The Evening Report - April 16th.
Denmark goes for a vaccine mix and match for those with one AstraZeneca dose.
🇩🇰
An updated health alert off the top. A salmonella outbreak in Denmark linked to HUSK products has grown much worse. 33 people are sick, 19 are now in hospital, and three have died.
Danish health agencies advise:
“If you have bought "HUSK Psyllium seed husks, capsules", "HUSK psyllium seed husks, oral powder" or pharmacy-made HUSK with lime (powder), you are strongly encouraged to throw them out or drop them off where they were purchased.”
If you have had any of these products and have abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, acute diarrhea (possibly bloody), and fever get to a doctor immediately.
-
Now back to Corona. The Danish National Board of Health has decided how to handle the roughly 149,000 people who have had a first dose of AstraZeneca after the vaccine was put on ice. Sundhedsstyrelsen says they will now be offered a second dose of another approved vaccine.
National Health Board Director General Søren Brostrøm:
“We have reviewed documentation and the professional recommendations from other countries, and on that basis we find that the best offer is to offer everyone who has received one dose of AstraZeneca to get a second dose with an mRNA- vaccine. It will be offered approximately 12 weeks after they received their first AstraZeneca injection. Two weeks after this second shot, they can be considered fully vaccinated.”
Letters are in the process of being sent out those who are impacted via E-Boks.
Last week the World Health Organization warned that the science on changing vaccines between first and second doses, as far as overall efficacy, was pretty hazy. The other complicating factor is that AstraZeneca is a viral vector based vaccine while Pfizer and Moderna are both mRNA vaccines.
-
Pfizer is pulling hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses from its promised fourth quarter shipments and fast tracking them to be delivered in the second quarter instead. What it means is about 700,000 more doses than expected will arrive in Denmark before June.
Staten Serum Institut Deputy Director Ole Jensen:
“In a situation where the AstraZeneca vaccine will now play a very minor role in the vaccination of the Danish population, it is very positive that Pfizer can bring forward deliveries we should have had later in the year, so that they now come before the summer.”
Here is the updated schedule for Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine deliveries to Denmark.
-
Denmark is reporting 677 COVID infections and three more coronavirus deaths over the last 22 hours (not 24 hours due to a data entry issue).
Yesterday 430,448 total corona tests were done, 183,827 PCR and 246,621 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 0.37%.
COVID hospitalizations (185) are down (-6) while the number of those in an ICU (36) edged down (-1). Of those, the number on a ventilator (30) inched up (+1).
On the vaccination effort to date, 1,022,477 1st dose vaccinations (17.5% of the population) have been administered while 488,202 people (8.4%) are now fully vaccinated.
Yesterday 24,328 total vaccinations were done.
-
The additional easing of restrictions for schools beginning next Wednesday is being both welcomed and questioned by education stakeholders.
Chairman of the School Leaders' Association Claus Hjortdalm says the changes give him hope they may be able to finish the school year with schools more or less back to normal. That said, he warns the constant changes, with little to no notice, are extremely wearing on teachers and staff.
"We have never in the history of the primary school had so many schedule changes in such a short time. It is a huge job asked of school leaders and teachers every time. We would have much rather seen some slightly longer, slightly larger openings. We would well have waited a week and then have had 100% instead of 80% classroom capacity."
The sentiment is echoed by Gordon Ørskov Madsen, Chair of the Danish Teachers' Association, who adds the requirement of 80% classroom capacity is a head-scratcher.
“How do you go to school at 80%? It does not fit so well with reality. It is a mathematician who has made calculations of what it means for the risk of infection. But it is not very realistic or manageable in practice. It means more changes and that is the problem.”
-
Falck has won the tender to provide COVID rapid tests in the Sjælland health region (the rest of the island outside Metro Copenhagen). It is contracted to administer 39,000 quick tests per day ramping up to 52,000 tests per day by August. The move means no actual change on the ground as Falck has been providing quick tests in the region on an interim basis after the last contractor was fired.
🇸🇪
Sweden has added 7,658 infections and another 27 virus deaths since yesterday’s update.
