U.S. officials say Russian state media is citing false reports to undermine faith in Western COVID vaccines to promote Russia’s own Sputnik V vaccine. Daria Dieguts has the story.Camera: Artyom Kokhan
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Month: March 2021
The ongoing drama surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine developed jointly by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford took another turn late Wednesday when the drugmaker released updated information about its effectiveness.The new information, based on its late-stage clinical trial involving more than 30,000 participants in the United States, shows the two-dose regimen is 76% effective in preventing symptomatic coronavirus.The latest figures revised an announcement made by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant on Monday that the vaccine was 79% effective against the virus. Those claims were thrown into doubt just hours later when a key U.S. government oversight agency, the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, said AstraZeneca “may have included outdated information” from the late-stage clinical trial, “which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data.”The statement from the independent board of experts was just the latest setback for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has had a troubled international rollout. Several European countries had recently stopped use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because of reports that it was associated with blood clots in recipients. South Africa stopped using the shot due to concerns about its efficacy against a local variant of the virus. The country sold at least a million of its Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccines to the African Union.However, the European Medicines Agency, the European Union’s drug approval body, has said the vaccine is safe and does not raise the overall risk of blood clots. Canada’s federal health agency announced Wednesday that it is updating the label on vials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine with information about “very rare reports of blood clots,” but continued to stand by the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness against COVID-19.The World Health Organization has subsequently recommended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against variants of the coronavirus, and said it considers the vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks.The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been the leading choice in the developing world because of its low cost and simple storage requirements.The latest twist in the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine saga comes as the United States and Brazil reach new milestones in the yearlong pandemic. According to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, the U.S. has now surpassed 30 million total cases, the most of any nation, while Brazil has gone beyond the 300,000 fatality mark.Globally, more than 124.6 million people have been infected, including more than 2.7 million deaths.
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Hong Kong’s sudden suspension of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is another blow to a vaccination program already struggling against a wall of public distrust.Hong Kong on Wednesday suspended use of the Pfizer vaccine, distributed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Fosun Pharma, after defective packaging such as loose vial lids and cracks on bottles were found in one of two batches of the vaccine.For now, Hong Kong residents can only get the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine, which is reported to have an efficacy rate of 62%, compared with Pfizer’s 97%. Wariness toward the Sinovac shot has grown after seven people who were vaccinated with it died, though authorities say the deaths were not linked to the vaccine.When the government launched the vaccination drive in February, 66-year-old Chan Yuet Lin was eager to get inoculated. A mainland Chinese immigrant in the semi-autonomous city, she hoped vaccination would help her eventually visit her family in the Chinese mainland, whom she had not seen since the pandemic began, without enduring onerous quarantines.But after seeing reports on television that several people with chronic illnesses had died days after having the Sinovac vaccine, Chan decided against getting inoculated.”I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. Right now with my health condition I don’t think I can get the shot, I will wait and see,” she said, adding that she planned to seek her doctor’s advice at her next appointment.Since vaccinations began on Feb. 26, about 5.7% of Hong Kong’s 7.2 million residents have gotten inoculated — a far cry from a goal of vaccinating 70%. The slow uptake trails Singapore’s. It started giving COVID-19 shots just days before Hong Kong and has administered vaccines to more than 13% of its population of 5.7 million.The government has expanded the range of people who can get the shots, allowing those 30 and above after initially prioritizing those 60 and older, and employees from essential industries. It is considering giving the shots to anyone older than 16.Slow progress on vaccinations could slow the city’s economic recovery. Hong Kong is still grappling with coronavirus outbreaks and stringent social distancing measures that are especially hard on bars, restaurants and the tourism industry. The jobless rate climbed to 7.2% in February, the highest level since 2004.Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and health officials are urging people to get vaccinated. They insist the shots, including the Sinovac vaccine, are safe. Hong Kong, a former British colony, relies heavily on tourism but has been closed to foreign visitors since March 2020 and Lam has said social distancing precautions and border controls can only be relaxed after most people have gotten the shots.”If we can’t control the epidemic, there’s nothing we can do about the economy,” she told lawmakers last week.In this Monday, March. 22, 2021, photo, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam receives the second dose of the Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine at a Central Government office in Hong Kong.Hesitancy toward the vaccines partly reflects growing mistrust of the government, as Beijing has asserted growing influence following months of anti-government protests in 2019. Authorities have arrested and jailed dozens of pro-democracy activists under a tough new national security law.Some residents are worried by the seven deaths that occurred after Sinovac shots.”According to the government, none of the deaths are related to the vaccine. Most of the patients had cardiovascular conditions, so there must be some association, but the government seems to be trying to dissociate it,” said Belinda Lin, a Hong Kong resident in her 30s.”It’s an issue of responsibility, the willingness to take responsibility – I haven’t seen this yet,” said Lin, who does not plan to get the vaccine as she says there is a lack of studies showing long-term effects.”From what we’ve seen in the news so far it seems like people have more side effects from the (Sinovac) vaccine that’s less effective,” said Agnes Wong, a sales executive in Hong Kong who also had no immediate plans to get vaccinated.Unease over the vaccines, which were developed in under a year using varying levels of clinical trials, are not confined to Hong Kong.In Europe, reports of problems with blood clotting following the AstraZeneca shot raised concerns. So have questions over some of AstraZeneca’s clinical data.The number of people who have booked but failed to show up for their Sinovac vaccine appointments currently stands at around 20%, up from about 11% a week into the program. That compares with a 5% no-show rate for the Pfizer shot before those were halted.A staff member in a protective suit directs a HSBC staff to a temporary testing center for COVID-19 near the entrance to the HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong, March 17, 2021.Martin Wong, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, co-authored a survey published in January that showed only 37% of Hong Kong residents were willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. He says the technology used, a manufacturer’s track record and reports of side effects can all affect willingness to get the shots.The government has advised people with chronic illnesses to ask their doctors before getting the COVID-19 vaccines. That can be difficult for many underprivileged Hong Kong seniors, said Ivan Lin from the rights advocacy group Society of Community Organization.”The public health system should be more proactive in providing advice,” said Lin. “For many of these elderly, their long-term illnesses are taken care of by public hospitals where appointments take place every three months, so they are not able to get (timely) medical advice.”Policies that would reward people for getting vaccinated are essential, says Wong.”New incentives may be required such as exemptions from certain travel bans or issuance of a certificate of vaccination that can be used for different purposes,” he said.Lam, the city’s leader, has said the government might considering such measures, such as relaxing certain social distancing restrictions. Hong Kong is also discussing with Chinese authorities on easing restrictions for travelers who are vaccinated.That might work for some.Bilal Hussain, a doctoral student at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, signed up to receive his first shot of the Sinovac vaccine after learning that China had eased its policy to allow foreign workers and their families to apply for visas into the country.Hussain’s wife and 5-year-old son are in China. He hasn’t seen them since January 2020.”I’m hoping that maybe in the near future, China will open up their borders for students who have been vaccinated,” he said.
