, it is expected that the UK's vaccine inventory will also become excessive.
He said Malaysia must try to negotiate with these countries to increase vaccination rates.
The United States will announce in the next two weeks how to sell and distribute 80 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine worldwide.
It is expected that US President Joe Biden will focus on the fair distribution of immunizations without any political conditions attached to the process.
His government will ship at least 20 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. This is the basis for the 60 million doses of AstraZeneca he has planned to provide to other countries.
Najib said that Malaysia is eligible for priority access to these vaccines from the United States.
He pointed out that although the Covid-19 situation in Thailand is not so severe, Thailand has announced that the United States has agreed to help them obtain the vaccine.
Yesterday, the vaccination rate in the United States has dropped to 1 million doses per day, although those who want to get vaccinated no longer need to make an appointment.
The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin previously blamed Malaysia’s slow vaccination rate on insufficient supply caused by “vaccine inequality” in developed countries.
"Some rich countries have bought three to five times as much vaccine for their citizens.
According to reports, he once said: "For obvious reasons, many pharmaceutical companies prefer rich countries."


I think it should be reasonably arranged and can effectively ensure the current epidemic, and the phenomenon of insufficient supply should end as soon as possible.

Chile's health ministry on Thursday said it would raise the minimum age of men approved to receive the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine to 45 from 18, and suspend administering second doses until authorities complete an investigation into a man who had a blood clot after his first shot.
Chile, a leader in vaccinating its citizens against the virus, received its first doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine in April. Regulators initially approved the vaccine for men over 18 and women over 45.


Both preventive measures and proactive measures should be in place. The vaccine should be actively vaccinated to effectively control the epidemic. The vaccination situation is good and should be accepted.

Bars and restaurants no longer have to close at midnight across New York state, as its coronavirus curfew for indoor drinking and dining ended Monday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last month that the restriction would be lifted. Establishments can now return to the closing times that their liquor licenses or other regulations allow.
A similar pandemic curfew for outdoor dining ended May 17, although some local governments have their own closing-time rules for outdoor tables.
Restaurateurs have been looking forward to the later hours as they try to recover from the shutdowns and other limitations on their business during the coronavirus crisis.
“The lifting of the curfew is critically important,” Andrew Rigie, executive director of NYC Hospitality Alliance, said in an interview earlier this month. The alliance advocates for restaurants and night life in New York City.
“We’re a 24-7 city, so there’s tons of people that would still be out eating and drinking after midnight,” Rigie said.
Cancel the curfew must abide by the current regulations, effective protective measures, avoid cross-infection and large infection

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the take-off of the National Senior Citizens Centre. He has also approved the constitution of its 12-member board with immediate effect.

This is in line with Section 16 (2) (d) of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution as amended which mandates the State to provide adequate social services and improve the quality of life of the elderly.

The National Senior Citizens Centre was passed into law as the National Senior Citizens Centre Act, 2017 to cater for the needs of senior citizens (70 and above) in the country.

To realize this noble objective, and in order to ensure relevance and spread, persons of proven integrity from key ministries and organisations have been appointed into its Governing Board.

Consequently, President Buhari has appointed M.A. Muhammad, a retired air vice-marshal, as the Chairman of the Board with Mansur Kuliya, representing the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development; Chris Isokpunwu representing the Federal Ministry of Health; Umar Utono representing the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing; and John Magbadelo representing Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity as members.

Other members include: Bulus Kimde representing the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs; Sani Mustapha representing the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD); Usman Ahmed representing the Geriatric Association of Nigeria; Arc. Victoria Onu representing the Coalition of Societies for the Rights of Older Persons (CORSOPIN) and three other stakeholders namely Dorothy Nwodo, Mohammed Namadi and Emem Omokaro who also serves as the Director General.


The President also approved the appointment of Ahmed Habib as the new Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to replace Mr Muhammad who is now Chairman of the National Senior Citizens Centre.

The appointments are for an initial period of four years.

