Pfizer and BioNTech will donate their COVID-19 vaccine to athletes training for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, the International Olympic Committee said Thursday. Doses are expected to be delivered later this month, which would be in time for the athletes to be fully immunized for the games, starting July 23. “We are inviting the athletes and participating delegations of the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games to lead by example and accept the vaccine where and when possible,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement. Last month, the IOC announced a similar deal to distribute Chinese-made coronavirus vaccines to Chinese athletes prior to both the Tokyo Summer Games and the Beijing Winter Games. Most countries have yet to approve Chinese vaccines for emergency use. How the Tokyo Games will be held is still in question as Japan is reportedly considering extending its coronavirus state of emergency, Reuters reported.    …

When oxygen supplies at Shri Ram Singh Hospital in New Delhi ran critically low a week ago, Dr. Gautam Singh, who runs the facility, hit the road at night to plead for oxygen from suppliers and also put out a desperate appeal on social media. Finally, a local official helped secure some cylinders to help alleviate the crisis.But after the nightmare of ensuring that his patients are not left gasping for oxygen, Singh has drastically cut back on the number of COVID-19 patients he takes into his facility even as the raging second wave of the pandemic has led to an acute shortage of hospital beds in the city.“We run the same race daily, we have to beg for oxygen but supplies are still very short. It breaks my heart to turn away people, they come in bad shape, but what can I do?” said Singh in a quivering voice. “We …

Sixty years after Alan Shepard became the first American in space, everyday people are on the verge of following in his cosmic footsteps.Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin used Wednesday’s anniversary to kick off an auction for a seat on the company’s first crew spaceflight — a short Shepard-like hop launched by a rocket named New Shepard. The Texas liftoff is targeted for July 20, the date of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic aims to kick off tourist flights next year, just as soon as he straps into his space-skimming, plane-launched rocketship for a test run from the New Mexico base.And Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch a billionaire and his sweepstakes winners in September. That will be followed by a flight by three businessmen to the International Space Station in January.”We’ve always enjoyed this incredible thing called space, but we always want more people to be able to experience …

The Biden administration has agreed to support waiving intellectual property (IP) restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization (WTO), a breakthrough in the global fight against the pandemic that can empower governments to tackle vaccine scarcity and inequity.U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the administration’s position in a FILE – A logo is seen at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, June 2, 2020.Biden agrees; now what?Now that Biden has agreed to support the waiver, it doesn’t mean U.S. pharmaceutical companies must start giving away vaccine recipes so developing countries can make their own.The WTO is a consensus-based organization and cannot move forward unless the European Union, which is against the waiver, and everyone else agrees. Once all WTO members agree, the next steps would be for countries to implement it at the national level by removing legal risks that hinder production and supply …

A senior Indian government scientific adviser warned Wednesday that a third wave of coronavirus infections would sweep the country as it struggles with the devastating effects of the current wave that officially claimed nearly 4,000 lives in the course of one day.The government’s principal scientific adviser, K. Vijay Raghavan, issued the warning as the World Health Organization said in its weekly report that India accounted for almost half the cases reported globally last week and about a quarter of all fatalities.“Phase 3 is inevitable, given the high levels of circulating virus,” Raghavan told a news briefing in New Delhi. “But it is not clear on what timescale this phase 3 will occur … We should prepare for new waves.”India’s crisis is aggravated by a critical lack of oxygen needed to treat critically ill patients, along with the raw materials needed to manufacture doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. While India is …

The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said current projections see COVID-19 cases remaining low and dropping sharply by July, provided vaccination rates remain high and people continue to observe basic prevention practices.At a briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the projections are based on a study published Wednesday by the CDC. The study used data taken from recent trends to create models showing what could happen if current vaccination and prevention practices, such as mask use and social distancing, continue.Walensky said nationwide, U.S. COVID-19 statistics continue to trend well, with the daily average of new cases falling by 12%, to 42,494 per day, while average daily hospitalizations dropped by 9.5%. She said daily average deaths also fell by nearly 1%.But she said the wild card in the CDC models is variant coronavirus strains that cause COVID-19. Walensky said data show current vaccines are performing …

In marking World Hand Hygiene Day, the World Health Organization is stressing the importance of good hand hygiene practices in stopping the spread of deadly infections. It says this is especially true at a time when the world is battling the coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease.   COVID has dramatically amplified the importance of hand washing. The head of WHO’s infection prevention and control, Benedetta Allegranzi, says this simple action can prevent the risk of transmitting the infection, when used as part of a comprehensive package of public health measures.      “Effective hand hygiene also prevents any infection acquired in health care, the spread of antimicrobial resistance and other emerging health threats. Hand hygiene is a simple action that has a central role in contributing to quality care and to the whole of society efforts to prevent infection spread and saves lives,” Allegranzi said.      A WHO …

Relentless wind and rain keeps pummeling much of the southeastern United States, spawning tornadoes, sparking a flash flood emergency in Alabama and damaging homes from Texas to Virginia. The storms have prompted boat rescues and toppled trees and power lines. Crews were preparing to continue cleaning up debris and assessing destruction across the region early Wednesday, as some schools canceled classes or moved them online due to damage on campuses and surrounding areas. The National Weather Service’s prediction center warned Wednesday morning that flash flooding also could now affect the Central Gulf Coast with storms shifting southeast and rain continuing to soak much of the region. The storms have been responsible for at least three deaths and dozens of injuries this week, and more than 200,000 customers were without power from Arkansas to Maryland early Wednesday, including about 75,000 in Alabama, about 66,000 in Mississippi, about 13,800 in Georgia and …