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The Olympic torch relay will start in Fukushima on Thursday, kicking off a four-month countdown to the Summer Games in Tokyo, delayed from 2020 and the first-ever organized during a global pandemic.Some 10,000 runners will take the torch across Japan’s 47 prefectures, including far-flung islands, starting from the site of the 2011 quake and tsunami that killed about 20,000 people, highlighting the government’s “Reconstruction Olympics” theme.The first section will not have spectators to avoid large crowds, and roadside onlookers elsewhere will have to wear masks and socially distance along the way as Japan battles the deadly virus and scrambles to vaccinate its people.Casting a pall over the celebrations, North Korea on Thursday launched at least two projectiles suspected to be ballistic missiles, officials in the region said, the first such test reported since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January.Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga assured reporters in Tokyo the government was cooperating with the Tokyo metropolitan government and the International Olympic Committee to host a secure Games.Local people wait for torchbearers to arrive at the torch relay route of the first section of the Fukushima Torch Relay in Naraha, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan, March 25, 2021.”We will do our utmost in terms of coronavirus measures and continue to work with related areas to contain the spread of infections and hope to work towards a safe and secure Games,” Suga said.The starting ceremony will be held at J-Village in Fukushima, a sports complex converted into a staging ground for workers decommissioning the crippled nuclear power plant that caused tens of thousands to flee.On Thursday, members of the Japanese national women’s soccer team will use the Olympic flame, flown in from Greece, to light the torch.The relay, which will culminate with the Olympic opening ceremony on July 23, has been hit by several high-profile runner cancellations as celebrities and top-level athletes have pulled out, citing late notice and worries over the pandemic.The opening ceremony — originally planned for thousands of fans as a celebration of Japan’s recovery — will be closed to the public. It will feature a drum concert and dance performances by a group of residents from Fukushima, followed by a children’s choir.Japan has fared better than most countries during the pandemic, with fewer than 9,000 coronavirus deaths. But a third wave of infections has pushed the numbers to record highs, triggering a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas that was lifted this week.The majority of the public are against the Olympics being held as scheduled, polls show, and Japan is the slowest among advanced economies with its vaccination rollout.At Fukushima, J-Village will be decorated with local flowers arranged using Japan’s traditional ikebana techniques. Japan has spent nearly $300 billion to revive the disaster-hit region.But many locals are apprehensive about the Games, as areas around the plant remain off-limits, worries about radiation linger and many who left have settled elsewhere. Decommissioning will take up to a century and cost billions of dollars.
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Former Minneapolis and Los Angeles Lakers forward Elgin Baylor died of natural causes at the age of 86 on Monday, the NBA franchise announced.Baylor, the number one draft pick in 1958 and Rookie of the Year in 1959, spent 14 seasons with the Lakers. He is enshrined in the Hall of Fame and was considered one of the greatest players to never win a championship.A gifted shooter and rebounder despite his 6 ft 5 in frame, Baylor still held the record for most individual points in a single game in the NBA Finals when he scored 61 points against Lakers’ arch rivals, the Boston Celtics, in 1962.”Elgin was the love of my life and my best friend. And like everyone else, I was in awe of his immense courage, dignity and the time he gave to all fans,” his wife Elaine said in a statement.Baylor’s number 22 jersey was retired and hangs in the rafters of Staples Center while the 11-times NBA All-Star was immortalized in a statue that stands outside the arena.”Elgin was THE superstar of his era, his many accolades speak to that,” Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss said.”He was one of the few Lakers players whose career spanned from Minneapolis to Los Angeles.”But more importantly he was a man of great integrity, even serving his country as a U.S. Army reservist, often playing for the Lakers only during his weekend pass.”After his retirement, Baylor coached the New Orleans Jazz before he was hired as the general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers, spending 22 years in that role.”RIP to the NBA’s first high flyer, Lakers legend and Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor,” former Lakers guard and former team president Magic Johnson wrote on Twitter.”Before there was Michael Jordan doing amazing things in the air, there was Elgin Baylor.”
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Allen v Farrow, a four-part documentary by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, focuses on Dylan Farrow’s accusation that her famous filmmaker father, Woody Allen, sexually abused her. Allen denounces the allegations. The film is the latest in a series of exposés on sexual abuse by powerful men against women in the #MeToo era. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with the filmmakers and has this story.