The Nigerian Government has declared additional 132 persons wanted for violating the quarantine provisions of the COVID-19 guidelines.
Government had on Sunday declared 90 persons wanted for same offence.
Chairman Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, disclosed this Thursday night in Abuja.
Out of the 132 passengers, 75 were males while 57 females and are all Nigerians, bearing Nigerian passports. They all arrived in Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.
The SGF recalled that the PSC on COVID-19 on 1st May 2021 issued a travel advisory for passengers arriving in Nigeria from Brazil, India and Turkey.
He explained that these precautionary measures were a necessary step to mitigate the risk of importation of variants of concern and break the chain of transmission to the population.
According to him, under the new measures, passengers arriving from/or that have visited any of these three countries within 14 days prior to the visit to Nigeria, are required to follow mandatory arrival quarantine and testing protocols in designated facilities.
Mustapha said while most of the arriving passengers dutifully observed the guidelines, some (Nigerians and foreigners have violated them in contravention of the provisions of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Health Regulations Protection, 2021,”.
He added that the 132 violators have been declared persons of interest (POI) on account of posing a considerable danger to overall public health and for the violation of Nigeria COVID-19 travel protocol by evading the mandatory seven-day quarantine for persons arriving from restricted countries.
“Members of the public are by this notice advised that these persons of interest constitute an immediate health hazard to the society," Mustapha said. "They must, therefore, transport themselves safely, to the nearest state public health departments within 48hrs of this notice for immediate evaluation and call the Port Health Services, Federal Ministry of Health on 08036134672 or 08032461990 for further directions.
“The PSC shall in addition, take further steps to sanction these violators. These steps include: Disabling their travel passports for a period not less than one year; Cancelation of visas/permits of foreigners that have abused Nigeria's hospitality, and prosecution under the 2021 Health Protection Regulations.”

Prelate, Methodist Church of Nigeria (MCN), His Eminence, Dr Samuel Kanu Uche has backed the ban on open grazing in Southern Nigeria by the Southern Governors' Forum (SGF).
This was just as head of the church in the country declared himself an advocate of true federalism devoid of marginalisation of any tribe, religion, section or region.
The prelate stated this when he led a delegation of the leadership of the church on a courtesy visit to Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu at Government House, in Umuahia, the state capital.
He supported the demand for the creation of an additional state in the South East zone by the people to be at par with other zones and to address their cry of marginalisation in the system.
Malami Under Fire Over Restructuring, Open Grazing Ban Comments
He condemned the rate of destruction of lives and property across the country due to minor and manageable differences, calling on the government to find an end to it without further delay.
Responding, Ikpeazu said his administration is committed to the strict enforcement of the anti-open grazing law already passed by the House of Assembly to address its challenges.
He also said the administration is committed to the security of lives and property of the residents and described the absence of a South Easterner in the top security bracket of the country as worrisome.
Ikpeazu, who noted that citizens of the state are known globally for their ingenuity and entrepreneurial prowess regretted, however, that no foreign direct investment would be recorded in the midst of insecurity.

Nigeria’s National Petroleum Corporation this week signed a deal with Shell, Exxon, Total, and Eni to develop an offshore oil block that includes the deepwater Bonga field, the NNPC said in a series of tweets.
The NNPC noted the deal marks a historic moment as it settles long-running disputes between the Nigerian government and international oil companies.
According to the company, the deal could unlock up to $10 billion in new investments in Nigeria’s oil industry. It could also add 150,000 bpd to the country’s oil production, bringing the total output from the block—Oil Mining Lease 118—to 350,000 bpd, Bloomberg reports.
Interestingly, for Shell, the deal comes after earlier this year, chief executive Ben van Beurden said that Shell does not see its upstream oil operations in Nigeria as compatible with its strategy to become a net-zero energy business.
“We cannot solve community problems in the Niger Delta,” said the top executive at Shell, which has encountered numerous problems in Nigeria’s onshore in recent years, including oil theft and pipeline sabotage, as well as lawsuits brought up by local communities over oil spills.
This week, after the news of the deal broke, Shell told Bloomberg that “Through these agreements, stakeholders will have clear and stable set of terms incentivizing further development of the OML 118 block and opening further opportunities in the prolific Nigerian deep water oil and gas industry.” 
Despite bearish oil demand forecasts over the long term, Nigeria has serious ambitions in expanding its oil industry. More than 100 oil and gas projects are set to launch over the next five years in Africa’s biggest oil producer, including 25 upstream oil and gas projects, 28 petrochemical projects, and 24 refinery projects. The Bonga field is among the 25 upstream projects, and is expected to start commercial production in 2025.

