Cincunri Sakia

Rabu, 01 Desember 2021

Michigan shooting: Fourth student dies in Oxford High School gun attack - Sky News

A fourth student has died following the school shooting in Michigan.

Three other students were killed when a 15-year-old boy opened fire at his high school in Oxford Township on Tuesday, while eight others - including a teacher - were injured.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office identified the latest fatality as teenager Justin Shilling.

The 17-year-old died at around 10am this morning at McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac, Michigan, the sheriff's office confirmed.

The suspect remains in custody.

Investigators are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting at Oxford High School, located in a community of about 22,000 people, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

"The person that's got the most insight and the motive is not talking," he said at a news conference.

He added that the student in custody had no previous run-ins with his department and he was not aware of any disciplinary history.

Deputies rushed to the school on Tuesday lunchtime as more than 100 calls flooded 911 dispatchers with reports of a shooter.

Footage captured by a student showed people huddled under desks as the attacker roamed the halls pretending to be a police officer.

The campus was placed on lockdown during the attack, with some children sheltering in locked classrooms.

They were later taken to a nearby grocery store to be picked up by their parents.

Isabel Flores, a 15-year-old, told WJBK-TV that she and other students heard gunshots and saw another student bleeding from the face. They then ran from the area through the rear of the school, she said.

The suspect was arrested in a hallway within minutes of deputies arriving. He put his hands in the air as they approached, Mr Bouchard said.

He added that the gun used in the attack was a semi-automatic 9mm Sig Sauer bought by the boy's father and was carrying seven more rounds of ammunition in it when he surrendered to police.

The student, who has not been named, had been posting pictures of the gun and practising shooting, the sheriff said.

Authorities were made aware of posts on social media that said there had been threats of a shooting at the roughly 1,700-student school, but Mr Bouchard said they didn't know about the rumours until after the attack.

He stressed how crucial it is for such information to be sent to authorities, while also cautioning against spreading social media rumours before a full investigation.

The other three students killed in the shooting have been named 16-year-old Tate Myre, 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana and 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin.

Mr Myre died in a patrol car as a deputy tried to get him to an emergency room.

A teacher who received a graze wound to the shoulder was taken to hospital but has now left.

Seven more students ranging from 14 to 17 remained in hospital through the night with gunshot wounds, Mr Bouchard said.

Undersheriff Mike McCabe said the suspect's parents have advised their son not to talk to investigators and police are required to seek permission from a juvenile's parents or guardian to speak with them, he added.

In a statement, Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said her office expects to issue charges quickly and that an update would be given on Wednesday.

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2021-12-01 17:45:36Z
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US Supreme Court to weigh challenge on abortion rights - Financial Times

The US Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Wednesday in the biggest challenge to abortion rights in generations, as the state of Mississippi seeks to overturn a decision that legalised the procedure across the US five decades ago.

At issue is a 2018 Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only remaining abortion clinic in the Republican-led state, is seeking to stop the statute.

Lower courts blocked the ban, deeming it unconstitutional. But in May, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Mississippi’s case. A ruling is expected by June 2022.

The case is a defining moment in a decades-long political battle over abortion rights in the US. Mississippi has asked the Supreme Court to over-rule Roe vs Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that legalised abortion across the country, insisting that abortion is a matter for states to decide.

Anti-abortion activists have campaigned for years to undo Roe. The Mississippi case is their first opportunity to challenge the longstanding precedent since Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh were selected for the Supreme Court by former president Donald Trump, which has resulted in a 6-3 split between conservatives and liberal justices on the high court.

The increasingly conservative tilt on the high court has emboldened Republican-led states such as Texas, which has passed one of the most restrictive laws in the country banning abortions after six weeks, before many women realise they are pregnant, with no exception for rape or incest. The Supreme Court is considering whether to temporarily block that law while legal challenges proceed.

If the court sides with Mississippi, nearly half of US states would be poised to outlaw abortion under statutes that include “trigger” provisions that automatically come into force if Roe is overturned, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is litigating on behalf of the Jackson clinic.

The Mississippi case has exposed a disconnect between public opinion in the US — 70 per cent of American adults, and two-thirds of American Catholics surveyed by Pew in 2019 said they did not want to see Roe overturned — and the deeply polarised debate over abortion, which has pit liberals against conservatives, many of whom hold strong religious beliefs.

“Roe vs Wade is egregiously wrong and unworkable. Nothing in the constitutional text, structure, history, or tradition protects a right to an abortion,” Lynn Fitch, Mississippi’s attorney-general has said, calling it a matter “for the people to decide”.

