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5 vaccinated international locations with excessive Covid charges depend on China vaccines

Five vaccinated countries with high Covid rates rely on China vaccines

Covid-19 vaccines from Chinese companies Sinopharm (left) and Sinovac arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia on June 8, 2021.

Sovannara | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

Among the countries with both high vaccination rates and high Covid-19 infection rates, most rely on vaccines made in China, a CNBC analysis shows.

The results come as the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines comes under increasing scrutiny, compounded by a lack of data on their protection against the more transmissible Delta variant. CNBC found that weekly population-adjusted Covid cases have remained elevated in at least six of the world’s most heavily vaccinated countries – and five of them rely on vaccines from China.

CNBC identified 36 countries with more than 1,000 weekly new confirmed cases per million people on July 6, using figures from Our World in Data, which compiles information from sources such as the World Health Organization, governments and Oxford University researchers. CNBC then identified countries among those 36 where more than 60% of the population had received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.

There were six countries, and five of them use Chinese vaccines as an essential part of their national vaccination programs: United Arab Emirates, Seychelles, Mongolia, Uruguay, and Chile. The only country among them that does not rely on Chinese vaccines is the United Kingdom.

The UK has now approved vaccines from Moderna, AstraZeneca-Oxford, Pfizer-BioNTech and Janssen. Covid cases in the UK have increased in recent weeks as the more transmissible Delta variant has spread there.

Sinopharm and Sinovac did not respond to CNBC requests for comment.

Several factors can lead to an increase in Covid cases in countries with high vaccination rates. Vaccines do not offer one hundred percent protection, so those who are vaccinated can still get infected. At the same time, new variants of the coronavirus might prove better at overcoming vaccines.

The best option for many countries

Countries shouldn’t stop using Covid-19 vaccines from China, epidemiologists say, especially when vaccine supplies are limited in low- and middle-income countries.

Many of the countries and territories that have approved Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines are developing countries that cannot compete with wealthier countries for vaccines developed in the United States and Europe.

Ben Cowling, a professor in the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health, said countries could choose to use certain vaccines depending on their long-term goals.

“Some countries may accept low prevalence as long as there are relatively few serious cases and deaths from COVID-19,” Cowling, who heads the school’s epidemiology and biostatistics department, told CNBC in an email. “That should be achievable with a high coverage of all available vaccines.”

However, some countries avoid vaccines in China. Costa Rica turned down shipments of vaccines developed by Sinovac last month after it concluded they were not effective enough.

WHO approval

The World Health Organization has approved Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines for emergency use.

The two Chinese vaccines are less effective than Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, both of which have shown greater than 90% effectiveness.

Sinopharm’s vaccine is 79% effective against symptomatic Covid infections, the WHO says, but its effectiveness in certain groups – such as people over 60 – is not clear. The effectiveness of Sinovac’s shot ranges from around 50% to over 80%, depending on the country in which the trials took place.

Experts say that the results cannot be directly compared between clinical trials because each study is structured differently. However, a study in Hong Kong found “significantly higher” antibody levels in people who received the BioNTech injection compared to those who received the Sinovac vaccine, the South China Morning Post reported.

Some experts suggest that the technology behind the various Covid vaccines could explain differences in their effectiveness.

Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines trigger an immune response by exposing the body to a weakened or “inactivated” virus – a proven method that vaccines have used for decades. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna based their vaccines on a technology called messenger RNA, which instructs the body to make viral proteins that trigger an immune response.

“Inactivated vaccines are easy to make and are known for their safety, but tend to have a weaker immune response compared to some other vaccine types,” wrote Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow on Global Health at the University of Southampton in the UK, in an article, published on The Conversation website.

Still, large phase three clinical trials showed that inactivated vaccines were “highly effective against serious illness and death” from Covid, Cowling said.

The professor told CNBC that the spikes in Covid cases in some countries using Chinese vaccines “are typically an increase in mild infections with very few severe cases in fully vaccinated people”.