This report examines the complex intersections of social, education, work, political, economic, and urbanization trends set to converge in the next decade.
As these trends collide, businesses must prepare for a number of strategic imperatives. Key among these are geopolitical chaos, transformative mega trends, and internal challenges. In the near term, COVID-19 will be the driving force of geopolitical chaos, but as the decade marches on, we can expect to see continual political polarization, in which digital and income divides become more pronounced.
Social trends will be among the most influential transformative mega trends, with so many social shifts set to occur: the evolution of millennials, the rise of Gen Z, an expanding elderly demographic, the growth of Hispanic and Asian populations, and increasing digital divides.
Education will play a significant role as a transformative mega trend, led by the pupil cliff, pupil shifts, and the urgency of corporate reskilling. Last, businesses will face internal challenges as job automation and acceleration reconfigure the workforce.

The most telling lesson of the coronavirus pandemic is that "no one is safe until everyone is safe." It is an indisputable proof of our biological connectedness which is even more consequential for life and livelihood than the digital connectivity that is the buzz word of the millennials.
As it happens in any pandemic, the coronavirus does not respect geo-political boundaries; neither is it restricted by socio-economic and cultural divides. The virus infects the poor and the rich alike. It overwhelms developed countries and underdeveloped countries despite the sophistication of the healthcare system of the industrialised countries. Yet humanitarian disasters loom in some parts of the world because this obvious lesson seems to be currently lost on mankind.
The Politics and Economics of Vaccines
About this time last year, no fewer than 140 world leaders and experts issued an unprecedented joint statement calling for equity and humaneness in the distribution of the vaccines meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus. It was indeed a battle cry for "people's vaccines." The essence of the call was to ensure a global arrangement to guarantee the provision of COVID-19 diagnostics, tests, vaccines and treatments to everyone on earth.
Among the signatories to the statement were President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Chair of the African Union, the President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. Notable economists including Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and public health experts join the political leaders in signing the statement. Their motivation was obvious: the pandemic is a tragic reminder of our shared humanity which some members of the global elites and establishments seem to have forgotten. They are immersed in their myopic and selfish pursuit of polices defined by unbridled competition instead of cooperation and isolationism rather than multilateralism. The world leaders and experts argued as follows:
"It is time for Health Ministers to renew the commitments made at the founding of the World Health Organization, where all states agreed to deliver the 'the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being.
Now is not the time to allow the interests of the wealthiest corporations and governments to be placed before the universal need to save lives, or to leave this massive and moral task to market forces. Access to vaccines and treatments as global public goods are in the interests of all humanity. We cannot afford for monopolies, crude competition and near-sighted nationalism to stand in the way."
It is also worth noting that President Ramaphosa in a separate statement added an African note to the clamour for the equitable distribution of vaccines:
"Billions of people today await a vaccine that is our best hope of ending this pandemic. As the countries of Africa, we are resolute that the COVID-19 vaccine must be patent-free, rapidly made and distributed, and free for all. All the science must be shared between governments. Nobody should be pushed to the back of the vaccine queue because of where they live or what they earn."
Since the May 14, 2020 statement, the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic has shifted from China to Europe, the Americas and now back to Asia, in India, where more than 230,000 persons have died. More than 5,000 human beings die daily in India! Watching the grim footages on television today of the havoc being wreaked by coronavirus in places as diverse on the planet as India, Brazil and Turkey you would not believe that that statement was ever made in the sober moment of May 2020 when the whole world was on a virtual lockdown.
The sad story is that of the resurgence of vaccine nationalism with all its perils for our shared humanity. The current battle is not only against coronavirus; it is also a war against vaccine inequality. The trend is a portrayal of the huge deficits in the global consciousness about our collective humanity. Intriguingly, these deficits are not on the part of the poor people who continue to exude immense humanity despite their sordid conditions. The deficits are noticeable more on the part of the selfish poltical and economic elites who make decisions in the rich countries.

