The cement skeleton of the unfinished Eyyub Sultan mosque in France’s eastern city of Strasbourg has become a repository for myriad grievances, ranging from local partisan wrangling to longstanding friction between Islam and this country’s staunchly secular creed.The grievances also reflect mounting fears within the European Union about Turkey’s growing international influence.Claiming concern over foreign — and specifically Turkish — meddling, a top French official launched legal proceedings this week against a decision by Strasbourg’s leftist government to subsidize the construction of the mosque, designed to be Europe’s largest.The move coincided with a rare visit by EU leaders to Ankara, where efforts to patch up longstanding differences were overshadowed by a seating spat.Underpinning both issues, analysts say, is the EU’s reliance on Turkey as a bulwark against another massive refugee influx — a reality underpinning a multibillion-dollar migrant deal with Turkey in 2016 which limits the bloc’s muscle-flexing options today.The EU nations “need Turkey — if Turkey opens its borders what will happen?” asked Muslim specialist Erkan Toguslu, a lecturer at KU Leuven University, even as he warned about Ankara’s growing influence in the region, spread through its nationalist brand of Islam.FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a press conference, in Paris, France, Feb. 25, 2021.That warning appears to resonate with French President Emmanuel Macron. He has racked up an especially bitter and personal feud with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wrangling over issues from the conflicts in Libya and Syria, to Turkey’s exploration for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean.More recently Macron’s focus has shifted closer to home. He warned Ankara last month against interfering in next year’s French presidential elections, and his government takes aim at Turkish groups it considers suspect.Foreign meddling or partisan politics?Last year, for example, France moved to ban a Turkish ultra-nationalist group called Grey Wolves, after its members were accused of defacing an Armenian genocide memorial near Lyon. Other European countries, including Germany, are considering similar steps.French lawmakers are also debating legislation against extremism, which would ban foreign funding of religious groups. Among those potentially in its crosshairs: Turkish association Milli Gorus, the main backer of the Strasbourg mosque.In an interview with French radio Tuesday, Macron’s hard-line interior minister Gerald Darmanin threatened to dissolve Milli Gorus and others he deemed “enemies of the Republic,” noting the Turkish association’s refusal to sign a new government charter against extremism.Newly appointed French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin arrives to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, July 7, 2020.Darmanin also took aim at Strasbourg’s Greens Mayor Jeanne Barseghian, finding it regrettable she supported providing nearly $3 million in financing for the mosque, roughly one-tenth of the total cost, “given what we know about political Islam and sometimes foreign meddling on our soil.”Berseghian has rejected Darmanin’s suggestions. Another leading Greens Party mayor said he was scandalized by Macron’s suggestion of Turkish meddling. Strasbourg city council must still vote again to release the construction funds, a move that may be compromised by the new legal proceedings launched against the financing.Milli Gorus officials did not reply to a request for comment. But in a recent statement, the group denied being fundamentalist and described itself as a staunchly French association “that has always acted with total transparency, in respect of the republic’s values.” The Strasbourg mosque, with a total price tag of about $38 million, has been in the works for several years, but was halted for lack of funding.For some analysts, the mosque financing spat, and Macron’s warning of possible foreign election interference, may be aimed mostly at French voters, as critics point to the president’s rightward shift ahead of next year’s vote.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks in Ankara, Turkey, March 2, 2021.”That Mr. Erdogan today supports Islamist fundamentalism and acts like the enemy of French security today is certain,” far-right leader and leading opposition candidate Marine Le Pen told the Anglo-American Press Association in a recent interview. “But does he have the capacity to interfere with (French) elections? Not more than any other countries that are influential within their own diaspora.”Longstanding fearsStill the controversy digs up longstanding fears about the role of Islam in France, home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim community and battered by a series of terrorist attacks, as well as newer concerns about Turkey’s influence here.”The Green Mayor of Strasbourg is Subsidizing Political Islam,” right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelle titled a recent headline. “Collaboration or Submission?””Should we be afraid of Turkish Islam?” France’s La Croix newspaper ask in an analysis of the evolving controversy.“The Turkish government wants to use this (Strasbourg) mosque and Milli Gorus as a kind of soft power,” said KU Leuven University’s Erkan Toguslu, describing Ankara’s aim as nationalist rather than religious. “It uses Turkish mosques, Turkish associations and the Turkish diaspora in Europe for its own policy, not to defend Muslim interests.”The quandary of foreign financing of local mosques is a longstanding one in France, where many local Muslim communities are too poor to bankroll construction and a 1905 law separating church and state prevents public financing of places of worship. The Strasbourg mosque doesn’t fall under these strictures because the larger Alsace region where it is located has a different set of rules.Past funding questions, and fears of foreign influence, have often centered on North African or Middle Eastern countries with sizable ethnic populations in France, and less on Turkey. The estimated 700,000 Muslims with Turkish roots here account for a fraction of France’s roughly 6-million-member Muslim community, and its geographically diverse factions are often at odds with each other. Like several other countries, Turkey also sponsors imams in France, making up for a dearth of local-born ones.Moreover, the Turkish religious community here is fragmented, experts say. Milli Gorus counts among several Muslim groups in France, including those sharply critical of the Erdogan government.Still, observers say, France’s Turkish community is increasingly influential and ambitious. Last year, its representatives captured the majority of seats on the French Council of the Muslim Faith, the main representative body, for the first time since its creation in 2003.”The threat is not about religion,” analyst Toguslu said. “The threat is about nationalism. Turkish nationalism.”
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The French Open has been delayed by one week because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the governing body of the tennis tournament said Thursday.The French Tennis Federation said first-round matches will now begin on May 30 instead of May 23 because of sharp spikes in coronavirus infections in France. The postponement marks the second year in a row the French Open has been disrupted by the pandemic.The federation postponed last year’s tournament to September and limited daily attendance to 1,000 people.This year’s delay came as hospitals in France struggle to handle the surge in coronavirus cases. The government recently imposed new lockdown restrictions to contain the spikes, including a month-long domestic travel ban and a three-week school closure.The federation said the decision to delay was aimed at ensuring that “as many spectators as possible” would be able to safely attend the event.Federation president Gilles Moreton said public authorities, the governing bodies of global tennis events, broadcasters and other partners were first consulted before announcing the delay.The federation was roundly criticized for postponing last year’s French Open without first consulting with the top men’s and women’s events.