‘Herd Immunity’

When vaccines are less effective, more people need to be vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity”. This happens when the virus stops being transmitted quickly because most people are immune to vaccination or have recovered from an infection.

Some countries decided to try to achieve herd immunity at the beginning of the pandemic, but are not known to have succeeded. Some who said they would achieve herd immunity, like Sweden, have been hit much harder by Covid than neighboring countries that have taken the vaccination route.

A study by the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Sydney claimed that in the Australian state of New South Wales, herd immunity could be achieved if 66% of the population were given vaccines that were 90% effective against all infections.

The percentage of the population who needs to be vaccinated increases to 86% when vaccine effectiveness is 70%, and herd immunity is not achievable when vaccine effectiveness is below 60%, the study showed.

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Quidel recollects Lyra Covid take a look at attributable to excessive threat of false detrimental outcomes

Quidel recalls Lyra Covid test due to high risk of false negative results

A man inquires in a mobile test car in Brooklyn, New York, the United States, Jan.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Quidel is recalling its Lyra Covid-19 assay test due to a high risk of false negative results in patients who actually have high levels of the virus.

Quidel is a company that makes diagnostic health products worldwide. The Covid test received emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration in March. It uses a swab sample from the nasal area to detect RNA that is specific for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“False-negative results can lead to delayed diagnosis or inadequate treatment of SARS-CoV-2, which can harm the patient, cause serious illness and death,” the FDA wrote on its website announcing the recall.

False negative results could also spread the virus further into a community, putting others at high risk of injury or death.

Quidel has received five complaints about the product, but there are currently no reports of injury or death from its use. The company’s stock plunged around 5% in after-hours trading.

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Biden’s new Covid vaccine push focuses on employees, college students, delta variant

Biden's new Covid vaccine push focuses on workers, students, delta variant

President Joe Biden on Tuesday once again pushed for all eligible Americans to get Covid vaccinations, stressing the importance of being protected against the highly transmissible delta variant.

Despite the U.S. being on track to hit 160 million people fully vaccinated in the coming days, Biden said, millions remain unvaccinated against Covid, “and because of that, their communities are at risk, their friends are at risk, the people they care about are at risk.”

“This is an even bigger concern because of the delta variant,” the president said.

“It seems to me, this should cause everybody to think twice,” Biden said. But “the good news is that our vaccinations are highly effective,” including against the delta variant, he added.

Biden detailed his administration’s latest push to increase vaccination rates two days after failing to reach his Covid vaccination goal for the Fourth of July.

His team is now training its focus on boosting vaccination availability in places such as doctor’s offices and work settings. They are also ramping up efforts to get vaccines to pediatricians and other child health-care providers, Biden said, with the goal of getting more adolescents ages 12 to 18 inoculated before they head back to school in the fall.

The team also aims to expand mobile clinic efforts and will work to refine door-to-door outreach efforts to get information about vaccines to Americans who have yet to get their shots, the president said.

“Our focus now is on doubling down on our efforts” to get more people vaccinated, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing earlier Tuesday afternoon.

“There’s still more work to be done,” Psaki said, before noting that “the vast, vast majority of people are safe from the virus” once they are vaccinated.

“If you are not vaccinated, you are not. That is also a message that we’re going to continue to clearly communicate,” she said.

Biden in his speech at the White House highlighted that nearly 160 million people in the U.S. will be fully vaccinated by the end of this week.

There are currently 157 million people in the U.S. who are fully vaccinated, which is less than half of the total population, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Among people in the U.S. ages 18 and up, the CDC’s percentage for those fully vaccinated rises to 58.2%, and it stands at 78.7% among those ages 65 or older, who face the greatest risk from Covid.

Biden in May had set the goal of having 70% of American adults vaccinated with at least one shot by Independence Day. On the holiday itself, roughly 67% of U.S. adults had received at least one dose, according to the CDC.