The Senate has urged the Federal Government to withhold the deployment of the 5th generation (5G) network for the time being pending when the study of the trend of its deployment across the world can be ascertained.
This followed the consideration and adoption of the report of the joint Senate Committee on Communications, Science and Technology, ICT, Cyber Crime and Primary Healthcare and Communicable Diseases on the “Status of 5G network in Nigeria and its impact in Nigerian citizens.”
The Senate had on the 5th of May, 2020 following a motion by Senator Uche Ekwunife (PDP, Anambra Central) mandated the Joint Committee to conduct an investigation into “the Status of 5G network in Nigeria and its technological impact on Nigerian citizens”.
Although the upper legislative chamber could not establish any evidence linking 5G technology to Covid-19, it ordered the MNOs to halt their plans to deploy 5G network in the next six months to conduct scientific research to confirm whether or not there is any connection between 5G network and public health.
The committee recommended that Nigeria should still observe the trend of 5G deployment around the globe and engage in extensive sensitization of the public through all channels before the commencement of commercial deployments in the country.
The chairman of the joint committee, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC, Lagos), while presenting the report, said the overwhelming aggregate opinions from the majority of stakeholders was that it is appropriate for Nigeria to join the comity of nations that are engaged in the deployments of 5G for all its inherent gains.
She said the joint panel was convinced that having witnessed what has been achieved by its ‘lesser ancestors’ such as 3G and 4G, the technological impact of 5G will be such that will revolutionize Nigerians’ way of life from education to agriculture, security to entertainment, and governance in general if the technology is deployed;
The committee clarified that there was no 5G deployment in Nigeria at the moment and that no license has been issued to any Mobile Number Operator on a commercial basis.
It urged the relevant government agencies to prepare the ground by putting the necessary infrastructure and technology in place for its eventual deployment.
“This period of ground preparation is expected to be utilized to complete feasibility studies for the various broadband projects in order to ascertain actual cost implications for their implementation, complete sustainability plans, provide enabling environment including free-Right of Way (RoW); tax waivers, sustainable power supply, improve the security of men, materials and equipment, eliminate multiple regulations and charges, recognize telecommunications infrastructure as public utility infrastructure; and engender public trust and confidence,” she said.
The committee urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in collaboration with the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Federal Ministry of Environment, and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) among others to locally conduct a scientific experimental study over a period of about six months to ascertain if a correlation exists between 5G networks and public health.

The Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has asked members of the union to join the planned strike to be embarked upon by members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Kaduna state from Monday.
SaharaReporters gathered that the proposed strike is in response to reform plans by the state government, including the recent dismissal of workers.
Various groups of state workers, including those in the electricity, health, and aviation sectors are expected to also join the strike.
NURTW in a letter signed by its National Secretary, Kabiru Ado Yau, asked members of the union in Kaduna state to join the strike action.
“Sequel to the ongoing mass sacking of workers by government of Kaduna State, we wish to inform you that the NEC (National Executive Council) of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in a meeting last month resolved to embark on an industrial action and shut down of all social economic activities on Kaduna State as from Monday, 17th May, 2021.
“In view of the forgoing, the National Secretariat hereby directs your State Council to sensitise and mobilise all our members to partake in the strike action as from 12 midnight on Sunday, May 16th, 2021 until further directives to the contrary.
“The State Council must monitor and ensure total and strict compliance of the forgoing directives,” the letter read.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday advised that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places, updated guidance the agency said will allow life to begin to return to normal.

The African Senior Athletics Championships originally billed to take place in Algiers from June 22 to 26, have been postponed to a date yet to be announced.
As announced on Wednesday, the eagerly anticipated championship was moved due to the health situation linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and following “the recommendations “of Algeria’s scientific committee for monitoring the evolution of the pandemic and the country’s Ministry of Youth and Sports (MJS).
This development will come as a big blow for Nigeria as the African Championships is one of the avenues penciled down to make up for the miss at the recently held World Relays in Poland.
The qualification window for the Olympic Games winds down on June 29, a few days after the initial end date of the African Championships.
“Due to the health situation, marked by a rebound in the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the risk of circulation of new variant (s), the competent authorities, following the recommendations of the scientific monitoring committee of the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic, recommended to postpone this sporting event to a later date, “said the ministerial department in a press release issued Wednesday.
The African Senior Athletics Championships, initially scheduled for Oran, were to be held from June 22 to 26 at the Mohamed-Boudiaf Olympic Complex (Algiers).
The MJS called on the Algerian Athletics Federation (FAA) “to make the necessary arrangements to inform the officials of the African Athletics Confederation (CAA), in order to agree on new dates for the holding of these championships as soon as the situation health will be better,” read Wednesday’s statement.
Asaba in Delta State, Nigeria, hosted the last edition of the African Championships in 2018. Some selected Nigerian athletes are already in the United States where other means of qualification are being explored.