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Several nations have issued new guidelines over the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after the European Union’s medical regulator announced a link between the vaccine and rare, possibly fatal blood clots.Britain, where the vaccine was developed jointly by the British-Swedish drugmaker and scientists at the University of Oxford, says it will offer alternatives for adults under 30. Oxford researchers have also suspended a clinical trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine involving young children and teenagers as British drug regulators conduct a safety review of the two-shot regimen.Reuters says Spain and the Philippines will limit the vaccine to people older than 60, while The Washington Post says Italy has issued similar guidelines.The European Medicines Agency said Wednesday the blood clots should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but continued to emphasize that its overall benefits outweigh any risks. Rare blood clots have been associated with the deaths of at least 14 people across Europe.AstraZeneca has been the key vaccine in Britain’s exceptionally speedy inoculation campaign, which has outpaced significantly the vaccination rates in the rest of Europe. But the vaccine has had a troubled rollout across the world, initially because of a lack of information from its late-stage clinical trials on its effect on older people, which has slowed vaccination efforts throughout Europe. Many nations stopped administering the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports first surfaced of the blood clotting incidents.The vaccine is critical also to Europe’s immunization campaign and crucial in the global strategy to supply vaccines to poorer countries. The vaccine is cheaper and easier to use than rival vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the B.1.1.7 variant of the coronavirus first detected in Britain last December is now the dominant variant in the country. The CDC had predicted back in January that the British variant, which is far more contagious and deadly than the original version, would become the dominant one in the United States by March.“The virus still has a hold on us, infecting people and putting them in harm’s way. We need to remain vigilant,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Wednesday during a White House briefing.The United States recently surpassed 30 million total new cases, including 559,116 deaths, the most of any country in either category, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday that her country is suspending travel from India beginning Sunday due to a surge of coronavirus cases among travelers from that country. New Zealand has 23 new positive COVID-19 cases in quarantine, 17 of them from India. The ban will remain in effect until April 28, and will include New Zealanders returning from India.India has nearly 13 million total coronavirus cases, third behind the United States and Brazil, and is undergoing a second wave of new infections as it races to vaccinate its 1.3 billion people. The country posted a single-day record 126,789 new cases on Wednesday.
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Moroccan authorities decided Wednesday to enforce a night-time curfew during the holy month of Ramadan because of a recent rise in COVID-19 cases, as scientists announced the discovery of a new, local variant of the virus.Many Moroccans voiced their anger over the decision on social networks, describing it as another blow to many businesses already struggling to survive, as well as to family gatherings that are a central part of the holiday.While the North African kingdom has had one of the region’s most successful vaccination programs so far, it is also seeing a growth in coronavirus infections, especially in Casablanca, the largest city.A curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. has been in place since December, and the Moroccan government decided Wednesday to extend it through Ramadan, which starts April 13 in Morocco.Because observant Muslims don’t eat or drink in the daytime during Ramadan, cafes and restaurants depend on nighttime business that’s now off-limits because of the curfew.Countries around the Mideast imposed some virus restrictions and curfews for Ramadan last year, and several are considering, or renewing restrictions, this year.Morocco has reported more than 499,000 COVID-19 infections with 8,865 deaths.The kingdom has administered the highest number of inoculations in Africa so far — 8.3 million doses for a population of 36 million people since vaccinations began Jan. 29. The per-person vaccination rate is higher than in some European countries that started a month earlier, but concerns are rising that Morocco’s vaccine supplies are drying up and the rate could slow.Morocco is using vaccines from AstraZeneca and China’s Sinopharm. Millions more doses are expected eventually from both companies as well as from the global COVAX program to provide vaccines to low and middle-income countries.Meanwhile, the Moroccan government’s National Scientific and Technical Committee for COVID-19 announced the discovery of a new variant of the virus first detected in the southern city of Ouarzazate. It was not immediately clear if it is linked to the recent spike in infections in the kingdom.The new variant can be classified as “100% Moroccan,” said professor Azzedin Ibrahimi, member of the committee and director of the biotechnology laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in the capital Rabat. He said Sunday that it was detected as part of a study conducted by Moroccan researchers into the spread of various variants.
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A New York social worker and psychotherapist says more is needed to address the pandemic’s impact on mental health, particularly among health care workers. More from VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo.
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“Cambodia Burning,” a documentary by filmmaker Sean Gallagher, throws light on the effect Cambodia’s unfettered logging has had on the country’s forest ecosystem. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke to the award-winning filmmaker
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George Bradley used to love watching the Academy Awards. The 28-year-old Brit now living in San Diego would stay up late back home just to tune in.
Though he’s now in the right time zone, he’s just not interested, and that’s due primarily to the pandemic.
“The rising dominance of the streaming services has taken the gloss off the Oscars for me,” he said. “You just don’t get the same warm fuzzy feeling from when you recognize a movie from the silver screen.”
Whether you watch out of love, because you love to hate or have given up like Bradley, awards shows have suffered since the coronavirus shuttered theaters and shut down live performances. But the ratings slide for awards nights began well before Covid-19 took over.
For much of this century, the Oscars drew 35 million to 45 million viewers, often just behind the Super Bowl. Last year, just before the pandemic was declared, the hostless telecast on ABC was seen by its smallest audience ever, 23.6 million viewers, down 20 percent from the year before.
The pandemic-era Golden Globes a little more than a year later plummeted to 6.9 million viewers, down 64% from last year and barely besting 2008, the year a writer’s strike forced NBC to air a news conference announcing winners. Last year, pre-lockdown, the show had 18.4 million viewers, according to the Nielsen company.
In March, Grammy producers avoided the Zoom awkwardness of other awards shows and staged performances by some of the industry’s biggest stars — to no avail. The CBS telecast reached 9.2 million viewers, both television and streaming, the lowest number on record and a 51% drop from 2020, Nielsen said.
John Bennardo, 52, in Boca Raton, Florida, is a film buff, film school graduate and screenwriter, and runs a videography business for mostly corporate clients. This year is a no-go for the Oscars.
“I love the movies and aspire to be on that very Oscars stage receiving my own award some day,” he said. “I watch each year and take it in, enter contests where I try to pick winners and try to see all the films. But something has changed for this year.”
For starters, he hasn’t seen a single film nominated in any category.
“Maybe I’ll watch Zach Snyder's Justice League' instead. It might be shorter," Bennardo joked about the Oscars show.Oh my god, I can’t believe she wore that.’ Another thing is, I don’t particularly need to see these actors in their home environments,” she said with a laugh. “This year, if I missed it, it wouldn’t be tragic. Nobody would need to lay cable this year. But I still love the movies.”
Like other awards shows, the Oscars telecast was pushed back due to pandemic restrictions and safety concerns. The show had been postponed three times before in history, but never so far in advance. Organizers last June scheduled it for April 25, as opposed to its usual slot in February or early March.
Count that among other driving forces behind Oscars fatigue. Another, according to former fans of the show, is having to watch nominated movies on small screens and keeping up with when and where they are available on streaming and on-demand services. It's been one big blur to some.
Priscilla Visintine, 62, in St. Louis, Missouri, used to live for watching the Academy Awards. She attended watch parties every year, usually dressed all the way up for the occasion.
"Definitely the shuttering of the theaters created my lack of interest this year," she said. "I didn't get any sense of Oscar buzz."