“The bottom line is, the virus is on the run and America’s coming back, coming back together,” Biden said. It’s “one of the greatest achievements in American history,” he said, “but our fight against the virus is not over.”

The delta variant, which was first observed in India, has now spread to at least 96 countries, including the U.S., according to the World Health Organization.

The variant, which the WHO says is about 55% more transmissible than another strain of the virus found in the United Kingdom, has threatened to derail some countries’ plans to lift social-distancing restrictions. About 25% of all new reported U.S. Covid cases are of the delta variant, according to the CDC, which predicts it will become the dominant variant.

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci last month called delta the “greatest threat” to the nation’s fight against the pandemic.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC last week that while the delta variant may cause an increase in cases, he doesn’t expect a massive surge in infections on the scale of those seen at earlier points in the pandemic.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a raging epidemic across the country like we saw last winter. I think that there’s going to be pockets of spread, and prevalence overall is going to pick up,” Gottlieb said on “Squawk Box.” 

The White House is deploying Covid-19 response teams across the nation focused on combatting the variant. The teams, composed of officials from the CDC and other federal agencies, will work with communities at higher risk of experiencing outbreaks.

There are still about 1,000 counties in the U.S. that have vaccination coverage of less than 30%, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters last week.

The counties are mostly located in the Southeast and Midwest and the agency is already seeing increasing rates of disease in these places due to further spread of the delta variant, she said.

— CNBC’s Ylan Mui contributed to this report.

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus, health-care tech company Aetion Inc. and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ and Royal Caribbean’s “Healthy Sail Panel.”

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Boris Johnson says England on monitor to carry Covid restrictions

Britain's Boris Johnson to get AstraZeneca vaccine

Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives an update on the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic during a virtual press conference inside 10 Downing Street on March 18, 2021 in London, England.

Tolga Akmen – WPA Pool | Getty Images

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday detailed the final steps in the easing of England’s lockdown rules, with a final decision due to be taken on July 12.

“If we can’t reopen our society in the next few weeks when we will be helped by the arrival of summer and the school holidays, we must ask ourselves ‘when will we be able to reopen?'” Johnson told a press briefing at Downing Street.

“Freedom Day” — or “Step 4” in the government’s long-term plan to ease restrictions — will take place on July 19 if the government’s “four tests” for easing Covid restrictions are met.

The tests include looking at data to confirm that the vaccine rollout is continuing successfully, and that infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalizations. These will be assessed on July 12 following a review of the latest data.

Johnson said Monday that there would be no limits on how many people can meet socially, or where they can meet. He said that regulations mandating face masks would be lifted and people would no longer be instructed to work from home.

All remaining businesses that are currently closed, like nightclubs, would be allowed to reopen and social-distancing rules would also end.

Johnson reiterated that Covid will become a virus that we learn to live with as we already do with flu, conceding that a reopening would likely lead to more deaths.

“It has grown ever clearer that these vaccines are indeed successful with the majority of those admitted to hospital unvaccinated.”

The lifting of restrictions in England had previously been slated for June 21 but was delayed as the highly transmissible delta variant spread throughout the U.K.

While infection rates have risen, hospitalizations and deaths have not surged, indicating that coronavirus vaccines are working to prevent severe infections.

The British government has previously signaled a reluctance to keep restrictions in place any longer than is strictly necessary. This is despite some concerns among medical experts and opposition politicians that restrictions could be lifted too soon as the variant spreads in the U.K., Europe and beyond.

Britain’s Covid immunization program has been one of the fastest in the world, with 86% of the adult population now having received a first dose of a vaccine, and 63.8% having received two doses, government data shows.

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Putin reveals he had the Sputnik V shot as Russia struggles with Covid

Putin reveals he had the Sputnik V shot as Russia struggles with Covid

Watching a live broadcast of the annual phone call of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the newsroom of the TASS news agency.