Mr Shuaib appeals to the public to continue to cooperate with vaccinators.
Nigeria has said the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines will soon be administered on eligible men and women who received the first shots..
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, made this known at the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 briefing, on Monday.
Mr Shuaib said the commencement of the second dose of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccination in all states of the federation and the FCT has been approved by the PSC.
"Already, the Presidential Steering Committee has approved the commencement of the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccination in all states of the federation, including FCT," he said, adding that "In both technical and operational terms, the Committee has been very supportive of the states."
Mr Shuaib said senior supervisors have been redeployed to monitor activities in the states with daily evening review meetings to determine the status of the COVID-19 vaccine implementation across all the states and the FCT.
"These meetings, as I had mentioned during our last briefing, allow us to receive reports from the sub-national level on how the campaigns are proceeding, what challenges they face, and how we can proactively anticipate and resolve any impending challenges," Mr Shuaib said.
He said the meetings also provide an avenue to troubleshoot and resolve any operational hurdles as they emerge before they become problematic.
Mr Shuaib appealed to the public to continue to cooperate with vaccinators whom, he noted, are providing an incredibly important service to the nation amid this global crisis.
He said the government would ensure that only safe and efficacious vaccines were supplied for all phases of the vaccination campaign in the country.
"In addition to health workers, frontline workers aged 18 years and above and persons aged 50 years and above are advised to visit any designated vaccination site to receive the vaccine free of charge.
"We also advise that people who have received their first dose should check their vaccination cards for the date of their second dose, and ensure that they receive the second dose to gain full protection against COVID-19," he said.
He reiterated that the eligibility period between the first and second doses of the vaccine has been expanded from 12 weeks to between six to 12 weeks.
"This is in line with the scientific recommendation provided by the World Health Organization's (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE on immunization)," he said.
Vaccination campaign
Having received 3.94 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines in March, Nigeria commenced vaccination beginning with healthcare workers.
The country has, so far, received about 4.4 million doses of the vaccine.
The Nigerian government had said it plans to vaccinate 109 million people against the COVID-19 virus over a period of two years.
Health authorities said only eligible population from 18 years and above will be vaccinated in four phases.
The current phase of vaccination covers health workers and other frontline workers although Nigerians from other groups are also getting vaccinated.
Mr Shuaib had at a briefing said the inoculation of frontline health workers in some states has been completed, and attention has shifted to older adults, aged 65 and above.
He said; "We have been careful to ensure that only those who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the current phase are being vaccinated."These include health workers and their support staff, other frontline workers, strategic leaders and in the last few days, we have also included those who meet the age requirements."
He said as of Monday, a total of1,690,719 representing 84 per cent of the eligible persons targeted with the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine, have been administered with their first dose in the vaccination phase.


After being vaccinated, we will be safer when we go out.

Nigeria continues its build-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games as the relay team departed for the United States on Thursday to take part in relay qualifiers.
The 16-man  team including coaches decked in their new kits were seen off by the Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare.
The team had almost three weeks camping in Abuja in preparation for the relay races in the United States which serves as qualifiers for the Olympics after missing out of the World Relays in Poland due to visa hitches.
Secretary General of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Niyi Beyioku said an advance party had been to the U.S  to fine-tune all arrangements as a mark of the commitment of the Minister to ensure a hitch-free event and podium success in Tokyo.
Beyioku added: “The Athletes have trained very well and are motivated to make the country proud. All the COVID-19 protocols for a successful trip have been carried out.
To underscore the importance of the trip, the minister lived up to his promise to see the athletes off to motivate them to make Nigeria proud by qualifying for the Olympics and winning medals.”
The team would take part in the first relay on May 9.

