European Union governments should step up vaccinations of children against COVID-19, the bloc’s executive body said, adding that it was also considering plans to develop antiviral drugs. “It is estimated that between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of the EU population has COVID-19 so far,” EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakidis told a news conference. The EU Public Health Agency said the reported cases had reached around 30 per cent of the European population so far, but if unreported infections were added, the cases could reach 350 million, about 77 per cent of the European population. . With the recent drop in COVID-19 infections and deaths, the EU is moving away from mass testing and case reporting, Kyriakidis said. However, a new outbreak of COVID-19 is possible as the virus is expected to continue to mutate, and countries should therefore have plans in place to return to the state of emergency, the commission said.

More than half of the US population is infected: study

The commission’s comments follow a nationwide U.S. blood test released on Tuesday, which estimated that 58 percent of the U.S. population as a whole and more than 75 percent of younger children have been infected with the coronavirus since its inception. pandemic. CLOCKS Tests for COVID-19 via breath samples:

Non-invasive COVID-19 tests aim to make the tests more accessible

U.S. regulators have approved a device that can detect the presence of COVID-19 through breath samples, which could potentially make testing more accessible to humans. In addition, infectious disease specialist Dr. Susy Hota explains why wastewater monitoring is not a sufficient substitute for proper COVID-19 testing. 5:13
This study, published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), marks the first time that more than half of the US population has been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus at least once. Before Omicron reached the end of 2021, one-third of the US population had evidence of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. The scientists looked for specific antibodies produced in response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which only exist after infection and are not produced by COVID-19 vaccines. Traces of these antibodies can remain in the blood for up to two years. Comparable national data for Canada are not yet immediately available, but researchers in BC analyzed thousands of blood samples in the Lower Continent throughout the pandemic to monitor antibody levels in the general population and found a huge change in infection level as the Omicron and The Variants surpassed the other variants to a surprising degree. BC data, previously provided to CBC News, found that nearly 40 percent of the population had antibodies to a previous infection in March, up from about 10 percent in October. Dr Danuta Skowronski, a vaccine efficacy specialist and chief epidemiologist at the Center for Disease Control in British Columbia who led the study, told CBC News that the study found that almost two-thirds of children under the age of 10 showed signs of a previous infection. In Ontario, official estimates now show that 40 percent of the population had been infected with COVID-19 since December alone.

Concerns about retrieving accurate data

Timely data collection has become a concern in many countries, including Canada. Since the launch of the Omicron variant, provinces and territories in Canada have restricted access to PCR testing, citing a lack of capacity to keep up with the demand and need to release healthcare resources. While wastewater monitoring provides important data, it is less useful for detecting emerging trends. The World Health Organization (WHO) director-general, Tandos Antanom Gebregesus, urged countries on Tuesday to keep a close eye on coronavirus infections, saying the emerging situation “is making us increasingly blind to transmission and development patterns.” Bill Rodriguez, chief executive of FIND, a global aid team working with the WHO to expand access to testing, said “test rates have plummeted by 70 to 90 percent”.

Pediatric vaccinations stressed

European governments were called on by the Commission on Wednesday to continue pushing for the vaccination of the unvaccinated, especially children, before the start of the new school year in the autumn. Vaccination of eligible children against coronavirus has been a struggle for many developed nations, with most countries in North America and Europe starting vaccinating their children between November and January. CLOCKS Encouragement shots are encouraged for the right Canadian population:

Canadians urged to receive boost shots for COVID-19 to mitigate 6th wave

All indications are that Canada is going through a sixth wave of pandemics, confirms Dr. Theresa Tam. Her message to Canadians: wear a mask and step up if they are eligible. 2:00 p.m.
Vaccination rates are below 15 percent among European children between the ages of five and 9, the youngest age group for which COVID-19 vaccines have been approved. In the United States, 28 percent of children ages five to 11 by April 20 were considered fully vaccinated, with 35 percent having received at least one dose. Canada did better than most Western nations in vaccinating younger eligible children, but federal and provincial health officials said they would like to see the rate rise further. Nearly 41 percent of Canadian children between the ages of five and 11 are fully vaccinated, according to Health Canada, and 56 percent have received at least one dose. As Omicron’s transmissibility has seen the focus on public health shift increasingly to the prevention of illness and serious outcomes, as opposed to the immediate prevention of infection, antiviral drugs are also of increasing interest. COVID-19 antiviral pills developed by Pfizer and Merck & Co have been approved for use in Canada, the US and the EU. However, their absorption has so far been limited in the West due to a number of reasons, such as pandemic slowdown, high prices and some confusion about eligibility and how to prescribe. The administration of US President Joe Biden aims to expand access to oral COVID-19 antiviral therapies, such as Pfizer’s Paxlovid, by doubling the number of sites available, the White House said on Tuesday, with a focus on pharmacies. .