Tag: Covid

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NFL provides Biden soccer stadiums for Covid vaccination websites

NFL offers Biden football stadiums for Covid vaccination sites

Sofi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, California.

Keith Birmingham | MediaNews Group | Getty Images

The National Football League announced President Joe Biden that it is making all 32 football stadiums available to the general public as mass coronavirus vaccination sites.

Seven NFL teams are already running vaccinations against Covid-19 in or near their stadiums.

“The NFL and our 32 member clubs are committed to doing our part to ensure that vaccines are as widely available in our communities as possible,” League commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to Biden on Thursday.

“We can expand our efforts to stadiums more effectively as many of our clubs have been offering their facilities as COVID test centers and polling stations in recent months,” Goodell wrote.

His letter stated that each NFL team would coordinate vaccination efforts at the stadiums with local, state and federal health officials.

It already happened in San Francisco, where the 49ers team and Santa Clara County announced on Friday that Levi’s Stadium would be used as a vaccination site for residents next week.

The team said the stadium will be California’s largest vaccination site with an initial capacity of 5,000 people receiving shots per day and plans to increase that capacity to 15,000 people per day if vaccine supplies increase.

Goodell noted that the NFL will host 7,500 vaccinated health care workers from around the country for Sunday’s Super Bowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The commissioner said workers were invited “out of gratitude for their heroic service and to highlight the importance of vaccinations as our country recovers from the pandemic”.

The NFL referred questions to the White House when contacted by CNBC. The Biden administration had no immediate comment.

The league’s current vaccination sites are hosted by the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Miami Dolphins, and New England Patriots.

A variety of professional baseball stadiums in the US are already offering Covid vaccines to the public.

A temporary mass vaccination site opened on Friday at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York.

Another location in the Mets house in Citi Field, Queens, should have recordings in late January. However, this opening was postponed as the city lacked sufficient vaccines.

Los Angeles turned Dodger Stadium into a mass vaccination site in January after serving as a mass covid testing site for eight months.

– CNBC’s Noah Higgins-Dunn contributed to this report.

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Biden administration to ship troops to California to assist employees Covid vaccine websites

Biden administration to send troops to California to help staff Covid vaccine sites

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits National Guard forces stationed in the U.S. Capitol and its vicinity on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 29, 2021.

Manuel Balce Ceneta | Getty Images

The Secretary of Defense has approved the deployment of more than 1,000 active troops to deliver Covid-19 vaccines in the United States, a member of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus response team said Friday.

Some of the troops will arrive in California next week within the next ten days and begin operations by February 15. Other states will follow. Andy Slavitt, a senior advisor to Biden’s Covid-19 response team who previously worked in the Obama administration, is told reporters.

“The vital role of the military in supporting sites will help vaccinate thousands of people every day and ensure that every American who wants a vaccine receives it,” he said during the White House news conference.

The Pentagon is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to expedite delivery of the shots, which were slower than expected.

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Hershey tracked Covid traits after seeing s’mores demand rise as circumstances grew, CEO says

Hershey tracked Covid trends after seeing s'mores demand rise as cases grew, CEO says

Hershey sees strong demand for chocolates and seasonal sweets as people are locked in their homes looking for every small occasion to celebrate.

“Throughout the year, the season was a major driver as consumers really wanted the comfort and normalcy associated with seasonal traditions and rituals at a time when Covid was uprooting their lives,” said Michele Buck, CEO of Hershey, in an interview with Sara from CNBC on Thursday, ironed about “Closing Bell.”

A notable example was a trend Hershey spotted when coronavirus cases increased across the country, demand for s’mores ingredients increased. Families no doubt sought fun by setting up barbecues in their backyards and roasting S’Mores over the fire. According to Hershey, chocolate sales were 40% to 50% higher in areas with increased numbers of Covid-19 cases than in areas with lower cases.

“Over the past year we have found that wherever the number of Covid cases has increased, there has been higher sales of s’mores ingredients. We were then able to use the case number as a harbinger of where we were doing some of that effort should focus and build shows and places media in these markets, “said Buck.

Retailers are also familiar with the trends and stocked up on Valentine’s Day and Easter candy sooner than ever to ensure they have plenty of choice.