Member nations of the World Trade Organization are wrapping up two days of talks in  Geneva Wednesday focused on waiving intellectual property rights on new COVID-19 vaccines.  Ambassadors from the WTO’s 164 member states have been debating a proposal first proposed by South Africa and India back in October that would temporarily lift patent rights held by pharmaceutical companies that developed the vaccines.  Supporters of the proposal say the waiver will allow for the faster manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines for use by developing countries, where vaccination rates have lagged behind those of wealthier nations. But pharmaceutical companies claim that granting the waiver could hurt future innovation and will not lead to the quick production of coronavirus vaccines.   Dozens of civil society groups and former heads of state, including former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mikhail Gorbachev of the former Soviet Union have urged U.S. President Joe Biden to support the …

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies turn their attention to issues of global interest including coronavirus vaccines, climate change and education for girls on Wednesday as they close three days of talks in London. “I think COVAX and the ability to fund it, get vaccines to the most vulnerable countries, what we do about the surplus domestic supply, all of those issues again, really good opportunity with the G-7, together with our Indo-Pacific partners, to talk all of that through and come up with positive answers,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Tuesday. With Britain hosting the ministerial talks, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose office highlighted the importance of global access to COVID-19 vaccines. “The Prime Minister and Secretary Blinken agreed that the global roll out of vaccines will be key to defeating the coronavirus pandemic. They underlined the importance of G-7 work in this area, including …

A Malian woman gave birth to nonuplets in Morocco on Tuesday, and all nine babies are “doing well,” her government said, although Moroccan authorities had yet to confirm what would be an extremely rare case.    Mali’s government flew 25-year-old Halima Cisse, a woman from the northern part of the West African state, to Morocco for better care on March 30. She was initially believed to have been carrying septuplets. Cases of women successfully carrying septuplets to term are rare; nonuplets, even rarer. Moroccan health ministry spokesman Rachid Koudhari said he had no knowledge of such a multiple birth having taken place in one of the country’s hospitals.   But Mali’s health ministry said in a statement that Cisse had given birth to five girls and four boys by cesarean section. “The mother and babies are doing well so far,” Mali’s Health Minister Fanta Siby told AFP, adding that she had been kept informed by the Malian doctor who accompanied Cisse to Morocco.   They are due to return home in …

President Biden set a goal of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030. His pledge to a virtual summit of world leaders in April is welcomed by those hit hardest by climate change and looking for as much quick action as possible.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.  Camera: AP/REUTERS/NASA/SKYPE/NATIONAL AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITYProduced by: Arash Arabasadi  …

Taiwan, largely spared from the global coronavirus pandemic since it began last year, is grappling with a small but still uncontained outbreak that appeared last month. Since April 20, Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center has confirmed infections of 10 pilots working for the Taiwan-based international carrier China Airlines and eight relatives of pilots. At the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, which is next to the island’s chief international airport, four employees, three of their family members and a hotel contractor have been diagnosed since April 29. On Tuesday, the command center reported two new COVID-19 cases, both airline employees. Authorities expect it will take another week or two to determine how wide the outbreak has spread. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told a news conference Sunday the cluster does not qualify yet as a “community outbreak” but cautioned people to follow guidance on avoiding infections. “Until May 17 we will be in a period …

Turkey was recently heralded as one of the most successful nations in containing the spread of COVID 19, prompting the government to ease controls. But a surge in infections coupled with vaccine shortages has forced a U-turn, with the country now under its most severe lockdown, as Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Istanbul. …

As India reels from a second wave of COVID-19 infections that is devastating major cities, stockpiles are falling short of surging demand in the country, health experts warn. The country’s mass immunization bid to expand its vaccination drive to all adults is posing to be a herculean task, they say. India opened vaccinations to those who are 18 years of age and older this month. Although it is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the approximately 70 million shots for COVID-19 being produced per month cannot address the massive needs of the world’s second most populous country, health experts say. K. Srinath Reddy is the president of the Public Health Foundation of India, a health research and policy development organization based in New Delhi. He said the challenge to meet demands includes groups considered “new entrants,” people between the ages of 18 to 44 years old.  “We are talking about 595 million people. …

India has opened its immunization drive to all adults as it reels under a catastrophic second wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic. But a shortage of vaccines in the country often called a vaccine powerhouse means inoculating a significant part of the 1.4 billion population is still a distant goal. Anjana Pasricha has a report.  …

An appeals court on Monday will consider the constitutionality of the first law in the nation banning transgender women and girls from playing on women’s sports teams.  The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case that will likely have far-ranging consequences as more states follow conservative Idaho’s lead. Idaho passed its law last year, and more than 20 states have considered such proposals this year. Bans have been enacted in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia. Florida lawmakers passed a bill, and South Dakota’s governor issued an executive order. On Monday, conservative Republican lawmakers in Kansas failed to override Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of a proposed ban on transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s school sports. Supporters say such laws are needed because transgender female athletes have physical advantages. Opponents say the law is discriminatory and in Idaho, an invasion of privacy because of the tests …

France’s centrist government has released a video ahead of Wednesday’s vote on the so-called Climate and Resilience bill, with Ecological Transition Minister Barbara Pompili explaining how it will lead to cleaner air, more insulated buildings and a greener France overall.Polls find many French citizens support the spirit of the massive legislation, which aims to meet the country’s goal of cutting greenhouse gases by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. A recent report by the EU’s climate service found 2020 was Europe’s hottest year on record, and the region was warming faster than the rest of the world.The French bill’s dozens of measures include limiting the most polluting vehicles in urban areas, slapping ecotaxes on truck transport, banning heated restaurant terraces and capping rent on insulated housing.The National Assembly is expected to pass the legislation before it heads to the Senate.But the bill is deeply controversial, with industry saying it’s too …