Camera: Penelope Poulou Producer: Penelope Poulou
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Hackers in China used fake Facebook accounts and impostor websites to try to break into the computers and smartphones of Uyghur Muslims, the social network said Wednesday.The company said the sophisticated covert operation targeted Uyghur activists, journalists and dissidents from China’s Xinjiang region, as well as individuals living in Turkey, Kazakhstan, the U.S., Syria, Australia, Canada and other nations.The hackers tried to gain access to the computers and phones by creating fake Facebook accounts for supposed journalists and activists, as well as fake websites and apps intended to appeal to a Uyghur audience. In some cases, the hackers created lookalike websites almost identical to legitimate news sites popular with Uyghurs.The accounts and sites contained malicious links. If the targets clicked on them, their computers or smartphones would be infected with software allowing the network to spy on the targets’ devices.The software could obtain such information as victims’ locations, keystrokes and contacts, according to FireEye, a cybersecurity firm that worked on the investigation.Hundreds targetedIn all, fewer than 500 people were targeted by the hackers in 2019 and 2020, Facebook said. The company said it uncovered the network during its routine security work and has deactivated the fictitious accounts and notified individuals whose devices may have been compromised. Most of the hackers’ activities took place on non-Facebook sites and platforms.”They tried to create these personas, build trust in the community, and use that as a way to trick people into clicking on these links to expose their devices,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of security policy.Facebook’s investigation found links between the hackers and two technology firms based in China but no direct links to the Chinese government, which has been criticized for its harsh treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. FireEye, however, said in a statement that “we believe this operation was conducted in support” of the Chinese government.China has imprisoned more than 1 million people, including Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups, in a vast network of concentration camps, according to U.S. officials and human rights groups. People have been subjected to torture, sterilization and political indoctrination, in addition to forced labor, as part of an assimilation campaign in a region whose inhabitants are ethnically and culturally distinct from the Han Chinese majority.
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As expected, the European Union (EU) Wednesday announced it will tighten export controls to ensure that there are more COVID-19 shot supplies for its citizens as health officials say the pandemic is getting worse on the continent.At a news conference in Brussels, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said the plan is designed to guarantee that more vaccines produced in the Europe are available for its own citizens before they can be shipped for exports.EU and Pfizer-BioNTech Sign Deal for 4 Million More DosesAdditional doses to be delivered before the end of MarchUnder the new policy, export licenses will be granted of based on reciprocity and “proportionality” — the epidemiological situation, vaccination rate and access to vaccines in the destination country.The move comes a week after European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen expressed frustration that the EU was exporting more vaccines than it was receiving from some countries — specifically Britain, which has received about ten million doses of European-made vaccines and sent nothing back.EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides insisted the new policy was not about punishing anyone but comes as the pandemic continues to worsen in Europe, with the numbers of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths on the rise.Meanwhile, Hong Kong has suspended use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after it discovered some packaging defects in one shipment. Hong Kong authorities say they had received a letter from BioNTech, Pfizer’s German-based partner, about problems it discovered with the seal on a batch of individual vials.The neighboring gambling city of Macau is also suspending the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine due to the packaging issues. U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center says there are now about 124.2 million total COVID-19 infections, with more than 2.7 million deaths. The United States leads the way in both categories with 29.9 million total infections and 543,849 deaths.
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Zimbabwe’s musicians have been struggling to make a living since the coronavirus pandemic prompted the government to ban concerts and other entertainment to prevent the spread of the virus. Some have even left their music behind and turned to farming. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Mazowe, Zimbabwe.Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe
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The European Union will introduce a proposal Wednesday that could allow it to restrict exports of COVID-19 vaccine manufactured within the 27-nation bloc for six weeks.The legislation is aimed at addressing an acute shortage of vaccine across the continent that has slowed the inoculation effort in many EU nations. Many European nations have grown especially frustrated with British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca, which has cut its planned deliveries by more than half in the first quarter of 2021. Europe is facing a third wave of the coronavirus that is once again overwhelming hospitals and prompting a new round of lockdowns. The situation threatens to aggravate already tense relations between the EU and its former member, Britain. The proposed legislation could seriously disrupt supplies of COVID-19 vaccine to Britain, which is a major recipient of EU exports. EU and Pfizer-BioNTech Sign Deal for 4 Million More DosesAdditional doses to be delivered before the end of MarchMeanwhile, Hong Kong has suspended use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after it discovered some packaging defects in one shipment. Hong Kong authorities say they had received a letter from BioNTech, Pfizer’s German-based partner, about problems it discovered with the seal on a batch of individual vials. The neighboring gambling city of Macau is also suspending the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine due to the packaging issues. U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center says there are now about 124.2 million total COVID-19 infections, with more than 2.7 million deaths. The United States leads the way in both categories with 29.9 million total infections and 543,849 deaths.Brazil is second with 12.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 298,676 deaths, including a new single-day record of 3,251 deaths.India also posted a record number of COVID-19-related deaths Wednesday with 275, its highest single-day number since December 31, as well as more than 47,000 new coronavirus infections since November 12.
