Gibraltar and Europe

Gibraltar

Population, 33,691

Has administered at least 94,469 vaccine doses

Enough to have fully vaccinated 140.2% of the country’s population.

Face masks required in all shops and supermarkets, public transport, in medical centres, indoor funerals, Airport.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/gibraltar/

Europe

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

World Health Organization

Europe remains “in the firm grip”

Death toll could top 2.2 million this winter

Another 700,000 deaths by March 1

high or extreme stress in intensive care units (ICUs) in 49 out of 53 countries between now and March 1, 2022

Director for WHO Europe, Hans Kluge

face a challenging winter ahead

vaccine plus

Face masks reduce COVID incidence
by 53 %

Over 160,000 deaths could be prevented (by March 1) if universal mask coverage of 95%


Pascal Soriot, the chief executive of AstraZeneca

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/23/astrazeneca-jab-could-reason-britain-faring-better-europe-says/

UK not seeing so many hospitalisations relative to Europe despite a high number of cases.

Long term T cell immunity after antibodies wane

Looks like, AstraZeneca initially gives higher levels of T-cells

France, Germany, Spain, Belgium – restricted AZ to the under 65s

UK may have high T cells from natural infection and cross immunity from other coronavirus infections

Government source

European leaders had all these unfounded concerns about AstraZeneca and its use in older people

If you look at the data, you can see us using it early has been incredibly helpful in terms of protecting older and vulnerable people from this disease for longer

Dr Peter English

People whose immune systems have produced a strong T-cell response but a weaker antibody response might be more likely to be infected in the first place

but more likely to be able to fight the infection, and they will be much less likely to develop severe disease

It is plausible that this generated an excellent T-cell response, which means that while people can still be infected and infectious, they are unlikely to be seriously unwell

Prof Matthew Snape, Oxford University

The best T-cell responses seem to come if you give a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine followed by Pfizer

Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert

Third jabs may be unnecessary

UK

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk

US

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky

Seven-day average

Cases up 18%

Hospital admissions up 6%

135 million people eligible for boosters

Heading into the winter months, when respiratory viruses are more likely to spread,

and with plans for increased holiday season travel and gatherings,

boosting people’s overall protection against covid-19 disease and death was important to do now

In the fully vaccinated

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html

Infections happen in only a small proportion of people who are fully vaccinated, even with the Delta variant.

When these infections occur among vaccinated people, they tend to be mild

If you are fully vaccinated and become infected with the Delta variant, you can spread the virus to others

Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-babies-toddlers-should-get-covid-19-vaccines-by-spring-2021-11

Next spring

Pfizer trial ongoing

6 months to 5 years

Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, have pediatric vaccine trials planned

Emergency use authorization to the Food and Drug Administration

Canada

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/news/2021/11/health-canada-authorizes-use-of-comirnaty-the-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-in-children-5-to-11-years-of-age.html

Health Canada

Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty, in children 5 to 11 years

(12 to 15s, May 5, 2021)

the Department has determined that the benefits of this vaccine for children between 5 and 11 years of age outweigh the risks

Two-dose regimen, 10 micrograms

Three weeks apart

Immune response in children 5 to 11 years, comparable to 16 to 25

The vaccine was 90.7% effective at preventing COVID-19 in children 5 to 11 years of age

and no serious side effects were identified

Ongoing studies and real-world data

to ensure that the benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh any risks, as well as to detect any potential new safety signals in any age group