One of the most pressing challenges in African healthcare delivery has been the non-prioritisation of primary healthcare delivery. For many African populations, a substantial proportion of the populace live in rural and remote locations, making accessible patient and community-based healthcare delivery of the utmost necessity. By neglecting to prioritise this level of healthcare delivery, the continent has left a substantial segment of her population vulnerable to many of the communicable and non-communicable diseases that are responsible for the poor health outcomes we observe in the region.
In Nigeria, nearly 60 per cent of the country’s 200 million people live in rural areas with little or no access to primary healthcare. This means that most people receive poor treatment or no treatment at all for road traffic accidents, malaria, HIV, chest infections, heart disease, diabetes, and complications from pregnancy and childbirth. These ailments, which are Nigeria’s leading causes of death, are almost all preventable or treatable.
State and Federal governments should commit to investing at least 15 per cent of future national budgets on health and 60 per cent of that total on primary care. As citizens, it is our responsibility to insist that keeping the goal of affordable, universal healthcare at the top of the agenda by leaders.
Dr. Oreh is a consultant family physician and Country Head of Planning, Research and Statistics for Nigeria’s National Blood Transfusion Service. She is also an Amujae Leader and Senior Fellow for Global Health with the Aspen Institute in Washington D.C.

A report released Wednesday shows the U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in 42 years, to the lowest level since statistics began more than a century ago.
The National Center for Health Statistics, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), says the general birth rate dropped for mothers of every major race and ethnicity, and in every age group, falling to 55.8 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 14 and 44. 
The report shows the number of births fell to 3,605,201, the lowest number of births since 1979, down 4% from 2019 and the sixth consecutive year that the number fell an average of 2% per year. That compares to 4.3 million U.S. births in 2007.
The report shows the birth rate among 15- to 19-year-olds fell 8% from 2019, the 30th consecutive year births dropped among that age group.
By ethnicity, birth rates fell 8% for Asian American women, 3 percent for Hispanic women; 4% for Black and white women; and 6% for Native American women. 
The percentage of infants born small and premature — at less than 37 weeks of gestation — fell slightly, to 10%, after rising five years in a row.
The data is considered provisional because it is based on 99.87% of all 2020 birth records received and processed by the National Center for Health Statistics as of February 11, 2021. Comparisons are made with final 2019 data and earlier years.

The CDC and FDA announced Friday evening that Johnson & Johnson’s Jassen COVID-19 (J&J) vaccine could be administered again, following a thorough safety review.
The departments recommended a pause on the vaccine’s use on April 13 after six cases of “rare and severe” blood clots were reported in individuals after receiving the J&J vaccine.
According to the CDC, teams at the FDA and CDC examined data to assess the risk of “thrombosis involving the cerebral venous sinuses,” which are large blood vessels in the brain, as well as other sites in the body such as the abdomen and legs. They also looked at thrombocytopenia, or low blood platelet counts. 
Since April 13, nine more cases of the adverse event have been reported. All reported cases have occurred in women between the ages of 18 to 59, with symptom onset between 6 and 15 days after vaccination.
The teams reached out to providers and clinicians to make sure of the potential for adverse events and how to manage them with the unique treatments required for blood clots and low platelets, known as thrombosis-thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).
The agencies determined that the J&J vaccine should be resumed for administration in the United States, stating their confidence in its safety and efficacy. 
“The FDA has determined that the available data show that the vaccine’s known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks in individuals 18 years of age and older,” the CDC said in a press release.
Current data suggest that the chance of TTS occurring is very low, but the CDC and FDA will continue to investigate the risk.
The Virginia Department of Health will follow the CDC’s guidance and instruct providers state-wide that they can resume administering the J&J vaccine. However, they encourage individuals to educate themselves on potential side effects and “to weigh that against the possibility of hospitalization or death from COVID-19.”
Pittsylvania Danville Health District Director Dr. Scott Spillmann said the release of the J&J to be used again could help the area’s vaccine efforts, now that local organizers are spreading their efforts to different points of distribution. 
“We will be talking about how and when to use the J&J vaccine soon,” Spillmann said. 
He cautions individuals about the potential for the blood clots and urges them to check with their primary care physician if they have concerns about getting the vaccine.
However, he maintains that the risk for adverse reactions is very low, with individuals having a greater chance of winning the lottery.
“[We] have every reason to recommend the vaccine,” Spillmann said. “Any vaccine has conditions that may cause reactions. If a person has a high likelihood of allergy problems or is sensitive to injections, talk with your provider before getting a vaccine.”
Spillmann maintains, like the CDC and the FDA, that the benefits of getting the vaccine outweighs the risk.

