(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the pandemic right now:
Shanghai vows to improve food deliveries as discontent grows over COVID curbs
The Shanghai government said on Thursday it was trying its best to improve the distribution of food and essential goods to locked-in residents, responding to growing public discontent as COVID curbs stretched into an 11th day.
China’s financial hub has fallen largely silent after the city imposed harsh curbs under the country’s “zero tolerance” policy, with only healthcare workers, volunteers, delivery personnel or people with special permission allowed on the streets.
German parliament rejects mandatory vaccines
Germany’s lower house of parliament on Thursday voted against a law compelling anyone over 60 years of age to get a vaccination against COVID in a defeat for Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Germany’s vaccination campaign is faltering with around 76.6% of Germany’s population having received at least one dose – lower than in other western European countries such as France, Italy or Spain, where the figures are 81.4%, 84.4% and 86.9% respectively.
No evidence to support widespread use of fourth COVID shot – EU agencies
EU health agencies said on Wednesday there was no evidence to support the use of a fourth dose of COVID vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna in the general population, but they recommend a second booster for people aged 80 and above.
That recommendation came a week after European health ministers urged the bloc’s executive to back a fourth shot for people over 60 to boost immunity in the absence of vaccines that specifically protect against the Omicron variant.
COVID cases falling in Americas, but risk of further surges remains
Infections and deaths have dropped across most countries and territories in the Americas over the past few weeks but the risk of further surges cannot be ignored as restrictions are relaxed and 240 million people remain unvaccinated, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.
“Many countries and territories in the Americas have scaled back public health measures, and some have done so prematurely,” PAHO director Carissa Etienne said, noting that case counts have risen recently in places that rely on tourism, especially in parts of North America and the Caribbean where vaccination coverage is low.
U.S. FDA aims to decide on strain selection for COVID boosters by June
Top U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials on Wednesday said the agency is aiming to decide by June whether to change the design of COVID vaccines in order to combat future variants, even if it does not have all the necessary information to measure their effectiveness.
“We’re going to have to think about this in a way that is less than optimal because we’re not going to have all the data that we’d like to have,” Peter Marks, director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said at a meeting of the agency’s scientific advisers to discuss the issue.
COVID crashes Washington’s reopening
As Washington emerges from its COVID cocoon, with tourists returning to the U.S. Capitol and officials attending a white-tie party that had been scotched for the past two years, the coronavirus is again stalking the halls of power.
At least a half-dozen senior officials, including members of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet and lawmakers, have tested positive for COVID in recent days, even as caseloads drop across the country.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes;Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