Not all diehards have given up their favorite awards show.
In Knoxville, Tennessee, 50-year-old Jennifer Rice and her 22-year-old son, Jordan, have for years raced to watch as many nominated films as possible. In years past, it was their "February Madness," she said, and they kept charts to document their predictions. She even got to attend the Oscars in 2019 through her work for a beauty company at the time.
"My other two children, ages 25 and 19, have no interest in the Oscars. It's just something special for Jordan and I," Rice said. "The Oscars actually push us to watch movies that we may have never picked. I'm not as excited this year, but we're still trying to watch everything before the awards ceremony."
As real-life hardship has intensified for many viewers, from food insecurity and job disruption to the isolation of lockdowns and parenting struggles, awards shows offer less escapism and razzle-dazzle than in the past, often relying on pre-taped performances and Zoom boxes for nominees. In addition, data shows little interest among younger generations for appointment television in general.
Lifelong lover of movies and a filmmaker himself, 22-year-old Pierre Subeh of Orlando, Florida, stopped watching the Oscars in 2019.
"We can barely stay put for a 15-second TikTok. How are we expected to sit through a dragged out, four-hour awards ceremony filled with ads and outdated offensive jokes? We're living in the time of content curation. We need algorithms to figure out what we want to watch and to show us the best of the best," he said.
As a Muslim, Middle Eastern immigrant, Subeh also sees little inclusion of his culture in mainstream film, let alone on the Oscars stage.
"We're only mentioned when Aladdin is brought up. I don't feel motivated to gather up my family on a Sunday to sit through a four-hour award ceremony that never has any sort of mention about our culture and religion. Yet as Muslims, we make up roughly 25% of the world population," he said.
Jon Niccum, 55, in Lawrence, Kansas, teaches screenwriting at Kansas State University. He's a filmmaker, went to film school and has worked as a film critic. He and his wife host an annual Oscar party, with 30 guests at its heyday, including a betting pool on winners for money and prizes. It will be family-only this year due to the pandemic, but the betting is on.
And watching all the top films at home? For the most part, he said, "It was less satisfying." Less satisfying enough to dump the Oscars telecast?
"I haven't missed an Oscars since 45 years ago. I'll watch every single minute of it," Niccum said.
In Medford, New Jersey, 65-year-old Deb Madison will also be watching, as she has since she was a kid and her mom first took her to the movies.
In 2018, while on an RV road trip with her husband, she made him bike into town with her in Carlsbad, New Mexico, to find a spot to watch. The ride back was in pitch darkness. Another year, when she was working reception at a huge party in Philadelphia on Oscars night, the coordinators laid cable and provided her with a tiny TV hidden under the welcome desk so she could tune in.
This year, trying to keep up with nominees from home has stifled her excitement, Madison said.
"I'm a sucker for the red carpet and the gowns and,
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U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant originally identified in Britain is now the most common strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 circulating in the United States.During the White House COVID-19 response team briefing, Walensky said the variant has been shown to be more transmissible and infectious among younger Americans, which she says contributed to rising case counts in recent weeks. The CDC director said the latest figures show the U.S. seven-day daily case average rose by 2.3% from the previous seven days to 62,878 per day. She also said there are reports of clusters of cases associated with day care centers and youth sports across the country.Hospital admissions have also been up by about 2.7% per day over the last week. Walensky said they are seeing more and more younger adults, those in their 30s and 40s, admitted with severe cases of the disease.She said that while the U.S. is now vaccinating an average of three million Americans daily, the encouraging news is tempered by the increased rates and spread of the virus.She said the U.S. needs to continue ramping up its vaccination program, but communities need to do their part, as well.Walensky encouraged communities to consider adjustments to meet their unique needs and circumstances. Areas seeing substantial or high community transmission, she said, should consider refraining from indoor youth sports or activities that cannot be conducted at least six feet apart. Similarly, she said large events should also be deferred.Her comments come following the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball team hosting a crowd of 38,000 fans for its home opener this week.
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The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) reports it is covering the cost of health insurance for an additional 20,000 Afghan refugees in Iran. This boosts the number of refugees to 120,000 who will be able to access medical care for COVID-19 and other illnesses under Iran’s national health plan.
Iran hosts nearly 800,000 Afghan refugees. Over the past year, the UNHCR has paid insurance premiums for 100,000 of the most vulnerable refugees. Given the dangers posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it now has boosted that number by another 20,000.
UNHCR spokesman Babar Balloch says Iran is one of only a handful of countries in the world that allows refugees to sign up for its national health insurance and receive the same treatment as its nationals.
“The national insurance scheme allows for free COVID-19 treatment and hospitalization. It also subsidizes the cost of surgeries, dialysis, radiology, laboratory tests, out-patient care and more. However, many refugees are not able to afford the premium costs,” he said.
Balloch said the pandemic has severely affected the ability of refugees to earn a living as they usually rely on precarious and unstable jobs. The cost of health care, he said, is unaffordable for most refugees as it represents about 40% of a refugee family’s monthly expenses.
And, yet, in the time of COVID, accessing treatment could be a matter of life or death. The World Health Organization reports Iran is the most COVID-affected country in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The latest data show more than 1.9 million cases, including 63,000 deaths.
The UNHCR warns fewer refugees are likely to seek treatment for urgent health needs if they are unable to afford health insurance. The agency says it may not be able to continue subsidizing the cost of insurance premiums for the refugees due to its tight budget. The agency notes this year’s UNHCR funding appeal of $97 million is only 7% funded.
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The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Wednesday a clinical trial was under way to determine the risk of allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer. A press release from the NIH says the trial will determine whether people are highly allergic to the vaccine or have a disorder that puts them at an increased risk for an immediate, systemic allergic reaction to the vaccine. While the vaccines are considered safe, several rare allergic reaction incidents — including serious episodes, known as anaphylaxis — have been reported in the U.S. after Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots were given. The trial will also examine the biological mechanism behind allergic reactions in the body and whether a certain genetic pattern or other factors can be used to predict high-risk recipients. FILE – A patient receives a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a CVS Pharmacy branch in Los Angeles, March 1, 2021.”The information gathered during this trial will help doctors advise people who are highly allergic or have a mast cell disorder about the risks and benefits of receiving these two vaccines. However, for most people, the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination far outweigh the risks,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH, said in the statement. NIH says a mast cell disorder is a disease caused by a type of white blood cell called a mast cell that is abnormal, overly active, or both, predisposing a person to life-threatening reactions. The Phase 2 trial, called Systemic Allergic Reactions to SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination, is sponsored and funded by NIAID. The vaccines used in the trial are provided by the program led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Defense that develops COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. The study will include 3,400 adults ages 18 to 69 at up to 35 academic allergy research centers nationwide.