Hershey stock closed Thursday less than 1% at $ 147.22 after sales rose 5.7% to $ 2.19 billion in the fourth quarter. Net income increased 41% to $ 291.4 million. Excluding items, Hershey earned $ 1.49 per share, beating analysts’ estimates.

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Democrats reintroduce PRO Act labor rights invoice throughout Covid pandemic

Democrats reintroduce PRO Act labor rights bill during Covid pandemic

Rep Bobby Scott, D-Va., Speaks about childcare bills during a press conference on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at the Capitol Visitor Center.

Tom Williams | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images

The Democrats on Thursday reintroduced a comprehensive labor rights bill, touted as a means of creating safe jobs and increasing worker benefits during the coronavirus pandemic.

The party tabled the PRO law, a measure to promote trade union organization that was approved by Parliament last year. The legislation would:

  • Allow the National Labor Relations Board to impose fines on employers who violate workers’ rights
  • Give employees more power to take part in strikes
  • Weaken the so-called labor law
  • Offer employee protection to certain independent contractors

Republican lawmakers and the Chamber of Commerce have argued that the plan would hamper the economy, making it doubtful that Democrats will win the 10 GOP votes needed to get them through the Senate. Even so, the bill underscores the Democrats’ drive to strengthen unions after years of eroding membership.

House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., Said the bill would help key workers secure higher wages and paid vacation if the virus spreads.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that Congress urgently needs to protect and strengthen workers’ rights,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “Last year workers across the country were forced to work in unsafe conditions because they were not paid enough, because they were unable to stand together and negotiate with their employer.”

The reintroduction of the law underscores the party’s renewed focus on unified control of Congress and the White House to strengthen labor rights. President Joe Biden, who said during his campaign that “unions built the middle class”, took early steps to promote workers’ right to organize.

On his first day in office, Biden fired Peter Robb, General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, whose actions union leaders had criticized. He also elected a union leader in the Boston Mayor, Marty Walsh, as his labor secretary.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held the Walsh confirmation hearing Thursday morning. During her inauguration of Walsh, committee chairwoman Senator Patty Murray of Washington extolled the PRO Act as one of the guidelines she wanted to pursue.

The PRO Act would enable the NLRB to impose penalties on companies or even company leaders who violate labor laws. The bill also requires the NLRB to reinstate workers while their complaint against an employer is heard.

If passed, the bill would limit the power of Republican-backed laws across the country that prevent workers from joining a union or paying dues as a condition of employment. Attempts are also being made to reduce the use of independent contractor classification by companies like Uber. The question of whether so-called gig workers should be classified as employees has become a point of contention in California.

When the Democrats passed the law in 2019, Chamber of Commerce executive director Glenn Spencer called it “bad for workers, employers and the economy”.

Republican leaders targeted unions in the early days of the Biden administration. Teachers, one of the most heavily unionized professions, have refused to return to teaching in person in some cities because of concerns about contracting the virus.

On Wednesday, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that schools can safely reopen even if teachers do not receive the Covid vaccine. Senate Minority Chairman Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., On Wednesday criticized what he called “the whims of powerful public sector unions” as he urged students to return to school.

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NFL makes Covid security plans for followers

NFL makes Covid safety plans for fans

National Football League fans gather in downtown Tampa prior to Super Bowl LV during the COVID-19 pandemic on January 30, 2021 in Tampa, Florida.

Octavio Jones | Getty Images

The National Football League is preparing for the final competition of the season with Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay, and the league promises the event will not become a Covid-19 superspreader.

The NFL said it would be handing out kits of hand sanitizer and KN95 masks to fans during Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to limit the spread.

NFL manager Jeff Miller said the wearing of masks will be mandatory for fans, players and team staff and the league will enforce social distancing measures. The NFL said attendance at the 65,000-seat Raymond James Stadium will be limited to 25,000, including 7,500 vaccinated health workers.

“It has been a lot of work by a lot of people and a lot of commitment with local, state, and national health officials to do this as safely as possible,” said Miller, who oversees the NFL public and political affairs.

Health and safety experts speaking to CNBC agreed with the way the NFL is coordinating their event, but still raised issues.

“My biggest concern about when Covid-19 could spread in the stadium isn’t necessarily with people sitting in their seats,” said Stephen Kissler, an epidemiologist at Harvard University. “It is actually when they mingle in other parts of the stadium.”

The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs fans watch during the Super Bowl LIV game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL on February 2, 2020.

