This file photo taken on Nov 17, 2020 shows vials with COVID-19 Vaccine stickers attached and syringes with the logo of US biotech company Novavax. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
PARIS / OSLO / HAVANA / SAP PAULO- Benedikt Richter, a 40-year-old teacher in the southwest German city of Kaiserslautern, long held out against getting vaccinated against COVID-19. He felt uneasy about the novelty of the mRNA technology used in two of the most commonly administered shots.
But when the European Union in December approved the use of the Novavax vaccine Nuxavoxid, which deploys a long-established protein-based technology, he became interested.
The recombinant protein technology behind the Novavax shot has been in use since the mid-1980s and is now a standard tool to fight hepatitis B, the human papillomavirus behind cervical cancer, and bacteria that cause meningitis
Data unearthed by Reuters suggests the new two-dose vaccine, recommended in Germany for basic immunization for people over 18, is already going some way to convince more of the as-yet unvaccinated to get a shot.
Some federal states have opened waiting lists to receive Novavax shots. In Rhineland-Palatinate where Richter lives, for example, more than 14,300 people have put down their names. A private Berlin vaccination center told Reuters they had around 3,000 people registered.
The recombinant protein technology behind the Novavax shot has been in use since the mid-1980s and is now a standard tool to fight hepatitis B, the human papillomavirus behind cervical cancer, and bacteria that cause meningitis.
A recent survey by researchers at the University of Erfurt with 1,000 participants found that even though unvaccinated Germans had more confidence in traditional vaccines than in mRNA vaccines, trust generally was still low.
Almost two thirds of the unvaccinated were completely against vaccination, the survey found, suggesting that only a small proportion would ever consider taking the Novavax shot.
Much is on the line. Germany has a lower inoculation rate than many other countries in western Europe at just 74.4 percent fully vaccinated.
But if Nuxavoxid were able to move the needle, that could prompt an easing of restrictions on public life that are dragging on the recovery of Europe's largest economy.
In this file photo taken on Jan 14, 2022, a girl receives the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19, at the Clinicas hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP)
Brazil
Brazil registered 140,234 COVID-19 infections and 896 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing its nationwide counts to 27,425,743 and 638,048, respectively, the National Council of Health Secretaries said Saturday.
The national seven-day moving average of deaths reached 892, while that of daily infections stood at 136,067.
As of Friday, 152.2 million people nationwide have been fully vaccinated, and 55.3 million have received a booster shot, according to official data.
Brazil has the world's second highest COVID-19 death toll, only after the United States, and the world's third largest caseload, following the United States and India.
Cuba
Cuba reported on Saturday the lowest daily count of 888 COVID-19 cases in almost six weeks, raising the national count to 1,059,834.
The Ministry of Public Health said that seven more COVID-19-related deaths were registered, bringing the national death toll to 8,467.
The central province of Ciego de Avila detected 146 new cases, the highest daily count, followed by Holguin with 132 and Sancti Spiritus with 120.
Of Cuba's 11.2 million people, 9.8 million have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 5.7 million have received a booster dose, according to the authorities.
The country's national immunization program is carried out with three Cuban-developed vaccines – Abdala, Soberana-02 and Soberana Plus.
A car part of a convoy departing for Paris is decorated with a French flag and a placard reading "Hold off masks, Paris-Brussels", Feb 11, 2022 in Strasbourg, eastern France. (JEAN-FRANCOIS BADIAS / AP)
France
A convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions breached police defenses and drove into central Paris on Saturday, snarling traffic around the Arc de Triomphe and on the Champs Elysees, as police fired tear gas at demonstrators.
Protesters in cars, campervans, tractors and other vehicles had converged on Paris from Lille, Perpignan, Nice and other cities late on Friday, despite warnings from Paris authorities that they would be barred from entering the capital.
Police said that they had arrested 54 people, handed out 337 fines by and stopped 500 vehicles trying to get into Paris in the morning
Inspired by horn-blaring "Freedom Convoy" demonstrations in Canada, dozens of vehicles slipped through the police cordon, impeding traffic around the 19th century arch and the top of the boutique-lined Champs Elysees, a magnet for tourists.
Inside the city's limits, motorists in the "Freedom Convoy" waved tricolor flags and honked in defiance of the police ban.
On the Champs Elysees, clouds of tear gas swirled through the terraces of bars and restaurants.
Riot police also threw tear gas grenades to keep order at an authorized street protest where demonstrators, including some "Yellow Vests" railed against President Emmanuel Macron's coronavirus vaccine pass rules and the cost of living.
On the Champs Elysees, police used tear gas into the evening as sporadic scuffles continued and one person who collapsed on the sidewalk was brought to hospital for checks, police said.
France requires people to show proof of vaccination to enter public places such as cafes, restaurants and museums, with a negative test no longer being sufficient for unvaccinated people.