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“Cambodia Burning,” a documentary by filmmaker Sean Gallagher, throws light on the effect Cambodia’s unfettered logging has had on the country’s forest ecosystem. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke to the award-winning filmmaker
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Scores of Cameroonians with kidney failure and their relatives have blocked traffic since Monday around a Yaoundé hospital to protest a shortage of dialysis treatment. Cameroon authorities blame administrative procedures and coronavirus disruptions for slowing the import of dialysis machines and medicines. Traffic was at a standstill in Yaounde’s Melen neighborhood this week as hundreds of patients with kidney failure, and their relatives, protested a halt to treatment at the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. Among the kidney patients who sat or lay on the road in front of the hospital is 54-year-old Emmanuel Pierre Essi. He says their protest began on Monday after at least seven kidney patients died within three weeks due to lack of treatment. People living with kidney failure being treated at Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Essi says he and many of his peers may die after missing at least six sessions of hemodialysis for the past two weeks. He says the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital has only five hemodialysis machines for over 160 patients. Essi says old age and overuse have crumbled the machines and patients who need four hours of dialysis per session, now take seven hours to filter and purify their blood in the dialysis machine. He says kidney patients also lack hemodialysis kits and dialysis fluid. Cameroonian health officials are pleading with the patients to halt their protest while the government tries to fix the problems. The government says that since the coronavirus pandemic began last year, it has been unable to import dialysis equipment and medicine from suppliers abroad due to travel restrictions and the economic slowdown. Felicien Ntone, deputy director of the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital, says kidney patients who become critical will be transferred to other dialysis centers. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)The hospital’s deputy director, Felicien Ntone, says officials are trying to secure the equipment needed for dialysis treatment. He says Cameroon and its suppliers in Europe and China are examining the best possible ways to speed the shipment of dialysis kits and dialysis machine spare parts to Cameroon. Ntone says the government has agreed to urgently release funds for the purchase of hemodialysis kits. Ntone says kidney patients who become critical will be transferred to other dialysis centers.He says hospitals are negotiating with the government to allow the buying of medicines and equipment without passing through a long procurement process. Meanwhile, on the third day of the demonstration, some of the protesters are refusing to back down. Yaoundé University student Donald Yaje’s parent has kidney failure. Yaje vows to keep protesting until the government provides the needed treatment. “We cannot be indifferent while our relatives are dying,” he said. “We want the government to look for a way of importing equipment instead of always complaining that the coronavirus has [imposed] restrictions to the shipment of goods from Europe. They should not forget kidney patients while struggling to stop corona.” Patients undergoing dialysis treatment at Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Cameroonian health authorities say the country has about 2,500 patients with acute kidney infections, up from 400 in 2012. There are about seven towns in Cameroon with dialysis centers, with five dialysis machines at each. Yaoundé has two such centers — the largest with 20 dialysis machines. But health authorities acknowledge they are often not working as a result of overuse and poor power supply.
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The race is on between COVID-19 vaccinations and the continuing evolution of coronavirus variants that threaten to undermine them.As vaccination ramps up in the United States and cases decline, people are letting their guard down, including those who are not vaccinated.But public health experts are urging people not to let loose just yet.The virus is not done evolving, they note. Some variants have already emerged with traits that weaken the protection the vaccines provide against the virus. The more it spreads, the more chances it has to get better at ducking the vaccines’ defenses.FILE – In this Jan. 26, 2021 file photo, arriving passengers walk past a sign in the arrivals area at Heathrow Airport in London, during England’s third national lockdown since the coronavirus outbreak began.Power of vaccinationSo far, the vaccines are proving their worth.Until recently, the only results available were from tightly controlled clinical trials. Now that the vaccines are rolling out, real-world studies are rolling in.”You’re always worried, if you start giving these doses, if they’re not handled right, et cetera, et cetera, will they function as well? And yes, they have,” said University of Michigan School of Public Health epidemiologist Arnold Monto, who chairs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s advisory committee for COVID-19 vaccines.The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were 90% effective in preventing any kind of infection, with or without symptoms, in a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study of health care and other front-line workers. They even provided 80% effectiveness after just one dose.Another CDC study of nursing home residents, who are among the most vulnerable to serious illness and death from COVID-19, found that just the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine gave 63% protection. The elderly have been hit hardest by COVID-19. More than 80% of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States have been among people over age 65, according to the CDC. Now that more than half of all senior citizens have received at least one dose of vaccine, deaths and hospitalizations are down sharply nationwide.”It’s good news with regard to the power of vaccination,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters on Monday.But the number of people under 50 hospitalized with COVID-19 has ticked up in recent weeks as cases have increased, she noted.People wear masks on their faces before taking a taxi on a major thoroughfare in Casablanca, Morocco, April 6, 2021. Moroccan authorities have announced the discovery of a new local variant of the coronavirus and extended a nighttime curfew.Fourth wave?Pandemic fatigue, improving weather and loosening government restrictions have led to an increase in infections and a sense of deja vu among experts.”There is a lot of concern that we’re not doing the things that we should be in order to keep this virus in check,” said epidemiologist Jeffrey Shaman at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.Walensky told reporters last week that she felt a sense of “impending doom” over the direction the trends were headed.Some experts are concerned that a fourth wave of infections is starting, driven by more infectious variants of the virus.While most models do not show a spike of the magnitude of previous ones the United States experienced, “there are signs that the decline [in cases] is slowing,” said Michael Li, part of the COVID Analytics group at the MIT Operations Research Center. “So, we’re sort of ending back into a plateau stage again.”What especially concerns scientists, however, is that the longer the virus circulates, the more chances it has to mutate into a more dangerous form.Global variantsThe variant that first appeared in South Africa is perhaps the most concerning so far. It contains an array of mutations that allows the virus to evade the immune system better than the original strain. In a clinical trial, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was 57% effective in South Africa, compared to 72% in the United States, where this variant was not common. On the plus side, it was 85% effective against the most severe cases in all locations.AstraZeneca’s vaccine fared even worse against the South African variant. It was only 10% effective against mild-to-moderate cases, though severe cases were not studied. Another strain, first spotted in Brazil, spreads faster and also seems to be able to infect some people who had already been infected before. Another, recently reported from Tanzania, contains the most mutations recorded so far, including many of the same ones as the South African variant. Not all worrisome variants are found overseas. Two strains found in California are on the CDC’s list of variants of concern, and two identified in New York are also of interest. They have some of the same mutations as the South African and Brazilian variants. Antibody treatments do not work against them.”We’re in a bit of an arms race,” Columbia’s Shaman said. “We’re going to have to make new treatments, new monoclonal antibodies, new variants of the vaccine, potentially, if we see more and more of these variants arising.”And the more the virus spreads, he said, the more variants will arise.