Gavriil Grigorov | TASS | Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said he received the Sputnik-V coronavirus vaccine as the Kremlin struggles to convince a skeptical public of the benefits of vaccination.

“I thought I needed to be protected as long as possible. So I decided to vaccinate with Sputnik V. The military is vaccinated with Sputnik V and after all I am the commander in chief, ”Putin said during his annual conference call where the public asked questions to the president.

“After the first shot, I didn’t feel anything. About four hours later there was some tenderness where I had the shot. I took the second.” [shot] at noon. I took my temperature at midnight. It was 37.2 [Celsius]. I went to sleep, woke up and my temperature was 36.6. That was it, “Putin said in a Reuters-translated commentary.

Putin had previously refused to say what Covid vaccine he received in March and the Kremlin said it would keep the information “a secret”. Putin was not filmed or photographed when he received the shot, leading to speculation among the Russian public and the international press that he had not received any Russian vaccine at all.

Doubts about Putin’s vaccination status have not helped allay Russians’ apparent reluctance to get a Covid vaccination, despite the incentives for older people to get the vaccination.

Russia has now approved four home-grown vaccines for use and was the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccination, Sputnik V (its most famous vaccine), last August.

The fact that the vaccine was approved prior to the completion of clinical trials caused a stir in the global scientific community and is believed to have contributed to public skepticism about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.

Still, an interim analysis of the shot’s Phase 3 clinical trials, which included 20,000 participants and which were published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet in early February, found 91.6% of it against symptomatic Covid-19 infection was effective. Russia has tried to sell its vaccine to several countries around the world, especially its allies.

Still, vaccination rates at home remain very sluggish, much to the chagrin of Putin, who has extolled the benefits of Russian Covid vaccines and encouraged the public to take up vaccination. The vaccination rate is lagging behind many countries, including India, Mexico and Brazil.

Our World in Data figures show that 15% of the Russian population received one dose and 12% received their second dose.

Putin’s comments come as Russia struggles to contain Covid and the Delta variant in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Last Friday, the Russian coronavirus task force reported 20,393 new Covid cases, most of the cases confirmed in a single day since January 24, according to Reuters. 7,916 new infections were in Moscow. Russia has recorded nearly 5.5 million cases since the pandemic began.

During the question-and-answer session in front of various members of the public from across Russia, Putin raised a variety of issues including rising food prices, energy infrastructure, relations with Ukraine and housing issues. Over 1 million questions were put to Putin, the TASS news agency reported.

Regarding the mandatory vaccination of the population in light of the low vaccination rate, Putin reiterated on Wednesday that he still disagreed with it, despite steps being taken to get Russians to accept the vaccination with the prospect of restrictions and possible job losses those who do not accept it.

In Moscow, for example, officials said that 60% of workers in the service sector must have their first dose of a Covid vaccine before July 15.

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Australia’s Covid restoration plans stay unsure as a result of delta variant

Australia's Covid recovery plans remain uncertain due to delta variant

A person exercises at the Sydney Opera House during a foggy start to the day on June 30, 2021 in Sydney Australia. Lockdown restrictions continue as NSW health authorities work to contain a growing Covid-19 cluster.

Brook Mitchell | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A recent spike in Covid cases has Australian authorities scrambling to contain the delta variant, which was first detected in India.

The country has handled the coronavirus pandemic relatively better than most, with fewer than 31,000 total cases due to strict social distancing rules, border restrictions, contract tracing and lockdowns.

Several major cities were locked down last week, including Sydney — the capital of Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, and home to more than five million residents.

On Monday, New South Wales reported 35 new local cases as authorities clamp down on individuals and businesses for flouting restrictions. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian reportedly warned that the situation over the next couple of days would decide if the two-week lockdown in Sydney will be extended beyond July 9.

