Mauritius Set To Offer Covid Booster Shots To Fully Vaxxed People
The country will become the second in Africa to offer boosters. Thailand, meanwhile, said its studies of combination inoculations showed best results for a second-shot dose of Pfizer's vaccine after a Sinovac or AstraZeneca first shot. China, Japan, Germany and Russia are also in the news.
Bloomberg:
Mauritius To Become Second African Nation To Offer Covid Booster Shots
Mauritius will offer Covid-19 booster shots from Sept. 23 to people who received double doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to avert future coronavirus surges. “The campaign will start with people who had their second dose four months ago,” Health Minister Kailesh Jagutpal told reporters in Port Louis, the capital, on Tuesday. Nations from Israel to the U.S. have either started administering booster shots or plan to as the contagious delta variant threatens efforts to end the pandemic. Mauritius will become the second country in Africa after the Seychelles to do so as new surges could threaten plans for the island nation to attract tourists. (Bhuckory, 9/21)
Bloomberg:
Thailand Says Pfizer Spurs Top Response After Sinovac, Astra Jab
One of Thailand’s main Covid-19 vaccine regimes generates a lower immune response than inoculation combinations that include an mRNA-based dose, according to a study by the Siriraj Institute of Clinical Research. Preliminary results showed that a Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine as a first shot followed by an AstraZeneca Plc jab -- a pairing widely used in Thailand -- elicited a weaker immune response than a two-dose regime in which Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine was administered as the second shot four weeks after an initial jab of either Sinovac or Astra, the study said. (Thanthong-Knight, 9/22)
The New York Times:
One Covid Case Prompts Closures Across A Chinese City Of 10 Million
Harbin, a city in far northern China, ordered gyms, cinemas, bathhouses, mahjong parlors and other leisure venues to close on Tuesday after a single resident in the city of 10 million was confirmed to have Covid. The closures in Harbin were part of a raft of measures that kicked in, enforcing the Chinese government’s “zero tolerance” approach that seeks to extinguish even small outbursts of infections with sweeping measures. (Buckley, 9/22)
The Washington Post:
A Japanese Man Threatened A ‘Bloodbath’ At A Vaccination Site. He Sent His Warning Via Fax.
A man claiming to be a part of an organized crime group threatened a "bloodbath" at a covid vaccination center in Tokyo this weekend, and did so in a decidedly Japanese way: via fax, with a cover page titled "Death Threat." Despite repeated attempts to wean officials off fax machines, Japan remains hugely dependent on these technological relics that can feel out of place in the country that invented emoji. (Lee and Inuma, 9/22)
AP:
German Officials Fear Anti-Mask Radicalization After Killing
Senior officials in Germany expressed shock Tuesday over the killing of a young gas station clerk who was shot dead at the weekend by a man opposed to the country’s pandemic restrictions. A 49-year-old German was arrested in the fatal shooting of the clerk Saturday in the western town of Idar-Oberstein. The suspect is being held on suspicion of murder. Authorities said the man told officers he acted “out of anger” after being refused service by the clerk for not wearing a mask while trying to buy beer at the gas station. (Jordans, 9/21)
In other global developments —
The Washington Post:
Russian Hackers Target Iowa Grain Co-Op In $5.9 Million Ransomware Attack
Russian hackers leveled a ransomware attack on an Iowa farming co-op and demanded $5.9 million to unlock the computer networks used to keep food supply chains and feeding schedules on track for millions of chickens, hogs and cattle. Fort Dodge-based New Cooperative, a member-owned alliance of farmers that sells corn and soy products, contained the breach and developed a workaround to continue accepting grain shipments and distributing feed, a person close to the company told The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. (Bogage and Reiley, 9/21)