The Evening Report - April 29th
The fate of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine still up in the air in Denmark
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The Danish National Health Board was supposed to announce a decision on the fate of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week, but it looks like it will now be delayed until next week. DR cites Health Minister Magnus Heunicke as expressing concern about the impact on the vaccine schedule if the vaccine is shelved permanently. In January, Denmark secured 2.6 million doses of the one-shot vaccine, which would almost be enough to inoculate half the population.
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The Danish political parties began the next round of negotiations over the continued reopening of Denmark. The next phase of reopenings is scheduled for May 6th.
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Denmark is taking another step forward in Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s ambitious plan to make the country a global vaccine producer. Today the Danish government launched a ‘market study’ to flesh out interest from the private sector as well as financial and technological requirements to build vaccine production facilities in the country.
Minister of Business and Industry Simon Kollerup stated:
“The government has had a good dialogue with the Danish life science industry, and this has given us reason to believe that there is interest among vaccine manufacturers to establish production here in Denmark. Therefore, I look forward to the upcoming market study, where we, in dialogue with interested vaccine manufacturers, will turn our minds to the opportunities for vaccine production in Denmark.”
The Prime Minister has already stated that any vaccine production facility would be to churn out mRNA vaccines but she didn’t clarify if it would involve existing producers of the technology, Pfizer or Moderna, or a third party. Mette Frederiksen has also said she wants vaccine production in Denmark up and running by 2022.
Once the market study has been completed, and after discussion with the other political parties, the government will take next steps on initiating an actual tender.
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Denmark is reporting 751 infections and two more corona deaths in the last day.
Yesterday there were 448,840 total corona tests done, 167,410 PCR and 281,430 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 0.46%.
The Staten Serum Institute says another two infections have been confirmed to be the Brazilian P1 corona variant, pushing the total to date number to 15.
As of today, the agency is including the India B.1.617 variant in its update of corona mutations. As of April 22nd, there were 37 confirmed infections of this variant in Denmark, most of them travel related.
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COVID hospitalizations (173) have dropped (-8), while the number of infected people in an ICU (30) also declined slightly (-2), and, of those, the number on a ventilator (18) declined as well (-3).
On the vaccination effort to date, 1,307,569 1st dose vaccinations (22.4% of the population) have been administered while 631,260 people (10.8%) are now fully vaccinated.
Yesterday there were 51,273 total vaccinations done.
The Southern Denmark Health Region (Region Syddanmark) has issued its latest weekly vaccination update. This week had 65,760 vaccine doses, the majority of which were from Pfizer. Those doses went to the nine target groups currently eligible to receive vaccinations. To date, 263,480 people (21.5%) in Southern Denmark have received a first vaccine dose while 121,099 are fully vaccinated. The region has about 1.2 million residents.
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The Danish National Health Board has released its latest assessment of the impact of the pandemic on hospitals in Denmark, the eighth such report to date. It found hospitals fared pretty well during the latest infection wave with minimal impacts on other medical procedures and things like cancer treatments.
Unit Manager Charlotte Hosbond:
“The hospitals have managed to be open to as many patients as possible during the second wave of the epidemic, and this shows that we have a robust hospital system that has both been able to handle many patients with COVID and at the same time continue to receive many other patients.”
However, there were some concerns, such as a decline in the number of breast cancer screenings. There was also an increase in the hospitalization of children and young people suffering from mental health issues. This is now being investigated by the health board to determine why.
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The Danish Data Protection Agency has given the Statens Serum Institut a slap on the hand for how it processed personal data in connection with its COVID modeling project. It says the agency didn’t do enough to protect personal information beforehand. However, it also cut the SSI some slack, noting it was under a lot of pressure to respond to a crisis situation without the necessary resources at first to cover its bases. The Data Protection Agency also gives the SSI credit for being responsible about its shortcomings in protecting personal information.
The Staten Serum Institut is now working with the Agency to ensure personal information is secure and protected. No leak of any personal information has been reported to date.
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The Danish Society for Nature Conservation says the pandemic is having an impact on the environment around Denmark. During the national garbage clean-up day in week 15 the conservation group says 52,000 disposable masks were found strewn around the country.
Maria Reumert Gjerding is with the Conservation Agency:
“Too many places were overflowing with disposable masks littered on the ground and even though the problem is greatest in the cities, it is not something we can just close our eyes to. Masks are harmful to the environment and wildlife once they end up in nature and therefore it is important that we address this problem.”
She recommends better collection of used masks and use of reusable three layer fabric masks instead.
The conservation group also noted that with restaurants only able to serve take away, there was a big increase in the amount of packaging including pizza boxes, disposable coffee cups, and other take away food wrapping.
In total, volunteers removed more than 167 tonnes of waste from city streets and nature areas. In comparison, 156 tonnes of waste were collected in 2019.