Last week, Australia’s national cabinet agreed to halve the number of international arrivals allowed into the country by July 14 as part of a four-phase recovery plan. Non-residents are mostly barred from entering the country, with few exceptions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a trial program would allow some vaccinated travelers to self-isolate at home, in an effort to reduce the pressure on Australia’s quarantine system.

Australia is still in the first phase of its plan, which emphasizes vaccines and social restrictions to minimize community transmission, according to the cabinet’s assessment. The next three phases would be post-vaccination, consolidation and, lastly, the reopening of borders.

Uncertainty remains

The federal recovery plan needs more precision, which would provide greater certainty for Australian businesses looking to reopen, according to Jennifer Westacott, CEO of the Business Council of Australia.

“We need some really clear targets. We need some really clear threshold. We need those to be realistic,” she said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

“Business can start planning. Airlines can start planning. Small business can start planning. We need a little bit more precision,” she added.

Many businesses, including farmers, rely on international labor. Prolonged border closures mean there’s a shortage in manpower at least until 2022, when borders are tentatively scheduled to reopen.

Westacott said Australia’s recovery plan should take a staged approach and allow more skilled international workers in to fill vacant positions as the vaccination rate increases.

“We can’t wait for 2022 to get skilled workers in the country,” she said, adding that such a delay means Australia’s “capacity to ramp up slows down, but it also means that companies just don’t do stuff here.”

Sluggish vaccine rollout

Mixed messaging around the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Australian government and the advisory board that advises the health minister on vaccine issues in the country has been “really problematic,” according to Archie Clements, pro vice-chancellor of the health sciences faculty at Curtin University.

“If you look at the vaccine rollout statistics, the rate of increase in vaccines slowed through June and I do think that’s largely down to the mixed messaging around AstraZeneca,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation prefers that people below 60 are given the Pfizer vaccine — which is in short supply — to avoid the risk of an extremely rare blood clotting disorder related to the use of AstraZeneca shots. The government, meanwhile, says those people can opt for AstraZeneca after consulting their doctors.

“The federal government should have backed AstraZeneca very strongly from the very beginning, really should have been promoting it. It is a very safe vaccine,” Clements said, pointing out that only a minuscule number of people have had a severe reaction to the shot.

“We should be encouraging everyone to get vaccinated and to take the vaccine that’s available to them, regardless of whether it’s AstraZeneca or Pfizer,” he said.

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Emirates, Etihad put together for summer season amid delta Covid warnings

Emirates, Etihad prepare for summer amid delta Covid warnings

A Boeing 777 of the Emirates airline at Sydney International Airport on May 01, 2021 in Sydney, Australia.

James D. Morgan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Emirates airline is preparing for a summer travel surge over the next two weekends, despite growing concerns about the variant delta coronavirus, which is responsible for more than a third of infections in the United Arab Emirates.

Emirates expects more than 450,000 passengers on over 1,600 flights to, from and through Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport (DXB) in the coming days.

“The busiest days for the airline will be the next two weekends, July 2-3 and July 9-10, although high passenger traffic is expected today and will last until July 12,” Emirates said in a statement on Wednesday.

Almost 100,000 passengers will arrive in Dubai on Emirates flights over the same period to begin their summer vacation, the airline added. The seasonal surge in travel comes when temperatures heat up in the United Arab Emirates, where mercury can soar to 40 degrees Celsius and more in July.

Emirates, one of two national airlines in the United Arab Emirates, plans to increase its flight capacity to 90% of pre-pandemic levels by July. Dubai Airports also reopened Terminal 1 and Hall D on June 24th after being closed for 15 months due to the pandemic.

“All Emirates and DXB touchpoints are well prepared to cope with the increase in passenger numbers, with measures and protocols that increase the security of customers’ passage through Terminal 3,” said Emirates.

The more than half a million people who are expected to cross the UAE in the coming days correspond to almost the entire passenger volume of London’s Heathrow Airport in May of this year, according to Heathrow Airport.

A Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliner” operated by Etihad Airways displays Israeli and Emirati flags after arriving from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on the company’s first scheduled commercial flight from Abu Dhabi landed in April 02/06/2021.

JACK GUEZ | AFP | Getty Images

Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi also extended their “Verified to Fly” program on Wednesday. The program enables travelers to validate Covid-19 travel documents prior to arriving at the airport to improve passenger turnaround time.

“We know these are challenging times for travelers and this has been an important initiative to make our guests’ journeys as easy as possible,” said John Wright, Etihad vice president for global airports and networking, in a statement.

Delta concerns

The expected increase in summer travel comes despite new warnings about the Delta variant of the virus, which has been shown to be more transmissible, causing more hospital stays and reducing vaccine effectiveness. The Delta variant, identified for the first time in India, accounts for 33.9% of cases in the UAE, according to the UAE Ministry of Health.

The British variant accounts for 11.3% of the cases, while the South African variant still has the highest infection rate at 39.2%. The United Arab Emirates reported 1,747 new cases of the virus on Tuesday.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday issued a renewed level 4 “do not travel” warning for the UAE, the highest possible category, citing concerns about the virus. The United Arab Emirates are also still on the United Kingdom’s “red list”, where they have been since the end of January.

Britons living in the United Arab Emirates have expressed confusion and anger over the decision, particularly the Red List quarantine requirements.

Forty percent of the UAE’s roughly 10 million residents are now fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University. The high local vaccination rate, new flight routes and the easing of restrictions on vacation hotspots have given locals and residents the confidence and desire to travel again despite warnings about dangerous coronavirus variants.

Emirates has vowed to adhere to strict security measures for travelers. The airline was one of the first in the world to introduce the IATA Travel Pass, which will be extended to all routes in its network in the coming weeks. Emirates has also partnered with Al Hosn, the UAE covid tracing app, to support safe passenger movement.

“Emirates customers can travel knowing that the airline and its partners have spared no effort to make their airport trip as safe and smooth as possible,” said the airline.

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Indonesia’s well being minister on delta Covid surge, hospital capability

Indonesia's health minister on delta Covid surge, hospital capacity

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the Indonesian government increased hospital bed capacity in preparation for a surge in Covid infections after the holidays, but parts of the country are still running out of beds as daily cases hit new highs.

He told CNBC Street Signs Asia that Indonesia has up to 130,000 beds for Covid patients and 72,000 people have been in isolation beds as of yesterday.

But he admitted that the Southeast Asian nation faces two problems.

“The first problem is that the acceleration is much faster than it was in January and February,” he said. “So for a very dense area … we’re starting the mobility restrictions next week to ensure that the speed of incoming patients to the hospital is reduced.”

He attributed the increase in new cases to the Delta variant, which was first discovered in India.

Indonesia tightened restrictions on sources of infection last week and announced on Thursday that stricter emergency measures would apply from July 3 to July 20.

In the Jakarta region it already reaches 90% of the bed capacity.

Budi Gunadi Sadikin

Indonesia’s Minister of Health

The second problem is that the infections are concentrated in certain parts of the country, particularly the most populous island of Java.

“In the Jakarta region it already reaches 90% of the bed capacity,” he said on Wednesday.

Jan Gelfand of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said “action at lightning speed” is needed to give countries like Indonesia access to vaccines.

“Every day we see how this Delta variant brings Indonesia closer to the brink of a Covid-19 catastrophe,” said Gelfand, the head of the Indonesian delegation of the IFRC, in a press release.

No nationwide lockdown

The Indonesian health minister is reportedly pushing for stricter Covid measures in Indonesia, but told CNBC that authorities will not consider a nationwide lockdown.

“Definitely not, because … the cluster is only in a certain area,” he said. “Kalimantan doesn’t have that. Sulawesi doesn’t. Most of Sumatra doesn’t and (and) Bali is still under control.”