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When Joe Biden took office as president, the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies saw at least a glimmer of hope that the U.S.-led campaign to shut it out of international markets might be eased somewhat. Once a global leader in smartphone sales, Huawei has seen its market share outside China plummet since the Trump administration began choking off its supply of technology key to producing modern 5G handsets. Likewise, the company’s business installing mobile telecommunications infrastructure, and especially new 5G-capable systems, has been severely damaged by a U.S. campaign against it.Biden had not signaled that he would be particularly easy on China — his appointment of China hawk Katherine Tai as U.S. Trade Representative confirmed that. But Huawei and other Chinese firms thought that, if nothing else, the two countries could step back from a Trump-era trade war footing.Huawei Executive Back in Court to Fight US ExtraditionUS wants Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Chinese telecom’s founder and chief financial officer of the company, extradited to face fraud chargesBiden tightens restrictionsEarlier this month, Huawei’s prospects for relief dimmed considerably when the Biden administration announced that it would not only continue some of the Trump administration’s export bans, but would tighten them.“The Biden administration appears to be maintaining the final Trump policy regarding which Huawei-related export licenses to approve or deny, which is more restrictive than the 2020 license policy,” said Kevin Wolf, a former assistant secretary of commerce for export administration in the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security.Now a partner with the law firm Akin Gump in Washington, Wolf added, “In order to make the license policy consistent and level the playing field, it has amended 2020 licenses limiting their scope so that they align with the final Trump license policy. In particular, licenses for shipments for items ‘for use in or with 5G devices’ will be denied or revoked.”Contentious MeetingAdditionally, on the eve of the first high-level meeting between Biden administration officials and representatives of Beijing, the Commerce Department announced that it had issued subpoenas to a number of Chinese companies as part of an investigation into national security threats. Beijing Slams US Blacklisting of Chinese CompaniesChina’s commerce ministry on Saturday said it ‘firmly opposes’ the move, which will affect the country’s biggest chipmaker, SMIC, and vowed to ‘take necessary measures’ to safeguard Chinese companies’ rightsThe action stemmed from a 2019 executive order by Trump allowing the executive branch to prohibit purchases of technology deemed to present a national security threat. The Commerce Department did not name the companies it is investigating, but many experts assume that Huawei was among them.The next day, in a contentious meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Yang Jiechi, director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office of the Chinese Communist Party, blasted the U.S, saying, “It abuses so-called notions of national security to obstruct normal trade exchanges, and incite some countries to attack China.”Origins of banBeginning in fits and starts in 2019, a broad swath of export bans eventually cut Huawei off from an array of technologies that had been essential to the company’s operations. The U.S. push began partly in response to then-President Trump’s lengthy trade battle with China, and partly in response to very real national security concerns related to allowing Huawei to become a dominant player in global 5G — the next generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks.U.S. intelligence agencies have long asserted that Huawei is closely connected to the Chinese government. That, combined with the fact that Chinese law specifically requires companies to cooperate with the country’s intelligence services in collecting data, pushed U.S. officials to warn that Huawei components could potentially be used to create “backdoor” access for Beijing into sensitive government and private sector systems.Huawei says, ‘yes’Huawei officials have repeatedly expressed their frustration at being publicly treated as an arm of the Chinese government. Last week Andy Purdy, chief security officer for Huawei Technologies USA, told Bloomberg News that if the Biden administration is concerned about the company, “we hope that the U.S. government will partner with us and not point to the Chinese government, because Huawei speaks for Huawei.” Huawei Running Out of Smartphone Chips under US Sanctions Huawei is at the center of US-Chinese tension over technology and security, and the feud has spread to TikTok and WeChat Many industry experts, though, remain very dubious about the company’s protestations of independence. “The Chinese government may not speak for Huawei,” said Jim Lewis, senior vice president and director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But when the Chinese government speaks to Huawei, Huawei says, “‘Yes.’”Broad impactThe Trump administration’s assault on Huawei was scattershot at times, but ultimately it was brutally effective.All Huawei phones had used the Android operating system made by Google, but in May of 2019, Google announced that it would comply with the administration’s order and refuse to license its operating system to any new phones made by the Chinese firm.U.S. microchip giants Intel and Qualcomm were likewise banned from selling their most advanced technology to the company, all but eliminating its ability to produce cutting edge handsets. The export restrictions also barred contract chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., the world’s largest, from selling advanced chips to Huawei.According to International Data Corporation, a business intelligence firm, as its chip supply dried up, Huawei’s share of the global smartphone market cratered. In the second quarter of 2020, Huawei shipped an industry leading 20.2% of handsets, but by the fourth quarter its share had dropped to just 8.6%.Other analysts predict that before 2021 is over, that number will have been halved again, to around 4% of the market.5G dominance bluntedThe pressure on allies to avoid Huawei’s 5G infrastructure offerings has also been broadly successful. Huawei to Build First European 5G Factory in France to Soothe Western Nerves Huawei’s new French plant would create 500 jobs; Chinese firm says plans not part of ‘charm offensive’ Most major U.S. allies have barred national telecommunications firms from using Huawei-made equipment in their rollout of 5G services and some, like Britain, have committed to the expensive process of replacing existing Huawei components within their systems.Lewis, of CSIS, agreed that Huawei has been “shut out” of most major U.S. allies’ 5G systems, but said that the U.S. pressure campaign hadn’t been the only factor in making that happen.Over the years, there have been multiple charges leveled against Huawei of shady practices, and not all of them from Washington. A 2019 report revealed that British telecom firm Vodaphone had found hidden “backdoor” vulnerabilities in Huawei’s equipment. The company has also been accused of multiple instances of industrial espionage.“Some of it had to do with just telling people, hey, you need to look closely at Huawei, and it’s their own independent assessment,” Lewis said. “The Europeans have been looking at Huawei as a risk since before the Trump administration. So in some ways, Huawei is caught by its own practices.”