Robin Alam | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

What is the plan?

Kissler, a researcher in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, said people who gather in lines to enter the stadium or wait for concessions are more likely to spread droplets containing the virus.

To counteract this, the NFL has its own entry points, which are larger for the fans present, although they don’t offer temperature tests at the gates.

The NFL also sells Super Bowl tickets in groups of two to six so that they can sit in “pods” together. Jonathan Barker, the NFL’s head of live event production, said the pods were not placed too close together and a maximum of 10 people per pod.

“There will never be anyone in front of or behind another person,” said Barker, counting on 30,000 clippings of fans to fill the empty spaces.

Barker, who has been in Tampa Bay since Jan. 4, said the stadium had undergone rigorous daily cleaning. “And when we have three days off, we will step up that effort to clean, disinfect and disinfect everything,” he said.

The NFL estimates that by kick-off there will be around 200,000 health screenings for people working on the event, including staff. BioReference Laboratories, a diagnostics company, supports the NFL’s health and safety efforts at Super Bowl LV. The company is expected to distribute 35,000 PCR tests to employees and salespeople at the stadium.

In order to limit contact, the NFL has partnered with Visa to offer cashless ATM transactions. These corporations will go in two different directions.

In Tampa Bay, Mayor Jane Castor mandated outdoor masks near targets near the Super Bowl. Epidemiologist Kissler said the limited capacity and atmosphere outdoors, as well as the vaccinated fans should help, but warned, “We still don’t know exactly how much the vaccine prevents the spread of Covid-19.”

“We have to remain vigilant, keep our distance, wear masks and keep up with sensible measures that we have become so familiar with over the course of the year,” said Kissler.

Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said the tracing plans were shared with federal health officials, including President Joe Biden’s Covid Task Force. He said the “detailed plan” provided guidelines for getting on and off.

“We take our responsibility very seriously to model the best behavior and show how we believe an event of this magnitude can be safely conducted,” said Sills.

A view of Raymond James Stadium, home of Super Bowl LV, during the COVID-19 pandemic on January 30, 2021 in Tampa, Florida.

Octavio Jones | Getty Images

No signs of anger

Although the league had its own problems with outbreaks among players and staff during the regular season, Sills said no persistent cases had occurred over NFL games. Miller said over 1 million people played 116 NFL games during his pandemic season.

“We haven’t traced an outbreak or cluster of cases to any of the places we’ve hosted fans,” said Sills. “It’s an important benchmark for us and something we’re really focusing on in this game.”

The league released the latest Covid test results on Tuesday, reporting zero new positive results from the players and one from the staff. To date, the NFL said 262 players and 463 staff have tested positive.

It is unknown if the NFL is insured for the Super Bowl. While discussing the NBA bubble in July, Attorney Alan Taylor suggested that the leagues need to seek new event guidelines as most had no insurance for a pandemic. Until the federal government supports such measures, they are likely to remain expensive.

“The guidelines that the professional leagues must receive must be new guidelines based on the new situation we are in,” said Taylor, co-chair of the professional liability division of Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney law firm.

Gil Fried, a stadium safety and risk management expert at the University of New Haven, said the NFL has a safe way out of legal troubles when outbreaks occur.

Fans participating in the game consent to the “taking of risks” associated with attending such an event, with Covid still very active. According to the Buccaneers website, fans must “leave, and not enter, the stadium grounds” if they do not consent to the risks associated with visiting Raymond James Stadium.

“This is a very big shield that the NFL will have,” Fried said. “I think the NFL will do a good job of enforcing the rules, but I think it’s a bigger problem with the fans and what they do,” he added. “You can have any rules you want, but if the fans don’t follow or do what they’re supposed to, you’re going to get into serious trouble.”

Fried suggested that the NFL use frequent announcements and other behavioral triggers to help fans adhere to protocols.

“They need signs,” said Fried. “They need announcements on their tapes in the stadium that all say, ‘This is what you have to do.’ They need to be constantly reminded. And make sure your security enforces it and dump them if they don’t meet the requirements. “

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UK trial experiments with mixing Covid vaccines

Pfizer PFE Q4 2020 earnings fall short, but revenue beats expectations

Empty vials containing the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are seen at a drive-through vaccination facility operated by the Lake County Health Department in Groveland, Florida on January 28, 2021.