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A clinical trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine involving young children and teenagers has been halted by Oxford researchers as British drug regulators conduct a safety review of the two-shot regimen.The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency are looking into a possible link between the vaccine and blood clots across the world, including several European countries. So far, there have only been 30 cases of blood clots out of 18 million doses administered across the European continent, including seven fatalities. Most of the cases were diagnosed as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, which are clots that drain blood from the brain and can lead to strokes. Marco Cavaleri, the head of vaccines for the European Medicines Agency, told an Italian newspaper Tuesday the agency was prepared to confirm a link between the troubled vaccine and blood clots, but the EMA issued a statement to Agence France-Presse denying those claims, saying it expected to announce its findings either Wednesday or Thursday. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has had a troubled rollout across the world, initially because of a lack of information from its late-stage clinical trials on its effect on older people, which has slowed vaccination efforts throughout Europe. Many nations stopped administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because of the blood clotting incidents. Britain adds Moderna vaccineMeanwhile, Britain is adding the highly successful Moderna two-shot vaccine to its immunization campaign beginning Wednesday in Wales. The Moderna vaccine is the third approved for use in Britain after the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech versions. A nurse holds a vial of the Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at the Glangwili General Hospital in Carmarthen, Wales, Britain, April 7, 2021. (Jacob King/Pool via Reuters)The 17 million doses of the Moderna vaccine ordered by Britain comes as it deals with a shortfall of doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine due to manufacturing issues. COVID impact on brainA new study published Wednesday in the medical journal Lancet Psychiatry has found that 34 percent of COVID-19 survivors suffer from either a neurological or psychiatric conditions within six months of infection. An analysis of more than 230,000 patients revealed that 17 percent were diagnosed with anxiety, with 14 percent suffering from mood disorders. The researchers also found that COVID-19 survivors were at 44 percent greater risk of suffering from neurological and psychiatric illness compared with people recovering from flu, and at 16 percent greater risk than people suffering from other respiratory tract infections.
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The race is on between COVID-19 vaccinations and the continuing evolution of coronavirus variants that threaten to undermine them.As vaccination ramps up in the United States and cases decline, people are letting their guard down, including those who are not vaccinated.But public health experts are urging people not to let loose just yet.The virus is not done evolving, they note. Some variants have already emerged with traits that weaken the protection the vaccines provide against the virus. The more it spreads, the more chances it has to get better at ducking the vaccines’ defenses.FILE – In this Jan. 26, 2021 file photo, arriving passengers walk past a sign in the arrivals area at Heathrow Airport in London, during England’s third national lockdown since the coronavirus outbreak began.Power of vaccinationSo far, the vaccines are proving their worth.Until recently, the only results available were from tightly controlled clinical trials. Now that the vaccines are rolling out, real-world studies are rolling in.”You’re always worried, if you start giving these doses, if they’re not handled right, et cetera, et cetera, will they function as well? And yes, they have,” said University of Michigan School of Public Health epidemiologist Arnold Monto, who chairs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s advisory committee for COVID-19 vaccines.The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were 90% effective in preventing any kind of infection, with or without symptoms, in a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study of health care and other front-line workers. They even provided 80% effectiveness after just one dose.Another CDC study of nursing home residents, who are among the most vulnerable to serious illness and death from COVID-19, found that just the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine gave 63% protection. The elderly have been hit hardest by COVID-19. More than 80% of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States have been among people over age 65, according to the CDC. Now that more than half of all senior citizens have received at least one dose of vaccine, deaths and hospitalizations are down sharply nationwide.”It’s good news with regard to the power of vaccination,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters on Monday.But the number of people under 50 hospitalized with COVID-19 has ticked up in recent weeks as cases have increased, she noted.People wear masks on their faces before taking a taxi on a major thoroughfare in Casablanca, Morocco, April 6, 2021. Moroccan authorities have announced the discovery of a new local variant of the coronavirus and extended a nighttime curfew.Fourth wave?Pandemic fatigue, improving weather and loosening government restrictions have led to an increase in infections and a sense of deja vu among experts.”There is a lot of concern that we’re not doing the things that we should be in order to keep this virus in check,” said epidemiologist Jeffrey Shaman at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.Walensky told reporters last week that she felt a sense of “impending doom” over the direction the trends were headed.Some experts are concerned that a fourth wave of infections is starting, driven by more infectious variants of the virus.While most models do not show a spike of the magnitude of previous ones the United States experienced, “there are signs that the decline [in cases] is slowing,” said Michael Li, part of the COVID Analytics group at the MIT Operations Research Center. “So, we’re sort of ending back into a plateau stage again.”What especially concerns scientists, however, is that the longer the virus circulates, the more chances it has to mutate into a more dangerous form.Global variantsThe variant that first appeared in South Africa is perhaps the most concerning so far. It contains an array of mutations that allows the virus to evade the immune system better than the original strain. In a clinical trial, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was 57% effective in South Africa, compared to 72% in the United States, where this variant was not common. On the plus side, it was 85% effective against the most severe cases in all locations.AstraZeneca’s vaccine fared even worse against the South African variant. It was only 10% effective against mild-to-moderate cases, though severe cases were not studied. Another strain, first spotted in Brazil, spreads faster and also seems to be able to infect some people who had already been infected before. Another, recently reported from Tanzania, contains the most mutations recorded so far, including many of the same ones as the South African variant. Not all worrisome variants are found overseas. Two strains found in California are on the CDC’s list of variants of concern, and two identified in New York are also of interest. They have some of the same mutations as the South African and Brazilian variants. Antibody treatments do not work against them.”We’re in a bit of an arms race,” Columbia’s Shaman said. “We’re going to have to make new treatments, new monoclonal antibodies, new variants of the vaccine, potentially, if we see more and more of these variants arising.”And the more the virus spreads, he said, the more variants will arise.