In a court filing, the Jackson clinic argued the decision to end a pregnancy is enshrined in the constitution “in the fundamental rights to bodily integrity and personal autonomy in matters of family, medical care, and faith”. Allowing the government to control this choice “would result in a radical displacement of personal liberty in favour of the power of the state”, it said.

Roe said states could not ban abortions before a foetus is “viable”, or able to survive outside the womb. This viability line is typically deemed to be between 24 and 28 weeks. Mississippi is asking the Supreme Court to at least reject the viability rule, which it says is “baseless”.

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2021-12-01 10:00:44Z
1166946361

Selasa, 30 November 2021

COVID-19: BioNTech boss says 'don't freak out' about Omicron as Pfizer vaccine likely to protect against severe disease from variant - Sky News

The Pfizer vaccine is likely to offer strong protection against any severe disease from the new Omicron COVID variant, according to the head of BioNTech who urged people not to 'freak out'.

BioNTech developed one of the world's most widely-used jabs with Pfizer, and the company's chief executive and founder Ugur Sahin said: "To my mind there's no reason to be particularly worried.

"The only thing that worries me at the moment is the fact that there are people that have not been vaccinated at all."

The BioNTech boss's guarded confidence contrasts with more pessimistic comments by the chief executive of rival vaccine maker Moderna, Stephane Bancel, who raised the prospect of a material drop in protection against the new coronavirus strain from current vaccines.

Mr Bancel said he believes Omicron, first identified by researchers in southern Africa, is "highly infectious" and it is "highly possible" the effectiveness of vaccines is decreasing - adding that boosters may need a "double" dose to provide the best protection.

But Mr Sahin said: "We think it's likely that people will have substantial protection against severe disease caused by Omicron."

He specified severe disease as requiring hospital treatment or intensive care.

Mr Sahin added he expects laboratory tests over the next two weeks to show some loss of vaccine protection against mild and moderate disease due to Omicron, but the extent of that loss was hard to predict.

The high number of mutations on the protein spike the virus uses to infect human cells could mean existing vaccines need to be modified.

BioNTech is currently working on an upgraded version of its original vaccine, of which more than two billion doses have already been delivered, although he says it is still unclear whether that is needed.

And he said getting a third vaccine shot, or booster, will likely offer protection against Omicron infections of any severity compared to those who just have a two-dose course.

More than 20 cases of the Omicron variant have so far been identified across the UK, though experts expect this number to rise in the coming days.

Mr Sahin admitted antibodies brought about by vaccination could struggle to latch on to the new virus but he claimed T-cells, another line of immune defence, were set to recognise the vast parts of Omicron's spike protein that remain unchanged.

While antibodies bind to viruses directly and prevent infections, longer lasting T-cells attack cells that have already been hijacked by the virus, warding off viral replication and severe disease.

And in a separate interview, he told the Wall Street Journal: "Our message is: Don't freak out, the plan remains the same: Speed up the administration of a third booster shot.

"Our belief [that the vaccines work against Omicron] is rooted in science: If a virus achieves immune escape, it achieves it against antibodies, but there is the second level of immune response that protects from severe disease - the T-cells.

"Even as an escape variant, the virus will hardly be able to completely evade the T-cells."

Meanwhile, America's top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, has said it is too early to know whether the Omicron variant will lead to severe disease - while offering another example of cautious optimism.

Dr Fauci said there were 226 confirmed cases of the variant in 20 countries as of Tuesday morning but that Omicron had not been detected yet in the United States.

"It is very difficult to know whether or not this particular variant is going to result in severe disease," Dr Fauci said.

"Although some preliminary information from South Africa suggests no unusual symptoms... we do not know, and it is too early to tell."

Albert Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer, said he was "very confident" the jab works against all known mutations of coronavirus, including Omicron.

However, he said his firm has already started making a new vaccine against the variant, adding: "Within 95 days basically we will have a new vaccine."

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Earlier, Mr Bancel said the new strain is overtaking Delta in South Africa at a faster rate than previously seen.

"It took around four months for Delta to take over Beta, and it seems it's taking just a couple weeks for this new variant to take over Delta," he told CNBC.

Both he and Mr Bourla stressed that more data is needed to fully understand whether B.1.1.529 is more contagious or resistant to vaccines.

Mr Bancel said: "Given the large number of mutations, it is highly possible that the efficacy of the vaccine, all of them, is going down. But we need to wait for the data to know if this is true, and how much is it going down."

