Category: Feature Stories

Of the 18 Covid patients requiring intensive care in Vienna hospitals at the beginning of this week (cutoff date: August 23), 16 had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.The 18 covid patients include seven men and 11 women. One had received a partial vaccination, and another was fully immunized but immunosuppressed. The city of Vienna made the announcement Thursday afternoon in response to an APA query. Vienna Covid intensive care patients: Average age 54.7 yearsImmunosuppression is present, for example, in people whose immune system has been weakened by appropriately necessary…

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BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines lose protective efficacy over time. A large-scale English study has now shown the extent to which the protective efficacy of AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech corona vaccines diminishes after several months. At the same time, the researchers call for rapid plans for booster vaccinations.Protection against coronavirus infection diminishes somewhat just a few months after full vaccination, according to one study. As a reference point, the British researchers took the protective effect determined in their study one month after the second dose of vaccine, which, according to them, was…

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More than 5 billion Corona vaccinations have now been administered around the world. That’s according to a count by the AFP news agency, which evaluated all the information available from official agencies in different countries for this purpose up to Tuesday afternoon.With 1.96 billion vaccine doses administered, China is still in the lead in a country comparison. It is followed by India (589 million) and the United States (363 million). Inequality in Corona vaccination campaignOverall, the global vaccination campaign is still driven by strong inequality. High-income countries have vaccinated an…

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A new mutation is currently keeping researchers busy. It is a subtype of the delta variant that dominates in Austria. Corona has had a firm grip on the world for over a year and a half. Currently, a renewed increase in the number of new infections can be observed in many places. The fourth wave of Corona has now also arrived in this country. The reason for the increase in numbers is the much more infectious delta variant of the Corona virus, which has been dominant in Austria and also…

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A scientist working in Switzerland warns of a new Corona super-variant. This could form as a combination of existing variants, Sai Reddy, assistant professor at the Department of Biosystem Science and Engineering at ETH in Basel, said in an interview. “It is very likely that a new variant will emerge where we can no longer rely on vaccination alone,” the 40-year-old U.S. American told SonntagsBlick. Wherever it emerges, he said, it is certain to reach Central Europe: “So for the next few years, we have to be prepared for multiple…

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The lambda variant is spreading in South America. How well does the Corona vaccination actually protect against the virus variant? The Delta variant is spreading in Austria and is highly contagious, which is why only a complete vaccination offers sufficient protection. In laboratory tests, the delta variant seemed to partially escape antibodies of first vaccinated and unvaccinated recovered persons. Researchers agree: the coronavirus will mutate even further. But Ralf Bartenschlager, president of the German Society for Virology, believes the number of variants will remain “manageable.” However, U.S. immunologist Anthony Fauci…

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After days of discussion, there is now an official AGES report on the high effectiveness of vaccinations against the corona virus. Together with the Ministry of Health, the Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) has published new data on Corona vaccination and its effectiveness. The report, published yesterday (Thursday), also addresses the issue of vaccination breakthroughs. “COVID-19 vaccination protects vaccinated individuals, those around them, and generally results in a milder course of disease in the event of illness,” it says at the outset. Severe courses, hospitalizations, stays in intensive…

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The risk of symptomatic disease in previously uninfected subjects was reduced by 77 percent. An antibody drug from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca effectively protects against corona disease, according to clinical tests. The drug, AZD7442 – a combination of two long-acting antibodies – is specifically designed for people for whom vaccination is not particularly suitable for certain reasons. The drug reduced the risk of symptomatic covid-19 by 77 percent in tests from a Phase III clinical trial, according to AstraZeneca. One doseNone of the subjects given the drug became severely ill or…

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Children’s immune systems appear to be better prepared for corona virus attacks.According to a recent study, the cells of the upper respiratory tract are already on heightened alert and can quickly fight the virus in the event of infection before it massively multiplies. This probably also explains why children fall seriously ill much less frequently, as researchers from Berlin and Heidelberg report in “Nature Biotechnology.” “We wanted to understand why the virus defense apparently works so much better in children than in adults,” explained Irina Lehmann, head of the Molecular…

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