Paul Hennessy | NurPhoto | Getty Images

LONDON – A study is being launched in the UK to see if using different Covid-19 vaccines for first and second dose will help make nationwide immunization programs more flexible.

The study, led by Oxford University and conducted by the National Immunization Schedule Evaluation Consortium, will assess the feasibility of using a vaccine for the initial “prime” vaccination other than the subsequent “booster” vaccination.

It is hoped that the study will help policymakers understand whether mixing different Covid vaccines could be a viable way to increase the flexibility of vaccination programs, and whether it could even offer better protection.

“If we show that these vaccines can be used interchangeably on the same schedule, it will greatly increase the flexibility of vaccine delivery and could provide guidance on how protection against new strains of the virus can be enhanced,” said Matthew Snape, chief investigator of the process and associate Professor of Pediatrics and Vaccine at Oxford University said Thursday.

Officially known as the “COVID-19 Heterologous Prime Boost” study but dubbed the “Com-Cov” study, the study will recruit over 800 volunteers aged 50 and over in England to study the four different combinations of Prime and to evaluate booster vaccination.

A first dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine will be tested, followed by a booster with either the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine or another dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. Research will also look at a first dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, followed by a booster with either the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine or another dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. The British government has called the process a “world first”.

These are evaluated in two different dosing schedules: at an interval of four weeks to allow early intermediate reading of the data, and at an interval of 12 weeks. This latter dose interval is the current UK vaccination policy: delaying the second dose means that more people can get their first vaccines sooner with a shortage of vaccinations.

Although the policy has been viewed as controversial, some experts fear that it could make vaccines used in the UK less effective. So far only the candidates from the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech are used. The Moderna shot is due to be added to the vaccine basket later this spring.

However, Oxford University published a study on Wednesday that showed that a 12 week delay between the first and second dose of the AstraZeneca sting increased the vaccine’s effectiveness.

The researchers found that the shot was 76% effective at preventing symptomatic infection for three months after a single dose, and that the effectiveness rate increased to 82.4% if there was an interval of at least 12 weeks before the second dose. When the second dose was given less than six weeks after the first, the rate of effectiveness was 54.9%.

How the Com-Cov study will work

In the latest “Com-Cov” study, researchers will collect blood samples from volunteers from the study and monitor the effects of various dosage regimens on participants’ immune responses, as well as looking for additional side effects for the new vaccine combinations.

The study will last 13 months and was funded by the Vaccines Taskforce, established last April by the UK to coordinate efforts to research and manufacture a coronavirus vaccine, with £ 7 million of government funding (9, USD 5 million).

Professor Snape said the study was “tremendously exciting” before adding that “it will provide information that is critical to the launch of vaccines in the UK and globally”.

The richer countries are making every effort to vaccinate as many people as possible to limit the spread of infections and prevent hospitals from being overrun, which harms the economy.

Britain was hit hard by the pandemic, with cases spiking over the winter, aided by a more virulent variant of the virus that has emerged in south-east England and has now become a dominant strain in the country.

The UK currently has the fourth highest number of cases in the world with over 3.8 million confirmed infections. This comes from a record by Johns Hopkins University and recorded 109,547 deaths.

The UK government was quick to pre-order coronavirus vaccines from various manufacturers early last year and approve the vaccines currently in use. The vaccination program has been widely praised for its agility and range. The aim is to vaccinate 15 million people across the four top priority groups, including health and care workers, the elderly and the over 70s, and those who are considered to be extremely clinically at risk by mid-February.

The latest government data from Wednesday shows that just over 10 million people have received their first dose of vaccine and nearly 500,000 have received a second dose. The UK-made Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine makes up the bulk of the UK vaccination program.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer and senior responsible officer for the study, said the research may even show that alternating vaccines could increase the amount of antibodies needed to fight a possible Covid-19 infection.

“It’s even possible that the combination of vaccines may improve the immune response, resulting in even higher antibody levels that last longer. If this isn’t evaluated in a clinical trial, we just don’t know. This study will give us a better one Provide insight into how We can use vaccines to keep abreast of this dire disease, “he said.

The British vaccination minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC on Thursday that the country’s vaccination program will continue as usual for the time being: “At the moment we are not going to change anything,” Zahawi told the “Today” program.

“If you got a Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for your first dose, you got a Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for your second. If you had Oxford-AstraZeneca, you got Oxford-AstraZeneca for your second dose.”