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As the U.S. nears reaching its goal of vaccinating 200 million Americans by the end of April, the Biden administration is taking more steps toward helping other nations by appointing a coordinator for its global COVID-19 response. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
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The political dispute over a new election law in the southern state of Georgia has broadened into a debate over whether the United States should participate in a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price acknowledged the U.S. will discuss with allies whether to jointly boycott the games to protest Beijing’s repression of minorities and major human rights abuses. “A coordinated approach will be not only in our interest but also in the interest of our allies and partners,” he told reporters at a daily briefing. But he stressed that no final decision has been reached. The administration signaled a willingness to consider such a move shortly after conservative Republicans demanded that President Joe Biden justify U.S. participation in the games. The Republican lawmakers were annoyed with Biden’s support for a protest against the Georgia law, including Major League Baseball’s decision to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, and claimed the administration was being hypocritical by not boycotting the Olympics. Staff members sit near a board with signs of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, at the National Aquatics Center, known colloquially as the “Ice Cube”, in Beijing, China, April 1, 2021.Activists around the world have been demanding that countries boycott the Beijing Games to protest the country’s domestic policies, including what the U.S. State Department has called the “genocide” of Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang province and its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. While there has been some discussion of the possibility of the U.S. boycotting the Winter Olympics or limiting participation, the issue hasn’t had much salience until now. There appears to be a growing effort to change that after Biden said in an interview last week with the sports television channel ESPN that he would back Major League Baseball’s decision to move its annual All-Star Game out of Georgia in response to the state’s new election statute. Voter suppression claims In the wake of surprising Democratic victories in the general election and in two Senate runoff elections — the latter of which gave Democrats complete control of Congress — Georgia’s heavily Republican legislature passed a raft of measures changing the state’s voting laws. While there is debate about how restrictive the rules are, the general consensus is that some elements of the law will make it more difficult to vote in the state’s urban areas, which are racially diverse and skew Democratic, and will widen access in rural and predominantly white areas that favor Republicans. Widespread anger at the law’s impact on minority voters was led in part by highly visible professional athletes. So last week, when Biden sat down for the ESPN interview, he was asked his opinion on what was then only the possibility that Major League Baseball would move the All-Star Game. “I think today’s professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly,” Biden said. “I would strongly support them doing that.” FILE – Ground crews work at Sun Trust Park, now known as Truist Park, in Atlanta, Oct. 7, 2018. Truist Park lost the 2021 All-Star Game on April 2, when Major League Baseball moved the game over the objections to Georgia’s new election law.Two days later, when the league announced it would shift the All-Star Game out of Atlanta to Denver, Colorado, the condemnation on the political right was swift. Amid the complaints about “cancel culture” and “wokeness,” a number of conservative commentators and elected officials coalesced around the demand that Biden justify U.S. participation in the Olympics, given the Chinese government’s treatment of its own people. “When Joe Biden decides to boycott the Olympics in China, where the Communist Chinese regime is committing genocide, then he can weigh in on Georgia,” Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee wrote on Twitter. “We can’t wait to see what the U.S. President is going to say about China’s voting rules,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote. “There are no lines at polling places in the Middle Kingdom, because there are no polling places, no absentee ballot controversies because there are no ballots. … Perhaps Mr. Biden can compare the voting rules in Georgia to those in the re-education camps in Xinjiang province.” The Journal’s editors say they do not support a boycott, even as they demand Biden explain why he isn’t calling for one. Backing for boycottHowever, there has also been a chorus of opposition to full U.S. participation in the Beijing Games among conservative lawmakers for several years. Recommended actions have included everything from a full-blown boycott to a more limited “diplomatic boycott” that would see a junior member of the Biden administration heading the U.S. delegation to the games, rather than the president or vice president. Last month, Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, who was president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, called for a combined economic and diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter games. In a New York Times op-ed, he wrote, “Let us demonstrate our repudiation of China’s abuses in a way that will hurt the Chinese Communist Party rather than our American athletes: reduce China’s revenues, shut down their propaganda, and expose their abuses.” Athletes take part in a curling competition held as a test event for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, at the National Aquatics Center, in Beijing, China, April 1, 2021.Jules Boykoff, a professor of political science at Pacific University and author of four books about the politics of the Olympics, said, “A lot of the arguments for boycotting the games, or moving them, have actually emerged out of Republican circles. (Florida Senator) Marco Rubio, for example, has been on top of it for a long time, as has (Congressman) Christopher Smith in New Jersey.” Boykoff said there has been some Democratic support as well. “Here in the United States, China has become sort of an all-purpose, bipartisan political punching bag. And so, Democrats also have been speaking out a lot about China in general, and then more recently about this idea of the possibility of boycotting the Olympics. So, there’s bipartisan support for considering the possibility.” Full boycott unlikely Some experts, however, believe there is little likelihood of anything more than the limited diplomatic boycott taking place. Victor A. Matheson, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Boston who studies the economics of sports, said that historically, Olympic boycotts have been very unpopular within the country doing the boycotting because “athletes lose the opportunity to compete, and in many sports, this is your only opportunity to monetize your perhaps decades of work.” He added, “I would be very surprised if we boycotted. It would be, I think, very politically difficult for Biden, mainly because so many Americans, their hearts really do go out to the athletes themselves, who would miss this opportunity.” But the fact that the discussion is taking place might be a sign that in the future, human rights abuses could become a major consideration when international organizations are considering bids to host major events. Boykoff said Major League Baseball’s actions in Georgia and the calls to boycott the Beijing Games might be part of a larger trend. While the complexities of derailing the Winter Olympics are orders of magnitude greater than those of moving a single baseball game, he said, he sees them as part of a “larger zeitgeist.”
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From a distance, it looks like college kids in sweat clothes tossing a football around on a campus green space. Draw closer, and it’s apparent this is no sandlot game. A coach is explaining routes he wants receivers to run on a play he calls “Bingo.” Then he tells his quarterbacks to make quicker decisions. Next, he demonstrates how a receiver in motion sets up as a blocker next to the center and the running back takes a handoff and heads for a hole that should open on the left side. The women Jaison Jones is coaching listen intently and ask lots of questions. More than half showed up at Midland University from faraway places to continue playing the growing sport of flag football at the 1,600-student school in a town of 26,000 nestled in the farmland of eastern Nebraska. Ottawa University women’s flag football team cheers before an NAIA flag football game against Midland University in Ottawa, Kan., March 26, 2021.Allison Maulfair and Spencer Mauk were teammates at their high school in Bradenton, Florida, a state where a nation-high 7,700 girls at 278 schools play varsity flag football. Jones recruited them at summer showcase, and after Maulfair and Mauk made the 1,500-mile drive to Fremont for a visit, they decided it was where they wanted to be. “I’m just really passionate about this sport,” Maulfair said. “I fell in love with it my freshman year of high school and haven’t stopped loving it. It doesn’t matter where I’m at. It just matters playing the game with great people, really.” E’leseana Patterson figured she was done with flag football after she quarterbacked her Las Vegas high school team to a state championship in 2019. Her plan was to stay home, help her mom and take classes at UNLV. On a lark, she went to a showcase in Vegas and ended up impressing Jones. She took a virtual campus tour and knew she wanted to be part