Medical experts who advise US regulators on vaccines are chafing at what they perceive as political interference by the Biden administration in the review process of booster shots.

Children’s hospitals in Ohio pleaded with the public to get vaccinated, saying more children are in intensive-care units with Covid-19 “than ever before”. North Carolina’s schools have rapidly been adopting mask mandates, now with 106 of the state’s 115 districts requiring them.

Israel, one of the world’s most-vaccinated nations, reported record cases amid widespread testing of children ahead of the opening of the school year. In India, increasing cases are raising concerns about a potential new wave. 

UBS Group AG CEO Ralph Hamers said staff who don’t wish to receive a vaccine can apply to work from home, a flexible approach on an issue disrupting banks’ efforts to get workers back to their desks.

Key developments

• Global Tracker: Cases top 218.8 million; deaths pass 4.54 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 5.35 billion doses administered
• Ire of the ‘vexcluded’ grows as companies crack down on unvaxxed
• Less fear, more fury as Delta strains hotline for doctors
• Wall Street banks tiptoe around Texas while pushing for vaccines
• The US’s unequal jobs recovery leaves some minorities behind

North Carolina schools masking up

North Carolina’s schools have rapidly been adopting mask mandates, now with 106 of the state’s 115 districts requiring them, said Betsey Tilson, the state health director, according to the News and Observer. About half the districts changed their minds since the start of August, she said, amid the spread of the Delta variant, which has hit children harder than previous viral waves. Two districts have suspended in-person learning. 

Children’s hospitals warn of kids in ICU

Children’s hospitals in Ohio pleaded with the public to get vaccinated, saying more children are in intensive-care units with Covid-19 “than ever before” and the “pediatric safety net” is under unprecedented strain.

In an open letter on Thursday, the six hospitals also asked Ohioans to wear a mask, including during school, and to take other common measures to avoid infection. It’s the latest local alert about the Covid risks related to children, the youngest of whom aren’t eligible for vaccines in the US.

About 56% of Ohio residents age 12 and older are fully vaccinated, compared with 61% nationwide, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Maryland passes vaccine milestone

Maryland has administered at least one shot to 80% of the eligible population, Governor Larry Hogan announced. That compares with 72.4% of all people in the US 12 years and older, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Maryland has now surpassed 80% of all eligible Marylanders vaccinated against Covid-19. 

“The science is clear,” Bill Flynn, chief executive officer of the passenger rail line, said in an email to passengers signed up for Amtrak’s Guest Rewards program. 

“The Covid-19 vaccines are safe, effective and lifesaving. They are proving effective against the current surge of variants, especially at preventing severe disease, hospitalisation and death.”

Amtrak joins United Airlines in requiring vaccines for transportation workers. Delta Airlines has announced a health care surcharge for unvaccinated workers.

Nebraska shores up hospitals 

Nebraska is re-establishing a special center to coordinate patient transfers between stressed hospitals as Covid-19 overwhelms the healthcare system again, the Omaha World-Herald reports. The state last week declared a hospital staffing emergency. Nebraska’s larger hospitals currently report daily occupancy rates of 85% to 100%, reflecting both Covid-19 and other admissions, the newspaper reported.

US ships more antibody therapeutics

US shipments of monoclonal antibody therapeutics for Covid-19 have surged during the latest wave of infections, with the government distributing one treatment for every five cases.

The US shipped 200,513 doses for the week of August 18, a five-fold increase from a month earlier, according to the latest data provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services. In the same period, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported just shy of a million new cases. 

Italy weighs compulsory vaccination

Italy will eventually make vaccination compulsory, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said in a press conference in Rome on Thursday.

Italy will also start administering a third vaccine shot from September, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said, adding that the campaign will start from those with a weak immune system. Speranza stressed that vaccination is already required for health workers, and that this requirement could be expanded to other groups.

The country expanded the use of the EU’s vaccine passport, the so-called green pass, this month, and will continue adding activities and venues for which it is required.

Israel reports record cases

Israel reported a record of 11,187 new cases, topping the previous record of 11,140 recorded earlier in the week, amid widespread testing of children ahead of the opening of the school year. The percentage of positive tests rose to 7.92%, the highest for the current wave of infections, but only about half the rate at the end of last September.