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Fauci says ‘no purple flags’ seen in 10,000 pregnant girls who’ve obtained Covid pictures to this point

Fauci says 'no red flags' seen in 10,000 pregnant women who've received Covid shots so far

The director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaks during a White House press conference led by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

“No red flags” have been seen in the more than 10,000 pregnant women who have received Covid-19 vaccinations so far, said White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, on Wednesday.

Pregnant women and young children were excluded from the original US clinical trials of the vaccines, as is typical in experimental vaccine research. This has raised some concerns that there isn’t enough data to ensure that the vaccines are safe in pregnant women, but Fauci said the Food and Drug Administration hadn’t seen any cause for concern.

“The FDA, as part of the typical follow-up you have after the initial issue of any [emergency use authorization] have found so far and we have to be careful, but so far no red flags about it, about pregnant women, “said Fauci on Wednesday in an interview with Dr. Howard Bauchner of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Since the approval of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in December, over 10,000 pregnant women, many of whom were healthcare workers, have had the chance, Fauci said. He noted that there is evidence that coronavirus infection may lead to an increased risk of an undesirable outcome in pregnancy, which is why many pregnant healthcare workers may have chosen the vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that pregnant women should consult their doctor about whether or not to get vaccinated against Covid-19. However, the World Health Organization chose a cautious tone and stated last week that only pregnant women who are at high risk of being exposed to Covid-19 should be vaccinated.

For young children, the FDA has only approved Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for use in people aged 16 and over in the United States. Moderna’s vaccine is only approved for use in people aged 18 and over in the country.

Fauci said “de-escalation studies” for younger children are underway. Such studies will examine the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines in increasingly younger children. Data from these studies should be available “in the next few months,” said Fauci.

“We don’t need to do efficacy studies with 30,000 to 44,000 people in every age group,” he noted.

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JPMorgan is constructive on Indonesia regardless of surging Covid instances within the nation

JPMorgan is positive on Indonesia despite surging Covid cases in the country

SINGAPORE – JPMorgan sees the outlook for Indonesia as positive, although the country is still grappling with rising Covid infections and the number of cases has topped a million lately.

The country’s young population is part of the reason for this optimism, said James Sullivan, head of ex-Japan Asian equity research at the investment bank.

“Demographically, Southeast Asia is very different from some of the developed countries we compare these countries with,” Sullivan told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Wednesday.

In 2015, the average age of the Indonesian population was 28.5 years, according to Statista.

“Because they’re so much younger, they tend to tackle the mortality side of this conversation significantly better than some of the older, developed economies,” he said. “That’s a very important distinction when we think about it.”

As a result, lockdowns “may not be as necessary” in such countries – compared to places with significantly older populations that are at higher risk from Covid-19, the analyst said.

India as an example

To make his point clear, Sullivan used the example of India, a country that, according to Johns Hopkins University, ranks second in the world after the United States in terms of the number of Covid infections.

“There was long talk of infection rates in India until around August last year,” he said, adding that there were “very dire predictions” about the impact of the pandemic on the Indian economy.

These fears regarding India do not appear to have materialized as the daily number of Covid cases in the country has decreased significantly since then. Analysts have also said the economic recovery has been stronger than expected.

Still, according to Hopkins, Indonesia has had the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia.

As of Wednesday, Indonesia had more than 1.11 million coronavirus infections while at least 30,770 people had died from Covid-19, information from the country’s health ministry showed.

Other factors

In addition to Indonesia’s relatively young population, JPMorgan also sees “positive efforts” to stimulate growth across Indonesia’s economy, Sullivan said.

The government is pushing for a mutual fund called the Indonesia Investment Authority. According to reports, Indonesian President Joko Widodo plans to raise up to $ 100 billion.

Sullivan added that there has been a “significant recovery” in manufacturing, particularly in the export sector. In addition, the JPMorgan analyst cited the government’s vaccine efforts as another reason for its positive outlook.

Indonesia launched a Covid-19 vaccination program in January, which Reuters has named as one of the world’s largest campaigns. The country’s finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, recently told CNBC that it will take Indonesia at least a year to achieve “herd immunity” – which is when a large section of the population becomes immune to the disease.

– CNBC’s Yen Nee Lee contributed to this report.

