Ecuador's main left-wing candidate cannot vote in Sunday poll

Issued on: 06/02/2021 - 

Ecuadorean Presidential left-wing candidate Andres Arauz, will not be able to vote in Sunday's election as he is registered to vote in Mexico, where he was studying for a doctorate RODRIGO BUENDIA AFP

Quito (AFP)

The main left-wing candidate in Sunday's presidential election in Ecuador, the economist Andres Arauz, will not be able to vote in his own country because his residence is registered as being in Mexico, where he normally lives, the electoral authorities said Friday.

"He cannot (vote), he could only do it in Mexico" at the Ecuadoran consulate, Enrique Pita, vice president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) told AFP. Another CNE adviser, Jose Cabrera, confirmed that since Arauz "is registered in Mexico, he cannot vote in Ecuador."

Even though voting is compulsory in Ecuador for people aged between 18 and 65, it is optional for those living abroad, so he will not have committed any offence, the officials said.

Before presenting his candidacy in August, Arauz, an ex-minister under former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), lived in Mexico where he was completing a doctorate at the National Autonomous University (Unam).

So in his case, the "vote is optional, he doesn't have to vote," Pita confirmed.

Alongside right-wing former banker Guillermo Lasso and left-wing indigenous leader Yaku Perez, Arauz is leading in the polls -- among a record number of 16 candidates -- to succeed President Lenin Moreno, who is not running for re-election and will complete his four-year term on May 24.

© 2021 AFP

US, EU hail Belarus democrats amid Russia protests

Issued on: 05/02/2021 - 

Blindfolded feminist activists hold photographs of women imprisoned after Belarus presidential elections in a January 2021 rally Stringer AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

The United States and the European Union on Friday hailed demonstrators in Belarus six months after disputed elections, in a message sure to irritate President Vladimir Putin of neighboring Russia.

US President Joe Biden's administration and the Europeans said they backed a "day of solidarity" called for Sunday by Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who believes she defeated President Alexander Lukashenko, an authoritarian ally of Putin, in August.

"We continue to be amazed by the exceptional strength, resilience and courage of the Belarusian people in the face of unyielding repression," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

"They continue to demand freedom and democracy. The world has been inspired by the people of Belarus, especially Belarusian women peacefully demonstrating for the right to have a voice in Belarus' future," he said.

Price said the United States backed a "peaceful and inclusive dialogue" in Belarus, where demonstrators have kept taking to the streets.

The European Union issued a similar statement, saying that "many thousands" have been detained in Belarus and pointing to "hundreds of documented cases of torture."

"The European Union continues to stand firmly with the people of Belarus," said a statement by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and enlargement coordinator Oliver Varhelyi, promising economic support for a democratic Belarus.

In a recent interview with AFP, Tikhanovskaya said that the "regime will collapse from within" and drew a parallel to protests in Russia led by Alexei Navalny, who was allegedly poisoned last year and was arrested on his return to Moscow last month.

Tikhanovskaya ran for president after her husband was imprisoned after trying to register to run against Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994.

Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania, is calling for elections in which Lukashenko is not a candidate, a proposal rejected by the president.

Biden has vowed to robustly promote democracy and to take a tough line on Russia, drawing a contrast with his predecessor Donald Trump's warm words for Putin.

Biden moves to revoke terrorist designation for Yemen's Houthi rebels

Issued on: 06/02/2021 

Yemeni tribesmen attend a rally denouncing the US designation

 of the Houthi rebels as a terrorist group in the Houthi-held 

capital Sanaa on February 4, 2021 

Mohammed HUWAIS AFP/File

Text by: NEWS WIRES

The US has moved to delist Yemen's Houthi rebels as a terrorist organization, removing a block that humanitarian groups said jeopardized crucial aid as the country's warring sides cautiously welcomed a push for peace by President Joe Biden.

The grinding six-year war in Yemen has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, triggering what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

A State Department spokesperson said Friday they had "formally notified Congress" of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's intent to revoke the terrorist designations.

