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 Pfizer vaccine reduces transmission after one dose
A single dose of Pfizer and BioNtech's COVID-19 vaccine cuts the
number of asymptomatic infections and could significantly reduce the
risk of transmission of the virus, results of a British study found.
Researchers analysed results from thousands of tests carried out
each week as part of hospital screenings of healthcare staff.
"Our findings show a dramatic reduction in the rate of positive
screening tests among asymptomatic healthcare workers after a single
dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine," said Nick Jones, an infectious
diseases specialist at Cambridge University Hospital, who co-led the
study.
Half of Israel's population has received one vaccine dose
Israel has administered at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot to 50% of
its population, while 35% have received the full two-dose course,
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Friday.
Israel counts East Jerusalem Palestinians, who have been included in
the vaccine campaign that began on Dec. 19, as part of the 9.3
million population. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the
Gaza Strip are not part of the Israeli campaign.
New York officials play down concern over new variant
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s chief medical adviser on Thursday played down
the results of two studies suggesting that a new coronavirus variant
found in New York City in November will be more resistant to
vaccines now being administered.
Dr. Jay Varma said it was premature to infer from laboratory results
how effective the vaccines would be on the variant, echoing concerns
of other scientists who questioned why preliminary studies are given
to the media ahead of academics.
“We really don't know enough about human immunity to draw those
direct conclusions,” Varma said at a briefing along with the mayor.
“That's why we do clinical trials. That's where we collect data
continuously.”
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 France needs amother lockdown,
says hospital official France
should impose a new national lockdown given the increase in COVID-19
cases and the longer it waits, the higher the death toll will be,
the head of the emergencies unit at a Paris hospital said on Friday.
The government said on Thursday that a new lockdown was not on the
agenda and it would see next week if local weekend lockdowns would
be needed in 20 areas considered very worrying, including Paris and
the surrounding region.
"I do not understand what we are waiting for," Philippe Juvin from
the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in the capital told BFM TV,
adding that the situation at hospitals in the Paris area was very
tense.
Get a COVID shot, says Queen Elizabeth
Britain's 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth, who last month had her first
vaccination dose, has encouraged the public to follow suit, saying
it did not hurt and those who were wary should think of others.
The monarch and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip received their
shots from a household doctor at Windsor Castle, with their age
putting them in the priority group for England’s vaccine rollout.
"Once you've had a vaccine you have a feeling of, you know, you're
protected which I think is very important and as far as I could make
out it was quite harmless," the queen said in a video call with
health officials.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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