Indonesia’s tourism minister told Reuters this week that the country, Bali, a popular holiday destination, plans to reopen in late July or early August, but needs to “watch out for the recent surge” in cases.

Health Minister Budi said in Sumatra and Kalimantan only 30 to 40 percent of hospital beds were occupied. “It’s not evenly distributed.”

A Covid-19 patient in the complex of the Wisma Atlet Covid-19 Emergency Hospital.

Risa Krisadhi | SOPA pictures | LightRakete | Getty Images

He also said Indonesia could increase oxygen production if necessary, adding that the country has diverted some of its industrial supplies to hospitals.

Distribution is a problem, however, as the factories are mostly located in West and East Java, while Central Java needs oxygen, he said.

Vaccination progress

Regarding vaccinations, Budi said the country has given 43 million vaccinations to around 28 million people. This corresponds to a little more than 10% of the approximately 276 million inhabitants of Indonesia.

He said the vaccination rate has remained constant at around 1 million doses per day this week.

“Our president asked me to go from 1 million doses a day to 2 million doses a day, which … can be done because we are now asking the entire private sector, all the police and the entire army to help,” said he.

Indonesia has received donations from China, Japan, Australia, the United States and Covax, a global alliance that aims to provide vaccines to poorer countries, Budi said. It also had agreements to buy vaccines from AstraZeneca and Pfizer, he said.

According to the World Health Organization, the new Covid cases reported in Indonesia between June 21 and 27 are up 60% from the previous week. 2,476 deaths were also recorded during this period.

As of June 29, Indonesia has confirmed 2.16 million coronavirus infections and 58,024 deaths, data from Johns Hopkins University showed.

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Australia’s combined messages on Covid vaccines sow confusion

Australia's mixed messages on Covid vaccines sow confusion

The introduction of vaccines in Australia has been slow and chaotic, with leaders and health advisers sending mixed messages.

The country’s top medical association recommends that people follow guidelines from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization when deciding which Covid vaccine to take. ATAGI advises the Minister of Health in Australia on vaccination issues.

“We recommend following expert advice, but at the end of the day people can make their own decisions as these are all safe and effective vaccines,” said Omar Khorshid, president of the Australian Medical Association, on CNBC’s “Squawk” on Thursday Box Asia. “

While Australia has been comparatively successful in controlling infection, it has faced some constraints on vaccine supplies. Currently, only the Pfizer BioNTech and Oxford AstraZeneca syringes are approved for use, and both require two doses for complete immunization.

Mixed news from the Australian government and ATAGI has created confusion – and hesitation – about the vaccines available and their safety.

What do experts say?

ATAGI says people between the ages of 16 and 59 should preferably get Pfizer shots, while the government says those people can choose AstraZeneca after consulting their doctors.

Pfizer shots are scarce in the country and reports say the majority of the cans might not arrive until the third quarter.

The recommendation of the advisory group came afterwards Data showed higher risks and observed severity of an extremely rare bleeding disorder – known as thrombosis and thrombocytopenia syndrome – associated with the use of AstraZeneca vaccines observed in Australian adults aged 50 and over.

June 2021, people are standing in front of a vaccination center in Sydney, as residents have largely been banned from leaving the city in order to stop a growing outbreak of the highly contagious Delta-Covid-19 variant in other regions.

SAEED KHAN | AFP | Getty Images

For those 60 years old and older, the group said the benefits of taking the AstraZeneca dose outweighed the risks of blood clots forming.

What is the government saying?

On Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said people under the age of 60 can get the AstraZeneca vaccine if they wish, provided they have discussed it with their doctors. The country will introduce a new “no mistake compensation system” for general practitioners who administer Covid-19 vaccines, he added.

“The ATAGI Council speaks of a preference for AstraZeneca to be available and made available as preferred for people over 60. But the council is not ruling out the possibility of people under the age of 60 receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, ”said Morrison, according to an official transcript from his press conference.

