Health News at Your Fingertips

Foreign tourists visiting France will have to pay for Covid-19 tests starting from 7 July, government spokesman Gabriel Attal told Les Echos newspaper.

“We have decided foreign tourists should pay for those tests, €49 for PCR tests and €29 for antigenic tests. This is about reciprocity as French people traveling abroad have to pay for those tests in most countries”, Attal said.

Regarding French citizens who prefer to be tested when needed – for travel or social outings – instead of being vaccinated, Attal said the government would consider making them pay for those tests once the summer vacation is over, Reuters reports.

The World Bank is to make another $8bn in loans available for countries to finance the purchase of Covid vaccines, raising the total to $20bn, amid growing demand from developing countries, the institution’s president David Malpass has said.

The global development bank has seen a sharp increase in overall financing demand from developing countries – not just health-related expenditure – during the pandemic, the bank’s managing director for operations, Axel van Trostenburg, said.

He told reporters the World Bank had made nearly $100 billion in lending commitments since the outbreak of the crisis in early 2020, well above the normal level of just under $60 billion. High demand for financing was expected to continue well into 2022, he said. However, Reuters did not immediately report the terms of the loans.

The World Bank also said it had already provided more than $4 billion for the purchase and deployment of Covid vaccines to 51 developing countries, half of which are in Africa, where vaccination rates are among the world’s lowest.

In a statement, the global development bank urged countries anticipating excess vaccine supplies in coming months to release surplus doses and options to developing countries with adequate distribution plans in place.

The World Bank’s vaccine financing package can be used by countries to buy vaccine doses through Covax, the new African vaccine acquisition task team or other sources.

Germany plans to buy some 204 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine for 2022, far more than the two each needed for its 84 million population, in order to have a comfortable buffer in case of mutations or a need for booster shots.

A health ministry paper seen by Reuters said that the contract the European Union signed with Biontech and Pfizer for their mRNA-type vaccine covered Germany’s needs next year in the best case, but the extra would provide added security.

The paper said at least one other mRNA-type vaccine should be procured, as well as a vaccine using another technology, to help guard against production bottlenecks, Reuters reports.

A UK vaccine advisor has made a significant intervention to the debate over whether to inoculate children, saying “it is not immoral to think that they may be better protected by natural immunity generated through infection than by asking them to take the possible risk of a vaccine.”

In comments which hold relevance around the world, Prof Robert Dingwall, a sociologist on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said in a string of tweets that since teenagers were at an extremely low risk of Covid, “vaccines must be exceptionally safe” for there to be a significant benefit.

The Times reports that the committee is set to produce recommendations on vaccinating children within the coming weeks but has continually delayed a decision, seeking further safety data. However, the paper said it understands it may be leaning towards recommending against jabs for teenagers.

But Dingwall’s comments are likely to ignite heated conversations. He said that “medicine cannot deliver immortality” and that it was “profoundly damaging to society to imply that it can”.

The critic of tough pandemic restrictions also suggested that there can be unintended and unforeseen consequences when humans rush to reshape ecosystems; with humans, viruses and bacteria forming an environment which has evolved over millennia.

However, Stephen Griffin, associate professor of medicine at the University of Leeds told the Times that “it is immoral” to let infections “run riot” in children.

Even that small proportion of kids who get severe disease is going to increase. That is a problem. We don’t know the longer term consequences of this virus in children and that could be quite concerning. Long Covid for a child is incredibly damaging.

If we have a partially vaccinated population and allow widespread circulation of the virus that is the recipe for variants that will start to evade our vaccines.

In related news, shares elsewhere around the world have today retreated from recent highs, as Asian markets grew jittery about a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and Western markets awaited Friday’s US jobs report and what it might mean for monetary policy.

Reuters reports that asset markets have been significantly buoyed over the past year by trillions of dollars of monetary and fiscal stimulus by central banks and governments around the world to mitigate their responses to the pandemic.

Vaccination rollouts in some places have fuelled an economic recovery, and consumer confidence this month surged to 21-year-highs in Europe.

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.39%, and the S&P 500 gained 0.07%; the Nasdaq Composite dropped or 0.09%, the pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.77% and the German DAX fell 1.02%, along with London’s FTSE 100 0.71% fall.

London’s FTSE 100 fell slightly today amid concerns that a recent jump in coronavirus infections could hinder the pace of economic growth, but it has nonetheless seen the fifth straight monthly gain.

The FTSE 100 eased 0.7%, but reported its best monthly winning streak since 2016, according to Reuters. The index has gained 8.9% so far this year to stand just under 12% away from its record high.

However, it has significantly underperformed against its European peers with the STOXX 600 hovering near its all-time high, as inflation concerns and rising Covid-19 infections hinder the recovery process.

“There is a sense of general unease at the moment as we’re seeing a rise in the number of Delta variant cases, while we’re just under three weeks away from what is supposed to be ‘Freedom Day’ for the UK,” said Danni Hewson, analyst at AJ Bell.

“Investors are just taking a look at the support mechanisms winding down,” Hewson said, referring to business rates support and the furlough scheme. “Then wondering whether or not the economy really is going to open up and then trying to balance that with rising prices.”

Dixons Carphone jumped 5.9% after the electricals retailer reported a 34% rise in annual profit. Opioid addiction treatment maker Indivior Plc rose 6.4% to the top of the FTSE 250 index after it said its 2021 revenue and profit would be significantly above its previous outlook.

India’s version of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine is not authorised in the EU due to the possibility of “differences” with the original, Europe’s drug regulator has said.

The African Union yesterday criticised as “inequitable” an EU decision not to include Covishield, the Indian-made vaccine used by the global Covax programme, on a list of approved vaccines for a digital certificate for travellers in the bloc.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a statement to AFP:

Even though it may use an analogous production technology to Vaxzevria [AstraZeneca’s vaccine], Covishield as such is not currently approved under EU rules.

This is because vaccines are biological products. Even tiny differences in the manufacturing conditions can result in differences in the final product, and EU law therefore requires the manufacturing sites and production process to be assessed and approved as part of the authorisation process.

Should we receive a marketing authorisation application for Covishield or should any change to the approved manufacturing sites for Vaxzevria be approved, we would communicate about it.

The World Health Organization has however approved Covishield and lamented the fact that some countries were rejecting Covishield’s use on vaccination passes.

“This is a great pity because AstraZeneca-Covishield is exactly the same vaccine as AstraZeneca-Vaxzevria, which is accepted as proof of vaccination,” said Richard Mihigo of the WHO Regional Office for Africa yesterday.

“It is only that AstraZeneca-Covishield is manufactured and distributed in other parts of the world other than Europe.” He urged EU countries to recognise Covishield on vaccine passes.

The EMA statement said it was “not responsible for any decision regarding travelling into the EU”, which is the responsibility of the European Commission and EU member states.

People in some African nations have also complained about the lack of recognition for any of the widely used Chinese vaccines.