Category: Feature Stories

Nearly 2.4 million Corona vaccinations were administered in November; the only month with more was June, with 2.6 million. Unlike the first half of the year, however, booster vaccinations are currently dominating the scene.In the Ministry of Health data, 1.6 million third-party vaccinations appear for November. However, almost 427,000 people were vaccinated against the coronavirus for the first time. Vaccination rates in the provincesJust under 67 percent of people in Austria have a valid vaccination certificate – the six million mark is likely to be exceeded here soon. A vaccination…

Read More

Scientific studies have long proven the high protection rates of the Covid-19 vaccine.But for the first time in Austria, AGES epidemiologists have now succeeded in proving the vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing severe disease in daily practice. The Covid-19 vaccine provides about 95 percent protection against hospital admission after SARS-CoV-2 infection, AGES expert Daniela Schmid said Monday night at an online physician education session. According to the Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) infectious disease epidemiologist, it was possible for the first time to link disease, vaccination and hospital data…

Read More

Austrian Virologist Norbert Nowotny assumes that vaccinated people have “very good basic protection” against Omicron.The virologist Norbert Nowotny expects the first laboratory data to show how well the Omicron variant, which has mutated in many places, can escape an immune defense built up by vaccination or disease in the next few days. In an interview with the APA, however, he assumes that vaccinated people have a “very good basic protection” and sees no reason in the new variant with its many question marks not to go for vaccination. The coronavirus…

Read More

The new virus variant Omicron caused a great stir worldwide. The WHO has classified it as “worrying”, it is feared that Omicron is more contagious than Delta. However, it is still unclear which course of the disease it favors and whether the already known vaccines are effective. The fear is that the mutation could have the potential to circumvent the protection of the vaccines currently in use. All major vaccine manufacturers said they immediately began investigating the variant and adapting their vaccines if necessary. Effectiveness of the vaccines against Omicron“At…

Read More

The new coronavirus variant “B.1.1.529” is currently attracting all scientific attention. The variant was first spotted in mid-November in Botswana, where three cases have since been sequenced. Six more have been confirmed in South Africa and one in Hong Kong in a traveler returning from South Africa. Meanwhile, cases have also been reported in Israel and Belgium. While in the rest of South Africa, the Covid 19 pandemic has slowed down considerably in the current spring there, Gauteng province has recently seen a massive increase in new infections: It is…

Read More

Belgium has registered a first case with the new Corona variant B.1.1.529, now got the name Omikron, first detected in southern Africa. The announcement was made by Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke at a press conference Friday. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo also announced travel restrictions for people entering the country from countries in southern Africa. Caution is needed, but not panic, Vandenbroucke said. At the same time, Belgium is reintroducing stricter rules for private parties, in the hospitality industry and nightlife. “The situation today is worse than all…

Read More

Currently available Corona vaccines are “almost certainly” less effective against the new B.1.1.529 variant discovered in southern Africa, according to a British expert, James Naismith, professor of structural biology at Oxford University, told the BBC 4 Today radio program on Friday. He added that it is not yet possible to say with certainty whether the variant is also more easily transmissible, based on the available data. “We suspect it is, and there is some early data,” Naismith continued. If easier transmissibility is confirmed, it is inevitable that the variant will…

Read More

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that CoV vaccinations have saved the lives of at least half a million people in Europe alone. The WHO’s Copenhagen-based European office released a report yesterday that said a total of 470,000 lives have been saved in the over-60 age group alone in about 30 European countries since the vaccination campaign began. The estimate does not include the under-60 age group. The survey published by WHO draws on data from more than half of the 53 countries in the European Region. Based on these…

Read More

The B.1.1.529 variant was first detected in Botswana. Six cases have also been detected in South Africa According to scientists, there is a new covid variant that has an “extremely high number” of mutations and can trigger further waves of disease by evading the body’s defense mechanisms. Only 10 cases in 3 countries have been confirmed by genome sequencing, but the variant has caused great concern among some researchers because a number of mutations could help the virus evade immunity. Variant B.1.1.529 has 32 mutations in the spike protein, the…

Read More