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2021-11-30 23:06:58Z
1191811192

Vaccine makers split on protection against Omicron variant - Financial Times

Two of the three biggest western vaccine makers tried to calm fears over a new coronavirus strain, with the University of Oxford and BioNTech predicting existing jabs would continue to prevent severe disease.

Markets had fallen earlier on Tuesday after the chief executive of Moderna, the third big vaccine maker, told the Financial Times that existing vaccines were likely to be much less effective against the Omicron variant and it would take months to manufacture replacement jabs at scale.

“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level . . . we had with [the] Delta [variant],” Stéphane Bancel said in an interview at Moderna’s headquarters in Massachusetts.

He added: “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to . . . are like, ‘this is not going to be good’.”

On Tuesday, Ugur Sahin, the head of BioNTech, which makes a leading Covid-19 vaccine with Pfizer, struck a more upbeat tone.

“We believe that fully vaccinated individuals will still have a high level of protection against severe disease caused by Omicron,” said Sahin, citing current knowledge of the mechanism of the vaccine and previous examples from other variants. “We anticipate that booster vaccination will further increase protection . . . and potentially provide protection against disease of any severity.”

BioNTech and Pfizer were ready to adapt the vaccine within six weeks and ship the first batches within 100 days if necessary, he said. His remarks were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Separately, Oxford, which makes another coronavirus vaccine with AstraZeneca, said in a statement there was “no evidence so far” that existing vaccines would not continue to provide protection against Omicron, as they have for previous variants of concern.

“We will carefully evaluate the implications of the emergence of [Omicron] for vaccine immunity,” the university said. “Despite the appearance of new variants over the past year, vaccines have continued to provide very high levels of protection against severe disease and there is no evidence so far that Omicron is any different.”

Oxford added it had the “necessary tools and processes in place for rapid development of an updated Covid-19 vaccine if it should be necessary”.

In a briefing on Tuesday, the Biden administration urged Americans to get booster shots in anticipation of Omicron cases being confirmed in the US.

Rochelle Walensky, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: “We know that vaccination helps protect you, your loved ones and your community from Covid-19. And we fully anticipate this protection at least in part will be beneficial against Omicron.”

There is still a lack of reliable data on vaccine efficacy against Omicron and the pharma industry’s predictions drew short shrift from the World Health Organization’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan.

“We believe it’s premature to draw any conclusions about the efficacy of vaccines against Omicron,” she told the FT. “WHO has convened all our expert groups and scientists are working on experiments to test neutralisation capacity of stored sera from recovered patients or vaccinated individuals against the new variant. This will take a few weeks.”

Swaminathan said “we need to be patient”, pending full “clinical effectiveness studies to truly understand if this variant is able to overcome the immunity generated by existing vaccines”.

Bancel said the high number of Omicron mutations on the spike protein, which the virus uses to infect human cells, and the rapid spread of the variant in South Africa, suggested that the current crop of vaccines may need to be modified next year.

He said scientists were worried because 32 of the 50 mutations in the Omicron variant are on the spike protein, which current vaccines focus on to boost the human body’s immune system to combat Covid.

Most experts thought such a highly mutated variant would not emerge for another year or two, Bancel added.

The Moderna chief’s predictions rattled investors on Tuesday morning, with equities and crude prices dropping. Comments from US Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell suggesting the central bank may rein in crisis stimulus measures more quickly than previously thought later prompted strong selling on Wall Street.

Additional reporting by Hannah Kuchler in London, Erika Solomon in Berlin, Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong and Kiran Stacey in Washington

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2021-11-30 18:51:10Z
1191811192

How do I book a Covid booster vaccine and when can I get it? - ITV News

The Covid booster rollout will be broadened in a bid to vaccinate more people ahead of a possible Omicron wave.

The prime minister has pledged "temporary vaccination centres will be popping up like Christmas trees" over the coming weeks.

An expansion of the existing vaccine programme comes after UK's vaccines advisory board gave their backing to widening the rollout.

On Tuesday, the number of confirmed cases of the variant stood at at least 22 across the UK.

Boris Johnson has now set a target of offering a booster jab to everyone eligible for one by the end of January in England, in what his health secretary has called a "booster programme on steroids".

Mr Johnson said in a Downing Street press briefing on Tuesday that “we’re going to be throwing everything at it", adding military personnel will assist healthcare workers in administering booster jabs at pop-up centres.

Sajid Javid said the booster dose provides a "much higher antibody response than the primary course, so it’s more important than ever that people step up and get protected".

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) earlier recommended the eligible age range should be broadened and the interval between the second and booster shots halved, in response to the recently identified Omicron variant.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are likely to announce any changes to their booster programmes in the coming days.