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Research is ongoing, but it’s thought the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, may be a zoonotic disease that first appeared in bats. A team in the Philippines studies diseases carried by bats in hopes of preventing future pandemics. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.Producer: Arash Arabasadi
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Vaccines to combat COVID-19 are on the cusp of turning the tide of the global pandemic. But experts say not to expect total victory. While things may never again get as bad as they have been the last year, experts expect that in time, COVID-19 will become a chronic, but manageable, threat. Societies need to plan for how to cope with inevitable resurgences, they say. “We’re not going to see cases plummet to zero. That’s magical thinking,” said epidemiologist Michael Mina of Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Which is why I really think it’s important for us to take a step back as a society and just ask the question, what do cases mean? How are they going to impact us?” Here to stay There are several reasons why the coronavirus behind COVID-19 is not likely to disappear anytime soon. First, rates of vaccine hesitancy are declining but still high. In a FILE – Healthcare workers get ready to collect samples during proactive testing of migrant workers at their work place, amid the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in Samut Sakhon province in Thailand, Jan. 27, 2021.A recent poll found 18% of U.S. health care workers were not planning to get vaccinated, and another 12% were undecided. Meanwhile, vaccine access is extremely unequal around the world. Many countries may not get any vaccines at all this year. That leaves vast areas where the coronavirus can continue to spread and mutate. “The longer transmission happens around the world, new variants are going to develop,” said Geoffrey Joyce, director of health policy at the University of Southern California (USC) Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. Variants have already arisen that undermine the effectiveness of the vaccines. It is not yet clear what impact they will have in vaccinated populations. “We’re not out of the woods at all,” Joyce said. Plus, scientists do not know how long immunity lasts from vaccines or from infection. The virus could resurface in several months even in people who have been vaccinated. “It does seem likely that there will be flare-ups or some kind of resurgence,” said Duke University health policy expert Hemi Tewarson. The next round If so, what happens then? Another lockdown? Most experts say no. “I just don’t think we have… the appetite to continue to shut down the economy,” Nandakumar said. “We have to find a smart way to live with the virus.” FILE – A nearly empty Carnaby Street in London, Nov. 6, 2020 during a lockdown which shuttered restaurants, hairdressers and clothing stores.Some limited version of the restrictions currently in place may make a comeback in a flare-up, but most of life will go on, said health economist Kate Baicker, dean of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. “We may limit large gatherings. We may focus on outdoor activities. People may need to modify how they interact with each other, but the new normal is something that we can really live pretty comfortably and happily with,” she said. Some places are considering whether vaccinated people can forego the restrictions. In Israel, vaccinated people get a “green pass” that gives them permission to go to indoor bars, gyms, concerts and other places where unvaccinated people are barred. Others are considering it. Some employers may consider requiring employees to get vaccinated in order to come back to the office or work with the public. The idea is controversial, however. On the one hand, offering special privileges to the vaccinated gives hesitant people an incentive. But it is not yet clear whether vaccinated people can still get asymptomatic infections and spread the virus, even if they do not get sick themselves. Some early studies suggest that the vaccines cut transmission, as well, but the case is not closed. There are also civil liberties issues. While getting vaccinated is still optional, “is it really optional if you’re then banned from doing things if you don’t opt in?” Baicker said. It also means people have to share sensitive medical information. And while vaccines have been authorized for emergency use, they have not been fully approved, which involves a higher level of scrutiny. “I think these are important questions about privacy of medical information and who should mandate what… I don’t think that policymakers or the public have worked through yet,” Baicker said. The trade-off between public health and personal liberty may be a tough sell in the United States, with its live-free-or-die streak, USC’s Joyce said. “But if you look at what we do at schools,” he added, “almost every state in the country has some immunization rules for school. Your kids can’t come unless they get particular vaccines… because we think the societal benefit is worth it. So, I don’t see why this is a different argument.” FILE – Students wear masks as they work in a fourth-grade classroom at Elk Ridge Elementary School in Buckley, Wash., Feb. 2, 2021.Protect the vulnerable and move on On the other hand, experts say, maybe restrictions will not be necessary once enough of the most vulnerable people are vaccinated. So far, more than half of the deaths from COVID-19 have been among people 75 years or older. This group has been the top priority for vaccination, and should remain so, Joyce said. When the vast majority of the elderly and vulnerable are protected, “then you don’t have overcrowded hospitals. You don’t have death rates that are frightening. And then it’s a manageable virus,” he said. Younger people still get sick and die of COVID-19, but at much lower rates, Joyce noted. “It’s not something you want to get, but it doesn’t require massive shutdowns,” he said.Public health officials hope to get cheap, widely accessible testing up and running to keep an eye on where the virus is spreading and what variants there are. “When you start seeing an emergence of cases, you go in with an extra vaccine effort. You go in with extra testing, and you try to contain it, as opposed to trying to lock everything down,” Tewarson at Duke University said. Hopefully, the number of people getting sick will soon drop to the level where public health departments can handle them like any other outbreak. “We can actually do contact tracing that we couldn’t do when the epidemic was just too rampant,” Joyce said. “When you have smaller numbers, you can isolate this person — Got it. Here’s a cluster. Let’s lock down this particular group — as opposed to shutting down schools” and everything else.
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Haiti Soccer Federation officials are awaiting the decision of FIFA, the international governing body for football, on whether a Haiti-Belize World Cup qualifier will be held Thursday in Port-au-Prince. Tessier Jeanty, communications director for the Haitian Soccer Federation (Federation Haitienne de Futbol, FHF), told VOA a FIFA security expert met with Haitian and Belize team officials Tuesday afternoon. The FIFA security expert arrived in Haiti Tuesday morning and toured the capital to evaluate the security situation after Belize’s team bus was held up at gunpoint on Monday. The incident happened as the team made its way from the Toussaint Louverture international airport to their hotel.Upon Belize’s 🇧🇿 arrival to Haiti 🇭🇹 for their World Cup Qualifier, their police escort was stopped by armed “insurgents”This is the video going around on social media.Match is set for March 25. Belize has put out an official statement. pic.twitter.com/B3Z0gTfW16— Nico Cantor (@Nicocantor1) March 23, 2021The athletes, who were not harmed in the incident, described the harrowing scene during an interview with a Belize television station. They said high-powered rifles were aimed at their bus. “Suddenly, we saw so many motorcycles with a lot of men and they were armed. You know, they stopped the bus and all we see, they were talking to the police. After that, we wanted to know what was happening. The next, they wanted us to turn back, pointing their guns at the police. So we don’t know what to do,” recalled Ian “Yellow” Gaynair, who plays defense for the Belize national team. “Some of us were doing some video and they pointed on the bus and said cut out the video, so we had to cut the video, pull the curtain,” Gaynair said. “All of us were really traumatized, fearing we didn’t know what would happen. Next thing we thought they would even want to come on the bus.” The armed men on motorbikes were members of a renegade group called Fantom 509, comprising disgruntled current and former police officers. The U.S. State Department described them as criminals on Twitter.