“So if you want to get the AstraZeneca vaccine we would encourage you to … go and have this conversation with your GP,” he said.

Vaccine progress

Khorshid of the Australian Medical Association said the vaccine rollout is progressing relatively well, despite the mixed messages and political tactics. He said about two-thirds of Australia’s most vulnerable population have already received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and are expected to receive their second dose.

Still, statistics compiled by Our World in Data showed just over 23% of the population to have at least one dose of the vaccine, and only about 6% were fully vaccinated.

An aerial view of Sixty Martin Place, Sydney, Australia.

Mark Syke | View pictures | Universal picture group | Getty Images

Authorities are also making efforts to contain outbreaks in Australia as the country seeks to contain the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus delta variant, which was first discovered in India.

According to reports, seven cities with around 12 million people are now on lockdown, including Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

Khorshid told CNBC that the medical association wants the national cabinet to be strengthened on broader issues such as agreements on border closings and hotel quarantine regulations.

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CureVac to ‘plow ahead’ with Covid vaccine regardless of trial outcomes     

CureVac to 'plow forward' with Covid vaccine despite trial results     

An employee of the German biopharmaceutical company CureVac will demonstrate research on a vaccine against the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in a laboratory in Tübingen on March 12, 2020.

Andreas Gebert | REUTERS

LONDON – CureVac plans to continue work on its Covid-19 vaccine despite disappointing results from clinical studies showing the vaccine is only 48% effective.

The German biotech company released its final analysis of the clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine – known as CVnCoV – on Wednesday, confirming that the vaccine was 48% effective against Covid of all degrees of severity in all ages and 15 variants.

Pierre Kemula, CFO of CureVac, however, defended the vaccine on CNBC Thursday, saying the clinical trials were conducted at a time when several new strains of the virus were spreading around the world.

“We have to speak to the EMA now [European Medicines Agency] and want to make sure we have an open dialogue and share any data we have to assess the way forward, “he told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Thursday.

When asked if it is worth developing the vaccine further when other successful vaccines are already in use in Europe and elsewhere, Kemula said the company had contractual obligations to meet.

“We have a contract with the European Commission to supply 225 million doses of the drug, so I think we need to move forward on that,” he said.

“There are a lot of vaccinations, there are a lot of people under 60 who haven’t had access to the vaccine before. So if we can contribute to the fight – in the short term in the pandemic, but also in the medium term with these other ways of [multivalents] … we are continuing to work on that. “Multivalent or polyvalent vaccines should immunize against more than one virus strain.

The results of the CureVac study, which enrolled 40,000 participants in ten countries in Latin America and Europe, showed that the vaccine was more effective in younger participants. The effectiveness rate among 18 to 60 year olds was 53% for diseases of any severity and increased to 77% for moderate and severe diseases in the same age group.

However, given that Covid-19 carries a higher risk for the elderly, the study results are disappointing, not least because two other vaccines made with messenger RNA (mRNA) – those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – have an efficacy greater than 90 % of have been shown to prevent Covid-19 infection. CureVac’s shares fell as much as 13% in Thursday’s pre-trading session.

Dr. Franz-Werner Haas, CEO of CureVac, defended the results in a statement on Wednesday, saying the vaccine “shows strong public health value” for those aged 18 to 60 and will be an “important contributor to tackling Covid.” -19 pandemic and the dynamic distribution of variants. “

He also cited “the current context of an increasingly diverse environment of Covid-19 variants”.

Several variants have emerged over the course of the pandemic, some of which are more virulent than others – like the alpha variant first discovered in the UK and the delta variant first identified in India – and Kemula said he believed mutations would continue to occur.

“As more and more people become infected with coronavirus, we are prepared for the disease to continue to develop as it progresses and has more and more variants,” said Kemula. The industry must think ahead, “how we can cope better with the current vaccines, but also possibly with various boosters (booster vaccinations),” he added.