Who is now eligible for a booster jab in England and how do you book?

Can I now book my appointment if I'm over 18?

All adults over the age of 18 will be offered a booster shot by the end of January.

Previously, third jabs were restricted to those aged 40 and above, frontline health or social workers, and those with underlying health issues.

The new JCVI advice means those aged 18-39 will also be eligible for a booster when the NHS calls them forward.

This means more than seven million 18-39-year-olds and 6.9 million over-40s will now be eligible for a booster shot, a total of around 14 million.

When will I get my booster?

The time between second and third vaccines will be reduced to just three months in response to the Omicron variant. Previously there was a gap of six months, although you could book five months after your second jab.

The booster will be offered in order of descending age groups, with priority given to older adults and those in Covid at-risk groups.

“We will let you know when it’s your turn," said Chief Executive of the NHS Amanda Pritchard with regards to getting the jab booked.

Severely immuno suppressed people aged 16 or above who have received three primary doses will now also be offered a fourth booster dose.

How can I book?

You will be able to book your third appointment through the NHS booking service once you are eligible.

The NHS will call you forward according to eligibility.You can also get your booster dose at a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination site if you had your second dose at least six months ago.

If I've already booked, can I bring appointment forward?

As with the original booking system, it may be possible to bring your third jab appointment forward if you had booked six months after your second shot but are now eligible to have it sooner.

This may mean you have to cancel your original booking and make a new one, with a risk that you may not be able to make a new one at a time convenient to you.Will I have the same vaccine for my booster?

Not necessarily. Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will primarily be offered as a booster dose irrespective of the vaccine used for your first two shots.

This means your booster dose may be different from the vaccines you had for your first and second doses.While most people will be offered a booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, some will receive a Moderna vaccine while a few may be offered a booster dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine if they cannot have the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, the NHS said.

Listen to Coronavirus: What You Need to Know, the Covid-19 podcast from ITV News

Will under 18s be offered a extra jab?

The JCVI has advised second doses should be offered to 12 to 15-year-olds, 12 weeks after their first.

Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said on Monday a "through review" and monitoring had found it was safe for those aged 12 to 15 to have a second vaccine dose. She said a study of the side effects of the vaccine in those aged under 18 had shown there are "no new safety issues". Dr Raine said: "Our message to people aged 12-15 is that it is safe to have a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and if you're called to receive your second dose, please go and take that offer. "It will ensure that you're further protected from Covid-19."

Why do I need a booster?

The latest evidence from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) shows protection against symptomatic disease falls from 65%, up to three months after the second dose, to 45% six months after the second dose for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, and from 90% to 65% for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Protection against hospitalisation falls from 95% to 75% for Oxford/AstraZeneca and 99% to 90% for Pfizer/BioNTech.

How do booster jabs help protect against infection from the virus? Dr Sarah Jarvis explains

With fears that vaccines are less effective against the Omicron variant, getting a third shot into as many arms as possible will bolster the UK's immunity to the virus. While vaccines will still work, it is not get known if they will be less effective against this new Covid-19 variant.

Two vaccine doses provide good protection against severe illness from the original and Delta strains, but to provide better protection against infection, and transmission, three shots is ideal - and if vaccines are less effective against the Omicron variant, even more so.

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2021-11-30 17:07:56Z
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How do I book a Covid booster vaccine and when can I get it? - ITV News

The Covid booster rollout is set to be broadened in a bid to vaccinate more people ahead of a possible Omicron wave.An expansion of the existing vaccine programme comes after UK's vaccines advisory board gave their backing to widening the rollout as nine cases of the Omicron variant were confirmed in the UK.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended the eligible age range should be broadened and the interval between between the second and booster halved as the UK ramps up its vaccine programme and raise levels of protection across the population in light of the recently identified Omicron variant.

Following the announcement, health secretary, Sajid Javid, said he would implement recommendations in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are likely to announce any changes to their booster programmes in the coming days.

Who is now eligible for a booster jab and how do you book?

Can I now book my appointment if I'm over 18?

All adults over the age of 18 will be offered a booster shot.

Before Monday's announcement, third jabs were restricted to those aged 40, front-line health or social workers, and those with underlying health issues.

This new JCVI advice means those aged 18-39 will also be eligible for a booster when the NHS calls them forward.

When will I get my booster?

The booster will be offered in order of descending age groups, with priority given to older adults and those in Covid at-risk groups.