of what was happening at Midland, as did four other players she competed against in high school. “Once my mom saw someone wanted me to play the sport I love, she was like, ‘Go,’ ” Patterson said. “I took the chance and came out here. I’d never heard of Midland University. I heard of Nebraska, I heard of Omaha. Not Fremont.” Ottawa quarterback Madysen Carrera passes to a teammate while pressured by a Midland defender during an NAIA flag football game in Ottawa, Kan., March 26, 2021.Women’s flag football is in its first year of competition in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The NAIA entered a partnership with the NFL and Reigning Champs Experiences, which operates flag football programs across the country. It’s classified as an emerging sport, meaning there’s no NAIA-sponsored championship. Championship status is achieved once there are 40 programs, a threshold flag football could reach in two or three years. The National Junior College Athletic Association recently announced a similar partnership with the NFL and Reigning Champs and intend to start games in spring 2022. The sport is played seven on seven on a field 80 yards long and 40 yards wide. There are four 12-minute quarters. It’s 20 yards instead of 10 for a first down. All players are eligible receivers. Players are “tackled” when a defender pulls one of the three flags attached to the ball carrier’s belt. Midland and 12 other small schools received $15,000 in seed money from the NFL. That’s about half of what it costs per year to operate a program, according to the NAIA, but doesn’t include cost of scholarships. Midland offers 33 sports and more than 70% of its students are athletes. The Warriors have 14 flag football players, and all pay more in tuition than they receive in scholarship aid. Athletic director Dave Gillespie said he expects a strong return on investment. “You’re talking about kids who love playing the sport and probably didn’t think they would have the opportunity to combine it with getting a college degree,” Gillespie said. “I think that’s a strong pull.” The 40-year-old Jones, the Midland coach, played small-college football in Kansas and is defensive coordinator for an Omaha women’s semipro tackle football team in the summer. His day job is general manager for a pest control company. Ottawa quarterback Madysen Carrera (21) is tackled by Midland defender Casey Thompson, left, during an NAIA flag football game in Ottawa, Kan., March 26, 2021.”The sport is going to flourish more than what people think,” Jones said. “I was in Tampa for a showcase about a month ago and there were about 1,500 girls there. You come back to the Midwest and people question you, like, ‘Girls play flag football in college? Is that a thing?’ ” In addition to Florida and Nevada, Jones recruited two players from Alaska. Four Nebraskans also are on the team. “There’s still work to be done, a lot of work getting girls to come in,” Jones said. “It’s a continuous grind to get the program where I want it to be and to have a winning program.” Florida has by far the most girls playing flag football, followed by Nevada (1,900) and California (660), according to the most recent participation numbers provided to the National Federation of State High School Associations. From 2013-18, high school participation increased 27%, to more than 11,000. Midland is 4-7 after a 34-13 home loss to Ottawa University of Kansas last Friday, a better showing than the 39-0 loss to the Braves a week earlier. Ottawa is 7-1 and among the best of the new programs. Only one of the Braves’ 21 players is from Kansas, and their coaches are former San Francisco 49ers assistant Katy Sowers and her sister, head coach Liz Sowers. The competitiveness of games varies. Ottawa beat Milligan (Tennessee) 84-0 but lost 26-25 to Keiser (Florida). Midland has won 88-0 and lost 52-0. Midland receiver-linebacker Casey Thompson, who grew up 30 miles away in Omaha, played basketball two years at Midland before she decided to try football for the first time this spring. “You have some players who are high-level players,” she said, “and then there’s the other ones who aren’t quite up there.” Thompson said she couldn’t imagine doing what many of her teammates did — move across the country to attend a small college, sight unseen in most cases, and play flag football. Maulfair, the receiver and cornerback from Florida, said the pull of the sport was too strong. Her parents and siblings weren’t going to hold her back. “They didn’t know where I was going to go,” Maulfair said, “but once they found out I was going to commit, they were stoked.”
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A famed chess café in New York City called Chess Forum has survived the pandemic. Elena Wolf reports in this story narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Max Avloshenko
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A recent report published by the National Academy of Sciences paints a grim picture of declining diversity in ocean life. The study spanned decades, and as VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, researchers link a drop in species to a rise in ocean temperature. Camera: Reuters Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
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North Korea says it will not participate in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. The country’s sports ministry said the decision was made “in order to protect players from the world public health crisis caused by COVID-19,” in a statement dated Monday. If North Korea follows through with the decision, it would be the first time it has skipped an Olympics since 1988, when the games were in Seoul. It is the first country to pull out of this year’s Tokyo games. The Tokyo games have been delayed a year due to the coronavirus but are set to begin July 23 with strict virus-prevention measures in place. North Korea, which is particularly vulnerable to disease outbreaks, has imposed perhaps the world’s most stringent coronavirus prevention measures. For more than a year, the country has attempted to almost completely seal its borders and has implemented even stricter than usual domestic travel restrictions. North Korea insists its border restrictions have succeeded in keeping the virus out of the country — a claim largely dismissed by experts. Some Korea watchers express concern Pyongyang will use the pandemic to extend its draconian restrictions indefinitely to impose greater control on the population. North Korea has one of the world’s poorest countries, observers say, and does not have adequate health infrastructure. The coronavirus lockdown made things worse, with reports emerging of food and medicine shortages. Cherry blossom flowers bloom outside the Japan National Stadium, where opening and closing ceremonies and other events for Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be held, as a guard stands along the fence Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)Impact on diplomacy The North’s decision to skip the Tokyo Olympics suggests the lockdown will not end anytime soon. But experts say Pyongyang could reverse its decision. “This seems as much a political decision designed to snub/pressure Tokyo & Seoul as much as it is a public health concern,” tweeted Jean Lee, Director of the Korea Program at The Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.Has any other country announced it would skip #Tokyo2020 Olympics? This seems as much a political decision designed to snub/pressure Tokyo & Seoul as much as it is a public health concern.https://t.co/rzvlS1ZL60— Jean H. Lee (@newsjean) April 6, 2021South Korea had proposed using the summer games as a catalyst for renewed sports diplomacy between the two Koreas. Such a strategy has worked in the past. In 2018, Seoul successfully converted inter-Korean sports cooperation at the Winter Olympics into a series of North-South meetings, which eventually led to talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump. Those talks have now been stalled for more than a year. North Korea said last month it considers any talks a “waste of time” unless the United States changes its approach. South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, leader of the country’s Democratic Party, has less than a year in office and is willing to resume talks with North Korea.North Korea Tops Agenda for US-Japan-South Korea MeetingDiscussions about Pyongyang follow recent provocative missile tests it conducted Some in South Korea are pushing for South and North Korea to jointly host the 2032 Olympic games, though it is far from clear whether Pyongyang would accept.
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Haiti does not have a single vaccine to offer its more than 11 million people over a year after the pandemic began, raising concerns among health experts that the well-being of Haitians is being pushed aside as violence and political instability across the country deepen.So far, Haiti is slated to receive only 756,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through a United Nations program aimed at ensuring the neediest countries get COVID-19 shots. The free doses were scheduled to arrive in May at the latest, but delays are expected because Haiti missed a deadline and the key Indian manufacturer is now prioritizing an increase in domestic demand.
“Haiti has only recently completed some of the essential documentation that are prerequisites for processing of a shipping order,” said Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a Geneva-based public-private partnership that is co-managing the U.N.-backed COVAX effort.
The country also didn’t apply for a pilot program in which it would have received some of its allotted doses early, according to the Pan American Health Organization. However, a spokeswoman commended its other pandemic efforts, including reinforcing hospital preparedness.
