Category: Feature Stories

Vaccinations protect against covid-19. How long the effect lasts depends on many factors. Data show: For all vaccines, protection against a severe course of covid remains very high for a very long time. How long does the protection of Corona vaccinations last? This is a question that concerns many people, but it is not easy to answer. On the one hand, the increasing number of vaccine breakthroughs – symptomatic Sars-CoV-2 infections despite complete vaccination – shows that the vaccines do not provide lasting protection against Covid-19. On the other hand,…

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The global pandemic slowed for the fifth week in a row. The number of new daily infections fell 11 percent to 457,000, according to a count by the AFP news agency based on official data released Thursday. Infection numbers had been rising since mid-June because of the highly contagious delta variant, but they have been declining for more than a month. Confirmed cases, however, reflect only a fraction of actual infections, as counting methods and testing practices differ among countries. Nevertheless, the situation is improving in much of the world:…

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A new CoV drug from U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck significantly reduces the likelihood of very severe courses in high-risk patients, according to a clinical study. The company, which is also known as MSD, said today that it plans to seek approval for use in the U.S. as soon as possible and will also submit applications to authorities worldwide. The drug is administered as a tablet. In the study, CoV patients with mild to moderate symptoms treated with a placebo were hospitalized or died within 29 days in 14.1 percent of…

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The Fairphone 4 was unveiled on Thursday. Like its predecessors, the Dutch manufacturer’s 4th generation smartphone stands for modular design and easy repairability. If a component inside is broken, such as the battery, users can replace it themselves. This saves expensive repairs and the user does not have to replace the entire device. This circumstance, coupled with a 5-year warranty and years of updates for the Android operating system, should lead to the Fairphone 4 being used for as long as possible. According to the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), smartphones…

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Stagnant vaccination coverage and increased indoor contacts will lead to more Covid 19 cases in the cold season. The prognosis is grim. Germany’s Robert Koch Institute expects Corona infection numbers to rise in the fall and winter. Reasons cited include, in particular, a “still large number” of unvaccinated people and an increase in indoor contacts. The EU health authority ECDC also warns of a worsened Corona situation in Europe this fall in view of partly insufficient vaccination rates between Portugal and Bulgaria. Slight increase expected for AustriaThis is exactly how…

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Energy prices for Austrian households were 15.2 percent higher in August than a year earlier. Fuels and heating oil in particular were more expensive. Super cost 24.8 percent more, diesel 21.4 percent more, according to the Energy Price Index (EPI) calculated by the Austrian Energy Agency. There was a price increase of around 7 percent for electricity and gas. Compared with the previous month of July, energy prices rose by 1.4 percent. Although prices for heating oil were 30.1 percent higher year-on-year, the price increases of recent months came to…

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U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer has begun a large clinical trial of a drug to prevent covid-19. In it, the drug will be tested on up to 2,660 healthy adults living in the same household as a person infected with Corona. BioNTech and Pfizer plan to file for approval quicklyBioNTech/Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective in children-The drug is being taken orally along with a low dose of Pfizer’s HIV drug in the phase 2/3 trial. In the U.S., Gilead’s Remdesivir, which is administered intravenously, is the only antiviral drug approved…

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The new Vienna ordinance on future Covid measures from October 1 is limited until the beginning of November and once again differs from the federal regulations. For example, tests are no longer valid as proof in some places, and only vaccinated or recovered persons will have access (“2G rule”). The 2.5G rule also comes into play with the new regulation. The 2G rule applies to after-hours catering and events with more than 500 people, although it does not matter here whether the event takes place indoors or outdoors. Children under…

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If you’ve ever heard anything about electrosmog and electromagnetic fields, the information probably falls into one of two categories. Either electromagnetic radiation is harmful and causes cancer, or it’s completely harmless and the opponents are just trying to scare us. Like most issues related to your health, the truth is a little more nuanced than that. Finally, there’s a lot we don’t yet know about the issues of electrosmog, protection from electrosmog, and shielding from electromagnetic radiation. Read on to find out what all that radiation is actually doing to…

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