ABC news: Multilingual women are countering vaccine hesitancy in Victoria's culturally diverse communities
In an effort to improve communication and address vaccine misinformation within culturally diverse communities, the Victorian Department of Health has partnered with the Multicultural Centre for Women's Health and other women's health organisations to deliver a range of information in various languages. Multilingual health educators will be actively engaging within the community by doorknocking public housing, holding online education sessions and answering questions about COVID-19 vaccines, the virus and other health related issues.
To read more about this program follow the link below:
The Guardian: Vaccinate vulnerable global poor before children in rich countries, WHO says
The World Health Organization's director-general, Tedros Adhanom, has urged wealthy countries to donate COVID-19 vaccines to poorer nations.
Of the 1.4 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered globally, 44% of those have been administered in high-income countries. Only 0.3% of vaccines have reached the 29 lowest income countries, where 9% of the world's population call home. The WHO has warned that this inequity in vaccine access could result in 2021 experiencing more death than in the first year of the pandemic. With wealthy countries now looking to vaccinate adolescents and children, the WHO are encouraging these countries to instead donate their vaccines through कोवैक्स. This would allow poorer nations to access vaccines and protect their healthcare workers and vulnerable priority groups.
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The Guardian: Vaccinate vulnerable global poor before children in rich countries, WHO says
Australian Academy of Science- The Science of Immunisation: Questions and Answers
The Australian Academy of Science have released an updated edition of The Science of Immunisation- Questions and Answers. This resource has been developed to assist in the understanding of the scientific processes behind vaccination and to encourage trust in vaccines for COVID-19 and other diseases.
Topics include:
- What is immunisation?
- What is in a vaccine?
- Who benefits from vaccines?
- Are vaccines safe?
- What does the future hold for vaccination?
You can view this resource online via the following link:
Australian Academy of Science- The Science of Immunisation: Questions and Answers
Provisional determination granted to Pfizer in relation to COVID 19 vaccine, COMIRNATY - for use in individuals 12 years of age and older
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has granted provisional determination to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty™ as part of an application process to lower the approved age limit of vaccine administration from 16 years and above, to individuals aged 12 years and above.
Provisional determination is the first step in the provisional registration pathway. The provisional pathway for registration provides a formal and transparent mechanism for speeding up the registration of promising new medicines based on preliminary clinical data. Having provisional determination does not mean that provisional registration will be granted.
अधिक पढ़ने के लिए नीचे दिए गए लिंक का अनुसरण करें:
nature: COVID vaccines and kids- five questions as trials begin
With a number of COVID-19 vaccine trials now focusing on paediatric populations across various age groups, specific factors need to be considered.
The following article explores issues such as the consent process for paediatric involvment, the robust immune responses of children, and monitoring for signs of exacerbated immune responses and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.
Whilst severe COVID-19 disease in children is rare, the immunisation of children against COVID-19 disease will play an important role in achieving herd immunity.
To read more, please read the article below:
nature: COVID vaccines and kids: five questions as trials begin
NEJM: Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 Variants
The following article, published in the NEJM, assessed the vaccine efficacy of Comirnaty™ (BNT162b2) in Qatar where the predominant circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2 were the UK and South African variants.
By extracting information from the national COVID-19 databases, vaccine effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 (UK) strain was estimated at 89.5%, and 75.0% against the B.1.351 (South African) strain. Vaccine effectiveness against severe disease caused by infection with either variant strain was 97.4%.
For more information on these results refer to the link below:
NEJM: Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 Variants
ऑस्ट्रेलिया मॉडर्ना टीकों को सुरक्षित करता है
ऑस्ट्रेलियाई सरकार ने मॉडर्न COVID-19 वैक्सीन की 25 मिलियन खुराक की आपूर्ति सुनिश्चित कर ली है। यह समझौता मौजूदा मॉडर्न वैक्सीन फॉर्मूलेशन (10 मिलियन डोज) के साथ-साथ वैक्सीन के वैरिएंट-विशिष्ट संस्करणों (15 मिलियन डोज) तक पहुंच की अनुमति देगा ताकि दीर्घकालिक प्रतिरक्षा और उभरते SARS-CoV-2 वेरिएंट की आवश्यकता को पूरा किया जा सके।
नैदानिक परीक्षण के परिणामों ने प्रदर्शित किया है कि मॉडर्न वैक्सीन में गंभीर COVID-19 रोग के खिलाफ 100% प्रभावकारिता है, साथ ही दूसरी खुराक के कम से कम 6 महीने बाद 90% की लंबी अवधि की प्रभावकारिता है। ऑस्ट्रेलिया को वैक्सीन की आपूर्ति तभी शुरू होगी जब थेराप्यूटिक गुड्स एडमिनिस्ट्रेशन (टीजीए) द्वारा मंजूरी प्रदान की जाएगी।
वैक्सीन की निरंतर आपूर्ति सुनिश्चित करने के लिए ऑस्ट्रेलिया के भीतर विनिर्माण सुविधाओं की स्थापना के संबंध में मॉडर्ना के साथ भी चर्चा चल रही है।
अधिक पढ़ने के लिए नीचे दिए गए लिंक का अनुसरण करें:
ऑस्ट्रेलिया मॉडर्ना टीकों को सुरक्षित करता है
NEJM: Efficacy of NVX-CoV2373 Covid-19 Vaccine against the B.1.351 Variant
Novavax have published preliminary phase 2a-b clinical trial results for their COVID-19 vaccine candidate (NVX-CoV2373), assessing vaccine efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 variants (B.1.351- South African strain). This vaccine candidate is a nanoparticle based vaccine containing pieces of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
In this study, participants aged between 18 and 84 years, received either a 2 dose course of the candidate vaccine or a 2 dose course of a placebo (normal saline). Approximately 30% of participants were seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 prior to commencing the trial. Among the seronegative participants, approximately 94% were HIV-negative and 6% were HIV-positive.
A vaccine efficacy of 49.4% was seen among participants who were seronegative at baseline, regardless of HIV status. In the HIV-negative cohort, vaccine efficacy was 60.1%. A history of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection did not reduce the risk of subsequent infection with the new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
To read the article and view these results in full please refer to the below link:
NEJM: Efficacy of NVX-CoV2373 Covid-19 Vaccine against the B.1.351 Variant
New resource: Australia's COVID-19 vaccine rollout
For easily accessible information relating to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the Australian Government Department of Health have created a new resource page. This page will be updated daily and describes the number of vaccine doses administered via the various providers, makes comparisons to international COVID-19 vaccine programs, and provides other sources of useful data.
To view this page please refer to the link below:
Australian Government Department of Health: Australia's COVID-19 vaccine rollout
NEJM: Preliminary Findings of mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine Safety in Pregnant Persons
Whilst there is currently limited safety data on the use of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy, immunisation in this patient group is not contraindicated. ATAGI advises that COVID-19 immunisation may be recommended after considering factors such exposure risk and underlying medical conditions.
The following study involving 35,691 pregnant participants who received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines did not show any safety signals regarding pregnancy or neonatal outcomes. Preliminary results showed that injection site pain was reported more commonly amongst pregnant women than non-pregnant women, and headache, myalgia, chills and fever were reported less commonly.
अधिक पढ़ने के लिए, नीचे दिए गए लिंक का अनुसरण करें:
NEJM: Preliminary Findings of mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine Safety in Pregnant Persons