The Evening Report - Aug 19
Denmark stands firm on holding off on a booster shot campaign
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While the United States tables plans to offer Americans a third booster dose this fall, Denmark’s National Board of Health is standing firm on holding off on a third shot. American health officials cite studies claiming vaccine efficacy declines over the course of year in justifying its booster shot campaign. However, Sundhedsstyrelsen is standing by its own data that determined the vaccines offered in Denmark maintain a high level of protection against COVID for at least a year. This would mean any booster shot campaign in Denmark would not happen until the beginning of 2022 at the earliest.
Sundhedsstyrelsen is constantly assessing data on immunity either induced via vaccines or acquired by having had COVID. It initially pegged the antibody protection as lasting five months, then extended it to eight, and now 12 months. Its own data, studies from other Nordic countries, and across Europe, and from the United Kingdom have all found mRNA vaccines offer strong protection over a longer period of time. That said, the situation is always in flux as we continue to accrue new knowledge, and the coronavirus itself throws us curveballs like the Delta variant.
The European Medicines Agency has yet to sanction any need for a third booster shot across the EU, citing a lack of data that determines its even necessary.
The World Health Organization has also blasted the American booster shot campaign, saying it is a misguided, nationalistic approach. The WHO says the United States and other wealthier countries have already cornered the market on vaccine doses while developing countries struggle to vaccinate their own populations. It warns if we do not vaccinate the world, then we risk having a new variant or variants that would set us all back.
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DR is reporting that increasing numbers of COVID infections in several areas of Aarhus are impacting some schools and children’s institutions. The kommune is concerned enough to have reached out to the Danish Agency for Patient Safety asking for some help.
City Director Niels Højberg:
“They can help with an overview of how the infection spreads in the affected districts, so we get a picture of how we can intervene.”
In the last two weeks, four kindergartens in Aarhus Kommune have had to send children home. This week Skjoldhøjskolen sent a number of children in grade four home due to COVID infections.
Skjoldhøjskolen principal Henrik Schou says school officials are already bracing for the fall when the seasonal effect begins to work against us with colder weather and more people indoors.
“It will be an autumn with days where parents can not come to work because they have children in isolation at home.”
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Denmark is reporting 984 COVID infections with no new coronavirus deaths in the last day.
Yesterday there were 147,972 total corona tests done, 68,869 PCR and 79,103 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 1.43%.
There are 41 Danish kommunes with COVID incidence rates above 100 per 100,000 residents and of those 10 have incidence exceeding 200.
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COVID hospitalizations (116) continues to creep up (+11) while the number of coronavirus-infected people in an ICU (15) inched downward (-1) and of those, the number on a ventilator (6) also edged down (-1).
Hospitalizations have quadrupled since the beginning of July, when admissions were at the lowest point since last summer.
On the vaccination front to date, 4,353,824 1st vaccine doses (74.4% of the total population) have been administered and 3,940,951 people (67.3%) are fully vaccinated.
Yesterday there were 42,045 total inoculations done and of those just 5,476 were 1st doses.
There seems to be a bit of a gender divide in getting vaccinated. Currently, more women than men have their shots. According to data from the Staten Serum Institut 2,013,136 women are vaccinated compared to only 1,927,815 men.
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Sweden has added 1,288 infections and two more corona deaths since yesterday’s update.
Public Health Sweden has adjusted its vaccination reporting to include 16 and 17-year-olds but instead of including them in with total vaccinations, they are reporting them separately.
To date, 6,598,469 1st vaccine doses have been administered among the adult population 18 years old and older (80.6%) and 5,067,827 people (61.9%) have had both doses.
For adolescents 16 to 17 years old 139,823 1st doses have been done (39.8%) and 6,594 (1.9%) are fully vaccinated.
Vaccination Unit Head Sören Andersson says having four out of every ten adolescents already having a first dose shows Swedish young people are eager to get vaccinated.
“It is gratifying that so many young people have already been vaccinated. Now it is important that everyone also takes their second dose.”