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Israel giving 5,000 Covid vaccine doses to Palestinians is insufficient: HRW

A guide on what we know so far

Palestinian students wearing face masks stand in line to enter their school after personal training, interrupted as part of the new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) measures, resumed for elementary and secondary school students in the Gaza Strip today on January 13, 2021.

Ali Jadallah | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Israel’s decision to give 5,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine to frontline Palestinian health workers has been criticized by Palestinians and right-wing groups as inadequate and inconsistent with the country’s commitments.

“Israel’s delivery of 5,000 doses of vaccine to Palestinian health workers pales in comparison to the nearly 5 million doses it has already provided to Israeli citizens,” Omar Shakir, Israeli and Palestinian director of Human Rights Watch, told CNBC after the announcement. Just over 5 million people live in the Palestinian Territories.

The office of Israel Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that the broadcast was approved on Sunday. This was the first such step since the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine began shipping through the 9 million country in mid-December. Israel has since run the world’s fastest vaccination campaign in terms of shots per person, and says more than a quarter of its population has received at least the first dose of vaccine since December 19.

In this aerial photo, taken in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday January 4, 2020, people are queuing outside a Covid-19 mass vaccination center in Rabin Sqaure. Israel plans to vaccinate 70% to 80% of its population by April or May. Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has said.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Palestinian Authority did not comment on the news. Until the last announcement, however, no vaccines had reached the Palestinians, except for those who lived in East Jerusalem or worked in the Palestinian hospitals there.

“Israel retains overall control”

For rights organizations and Palestinian interest groups, this was a breach of duty by Israel, which the United Nations has classified as an occupying state over the Palestinian territories.

“Israel retains overall control over land, over the population register, over the movement of people and goods and over the airspace. Under international law, this type of control is linked to obligations towards an occupied population,” said Shakir.

“Israel’s obligations under international law after more than 50 years of occupation, the end of which is not in sight, go far beyond the supply of some vaccines if they have the capacity,” he added, “but rather offer the Palestinians in the occupied territory equal access to the vaccine on par with what it offers its own citizens. “

A health care worker administers a Covid-19 vaccine at Clalit Health Services in the ultra-Orthodox Israeli city of Bnei Brak on January 6, 2021.

JACK GUEZ | AFP | Getty Images

The Israeli health and foreign ministries did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comments in response to these specific statements, but previously stressed that the Israeli coordinator of government activities in the territories had been working with the Palestinian Authority to provide ventilators, test kits and other medical devices to transfer “Donated by the international community.”

There was also joint training of some Israeli-Palestinian medical teams, COGAT told CNBC.

However, Israeli officials argue that ultimate responsibility for health care and vaccine acquisition rests with the Palestinian Authority, which the Palestinians have elected to be the government of the West Bank.

Human Rights Watch’s Shakir denies this. “The fact that Palestinians also bear responsibility does not negate the Israeli role. Ultimately, as occupying powers, they are responsible for the supply and well-being of the occupied population,” he said.

“The hospitals are full of patients”

Nouar Qutob, assistant professor and Covid-19 data researcher at Arab American University in the city of Ramallah on the West Bank, is concerned about the situation.

“Things are worrying. We have cases, cases we don’t know about, the hospitals are already full of patients. And the British variant is now in Palestine,” Qutob told CNBC, referring to a new strain of the first identified coronavirus in the UK and found to be 70% more communicable.

As a resident of East Jerusalem, Qutob has an Israeli residence and was able to receive the Pfizer vaccine. She commutes to work from home in Ramallah, which has a private Covid-19 testing center, but said the rate of people tested has decreased.

“People avoid testing because they don’t want to give up work,” she said.

A worker cleans the classes in preparation for school before teaching in person in specific classes at Taybe Schools in Khan Yunis, Gaza, October 4, 2020 on October 10, 2020.

Mustafa Hassona | Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The new variant of the virus that now exists in the Palestinian Territories is “really worrying because it means more cases – and we still don’t have the vaccine in the West Bank,” she said. Qutob spoke to CNBC ahead of the Israeli announcement on Sunday, but since the delivery of the 5,000 doses of vaccine is only for frontline Palestinian health workers, it won’t do much to change the infection situation for the general population.

The latest data from the World Health Organization shows 178,900 confirmed coronavirus cases among Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, with more than 2,000 deaths.