#PortAuPrince#Haiti: The criminal organization known as Fantom 509 is currently active in Delmas and Petionville. The group is known for violence and the ability to relocate quickly. Avoid travel to these areas. Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks. https://t.co/NpUjSlG2zRpic.twitter.com/sD2yTib70O— Travel – State Dept (@TravelGov) March 22, 2021“The criminal organization known as Fantom 509 is currently active in Delmas and Petionville. The group is known for violence and the ability to relocate quickly. Avoid travel to these areas. Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks,” the U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Consular Affairs tweeted. Belize team official Marlon Kuylen immediately reported the incident to FIFA and CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football).“We’ve told them in no uncertain terms that we want to get our players out of the country. However, the match commissioner is arriving tomorrow to assess the situation and decide what happens from there,” Kuylen told the Belize television station. The Belize Football Federation later issued a statement expressing “disappointment and disgust.“Football Federation of Belize registers its anger & disappointment after its delegation was attacked by armed men in #Haiti en route from airport to hotel today. pic.twitter.com/2UUaSaawjP— Jacqueline Charles (@Jacquiecharles) March 23, 2021Kuylen said his players are having a hard time concentrating on the upcoming match. “The players, they are frazzled. They cannot focus on playing. We were supposed to go training … and they don’t want to leave the hotel,” he said. “Our security is not guaranteed and what if we win and the crowd gets out of control again, who’s to say that we will be safe?” Two officials from FHF went to check on the Belize players in the evening, according to a statement posted in French on its Facebook page. “Jacques Letang … and Yvon Sevère paid a visit of solidarity to team Belize to assure its members of that the FHF supports them,” the statement said. FIFA has not yet responded to VOA’s request for comment on the incident. The spike in violence in Haiti has alarmed both Haitian and international officials. Last week, Fantom 509 staged two jailbreaks, looted a car dealership and set fire to tires, blocking streets. Jeanty of FHF told VOA it is unfortunate that insecurity in the country, which has become a part of daily life for most Haitians, now risks jeopardizing the national team’s ability to play at home. “Haiti already has some factors working against it and now this complicates things even further,” Jeanty said. As for Haiti’s beloved national team, most of the players, such as goalie Johny Placide, only began arriving in Port-au-Prince Tuesday morning. The majority currently play for European league teams. “They weren’t even aware of what happened yesterday,” Jeanty told VOA. “We have six players who arrived this morning. And we have three players arriving [Wednesday] — because they are traveling from Armenia. I’m talking about Donald Guerrier, Soni Mustivar and Alex Junior Christian. They are ready to win for Haiti, but it’s shocking for them to see the images of what happened [on Monday].” Jeanty told VOA the FIFA security expert, a former military official from Barbados, would send his report to FIFA and CONCACAF Tuesday night. “After the meeting, we will not know immediately whether or not the match will go on in Haiti. He will send a report to CONCACAF and FIFA and those officials will issue a statement based on what the report advises,” Jeanty said. In the meantime, Haiti’s soccer federation is appealing to the public to refrain from violence. “Haitians must understand: if there is any kind of attack against this match, we can kiss Haiti soccer goodbye,” FHF secretary general Carlo Marcelin said in an interview with Haitian radio station Magik 9 Tuesday. The World Cup is scheduled to be held in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, 2022.
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Press freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is suing Facebook in France, saying the social media platform spreads misinformation. The suit was filed Monday with the Paris public prosecutor. “Reporters Without Borders accuses Facebook of ‘deceptive commercial practices’ on the grounds that the social media company’s promises to provide a ‘safe’ and ‘error-free’ online environment are contradicted by the large-scale proliferation of hate speech and false information on its networks,” the group said in a press release. Specifically, the group says Facebook allows “hate speech” against the media, as well as misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. The group said Facebook allowed posts that were insulting and threatening against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, as well as targeting the TV program “Quotidien” and a regional newspaper, L’Union. Facebook said in a statement that it “has zero tolerance for any harmful content on our platforms,” Bloomberg reported. “Over the last few years, we’ve tripled the size of our safety and security team to 35,000 and built artificial intelligence technology to proactively find and remove harmful content,” the statement continued, according to Bloomberg. “While nobody can eliminate misinformation and hate speech from the internet entirely, we continue using research, experts and technologies to tackle them in the most comprehensive and effective way possible.” Should RSF win its case, the decision could have global repercussions for Facebook, as its terms of service are similar worldwide. Any change in France could trigger changes elsewhere. Facebook and other Big Tech companies have been under intense pressure to stop what some call misinformation. In December, the EU proposed new regulations that could hit companies with fines of up to 6% of their global revenue for not complying with orders to remove content deemed violent hate speech, according to Bloomberg.
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Ahead of World Tuberculosis Day Wednesday, doctors are warning that progress in the global fight against the disease has been set back more than a decade by the coronavirus pandemic. Henry Ridgwell reports.
Video editor: Rod James
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Campaigners against tuberculosis, a bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs, say the coronavirus pandemic has rolled back years of progress in treating TB. But Nigeria — one of the countries hardest hit by the disease — has managed to maintain its progress, as Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
Camera: Emekas Gibson
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A new outside report found that Facebook has allowed groups — many tied to QAnon, boogaloo and militia movements — to glorify violence during the 2020 election and in the weeks leading up to the deadly riots on the U.S. Capitol in January.
Avaaz, a nonprofit advocacy group that says it seeks to protect democracies from misinformation, identified 267 pages and groups on Facebook that it says spread violence-glorifying material in the heat of the 2020 election to a combined following of 32 million users.
More than two-thirds of the groups and pages had names that aligned with several domestic extremist movements, the report found. The first, boogaloo, promotes a second U.S. civil war and the breakdown of modern society. The second is the QAnon conspiracy, which claims that Donald Trump is waging a secret battle against the “deep state” and a sect of powerful Satan-worshipping pedophiles who dominate Hollywood, big business, the media and government. The rest are various anti-government militias. All have been largely banned from Facebook since 2020.