"We can't take the vaccine pass any more," said Nathalie Galdeano, who had come from southwest France by bus to participate in the protests.
Police said that they had arrested 54 people, handed out 337 fines by and stopped 500 vehicles trying to get into Paris in the morning. The Interior Ministry said about 32,000 people participated in protests nationwide, including 7,600 in Paris.
Less than two months from a presidential election, Macron's government is eager to keep protests from spiraling into large-scale demonstrations like the anti-government Yellow Vest revolt of 2018.
That movement began as a protest against fuel taxes and grew into a broader revolt that saw some of the worst street violence in decades and tested Macron's authority.
Grievances expressed by protesters in the "Freedom Convoy" extend beyond COVID-19 restrictions, with anger simmering over a perceived fall in standards of living amid surging inflation.
Police had mobilized more than 7,000 officers, set up checkpoints and deployed armored personnel carriers and water cannon trucks in preparation for the protests.
Separately police also said they had arrested five protesters in southern Paris in possession of sling shots, hammers, knives and gas masks.
Signs reading "wash your hands immediately on entering the kindergarten" (top) and "Please ring the bell and wait, you will be picked up. Remember to keep at least a meter away from others" are fixed at a door of a "Espira Grefsen Station Kindergarten" in Oslo on April 20, 2020.
Norway
Norway will scrap nearly all its remaining COVID-19 lockdown measures as high levels of coronavirus infections are unlikely to jeopardize health services, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Saturday.
"We are removing almost all coronavirus measures," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference.
"The coronavirus pandemic is no longer a major health threat to most of us. The omicron virus causes far less serious illness and we are well protected by vaccines."
Norwegians will no longer need to stay at least one meter apart nor wear face masks in crowded settings. The removal of these measures mean nightclubs and other affected entertainment venues can resume full business.
In addition, infected individuals no longer need to isolate themselves. Instead, they are recommended to stay home for four days.
Travelers to Norway will no longer need to register their arrivals ahead of time and the government is also scrapping the previous requirement for proof of a negative test before departure for some visitors, such as unvaccinated people.
Norway in December went into partial lockdown to combat the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant.
Visitors to Svalbard, where health services are limited, must continue to test before and after arrival, while international charter flights to the archipelago remain suspended, the government said.
Passengers of the cruise ship AIDAnova who tested negative for COVID-19 are evacuated from the ship at Lisbon dock on Jan 3, 2022. (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP)
Portugal
Portugal lowered on Saturday the country's indicator for the assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic from "critical level" to "alarm situation," which means relief of pressure on health services.
The Higher Technical Institute said that the risk of the pandemic for health services is now at 79.59 points, below the threshold of the alert level set at 80 points.
"The forecast is for this indicator to drop very sharply in the coming days," said Henrique Oliveira, the mathematician professor at IST, in statements to the Lusa news agency.
According to him, who is one of those responsible for preparing and daily updating this indicator, the epidemiological situation in the country is "very favorable and the paradigm has changed."
At the beginning of 2021, Portugal reached a value of more than 100 points, with a maximum peak of 105.8 on Jan 24, and has since dropped.
In Portugal, 20,492 people have died and 3,069,128 cases of infection have been recorded since March 2020, according to the Directorate-General for Health.
Portugal has already vaccinated 5,588,523 people with the booster dose, and a total of 8,874,135 people have been immunized with the primary vaccination.
Russia
Russia confirmed 203,766 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 13,935,560, the official monitoring and response center said Saturday.
The nationwide death toll increased by 729 to 339,542, while the number of recoveries rose by 112,658 to 11,134,291.
In this April 26, 2017, file photo shows the Eli Lilly and Co corporate headquarters in Indianapolis. (PHOTO / AP)
US
The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized Eli Lilly and Co's COVID-19 antibody drug for people aged 12 and older at risk of severe illness, adding a tool that has been found to work against the highly contagious Omicron variant.
The FDA authorized bebtelovimab for emergency use in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of progression to severe disease, including hospitalization or death.
Bebtelovimab should be used when alternative COVID-19 treatment options approved or authorized by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate, the agency said.
The US health regulator had in January revised the emergency use authorizations for Lilly's antibody combination treatment and a rival therapy from Regeneron after the drugs were found to be ineffective against the Omicron variant.
Lilly has said bebtelovimab retains activity against Omicron as well as its BA. 2 subvariant, which is said to be more transmissible.
The company on Thursday signed a supply deal with the US government for up to 600,000 doses of bebtelovimab to be delivered by the end of March.
Bebtelovimab was originally discovered by AbCellera Biologics and later licensed and developed by Eli Lilly.
Walmart
Walmart Inc informed staff on Friday that fully vaccinated workers in the United States will no longer be required to wear masks in the company's facilities, effective immediately, unless required by a state or local mandate.
The retailer, in an internal memo, added that workers who work in clinical care settings like health clinics and pharmacies, with direct customer contact, will be required to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.