The NHS will be calling people forward "at the appropriate time," Mr Javid said, this means people between 18-39 will not be able to book on the NHS website immediately.

The NHS will set out the "in next few days" how the new guidance will be "operationalised", Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England's deputy chief medical officer, said as he announced recommendations at a Downing Street press conference on Monday.

Severely immuno suppressed people aged 16 or above who have received three primary doses should now also be offered a booster dose.

How can I book?

You will be able to book your third appointment through the NHS booking service once you are eligible. The NHS will call you forward according to eligibility.You can also get your booster dose at a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination site if you had your second dose at least six months ago.

If I've already booked, can I bring appointment forward?

As with the original booking system, it may be possible to bring your third jab appointment forward if you had booked six months after your second shot but are now eligible to have it sooner. This may mean you have to cancel your original booking and make a new one, with a risk that you may not be able to make a new one at a time convenient to you.Will I have the same vaccine for my booster?

Not necessarily. Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will primarily be offered as a booster dose irrespective of the vaccine used for your first two shots. This means your booster dose may be different from the vaccines you had for your first and second doses.While most people will be offered a booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, some will receive a Moderna vaccine while a few may be offered a booster dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine if they cannot have the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, the NHS said.

Listen to Coronavirus: What You Need to Know, the Covid-19 podcast from ITV News

Will under 18s be offered a extra jab?

The JCVI has also advised that second doses should be offered to 12 to 15-year-olds, 12 weeks after their first.

Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said a "through review" and monitoring had found it was safe for those aged 12 to 15 to have a second vaccine dose. She said a study of the side effects of the vaccine in those aged under 18 had shown there are "no new safety issues". Speaking at a press briefing in Downing Street, Dr Raine said: "Our message to people aged 12-15 is that it is safe to have a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and if you're called to receive your second dose, please go and take that offer. "It will ensure that you're further protected from Covid-19."

Why do I need a booster?

Protection against hospitalisation falls from 95% to 75% for Oxford/AstraZeneca and 99% to 90% for Pfizer/BioNTech.

How do booster jabs help protect against infection from the virus? Dr Sarah Jarvis explains

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Covid: Omicron variant in Netherlands earlier than thought - BBC News

Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport

The new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, was present in the Netherlands earlier than previously thought, officials say.

It was identified in two test samples taken in the country between 19 and 23 November, which is before the variant was first reported by South Africa.

It is not clear whether those who took the tests had visited southern Africa.

It was previously thought that two flights that arrived from South Africa on Sunday had brought the first cases of the variant to the Netherlands.

Fourteen people on the flights to the capital, Amsterdam, tested positive for Omicron, among 61 passengers who were found to have coronavirus.

However, while the two new samples reveal Omicron was in the Netherlands earlier than thought, they do not predate the cases in southern Africa. The variant was first found in a specimen collected on 9 November, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Early evidence suggests Omicron has a higher re-infection risk. But scientists say it will take about three weeks before it is known how the heavily mutated variant impacts on the effectiveness of vaccines.

"In a special PCR test, the samples showed an abnormality in the spike protein," the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) which announced the earlier cases, said on Tuesday.

"This raised the concern that the Omicron variant... might be involved. [Health officials] will notify the people involved and start source and contact tracing," it said.

The RIVM also said that a number of different strains of Omicron were found among the passengers on board the two flights on Sunday.

"This means that the people were very probably infected independently from each other, from different sources and in different locations," a spokesman said.

Analysis box by Michelle Roberts, health editor

It's unlikely we will ever know precisely when or where Omicron first emerged.

South Africa alerted the world to the new variant on 24 November after it found its first case. Since then, other countries have been on the lookout for it and more cases have been identified around the globe thanks to genome sequencing tests.

Not every nation has the ability, however, to carry out these added checks.

Even the UK, which is one of the front-runners using the technology, is unable to screen every positive Covid case to determine which variant is the cause.

PCR tests, meanwhile, can hint if a Covid case might be Omicron, but cannot confirm it for sure.

Dutch authorities, meanwhile, are also seeking to contact and test thousands of passengers who have travelled from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

The US, Canada, the UK and the EU have all restricted travel from southern Africa amid concern over the new variant.

But the UN Secretary General António Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" about the isolation of southern Africa, adding that "the people of Africa cannot be blamed for the immorally low level of vaccinations available".

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South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said the wider region had been the victim of unfair discrimination, adding that the bans would not be effective in preventing the spread of the variant.

A foreign ministry statement also said the travel bans were "akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker".

"Excellent science should be applauded and not punished," it said.

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2021-11-30 12:33:24Z
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