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Region Stockholm is assessing its vaccination program to make it smaller, more mobile, and with fewer barriers as demand for shots declines. The region says about half of eligible residents are now fully vaccinated and around 75% have a first dose. It expects the vaccination program to enter a new phase in the fall transitioning from doing huge numbers of daily mass vaccinations of the general population to smaller more targeted efforts.
Vaccine Coordinator Magnus Thyberg:
“It is important to have at least the same level of availability for those who have waited for vaccination and those who are still hesitant to get vaccinated. We therefore propose to have clinics with smaller capacity but with continued good geographical coverage across the county. In many cases areas of low vaccination coverage are also areas impacted the hardest by serious coronavirus illness and death. These areas should be the ones we focus on to get higher vaccination coverage. The hesitation some feel is not rationale. We must continue to communicate and be patient as it is going to take longer in some areas to get good vaccination coverage. What is important is that people make a decision about getting vaccinated based on good information and correct facts.”
The region currently has 37 vaccination clinics and four mobile units able to vaccinate up to 120,000 people per day. With demand easing, the focus will turn to areas with the lowest coverage. The region will make a decision on reconfiguring its vaccination campaign on August 25.
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Norway has added 929 infections and had no new deaths since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (32) are up (+4) ICU numbers (12) also edged upward (+2) while the number of those on a ventilator (5) also rose (+1).
To date 70.24% of Norwegians have had one vaccine dose and 44.52% have had both.
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For a fourth straight week, the number of COVID cases in Norway continues to increase, with overall infections last week rising by 25% over the week previous. This is according to the latest COVID assessment from the Norwegian Institute for Public Health. Vestland has the most reported cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Last week, there was an increase in the number of reported cases in Viken, Oslo, Rogaland, Møre og Romsdal, Agder, Vestfold and Telemark and Innlandet. The NIPH says it estimates to have detected 62% of all infections in the country over the last two weeks.
As seen elsewhere, Norway is seeing infection surges in primarily younger age groups. The health authority also says corona cases linked to travel “has increased during the summer” without specifying an actual figure.
So far, hospital and ICU admissions continue to remain low, with just 29 new hospitalizations last week. ICU admissions have remained at five or fewer per week for each of the last eight weeks.
The latest infection wave is being driven by the Delta variant, which the national health institute says is now “completely dominate.” The number of confirmed Delta variant cases in Norway has rocketed up from 50 just 12 weeks ago to 7,556 as of week 32. Another way of looking at it is that 12 weeks ago the variant has gone from being 1% of all sequenced positive test results and today it makes up 99%. The institute adds that Delta is so dominant “there is little infection with other variants.”
The NIPH says it has confirmed 565 breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated people in Norway, or 8.4% of detected infections in the last two weeks.
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While Norway urges women who are planning to have children, who are pregnant, or who are breastfeeding to get vaccinated, COVID is not the only thing to vaccinate against. The Norwegian Institute for Public Health is warning of a resurgent flu season. Indeed, many countries are already reporting an early and ferocious return of some of the usual viruses that COVID restrictions all but eliminated over the last year.
Chief Physician Margrethe Greve-Isdahl says expecting and breastfeeding mothers should also get a flu shot as well as two doses of a COVID vaccine.
“We expect that this year's flu season can be stronger than normal because we have had less flu illness the two or three previous seasons, and the immunity of the population will therefore be lower than usual. Both pregnant women and newborns are exposed to a serious course of influenza, and pregnant women are encouraged as before to accept offers of influenza vaccine.”
Greve-Isdahl says she understands that some people may be worried about more vaccinations during pregnancy. But she emphasizes getting vaccinated during pregnancy doesn’t negatively affect the pregnancy or the fetus. In fact, the opposite is true, in that the vaccines protect both the mother and the newborn baby.
The NIPH is recommending that COVID and influenza vaccines be given at least a week apart from each other.
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Finland has registered 866 new infections since yesterday’s update.
The Finnish vaccination campaign has administered 3,892,948 1st vaccine doses (69.6% of the population) and 2,461,440 people (44.1%) now have both doses.