Meanwhile, a human rights research center cited in a new U.S. State Department report found Haiti’s government misappropriated more than $1 million worth of coronavirus aid. The report also accused government officials of spending $34 million in the “greatest opacity,” bypassing an agency charged with approving state contracts.
Lauré Adrien, general director of Haiti’s Health Ministry, blamed the vaccine delay on scrutiny of the AstraZeneca shots and concerns that the country lacks the necessary infrastructure to ensure proper vaccine storage, adding that his agency prefers a single-dose vaccine. AstraZeneca requires two doses.
“It’s no secret that we don’t have excellent conservation facilities,” he said. “We wanted to be sure that we had all the parameters under control before we received vaccine stocks.”
Adrien also noted all the money his agency received has been properly spent, but said he could not speak for other agencies. A presidential spokesman did not return calls for comment.
Many poorer countries have experienced long waits in getting COVAX vaccines as richer countries snapped up supplies, though most have received at least an initial shipment. Some took matters into their own hands, securing shots through donations and private deals.
Haiti’s lack of vaccines comes as it reports more than 12,700 cases and 250 deaths, numbers that experts believe are underreported.
Perceptions also remain a big challenge.In this March 14, 2020 file photo, boxes of rum are stacked as a duty free employee wears a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic while working at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.While face masks remain mandatory at Haiti businesses, airport closures and curfews have long since been lifted, and other precautions are rare.
“People don’t really believe in the coronavirus,” said Esther Racine, a 26-year-old mother of two boys whose father died in the catastrophic 2010 earthquake.
Racine once worked as a maid but began selling face masks at the beginning of the pandemic, making brisk business with some 800 sales a month. Now, she barely sells 200.
“Look around,” she said, waving at a maskless crowd bustling around her in downtown Port-au-Prince. The only customers nowadays are those who need a mask to enter a nearby grocery store, she said, adding that Haitians have other problems on their mind: “People worry more about violence than the virus.”
Ongoing protests and a spike in kidnappings and gang-related killings have some wondering how any vaccine will be administered given the lack of stability coupled with a growing number of people afraid to leave their homes.
Many also fear being inoculated, despite educational campaigns. In addition, some officials have raised concern about the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has recently come under scrutiny in Europe after a very small number of people who received it developed unusual blood clots.
“We can receive the vaccine and then discover with a heavy heart that the stocks expired a couple of months later because no one wanted to be vaccinated,” Adrien said.
Among those in Haiti who say they will not be vaccinated is Dorcelus Perkin, a brick factory owner. On a recent morning, the 60-year-old supervised more than a dozen employees working outdoors. No one was wearing any personal protective equipment.
“We can’t wear masks in the sun. We would be suffocating,” he said, adding that the sun kills the virus, something scientists have not proven.
Perkin also credited drinking a traditional green tea mixed with salt every day for his good health: “I believe more in these remedies than the vaccines. I don’t know what’s in the inside of these vaccines.”
International groups are behind most of the resources and educational campaigns related to COVID-19 in Haiti, with the Pan American Health Organization providing the government 500 test kits, along with instruction on lab diagnosis and virus detection. It also supplied thermometers, PPE and other items including megaphones and batteries as workers fanned out into rural areas. In addition, PAHO trained more than 2,800 health workers in Haiti and met with community leaders including Voodoo priests and traditional birth attendants to share information about protective measures and treatment centers.
In May 2020, the organization’s director said she was particularly concerned about the effects of a potential large-scale outbreak given Haiti’s frail health care system and the fact that many live in overcrowded households and lack access to clean water. But perplexed experts say that anticipated outbreak has not happened.
“It’s a surprise to a lot of people,” said Aline Serin, head of mission in Haiti for the international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres. “For the moment, there is not enough research and documentation to explain why some countries were less affected by severe COVID-19 cases.”
Meanwhile, it’s unclear exactly when the country’s first vaccines, via COVAX, will arrive.
Haiti is among 92 low-income countries expected to receive them. It’s also among dozens that will be affected by last week’s announcement of a suspension of deliveries in March and April of doses made for the program by the Serum Institute of India – the world’s largest vaccine maker – amid a spike of coronavirus cases in India.
When the shots do become available, experts acknowledge it will be a struggle to get them into arms.
They would have to convince Haitians like Duperval Germain, a 55-year-old carpenter who said neither he nor his children will be getting a vaccine. He worries about falling ill from it and not being able to receive proper medical care.
“All these heads of state who have been here, any time they get sick, they all fly out of here,” he said. “If we get sick, where would we go? They can keep (the vaccines) to themselves. Use it in places that need it. Haiti doesn’t need the vaccine.”
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U.S. President Joe Biden is announcing Tuesday that every adult in the country will be eligible by April 19 to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, about two weeks earlier than his original May 1 date.
As the available supply of three vaccines expands in the U.S., Biden last week said that about 90% of U.S. adults would be eligible by the April 19 date, but he now is expanding that to all adults who want a shot in the arm.
National polls in the U.S., however, show that about 20% of adults say that for various reasons they will refuse to get vaccinated. Some have said they think it is unnecessary or that the injections could prove to be harmful, while other have expressed distrust in a government-run program.
The percentage opposed to the inoculations has declined over the last several months, as most people vaccinated have reported no or only temporary medical reactions lasting a day or so.
Biden, who was inoculated before taking office in January, is making the announcement at the White House after visiting a vaccination site in suburban Virginia outside Washington.
He is expected to make remarks on the “state of vaccinations” in the country. WATCH LIVE
The latest government figures show that more than 62 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, about 23% of the country’s adult population 18 and older. More than 107 million people have received at least one shot of the two-shot regimen required with either the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, or a smaller group of people with the single-shot doses produced by drug-maker Johnson & Johnson.
Originally, the U.S. made the vaccines available to older people and essential, front-line workers. The new eligibility date in two weeks will give all adults a chance then to schedule appointments for their shots at community health centers, pharmacies, drive-through vaccination sites in parking lots and elsewhere.
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Search and rescue efforts are underway for at least 72 people missing on several remote islands across eastern Indonesia in the wake of a tropical cyclone that struck the region last week. The torrential rains produced by Tropical Cyclone Seroja triggered flash floods and landslides that washed out bridges, downed trees and left roads thick with mud, which has complicated efforts by rescue crews to reach remote villages. At least 128 people have been killed, with thousands more displaced after their homes were damaged or destroyed. One of the worst incidents happened on Lembata island, where scores of homes were destroyed when the rains dislodged hardened lava sitting along the slopes of Mount Ili Lewotolok volcano. Tropical Cyclone Seroja also left a similar trail of destruction in neighboring East Timor, killing 27 people on the outskirts of the capital, Dili. Seasonal flash floods and landslides kill dozens annually in Indonesia. Two landslides in West Java province back in January killed 40 people. About half of the Pacific archipelago’s population, nearly 25 million people, live in areas where landslides are high-risk, according to the country’s disaster relief agency.
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