COVID-19: Boris Johnson commits to appointing chair of public inquiry by Christmas as he meets bereaved families - Boris Johnson has promised families who lost loved ones to coronavirus that a chair of the public inquiry will be appointed by Christmas, as he was accused of adding 'insult to injury' by delaying meeting them for more than a year. The prime minister held talks with members of COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice in Downing Street on Tuesday. In May, he announced an independent public inquiry into the government's handling of the pandemic will begin in the spring of next year.

Covid-19 in South America: Vaccine Rollout Led to Big Drop in Cases - South America, exceptionally hard-hit by Covid-19, is seeing a sudden drop in cases and deaths, apparently from rapid and thorough vaccines on the heels of a horrific wave that provided antibodies to those it didn’t kill.  Over a seven-day period, the continent now makes up 6% of cases and 9% of deaths, the lowest since the start of the pandemic. At its peak in June, it represented 38% of global infections and 44% of fatalities. One peculiarity of the continent is that the delta variant upending plans from Asia to the U.S. hasn’t found traction there. It had similarly contagious mutations, known as gamma and lambda, and their presence may be keeping delta at bay and extending immunity. This is distinct from Mexico, Central America and Cuba, where delta has taken hold and the other two hadn’t.

Americans Are Getting Covid-19 Boosters—No Questions Asked - The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have authorized a third shot of the vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE for a wide swath of the U.S. population. Anyone over age 65 is eligible for a booster shot, as is anyone over 18 with a pre-existing condition predisposing the person toward a severe case of Covid-19. Also eligible are those with a job or living situation that poses a higher risk of contracting Covid-19. Boosters for all patients must be given at least six months after an initial Pfizer vaccine course. Patients who received initial doses of the vaccines made by Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson aren’t eligible yet. Approval of a booster regimen for those patients is expected in the coming months. The FDA did amend its emergency-use authorization in August, however, to allow a third Moderna dose for immunocompromised people.

Vatican orders all staff to be vaccinated or undergo regular Covid-19 testing - The Vatican made the announcement on Tuesday to staff, according to reports. Even the most senior members of the Catholic Church will not be exempt. The Pope has made the Catholic Church's stance on vaccinations clear. Francis himself was vaccinated in January and has called it a 'moral duty.' On Monday, Pope Francis emphasised the need for attention to be given to other diseases after Covid-19 has taken up most resources for almost two years

In India, demand for Russia’s expensive Sputnik vaccine sputters - Some of India’s private hospitals have cancelled orders for Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine as they struggle to sell COVID-19 shots amid surging supplies of free doses of other vaccines offered by the government. Some industry officials said low demand and the extremely cold storage temperatures required have spurred at least three big hospitals to cancel orders for Sputnik V, sold only on the private market in the world’s biggest producer of vaccines.

Slovenia temporarily suspends J&J's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine - Johnson & Johnson was not available for an immediate comment. 'The patient had blood clots and bleeding in the brain at the same time, intensive care was not successful,' Igor Rigler, a neurologist at the Ljubljana hospital centre, told the STA.

United says nearly 600 staff face termination for vaccine refusal - United Airlines has said that nearly 600 US-based employees faced termination after failing to comply with the carrier’s vaccination policy. In early August, the company became the first US carrier to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all domestic employees, requiring proof of vaccination by Monday. The carrier said it would start on Tuesday the process of firing 593 employees who decided not to get vaccinated. “This was an incredibly difficult decision but keeping our team safe has always been our first priority,” Chief Executive Scott Kirby and President Brett Hart told employees in a memo. The workers can save their jobs if they get vaccinated before their formal termination meetings, the company officials said.

Women followed lockdown rules more closely than men, study shows - The first Covid lockdown showed that women followed rules more closely than men, according to a new study which branded the restrictions a ‘live social experiment’. Researchers looking at 15% of the Austrian population’s behaviour said that everyone tended to make significantly longer phone calls during the crisis. Men were found to be less likely to accept having their movements restricted by lockdown measures and tended to return to normal more quickly, along with younger people. Scientists looked at anonymised mobile phone data from 1.2 million Austrians between February and June 2020, to study the impact of the first lockdown on behaviour in the central European country.

EU to decide on Pfizer booster on Oct. 4 - document - The EU's drugs regulator will decide on Monday whether to approve Pfizer's COVID-19 booster vaccine, but it is unlikely to give precise guidance on who should receive it, according to an internal document and two officials. If the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gives its backing for the jab, the 27-member block would join the United States, Britain and Israel which have already received the green light to deploy boosters, even though there is no consensus among scientists that they are necessary.

Algeria to start Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine production Wednesday - Algeria will start production of COVID-19 vaccine Sinovac in partnership with China on Wednesday with the aim of meeting domestic demand and exporting the surplus, the prime minister's office said on Tuesday. The government has said production capacity will stand at 1 million, 2 million and 3 million doses in October, November and December respectively, before reaching 5 million doses per month from January. The North African country has been importing vaccines, mainly Sinovac, since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020.

Some may have ‘protective version of gene which resists severe Covid-19’ – study - Some people possess a version of a gene which can potentially restrain the virus which causes Covid-19, a study has indicated. The findings offer an explanation for why some people have better natural defences against serious Sars-CoV-2 infection, say scientists. Scientists suggest antiviral responses are better in people who have a more protective “prenylated” version of the OAS1 gene, while others have a version which fails to detect the virus. But if new variants learn to evade the protection offered by the prenylated gene they could become “substantially more pathogenic and transmissible in unvaccinated populations”, say experts.

Covid-19 Australia: NSW is rocked by a pandemic -record 15 deaths and 863 new cases - State recorded 863 cases of Covid-19 and pandemic-worst 15 deaths overnight. Ms Berejiklian said 86.2 per cent of state's population single-dose vaccinated. Premier expects NSW to reach the 90 per cent single-dose figure by next week. Unvaccinated face $1,000 fine if they're caught enjoying October 11 freedoms.