About 30% of the new cases were children aged 0-11 and an additional 13% were teenagers aged 12-18. Serious cases declined to 666, well below levels recorded at the beginning of the year.

Israel had one of the earliest vaccine drives, and health officials said this week that the effects of the shots weaken five months after inoculation. The country started giving booster shots and eligibility has been gradually expanded to include the entire population aged 12 and over.

New York extends eviction ban

New York lawmakers extended the state’s eviction and foreclosure freeze through January 15, providing relief to renters, homeowners and small businesses that have struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The legislation increases the amount of hardship funds available to tenants and landlords to $250-million from $100-million and creates a $25-million fund for legal services for renters facing evictions.

Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed the measures into law on Thursday morning after cancelling a bill-signing event so she could focus on the emergency response to flash floods across New York.

Biden’s booster plan faces pushback

Medical experts who advise US regulators on vaccines are chafing at what they perceive as political interference in the review process by the Biden administration.

Last month, the White House announced plans to begin distributing Covid-19 booster shots to Americans on September 20. However, the effort still needs the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to sign off. Members of a key panel that advises the CDC on vaccines have pushed back consideration of the plan to mid-September and said this week they were concerned that politics was getting ahead of the process.

It’s “very frightening to me that healthcare providers are trying to do the best job that they can, and are taking guidance from HHS and the White House”, said Helen Talbot, a Vanderbilt University professor of medicine and member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, in a meeting on Monday.

US hospitals hit with infections

US hospitals faced a surge in many other kinds of infections as Covid-19 taxed healthcare capacity across the country last year, according to a new report from federal researchers.

Four types of healthcare infections commonly tracked as core measures of hospital quality increased significantly in 2020, compared with what would have been expected based on prior years’ rates, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in a journal article on Thursday.

Long Covid risk reduced in double vaccinated

New data from the UK’s Zoe Study suggest that those who are fully vaccinated have lower risk of long-term symptoms and fewer near-term symptoms, according to Bloomberg Intelligence’s Sam Fazeli. 

Separate studies show fully vaccinated people may be less infectious than those who haven’t been vaccinated, and a reduction in mutation frequency of the virus in countries with high vaccination rates.

Europe’s poorer east far behind on vaccines

The European Union this week celebrated reaching a key milestone of 70% fully vaccinated. But in the bloc’s poorest country, the rate hasn’t reached a quarter.

The figures in Bulgaria stand out as extreme, but also capture an east-west divide that’s got worse in recent months. Bulgaria has fully vaccinated just 20% of adults, while its neighbour Romania is at 32%. 

Unvaccinated UBS staff can work from home

UBS Group staff who don’t wish to receive a vaccine against the coronavirus can apply to work from home, CEO Ralph Hamers said, signalling a flexible approach on a topic that’s disrupting banks’ effort to get workers back to their desks.

“We have 25,000 employees alone in the US and thousands more in Singapore and Hong Kong, and every country has a different legal framework around what you can and can’t make mandatory,” with respect to vaccines, Hamers said at the Swiss Economic Forum in Interlaken on Thursday.

As Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS has around 70,000 staff worldwide. 

EU regulator sees no urgent booster need

The European Medicines Agency said there is no urgent need for booster doses for fully vaccinated people, according to a statement. The regulator also said that additional doses should already be considered for people with severely weakened immune systems as part of their primary vaccination.

Earlier, Portugal said it’s recommending that people over 16 with immunosuppression get an additional dose of a mRNA vaccine.

India’s spike in cases raises fears of third wave

India’s increase in daily case numbers is raising concerns of a possible third wave. The country reported 47,092 new cases, including 509 deaths, on Thursday, marking the highest daily infections in two months. This is driven by surging numbers in the southern state of Kerala, which has contributed 70% of the total. 

India has 32.86 million confirmed cases, including 439,529 deaths and administered a total of 663 million vaccine doses so far. DM

– With assistance from Alisa Odenheimer, Joao Lima, Dana Khraiche, Alessandro Speciale, Vincent Del Giudice and Keith Laing.