But despite what Avaaz called “clear violations” of Facebook’s policies, it found that 119 of these pages and groups were still active on the platform as of March 18 and had just under 27 million followers.
Facebook acknowledged that its policy enforcement “isn’t perfect,” but said the report distorts its work against violent extremism and misinformation.
The company said in a statement that it has done more than any other internet company to stanch the flow of harmful material, citing its bans of “nearly 900 militarized social movements” and the removal of tens of thousands of QAnon pages, groups, and accounts. It added that it is always improving its efforts against misinformation.
On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai are slated to testify before Congress about extremism and misinformation on their platforms.
Facebook has tightened its rules against violence, hate and misinformation in the past year. In October, it banned QAnon groups across its platform. Before that, it would remove them only if they expressly supported violence. It has also banned extremist and militia movements and boogaloo groups with varying degrees of success.
For instance, while Facebook banned “Stop the Steal” groups from its platform, Avaaz — like The Associated Press — found that such groups and the #stopthesteal hashtag remained active on the platform after the purge.
Facebook’s failures, Avaaz said, “helped sweep America down the path from election to insurrection.”
According to the report, the social network provided a “fertile ground” for misinformation and toxicity that contributed to radicalizing millions of Americans, helping create the conditions in which the storming of the Capitol became a reality.
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Just hours after AstraZeneca said the late-stage trials of its COVID-19 vaccine proves its “100% efficacy against severe or critical disease and hospitalization,” a key U.S. government oversight agency expressed concern about the information released by the drug maker. The Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) issued a statement early Tuesday that the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant “may have included outdated information” from the late-stage clinical trial, “which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data.” FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson receives the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered by nurse and Clinical Pod Lead, Lily Harrington at St.Thomas’ Hospital in London, March 19, 2021.AstraZeneca said Monday that its analysis of the safety and efficacy of its vaccine, developed jointly with Britain’s University of Oxford, was based on more than 30,000 participants in U.S. trials. Researchers at Oxford also said the vaccine is 79% effective against preventing symptomatic coronavirus. The DSMB urged AstraZeneca to work with it to review the data and “ensure the most accurate, up-to-date efficacy data be made public as quickly as possible.” The statement from the independent board of experts is just the latest setback for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has had a troubled rollout across the world. Several European countries had recently stopped use of the AstraZeneca vaccine because of reports that it was associated with blood clots in recipients. And South Africa stopped using the shot due to concerns about its efficacy against a local variant of the virus. The country sold at least a million of its AstraZeneca COVID vaccines to the African Union. But the European Medicines Agency, the drug approval body for the European Union, said the vaccine is safe and does not raise the overall risk of blood clots. The World Health Organization has subsequently recommended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against variants of the coronavirus, and that it considers its benefits outweighs its risks. FILE – Dr. Ngong Cyprian, left, is the first Nigerian to receive the first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine at the National Hospital Abuja, Nigeria, March 5, 2021.The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been the leading choice among the developing world because of its low-cost and simple storage requirements. South Korean President Moon Jae-in was inoculated with the vaccine on Tuesday. Germany extend lockdownMeanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday the government is extending the country’s lockdown until April 18, citing the steady rise of new infections. The extended restrictions include a total lockdown between April 1-5 during the upcoming Easter holiday, with a request for all Germans to stay home during the period. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a news conference after a meeting with state leaders to discuss options beyond the end of the pandemic lockdown, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Berlin, Germany, March 23, 2021.Merkel and all of the country’s 16 state governors had recently crafted a plan to gradually lift the coronavirus restrictions by March 28. But Germany has been plagued by a spike in new infections due to the more infectious B.1.1.7 variant, along with the slow pace of vaccinations, with only 9% of the population having received at least one shot of the vaccine. “We basically have a new pandemic,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin Tuesday. The B.1.1.7 variant was first detected in the United Kingdom and it is easily transmitted and more deadly, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned during a White House press conference on Friday.
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Australian authorities said Tuesday that more evacuation orders may be issued as relentless rains pummeled the country’s east coast, with several regions in Sydney’s west facing the worst floods in half a century. The wild weather system pounding New South Wales (NSW) over the last three days was expected to gather more strength in the next 24 hours thanks to the combination of a tropical low over northern Western Australia and a coastal trough off the east. “Overnight, unfortunately, some weather conditions have worsened, and those weather conditions are likely to worsen during the day so many communities will experience increasing heavy rainfall,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. Berejiklian said 15,000 more residents may need to be evacuated soon after authorities moved 18,000 to safe zones Monday.Severe flooding in Sydney, March 22, 2021.With 38 disaster areas declared in the state, authorities Tuesday described the next 24 hours as critical, as fast-moving flood waters overflowed riverbanks and inundated houses, farms and bridges across large swathes of the state. Though the weather system is likely to start easing starting late Wednesday, officials warned that residents may not be able to return to their homes immediately as incessant rains dump more water in river catchment areas. “Some of you may be wondering why you can’t go back home because it’s a sunny day. It’s because conditions are unsafe for that to occur,” Berejiklian said. Neighboring Queensland was also bracing for heavy showers Tuesday in the southern parts of the state, with the weather system expected to shift south to parts of Victoria and the island state of Tasmania over the next few days. About 10 million people in all states and territories except Western Australia will be affected by the extreme weather, the weather bureau said, with NSW and Queensland expected to bear the brunt of the system.