The Palestinians expect the first major vaccine shipments in March

The Palestinian Authority expects to receive its first shipments of independently sourced vaccines in March.

Yasser Bouzia, an official with the Palestinian Ministry of Health, told CNBC that the PA is currently in a bilateral agreement with AstraZeneca for 2 million doses of its UK-developed vaccine. An additional 2 million vaccine doses are expected to be received through COVAX, a global program established to ensure equitable access to vaccines around the world.

“That will cover almost the majority of the population. And after that we will look to other sources to get nearly 1 million more people vaccinated because we want to vaccinate nearly 5.2 million people,” said Bouzia.

Until then, the infections will still spread despite government restrictions.

“People don’t seem to want to abide by the closings and regulations, they just suffer from bad economic situations,” said Qutob. “I don’t see people following the rules and the virus is spreading, and it’s worrying.”

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Politics

Decide Postpones Guantanamo Arraignments Over Covid Considerations

Judge Postpones Guantanamo Arraignments Over Covid Concerns

WASHINGTON – A military judge Tuesday indefinitely postponed indictments against three Guantánamo Bay prisoners who were due to appear in court for the first time after 17 years in prison. The coronavirus pandemic made traveling to the naval base too risky.

Indonesian prisoner Hambali, who has been held as a former leader of a Southeast Asian extremist group since 2003, and two accused accomplices were due to appear before the court martial on February 22nd. But Colonel Charles L. Pritchard Jr., the military judge who was due to travel to Guantanamo this week, ruled that “the various lawyers’ beliefs that travel is a serious threat to their health” was baseline.

Colonel Pritchard is the youngest military judge to join the Bank of Guantánamo Military Commissions and the youngest to postpone a trial deemed too risky in almost a year of the coronavirus repeal. The capital punishment pre-trial hearings against five men charged with planning the September 11, 2001 attacks have been delayed by a year.

The judge, court staff and attorneys in charge of the hearing began quarantine in the Washington area the weekend before a charter flight to the base Thursday.

Once there, the passengers should be quarantined individually for 14 days according to a plan worked out by the public prosecutor’s office in order to protect the residents of 6,000 inhabitants and in prison from the risk of infection.

“The risk to the health and safety of those involved in the legal proceedings due to the global Covid-19 pandemic is high,” the judge wrote in a seven-page order on Tuesday. “The government’s proposed mitigation measures lower the risk, but the risk remains.” He suggested that traveling to the base may not be safe until the end of summer.

Updated

Apr. 2, 2021, 7:52 p.m. ET

The case had been inactive throughout the Trump administration, but on day two of the Biden administration, a senior Pentagon official appointed under the Trump administration in charge of military commissions cleared the prosecution.

The defendants include Mr. Hambali, charged as Encep Nurjaman and the former leader of the extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah, and his accused accomplices, Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep and Mohammed Farik Bin Amin, who are Malaysians.

The three men were captured in Thailand in 2003 on charges of conspiracy in the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, and in the 2003 Jakarta Marriott Hotel bombing in which at least 11 people were killed and at least 80 injured were indicted for their first three years on the CIA’s secret network of prisoners before being brought to Guantánamo for trial in 2006.

Military commission rules require an inmate to be tried within 30 days of the charges being approved, but the judge’s decision appeared to suspend this watch.

Colonel Pritchard, the head of the Army’s southeastern judicial district, was forced to travel to Washington last week to be quarantined before traveling to Guantánamo. In his decision, he noted that most of the people traveling to the court hearings have not yet been vaccinated against the virus, and neither have the prisoners.

He also noted Saturday’s decision by the Biden government to suspend a plan to offer vaccines to the 40 inmates in the prison this week. Under the original plan, the three defendants could have voluntarily received their February 1 shots and boosters in time for the February 22 trial.

By Tuesday, all soldiers and other service members working on the prison operation had been offered the Moderna vaccine, said Maj. Gregory J. McElwain, an Army spokesman, and declined to say how many of the estimated 1,500 troops are refused to receive this one shot. The Navy’s medical staff has been gradually vaccinating volunteers among residents of the base since Jan. 9.

This week, as part of the tiered program, the vaccines were offered to school teachers and foreign workers of the base commissioner and bars, as well as the naval forces guarding the perimeter of the base.

Prosecutors suggested that the hearing be postponed to April 3. The judge wrote that he would issue a new court order “in due course”.