FRANKFURT, Germany: Germany has reached its goal of 30 million additional immunizations against COVID-19 by year’s end, a push aimed at re-energizing a lagging vaccination campaign and countering a resurgence in COVID-19 infections.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said the 30-million mark was passed on Sunday, the dpa news agency reported.
“We have reached an important milestone,” Lauterbach was quoted as saying. “We can be proud of that.”
Of the added shots, 25 million were boosters and 5 million were first- or second-time vaccinations.
The goal was set Nov. 18 — even before new Chancellor Olaf Scholz was sworn on Dec. 8 — to counter surging daily case numbers caused by the delta variant after the pace of immunizations had slowed since the summer. The goal took on more urgency after the highly contagious omicron variant was reported and began sweeping across Europe.
Daily case numbers have fallen recently in Germany but officials warn that omicron could quickly send them higher.
Germany’s vaccination effort has had its ups and down. The early months of 2021 were marked by not enough vaccine shots, which left the pace well behind vaccination efforts in the US and the UK The tempo caught up during the spring and early summer, then slowed down again in the fall as case numbers fell.
Currently demand for boosters against omicron and government restrictions on unvaccinated people entering stores, restaurants and transport has seen the pace pick up again, hitting a daily record of 1.6 million on Dec. 15.
Still, the German government has had to postpone another goal, that of immunizing 80 percent of its population, to the end of January from Jan. 7. Currently 58.9 million people are fully vaccinated, or 70.8 percent of the population, according to dpa. The federal disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute, said the actual number of those vaccinated could be up to 5 percent higher due to gaps in reporting.
Germany has recommended vaccination for all 12-to-17-year-olds and for children aged 5-11 year with pre-existing health issues. Children 5-to-11 without pre-existing conditions can be vaccinated if their parents wish.
Germany hits goal in push for 30 million new vaccine shots
https://arab.news/gxpda
Germany hits goal in push for 30 million new vaccine shots
- Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said the 30-million mark was passed on Sunday
- Of the added shots, 25 million were boosters and 5 million were first- or second-time vaccinations
Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro undergoes double hernia surgery
- He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure
- The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours
SAO PAULO: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is undergoing double hernia surgery on Thursday at a hospital in the country’s capital, his family said.
Bolsonaro, who has been hospitalized since Wednesday, has been serving a 27-year prison sentence since November for an attempted coup.
He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure. The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours, the DF Star hospital medical team said in a statement Wednesday.
Doctors say Bolsonaro’s double hernia causes him pain. The former leader, who was in power between 2019 and 2022, has gone through several other surgeries since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in 2018.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and sentenced him to prison, authorized the procedure, but denied the former president’s request for house arrest after he leaves the hospital.
Bolsonaro doesn’t have any contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, where he is held and where his 12-square-meter (around 130-square-foot) room has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a television and a desk, according to authorities.
He has free access to his doctors and lawyers, but other visitors must receive approval from the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, de Moraes authorized Bolsonaro’s sons to visit him while he’s hospitalized. His wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, is accompanying him.
Early Thursday, his eldest son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, told reporters before the surgery that his father had written a letter confirming he had appointed him as his political party’s presidential candidate in next year’s election. Flávio Bolsonaro announced on Dec. 5 that he will challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term, as the candidate of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
The senator read the letter to journalists, and his office released a reproduction of it to the media.
“He represents the continuation of the path of prosperity that I began well before becoming president, as I believe we must restore the responsibility of leading Brazil with justice, resolve and loyalty to the aspirations of the Brazilian people,” Bolsonaro said in the handwritten letter, dated Dec. 25.
The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system following his 2022 election defeat.
The plot included plans to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and de Moraes. There was also a plan to encourage an insurrection in early 2023.
Bolsonaro was also convicted on charges that include leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.