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Monday it will be upgrading its Global Forecast System, one of the primary computer models used to predict weather across North America and the world.The update went live early Monday and is designed to predict more accurate forecasts as far out as two weeks into the future. NOAA says the update will lead to better predictions of hurricanes and other extreme weather events, ocean waves, and weather systems up high in the atmosphere.“This substantial upgrade to the GFS, along with ongoing upgrades to our supercomputing capacity, demonstrates our commitment to advancing weather forecasting to fulfill our mission of protecting life and property,” said Louis Uccellini, director of NOAA’s National Wether Service, in a media teleconference Monday.The upgrade focuses on underlying physics and adjusts how current weather information is inputted and processed by the model while integrating other sources of data from satellites and ordinary aircraft.The Global Forecasting System will now be combined with a global wave model called WaveWatch III, which will extend current wave forecasts to 16 days and improve predictions of ocean waves forced by the atmosphere.“These upgrades are part of the Next Generation Global Prediction System within the Unified Forecast System (UFS) framework, which is an ongoing effort to leverage the expertise of the broader weather community and expedite the research to operations pathway,” said Vijay Tallapragada, chief of the Modeling and Data Assimilation Branch at NOAA’s Environmental Modeling Center (EMC).
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The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday she is concerned the United States could be headed for an avoidable surge in coronavirus cases as more states relax prevention measures and more people travel around the country. During a virtual White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing, Rochelle Walensky said the U.S. saw the seven-day average of new daily cases climb to 53,800 over the past week, while the two-week average has wavered between 50,000 to 60,000 cases per day. FILE – Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 18, 2021.Meanwhile, the CDC director said U.S. states are seeing an increasing number of new cases attributed to variant strains of the virus, particularly in California — the nation’s most populous state — where a new variant accounts for 52 percent of new infections. Walensky said, taken together, these statistics should be a warning sign to all Americans that the pandemic is not over. “I get it. We all want to return to our everyday activities and spend time with our family, friends and loved ones,” she said. Walensky said the U.S. is at a critical point in the pandemic and is worried if the nation does not take the correct actions, it is headed for an “avoidable surge, just as we are seeing in Europe right now, and just as we are so aggressively scaling up vaccinations.” The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease. The White House task force reported 81 million people in the United States — nearly 25 percent — have received at least one vaccination and another 41 million people, about 13 percent, are fully vaccinated. Walensky said among those over 65 years of age, 69 percent have received at least one shot, while 42 percent are fully vaccinated. FILE – A woman receives a coronavirus vaccination at Jordan Downs in Los Angeles, California, March 10, 2021.She said the statistics are showing the vaccines are working, as, for the first time since early in the pandemic began, a higher percentage of people under the age of 65 are showing up at emergency rooms. Also at the briefing, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he viewed the recent U.S. trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine as good news. Those trials showed the vaccine to be at least 79 percent effective among all adults, with no test subjects developing any serious side effects or any of the health effects reported elsewhere. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine for use in the U.S. The company says it plans to seek clearance in the United States “in the coming weeks.”
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AstraZeneca said Monday that the results of its COVID-19 vaccine trials provide evidence that its shot provides “100% efficacy against severe or critical disease and hospitalization.” AstraZeneca said in a statement that the safety and efficacy analysis was based on 32,449 participants in U.S. trials. “Vaccine efficacy was consistent across ethnicity and age. Notably, in participants aged 65 years and over, vaccine efficacy was 80%,” the statement said. “The vaccine was well tolerated, and the independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) identified no safety concerns related to the vaccine,” AstraZeneca said. The U.S. trials also show the AstraZeneca COVID shot is safe and 79% effective against preventing symptomatic coronavirus, according to Britain’s University of Oxford, the developers of the pharmaceutical company’s vaccine. Several European countries had recently stopped use of the AstraZeneca vaccine because of reports that it was associated with blood clots in recipients. The European Medicines Agency (EMA), however, said the vaccine is safe and does not raise the overall risk of blood clots.Last week, France, Germany and Italy resumed use of the vaccine.FILE – A member of the medical staff holds a vial of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine at the South Ile-de-France Hospital Group in Melun, in the outskirts of Paris, Feb. 8, 2021.The World Health Organization (WHO) has subsequently recommended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against variants of the coronavirus. It has also said it considers that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh its risks.South Africa stopped using the shot due to concerns about its efficacy against a local variant of the virus. The country sold at least a million of its AstraZeneca COVID vaccines to the African Union. The doses sold to the AU will be distributed among 14 African countries. South Africa is now using the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson products.The AstraZeneca vaccine has been the leading choice for the developing world.According to the Associated Press, the AstraZeneca vaccine has been authorized in more than 50 countries. In the United States, vaccines by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson are in use.The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center has recorded more than 123.2 million worldwide coronavirus infections and 2.7 million deaths. The U.S. has the most infections with more than 29 million confirmed cases and 542,000 deaths.
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The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider reinstating the death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, presenting President Joe Biden with an early test of his opposition to capital punishment.The justices agreed to hear an appeal filed by the Trump administration, which carried out executions of 13 federal inmates in its final six months in office.The case won’t be heard until the fall, and it’s unclear how the new administration will approach Tsarnaev’s case. The initial prosecution and decision to seek a death sentence was made by the Obama administration, in which Biden served as vice president.But Biden has pledged to seek an end to the federal death penalty.In August, the federal appeals court in Boston threw out Tsarnaev’s sentence because it said the judge at his trial did not do enough to ensure the jury would not be biased against him.The Justice Department had moved quickly to appeal, asking the justices to hear and decide the case by the end of the court’s current term, in early summer. Then-Attorney General William Barr said last year, “We will do whatever’s necessary.”Tsarnaev’s lawyers acknowledged at the beginning of his trial that he and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, set off the two bombs at the marathon finish line in 2013. But they argued that Dzhokar Tsarnaev is less culpable than his brother, who they said was the mastermind behind the attack.Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died following a gunfight with police and being run over by his brother as he fled. Police captured a bloodied and wounded Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hours later in the Boston suburb of Watertown, where he was hiding in a boat parked in a backyard.Tsarnaev, now 27, was convicted of all 30 charges against him, including conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer during the Tsarnaev brothers’ getaway attempt. The appeals court upheld all but a few of his convictions.The initial prosecution and decision to seek a death sentence was made by the Obama administration, in which Biden served as vice president.
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