The idea that our country is the “United States” is antiquated and people need to start thinking in more realistic terms.
I’ve recently written on how I foresee a national breakup sometime in the future. I stand by that prediction but I want to make clear that Americans need to stop thinking of themselves as “united.”
The only unity is within different subgroups, as our nation has become factionalized. A New York City resident is likely to be more loyal to the city than the country. A Texan is likely to be more loyal to the state than the country. I’m from Virginia but I am more loyal to my ideology than I am the Commonwealth. We’ve seen this sort of thing for a long time now, but COVID should have been a chance for us to heal. In the past, a crisis like COVID would bring people together. Such was the case during the Civil War, the Great Depression, and both World Wars. 
Instead, we’re so divided that we can’t even agree on what is fact anymore. Look no further than the perceptions of how certain leaders are handling the COVID pandemic. 
Ron DeSantis has steered the state of Florida about as well as any governor could hope during a pandemic of this magnitude. Regular, sensible people have watched with mostly approval, while his detractors on the Left and in the media have blown every action of his up as a blunder of genocidal proportions. This is best epitomized in the recent hit job by 60 Minutes that was so blatantly false that even Florida state Democrats came to DeSantis’ defense.
A united country would have looked at DeSantis’ record and recognized the objective fact that he has, by and large, handled the pandemic well. But instead, we have a news program that was once a paragon of journalism trying to shoehorn him into a scandal that simply wasn’t there. These are the same people who spent all of last year fawning over Gretchen Whitmer and Andrew Cuomo, both of whom are likely responsible for thousands of nursing home deaths and have gutted their states’ economies in the name of “safety.”
A united country would strive for happiness and freedom, but the factions can’t even agree on that either.
Bringing it back to Florida, DeSantis has a state economy that’s doing well, where people are happy and out enjoying the spring weather. New York and Michigan still have their economies in shambles and people are miserable. Of course, part of the ongoing closures has to do with power; Cuomo and Whitmer have let themselves think they are feudal lords ruling over fiefdoms and aren’t about to give up that control. But it’s not just the leaders either who seem to enjoy this. People on the Left’s rank and file genuinely seem to want to continue being shut indoors indefinitely. Anyone with sense shouldn’t want to be united with folks whose happiness comes from perpetual misery and living with zero risk. They and people such as Whitmer and Cuomo are collectivists and thus don’t want people to be happy or free.
And then there’s our federal government. A government is, theoretically, supposed to serve as a representation of the unified will of the people. In practice though, the U.S. government is anything but. Look no farther than those in charge of the government’s response to the pandemic.
Most people, I think it’s safe to say, want the restrictions, social distancing, etc. to end. Yet Anthony Fauci, our supposed chief infectious disease expert, seems determined to move the goalposts endlessly back on when we can go back to our normal lives and has straight-up admitted to moving the goalposts about what would count as effective herd immunity. In a country with a unified mentality, Fauci would have used every opportunity to encourage Americans to get the vaccines that are now available in large quantities. Instead, by lying and continually insisting that mask-wearing and restrictions must continue, Fauci has probably ensured a good chunk of people will never get vaccinated now. That, plus the new CDC director’s recent hysterical assertion of “impending doom” even as millions are getting vaccinated daily, now means we’ll be arguing endlessly over when it’s safe to fully reopen the country, regardless of how many people have vaccines.
I use that example to demonstrate that, again, if we had the mentality of a united nation, then the CDC would not have such a defeatist attitude despite our fairly decent vaccine rollout. In a perfect world, at every speaking opportunity, Fauci and his cohorts would be urging every American to do their part, get the vaccine ASAP, and score small victories against the enemy that is COVID. That’s not to downplay the risk of a surge in cases, but the threat of a new surge should not be the focal point of the messaging.

Due to pandemic security measures, the U.S. Secretary of State will hold videoconferences with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Antony Blinken will also take a virtual tour of several sites, including a field hospital and the U.S.-backed Kenya Renewable Energy Corporation.
Robert Godec, head of U.S. diplomacy for Africa, said the initiative is part of a U.S. policy of "re-engagement" with "its African partners.
Health permitting, Mr. Blinken is expected to visit Africa in person.
Goldacre said Kenya and Nigeria have been identified as "strategic partners" of the United States.
He explained, "We work with them on security, economic and trade development, investment and other regional issues."
Kenya specifically announced in March its intention to permanently close two refugee camps, Kakuma and Dadaab, where more than 400,000 refugees usually come from South Sudan or Somalia.
Robert Godec said the U.S. was "very concerned" about the measure and encouraged Kenya to work with the U.N. agency responsible for refugees (UNHCR).

