Vaccination of five- to 11-year-olds against Covid-19 in Spain and Portugal; U.S. immunologist Anthony Fauci said the Omicron could cause less severe disease

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About 267.8 million people have tested positive for the virus worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 5.2 million infected people have died. More than 8.2 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.

In Spain and Portugal, the competent authorities have approved the vaccination of five- to 11-year-olds against Covid-19. This was announced on Tuesday (Dec. 7) by the health ministries in Madrid and Lisbon. This will allow both countries to further increase their vaccination rates, which are very good by European standards. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had given the green light at the end of November for the approval of the Corona vaccine from the manufacturers Pfizer/Biontech for children aged five years and older in Europe. Spain currently has a vaccination rate of about 80 percent. Nearly 90 percent of all citizens older than twelve are already fully vaccinated in the country. Portugal has a vaccination rate of about 88 percent.

According to U.S. immunologist Anthony Fauci, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus could cause less severe disease. Fauci cautioned Tuesday (Dec. 7), however, that it is too early to make a conclusive assessment. With the cases, which one evaluates up-to-date, one observes relatively mild courses of disease. However, this could also be due to the fact that these cases mainly affect younger people. “So I would say that we should not draw any definitive conclusions.” Especially when it comes to the question of the severity of the course of the disease, there are always delays in terms of data, he said. Looking at transmissibility, he said, there is evidence that the omicron variant is highly contagious and dominant over other variants such as delta.

Meanwhile in Austria, new Chancellor Karl Nehammer, in his first press conference as head of government, assured that the general lockdown would end as planned next Sunday. Retailers, restaurants and hotels are expected to resume operations. The crucial question is how, he explained on Tuesday (7 December). It is still open which protective measures will apply in the future. It has already been decided that the lockdown for unvaccinated persons will be continued.