As US logs record COVID-19 deaths, UK raises concern over plan to delay second vaccine dose

The United States on Tuesday saw a record number of 3,936 COVID-19 deaths, reported news agency AFP. The situation is grim as in California, the new US epicentre, Los Angeles ambulance workers have been told to stop transporting some patients with extremely low survival chances to hospitals. They’ve also been told to limit oxygen use, as medical resources are overwhelmed.

The US, which is the worst-hit nation with over 21 million cases and over 357,000 deaths, is counting on its vaccination campaign to end the crisis.

It started vaccinating people in December but has inoculated just 2% of its population.

Israel, on the other hand, has vaccinated 13.5% of its people but was reprimanded by Amnesty International for failing to provide coronavirus vaccine doses to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

The United Kingdom, which entered a strict lockdown on Tuesday, is witnessing the spread of a new strain of coronavirus, which experts believe is more contagious than the original strain, first reported in Wuhan, China.

Also read: COVID-19 vaccines may not work on South African coronavirus variant: UK scientists

“It’s just exasperating because I don’t know if people can just go that extra mile another six weeks with this lockdown. It’s just crazy,” Alex, a 65-year-old London resident, told AFP.

A senior government minister has warned the lockdown could last into March.

Raising concerns among experts, UK and Denmark have said they will wait for longer than the recommended 21-28 days between the Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 jabs so that they can immunise more people. 

But World Health Organization experts on Tuesday gave cautious backing “in exceptional circumstances” to delaying the second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Denmark and Germany also extended and increased coronavirus measures on Tuesday, as concerns grew about the surge on the continent and the European Union falling behind other advanced nations in its vaccination drive.

There are hopes the bloc’s medical regulator will authorise the Moderna vaccine when it reconvenes on Wednesday. It had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech shot last month.

Limited supplies are a major hurdle for nations trying to accelerate their rollouts.

Meanwhile, in a rare castigation of China, the World Health Organisation (WHO) complained that the country was blocking the entry of its experts’ team to study the origins of the pandemic.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “very disappointed” with the last-minute bar on entry.

Also read: China vaccinates over 73,000 in COVID-19 inoculation drive

The spikes in caseloads around the world have disrupted the few entertainment and sports events that had managed to resume after shutdowns earlier in the pandemic.

The English Premier League, one of the world’s most-watched football competitions, said a record 40 players and staff have tested positive in the last two rounds of testing, but insisted the football season will continue.

And spectators at Australia’s showpiece Boxing Day cricket Test against India in Melbourne were warned they must get tested and isolate after a fan at the stadium tested positive.

The Grammy music awards, slated for January 31 in Los Angeles, were also postponed until March over the COVID-19 situation in California.