In a virtual address to African heads of state before the 34th African Union Summit in February, Biden promised a stronger partnership with Africa, especially in the fight against the pandemic.
This is a major reversal of the policy of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who had been the only sole U.S. president not to visit Africa during his time in office.

Uzodinma: We can’t have a country called Nigeria with violence, destruction of properties, Governors warn
The thirty six state governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF have said that the only way Nigerians can have a country to call their own is for every Nigerian to forge peace and unity across the nation’s divides and to shun violence and wanton destruction of properties.
Disclosing this in a statement in Abuja, Chairman, NGF and Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi who condemned in a very strong terms, the attack on the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma’s house in Omuma Oru East council area on Saturday by unknown gunmen, with properties destroyed, stressed that all hands must be on deck to ensure that perpetrators of these dastardly acts are fished out and made to face the full wrath of the law.
The governors have also called on all good citizens to cooperate with the nation’s security forces and the government in order  to build what they described as  civil, safe and secure environment for Nigerians.
Recall that Imo government had confirmed the attack by unknown gunmen but failed to give number of casualties recorded in the attack.
Fayemi said, “The Nigeria Governors’ Forum deeply sympathises with Governor Hope Uzodinma and commiserates with all those that have been injured, maimed or killed.
“The Forum calls on all good citizens to cooperate with the nation’s security forces and the government in trying to build a civil, safe and secure environment for our citizens.
“For those behind these crimes, they must understand that they do not have the monopoly of violence. This is taking criminality to reckless and irresponsible heights.
“All hands must be on deck to fish out the perpetrators of this dastardly act as in our view, they constitute a small league of persons trying to harm the corporate existence of our beloved country, Nigeria.
“The mantra for every Nigerian at such a challenging time in our history must be how to forge peace and unity across the nation’s divides and to shun violence and wanton destruction.
“Only then can we have a country to call our own.”

The US will likely soon come up against a significant obstacle in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic — more doses of the vaccines than people who are willing to receive them, according to data that is worrying experts.
“We actually think that (vaccine) supply will outstrip demand … in probably the middle of May,” Dr. Chris Murray, chair of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, told CNN Friday.
The Kaiser Family Foundation earlier this week predicted something similar.
The foundation cited the percentage of survey respondents that said they’ve already received the vaccine or would get it as soon as they could — 62%.
Weighing that against the daily rate of vaccinations, and the CDC’s data showing more than 41% of US adults already have had at least one dose, it’s possible that the vast majority of US adults who presently want a first dose will have received them by early- to mid-May, the KFF said.
One modifying factor, the foundation said, would be how many of the people who say they’ll “wait and see” — 13% — decide to get a vaccine in the next few weeks.
Murray cited different data — daily Facebook surveys, watched by his institute, that he said showed a decline in percentage of adults wanting the vaccine since February: About 67%, down from around 75%.
But both Murray and KFF have said their different indicators point to a significant slowdown in new vaccinations sometime in May — and experts have said more people will need to be persuaded to get one, and more people will need to be made eligible, to be assured of herd immunity.
Health officials — including Dr. Anthony Fauci — estimate that somewhere between 70% to 85% of the country needs to be immune to the virus — either through inoculation or previous infection — to suppress its spread.
Currently, no Covid-19 vaccine is authorized in the US for people younger than 16. Vaccine makers have been studying their efficacy and safety in younger people, and Pfizer has asked the FDA to authorize its product for ages 12-15. Expanding vaccine eligibility will be key to stamping out the pandemic, Dr. Leana Wen told CNN.
“It’s going to be very difficult, if not impossible, for us to reach herd immunity unless our children are also vaccinated,” Wen, a CNN medical analyst and a former Baltimore health commissioner, said Saturday.
The average number of Covid-19 vaccinations administered in the US per day has been falling recently. The average was 2.86 million a day as of Friday morning, down from a record 3.38 million on April 13, according to CDC data.
Already, the military is seeing a surplus of doses and a steady decline in the rate at which they are used.
“We have heard anecdotally that younger people may feel that they’re not as vulnerable to Covid and that perhaps the risk of getting vaccination is higher than getting the disease, which of course we know not to be true,” Terry Adirim, acting assistant defense secretary for health affairs, told reporters this week.