As for 12 to 15 year olds in Finland, about 24% have received their first dose so far, with over 60,000 doses administered to the age group so far.
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The Delta variant driven fourth infection wave that has smashed into Finland may have peaked after driving record high daily infections. The Finnish Institute for Health’s latest weekly report says infections last week increased by a little over the week previous, from 5,072 to 5,163. Finland is seeing Delta infections mostly among “young people and young adults.” Specifically the health institute says infections have been increasing in the past few weeks among young people aged 10 to 19 years old.
Last week, around 9% of all infections were travel-related.
The sheer numbers of this infection wave and staffing shortages continues to overwhelm contact tracers who are dealing with a backlog of cases. The source of infection was successfully tracked down in just 52% of coronavirus cases.
The number of people placed in quarantine last week continues to rocket upward in Finland, with 12,108 people in isolation, an increase of over 2,200 from the week before.
The health institute says pressure is mounting on hospitals and especially intensive care units, with “the majority of those in need of hospital care being unvaccinated.”
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In Germany, Health Minister Jens Spahn says 52.9 million 1st vaccine doses (63.7% of the population) have been administered, while 48.4 million people (58.2%) are now fully vaccinated. Overall, 71% of the population 12 years old and older who are eligible for vaccination have had at least one dose.
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Next week, new tighter rules around Germany’s vaccine passport system will come into force. Much like in Denmark, before the requirement was largely lifted, people will have to show proof of vaccination, recent infection, or a negative test result to see a movie, visit a seniors home, enter a hospital, or go out to eat. People who are unvaccinated are already required to show a negative test, to use hotels in Germany and have to show a new negative test every three days of their stay.
The changes could also see people, like tourists, having to pay for COVID testing as Germany begins to move away from covering testing costs. It could remove free testing entirely in October if a government proposal is approved. By removing free testing, it hopes people who have put off vaccination and instead have used negative COVID test results to go out and do things will finally get the jab.
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Germany is beginning to see signs of another infection wave. COVID cases have risen sharply this week as it reported over 8,000 new infections yesterday and again today.
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The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has published its latest COVID assessment map for the European Union.
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A new study looking at households in Ontario from June to December of last year has concluded that young children may be more likely to spread COVID within a household. Specifically, the study finds children three years old and younger pose the highest risk.
The study examined public health data from provincial health authorities in Ontario involving over 6,000 families. It worked to identify coronavirus clusters where young children were the primary source of transmission. While children under three were the highest risk, the study also found kids four-to eight-years old and those nine-to 13-years old also presented a high COVID transmission risk within a household.
From the study’s conclusion:
“Although children do not appear to transmit infection as frequently as adults, caregivers should be aware of the risk of transmission while caring for sick children in the household setting. As it is challenging and often impossible to socially isolate from sick children, caregivers should apply other infection control measures where feasible, such as use of masks, increased hand washing, and separation from siblings.”
You can find the study in full HERE
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Canada reported 2,421 new infections and suffered another 42 coronavirus deaths yesterday.
To date, the Canadian vaccination campaign has administered 27,496,208 1st vaccine doses (72.22% of the total population) while 24,439,982 people (64.19%) are fully vaccinated.
In Ontario today there were 531 infections, with 456 of them either not vaccinated or having just a single shot, and 75 were fully vaccinated. There are 176 people in hospital with 163 either having one dose or none at all.
Quebec reported 436 new corona cases and had no new deaths.
In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick recorded 23 new infections. Nova Scotia had eight. Newfoundland and Labrador had six.
Manitoba saw 27 new infections and one more fatality today.
There were 131 infections and no new deaths in Saskatchewan yesterday. 78% of the new corona cases were unvaccinated and 8% had one vaccine dose.
Alberta logged 689 new COVID cases and two more corona deaths yesterday. Of those, 74% were unvaccinated and 10% had just one dose. There are 184 people in hospital and 48 in an ICU. 84.5% of the patients are either unvaccinated or had a single dose, for those in an ICU it is 93.8%.
B.C. recorded 553 new infections and one more virus death yesterday. The province has 5,580 active cases, which is the highest since early May.