Total to date infections in Sweden now exceed 900,000, almost 4 times more than Denmark, or more than double DK, Finland, and Norway combined.
To date, Sweden’s vaccination campaign has administered 1,667,542 1st vaccination doses (20.4% of the population) while 649,361 people (7.9%) are now fully vaccinated.
-
The Swedish Public Health Agency is giving the green-light to those who have been fully vaccinated to return to a somewhat normal life. The agency says three weeks after having a second dose people can freely visit with friends, family, children, grandchildren, and people from other households if they have no symptoms, even indoors. It does advise following health guidelines to minimize any infection risk.
The public health agency says that when vaccinations are complete for those in seniors care and all associated staff, normal activities and visitations can resume. Vaccinated residents are also allowed to leave the facility for visits to family or for appointments provided they follow national health guidelines.
🇫🇮
Finland has registered 380 infections and two more corona deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (161) are unchanged. ICU numbers (34) have declined (-3).
To date, 1,267,678 1st dose (22.7% of the population) and 116,412 2nd vaccine doses (2.1%) have been administered.
-
Finland is also seeing an influx of fast-tracked Pfizer vaccine doses. The Finnish Health Institute says beginning in week 17 an extra 50,000 doses will begin to arrive. By week 22 that will rise to an additional 80,000 doses per week.
The health agency says about 160,000 vaccinations are being administered per week. It says 84% of those aged 70 years old have received at least a first vaccination dose.
The Health Institute’s Mia Kontio:
“The vaccination situation and the age structure of the population varies from region to region, but nationwide, 77% of the youngest group of older people, aged 70-79, have now received at least one dose. The oldest, those over 80 years of age, have about 10 percentage points higher vaccination coverage. This indicates vaccine uptake is very high.”
🇳🇴
Norway has added 915 infections and had no new virus deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (242) are down (-5), ICU numbers (81) are up (+8), and ventilator numbers (53) have declined (-2).
To date, 17.84% of Norwegians have one vaccine dose and 5.54% have had both.
🌎
Yesterday there were 837,793 new global coronavirus infections, a reminder that the COVID pandemic is far from over and in fact is getting worse . That is very close to the highest ever number of global daily infections seen in early January and numbers are rising rapidly. Total to date global deaths surpassed 3,000,000.
🇪🇺
In Europe Germany remains a big concern as its numbers push upward.
Germany is not alone. Poland remains locked in a tough battle with the coronavirus, Greece is a big COVID hot spot, and infections are rising in France, Spain, and the Netherlands.
🇨🇦
As Moderna slashes vaccine shipments to Canada by half, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that a new deal has been signed with Pfizer for four-million more doses with two-million arriving in May and the other two-million in July.
Canada recorded a record high 9,562 infections yesterday while losing another 55 lives to the coronavirus.
There are 1,028 people hospitalized with 599 on a ventilator as of Apr 12th (latest hospital update).
In Canada to date, 8,346,273 1st dose vaccinations (21.96% of the population) have been administered while 854,586 people are now fully vaccinated.
Ontario set another record high for COVID infections today according to Health Minister Christine Elliott on Twitter “Ontario is reporting 4,812 cases of COVID19 and over 64,300 tests completed. Locally, there are 1,469 new cases in Toronto, 851 in Peel, 491 in York Region, 366 in Ottawa and 268 in Durham. As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 3,644,038 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.”
Quebec has reported 1,527 new infections and seven more deaths today.
In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick has eight new infections. Nova Scotia six. Newfoundland and Labrador saw three.
Manitoba registered 153 new infections yesterday, including the first confirmed case of the Brazilian P1 variant, and added one more corona death.
There were 293 infections and two more virus deaths in Saskatchewan yesterday.
Alberta recorded 1,646 infections and five more deaths yesterday. There are 416 people in hospital with 86 in an ICU. Provincial health officials are noting a sharp rise in infections among young people.
B.C. reported 1,205 infections yesterday and another three corona deaths. Active COVID cases have hit a record high of 10,052. Hospitalizations are at 409, a record high. There are 125 people in an ICU.