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Sweden has added 7,158 infections and another two virus deaths since yesterday’s update. It looks like Sweden’s third infection wave may have peaked.
To date, 2,403,165 1st dose vaccinations (29.3% of the population) have been administered while 739,769 people (9%) are fully vaccinated.
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The Swedish Public Health Agency is approving COVID vaccinations for young people 16 to 17 years old who have underlying chronic conditions that make them a high risk for COVID. The approval comes after a recommendation from Sweden’s Pediatricians Association. The youth could only be vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which is approved for use for those 16 years old and older. Vaccination of this specific group will begin in phase three of the country’s vaccination roll out.
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A study by the Swedish Public Health Agency has found that migrants and migrant families from African or Middle Eastern countries living in Sweden are being hit harder by COVID, and are more likely to end up in an ICU, and die from the coronavirus than Swedish natives. Conversely, the agency found those same migrant populations are also being vaccinated at much lower rates.
Nordic region populations living in Sweden have about 85% vaccine coverage, while North Americans and other E.U. citizens have 81% and 77% coverage, respectively. However, the health agency found that for people living in Sweden who were born in North Africa or in the rest of Africa, the vaccination coverage was just 59% and 44% respectively.
The public health agency says the findings paint a clear picture that a lot more work needs to be done to get information and vaccines directly to Sweden’s ‘foreign born’ residents, which account for about 20% of the country’s population.
The full report in Swedish is HERE
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Finland has registered 208 new infections and two more virus deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (125) are down (-8) and ICU numbers (32) have also dipped slightly (-1).
To date, 1,597,841 1st doses (28.6% of the population) and 159,356 2nd vaccine doses (2.9%) have been administered.
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Finland’s Health Institute confirmed the first cases of the India B.1.617 variant today. It said three positive tests taken in March were confirmed to be the variant.
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Norway has added 241 infections and one more corona death since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (192) are down (-8), ICU numbers (59) also dropped (-5), and ventilator numbers (40) are unchanged.
To date, 23.90% of Norwegians have one vaccine dose and 6.24% have had both.
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Here is the latest snapshot of how a number of counties across the world stack up in the global vaccination effort. Canada has surged past the European Union and all the Nordic countries in 1st doses administered.
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Moderna announced today it is investing in upgrades at its vaccine production facilities in Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and the U.S. in order to increase its vaccine manufacturing capacity to 3 billion doses. The upgrades will mean a doubling of production capacity at its European plants. It expects to see the production increases begin in late 2021 and early in 2022. It is also boosting its vaccine supply forecast for this year from 800 million doses to 1 billion.
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Brazil’s Drug watchdog Anvisa has refused to authorize the Russian Sputnik V vaccine for use. It cites incomplete information, flaws in product development, an absence of quality control, and insufficient safety and efficacy data. It also raised a red flag about “worrying information” that adenoviruses used in the vaccine allow for their replication. It says “this can lead to infections in humans, and can cause damage and death, especially in people with low immunity and respiratory problems, among other health problems.”
In Brazil the outbreak situation remains severe with 77,266 infections and another 3,019 deaths.
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In Canada, 7,751 new infections and 54 more coronavirus deaths were reported yesterday.
The latest national update on hospitalizations paints a concerning picture. Between April 12th and the 19th, hospital beds occupied by COVID patients jumped from 2,749 to 3,205. During the same week, ICU capacity increased from 1,028 to 1,215. The number of people requiring a ventilator went up from 599 to 747.
On the vaccination front to date, 11,764,545 1st doses (30.96% of the population) and 1,061,721 2nd vaccines doses have been administered.
In Ontario today, Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted, “Ontario is reporting 3,871 cases of #COVID19 and over 56,900 tests completed. Locally, there are 1,172 new cases in Toronto, 901 in Peel, 392 in York Region, 292 in Durham and 147 in Ottawa. As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 5,027,770 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.“ There were also 41 deaths.
Quebec is reporting 1,042 infections and ten more deaths today. The province is expanding its vaccination program promising every adult in Quebec will be eligible for vaccine shot within two weeks.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia has 70 infections. Newfoundland and Labrador had two infections. New Brunswick has yet to report.
Manitoba saw 189 infections and three deaths.
There were 213 infections and four deaths in Saskatchewan yesterday.
Alberta registered 1,839 new infections and another six corona deaths yesterday. There are 643 people in hospital in the province with 145 in an ICU.
B.C. is reporting 841 infections and five more deaths. Hospitalizations also rose again with 515 people in hospital and 171 in an ICU.
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The nightmare continues in India with no end in sight as it again recorded its highest ever number of new infections and COVID deaths yesterday with 379,459 infections and 3,647 coronavirus deaths.
