Day: February 16, 2022

A study released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that infants are less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 if their mothers are vaccinated during their pregnancy.

The study found that babies whose mothers received two doses of an mRNA vaccine while pregnant were about 60% less likely to be hospitalized for the virus during their first six months of life. The odds are strengthened if the mother is vaccinated after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The agency has urged all women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning to get pregnant to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, which it says increases the risk of a variety of complications, including premature birth and stillbirth.

The CDC researchers based their conclusions from monitoring 379 infants who had been hospitalized at 20 pediatric hospitals across the U.S. between last July and January of this year, including 176 who tested positive for COVID-19.

In another vaccine-related development, Britain’s Health Security Agency says the results of several studies suggests a COVID-19 vaccine reduces the chances of someone suffering from the lingering effects of a COVID-19 infection, a condition commonly known as “long COVID,” according to The Guardian newspaper.

The agency came to its conclusion after examining data from 15 studies conducted at home and abroad, half of which looked at whether the vaccine could protect someone from developing long COVID if they had not been infected, with the others focusing on the effect of vaccination among people who were already suffering from long COVID.

The HSA researchers found that those who have received one or two doses of a vaccine are less likely to develop long COVID symptoms, such as fatigue, headaches, hair loss, shortness of breath or loss of smell, compared with those who are unvaccinated. The review also said there was evidence that unvaccinated people suffering from long COVID had fewer or reduced symptoms once they were vaccinated, compared to those who remained unvaccinated.

Meanwhile, South Korea says its daily number of new COVID-19 cases has risen above 90,000 for the first time Wednesday. The 90,443 new infections reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency was a dramatic increase from the 57,164 new cases from Tuesday.

Despite the increasing number of new cases driven by the highly-contagious omicron variant, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said the government may soon ease current coronavirus restrictions, including lifting a 9 p.m. curfew on restaurants, cafes and bars, and ending the cap on the number of people allowed for private gatherings at six.

In the United States, the administration of President Joe Biden has told key lawmakers that it needs an additional $30 billion to fund its COVID-19 response efforts.

The extra spending requested by President Biden comes nearly a year after passage of the massive $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan aimed at helping the U.S. economy recover from the pandemic. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that while the administration continues to have “sufficient funds” to respond to the current omicron-driven surge, “our goal has always been to ensure that we are well prepared to stay ahead of the virus.”

Source: Voice Of America

Victory, of sorts, for Eritrea’s sole Winter Olympian — one of just six athletes competing for African countries at the Games in China — was achieved even before his feat of surviving two runs in blizzard conditions down a hazardous course aptly named The Ice River.

Before flying to China for his Olympic ski race in the mountains northwest of Beijing, Shannon-Ogbnai Abeda learned of a cross-country skier living in Germany who has been so inspired by Abeda’s trailblazing that he’s aiming to qualify for their East African nation at the next Winter Games in 2026.

“It was because of all the interviews that I did and, you know, me coming and doing this again,” Abeda, who also raced at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, said after his 39th-place finish in the giant slalom that only 46 of 87 starters completed in Sunday’s snowstorm.

“He wants to now carry the torch,” Abeda said.

So just imagine: How many other enthused young wannabes could emerge from the African continent of 1.3 billion people, and from the African diaspora spread around the world, if they only had more than a handful of Olympic pioneers leading the way, showing that barriers of racial prejudice, inequality and geography are surmountable?

That question is more pertinent than ever at the Beijing Games, because African representation has shrivelled since a record eight African nations, fielding twice as many athletes as in Beijing, competed in 2018. Eritrea, Ghana, Morocco, Madagascar and Nigeria are back; Kenya, South Africa and Togo are not.

Skiing — Alpine and cross-country — was the only sport Africans qualified for. There was just one African woman: Mialitiana Clerc, born in Madagascar and adopted by a French couple as a baby, is now a two-time Olympian. Having broken through in Pyeongchang, she raced in Beijing to 41st place, out of 80 starters, in giant slalom and 43rd, out of 88, in slalom.

Elsewhere, at the skating rinks, snow parks and sliding track, there was no African representation at all. African sliders were thwarted by less inclusive qualifying rules, despite making history in Pyeongchang. There, Nigeria fielded Africa’s first-ever bobsled team; Simidele Adeagbo, also Nigerian, became the first African and Black woman in skeleton; and Ghana’s Akwasi Frimpong blazed trails on the men’s side.

Adeagbo, frustrated to have been left on the sidelines for Beijing, says the plunge in African representation requires an Olympic response. The movement’s five rings are meant to symbolize the five inhabited continents. But in Beijing, Africa’s presence feels barely bigger than a dot. Adeagbo notes that the Summer Olympics “see a rainbow of nations represented” and wonders why that’s less the case in winter, given that “sport is supposed to be democratic for all.”

“Is this the European Olympics or is this an Olympics that reflects the world?” she asked in a video interview with The Associated Press. “So hopefully this will be a catalyzing moment to help everybody kind of regroup and think about a different way forward.”

“We’re talking about the Olympics; we shouldn’t have complete exclusion,” Adeagbo said. “Given the resources and support, Africans are just as capable.”

Looking ahead to 2026, the International Olympic Committee says it will reexamine qualification rules and quotas, which African Olympians want used to carve more space for them. But there’s no sign of IOC dismay about Africa’s retreat in Beijing.

“There are five continents represented here,” said James Macleod, head of an IOC sponsorship program that helped fund athletes on their Beijing journeys.

The IOC gave individual scholarships to 429 athletes. Europe, with 295 beneficiaries, got the lion’s share. Africa, with 16, got the least. Five African recipients qualified for Beijing. The Americas (50), Asia (47), and Oceania (21) got the remainder. The IOC says its aim is Winter Games that are more competitive, rather than “artificially” more universal.

African recipients say the funding was vital for them. They argue that increased financing for African winter athletes would see more qualify. Abeda — born in Canada, where his parents resettled in the 1990s, fleeing war in Eritrea — said US$1,500 per month in IOC funding helped cover his living, training, coaching and equipment costs. He wants private businesses “to step up,” too.

“At Pyeongchang, it was really great to see more Africans,” he said. “At these Games, there’s very little. So I am disappointed.”

Adeagbo said her bobsled alone, cost $40,000.

“I don’t think any sport should be just for the privileged and these are the things that we need to have real conversations about,” she said. “Sport is not meant to be just for one group.”

The IOC says COVID-19 disruptions that played havoc with athlete preparations could partially explain Africa’s slump. Frimpong’s hopes of qualifying again for Ghana in skeleton were dashed by coronavirus positives that forced him out of races ahead of Beijing. South Africa also likely would have sent athletes had it not been for the pandemic, says Cobus Rademeyer, head of social sciences at South Africa’s Sol Plaatje University, who has written on Africa’s history at the Winter Games.

“The pandemic has definitely broken the momentum,” Rademeyer said by email to The AP. He expects Africa to bounce back for 2026, writing: “Although some people see the participation of African athletes at the Winter Olympics as ‘glory-hunters,’ it has been an inspiration for many others.”

Skier Carlos Maeder, born in Ghana and adopted by Swiss parents, says he’s been amazed by a flood of messages from supportive Ghanaians. Also an IOC scholarship recipient, he raced in the snow-hit giant slalom but skied out in the first run.

At 43, he’d like to find other Ghanaians to follow in his footsteps and “will ski as long as it’s necessary to find some.”

“I hope that these games will be a door opener,” he said. “It’s not just about the African continent: We are spread around the world. So that makes it important that our continent is represented.”

Source: Voice Of America