Category: General Interest

According to data from U.S. pharmaceutical company Novavax, the vaccine Nuvaxovid should also provide effective protection against the coronavirus variant Omicron. The company reported an effective immune response – even against the delta variant – in a release Thursday. A third dose – called a booster – would increase that immune response even more, the first results of a study of the vaccine’s effectiveness in adolescents and as a booster showed. The immune response was as much as two to four times higher in adolescents than in adults. Novavax also…

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FFP2 masks are actually intended for single use only. That’s what it says in the instruction leaflet or on the packaging. In everyday life, however, things are usually quite different: shopping at the supermarket, then a quick trip to the post office, picking up the kids from kindergarten – all with the same mask. Afterwards, the mask remains in the jacket pocket so that it can be reused the very next day. That’s convenient and saves money. But does the mask then still protect against infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus…

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The French government expects more than 100,000 Corona infection cases per day by the end of the year. Health Minister Olivier Véran attributed this Wednesday to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Omicron is likely to become the predominant variant of the coronavirus in the country between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Véran told broadcaster BMF-TV. On Tuesday, nearly 73,000 new cases of infection were registered in France within one day, compared with an average of more than 54,000 in the preceding days. Nationwide, the proportion of people infected…

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December 24 falls on a Friday in 2021 – which means that the two Christmas holidays fall on the weekend. In Vienna, there are still some opportunities to go shopping or get gifts on Christmas Eve. Those who still need to get Christmas gifts, groceries, a Christmas tree or the like, still have a few hours to make the stores unsafe on December 24, 2021. Shopping on December 24, 2021: Regularly only until 1:00 p.m.In general, the legal basis for the opening hours of stores on December 24 is the…

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Immunologists say the newly approved vaccine from U.S. manufacturer Novavax in the EU is also suitable for booster vaccinations. “Everything known so far indicates that Novavax is probably a very good vaccine,” Carsten Watzl, secretary general of the German Society for Immunology, told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. “In booster vaccines, Novavax is not quite as effective as mRNA vaccines, according to a British study, but it is significantly better than vector vaccines,” the Dortmund immunology professor said. He said this distinguishes Novavax’s vaccine from the inactivated vaccine approval candidate Valneva.…

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EU vaccination certificates will in future be invalid without booster vaccination against coronavirus no later than nine months after basic immunization. The decision comes into force on February 1, the EU Commission announced on Tuesday. Theoretically, EU countries can still veto the decision, but this is considered as good as impossible, as the regulation has been agreed with the states. Austria has already previously shortened the validity of the certificates, for proof of immunization against Corona, in the green passport to 270 days. From February 1: Vaccination certificates in EU…

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Because of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Germany has tightened its risk assessment. For twice vaccinated and convalescents, the risk of infection is now considered “high,” the RKI announced on Twitter. For unvaccinated, it remains “very high”. For vaccinated with booster vaccination (booster), however, the Institute estimates the risk as moderate. Overall, the health risk to the population is assessed as “very high,” the institute writes in its revised risk assessment. It warns against a sudden increase in the number of cases. Rapid…

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The EU has ordered more than 200 million additional vaccine doses from manufacturers Biontech and Pfizer for 2022 due to high demand for vaccines. The vaccine volume is in addition to the 450 million doses already ordered and scheduled for delivery next year, the two companies said today. The additional order brings the total number of vaccine doses for the EU in 2022 to more than 650 million. The order would also include potential vaccines adapted to the Omicron variant at no additional cost, Biontech and Pfizer said. The additional…

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The new coronavirus variant Omicron is spreading rapidly. By the end of calendar week 49, 86 cases had been confirmed in Austria using PCR testing or sequencing, with 211 added in the past week alone. This brings the total number of confirmed cases of the new variant to 297 by the end of calendar week 50. This is according to the update of the variant report published today by the Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES). Omicron had first been registered in Austria in calendar week 47, when there…

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