The move, which will take effect shortly, comes a day after Biden announced an end to US support for the Saudi-led offensive operations in Yemen.

"This decision has nothing to do with our view of the Houthis and their reprehensible conduct, including attacks against civilians and the kidnapping of American citizens," the spokesperson said.

"Our action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration," they said, adding the US remained committed to helping Saudi Arabia defend its territory against attacks by the rebels.

Blinken's predecessor Mike Pompeo announced the designation days before leaving office last month, pointing to the Houthis' links to Iran, an arch-enemy of Trump, and a deadly attack on the airport in Yemen's second city of Aden in December.

Aid groups say they have no choice but to deal with the Houthis, who are the de facto government in much of Yemen, and that the terrorist designation would put them at risk of prosecution in the United States.

According to the UN, more than three million people have been displaced and close to 80 percent of Yemen's population of 29 million people need of some form of aid for survival.

Cautious optimism

Biden on Thursday announced the withdrawal of US support for the Saudi-led offensive in his first major foreign policy speech since replacing Donald Trump.

Yemen's internationally recognised government, which is backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, welcomed his remarks and stressed the "importance of supporting diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis".

It hailed the appointment of Timothy Lenderking as US envoy, describing it as "another important step" taken by the US to "end the war caused by the Iran-backed Huthis".

The Huthi rebels also welcomed the approach of the new US administration.

"We are cautiously optimistic," Houthi official Hameed Assem told AFP on Friday.

But he also warned that "our missiles will not stop until there is a ceasefire... they are the ones who started the war, and they are the ones who should end it."

Saudi Arabia - which has led a military intervention against the Houthis since 2015 - reacted by reasserting its commitment to a political solution in Yemen.

The kingdom welcomed Biden's "commitment to cooperate with the kingdom to defend its sovereignty and counter threats against it," according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

But for Yemenis, talk of a solution is very far from their reality.

"The war won't end; no one wants it to end. This is just propaganda," said Huda Ibrahim, a 38-year-old housewife from the port city of Hodeida said.

"I'm not optimistic and I don't believe anything about ending the war. How will it end when clashes don't stop even for one night."

(AFP)

ICC paves way for war crimes probe in Palestinian territories

Issued on: 05/02/2021 - 

An elderly Palestinian man scuffles with Israeli security forces as he protests the removal by an army bulldozer of a temporary health unit in the village of al-Mufagara, near Yatta, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, in January HAZEM BADER AFP

The Hague (AFP)

The International Criminal Court ruled Friday that it had jurisdiction over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, paving the way for the tribunal to open a war crimes investigation.

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had asked the court for its legal opinion on whether its reach extended to areas occupied by Israel, after announcing in December 2019 that she wanted to start a full probe.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the ICC as a "political body" while the United States said it had "serious concerns" over the decision. The Palestinians called it a "victory for justice".

The ICC said in a statement that judges had "decided, by majority, that the Court’s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine... extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem."

Palestine is a state party to the court, having joined in 2015, but Israel is not a member.

The court added that its decision was not a ruling on Palestinian "statehood", but that it followed from Palestine's position as a state party, under the ICC's founding Rome Statute.

"The chamber is neither adjudicating a border dispute under international law nor prejudging the question of any future borders" it said.

- 'Political body' -

ICC prosecutor Bensouda called for the full investigation in December following a five-year preliminary probe.

Her office said it "welcomes this judicial clarity" and "will then decide its next step guided strictly by its independent and impartial mandate."

The administration of then-US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the prosecutor and another senior ICC official in September.

The United States, which is not a member of the ICC, inflicted the measures on the court after earlier visa bans on Bensouda and others failed to head off the court's war crimes probe into US military personnel in Afghanistan.

But the US has also cited the court's treatment of its ally Israel.

Israel's Netanyahu Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Friday's decision.

"The tribunal has, once again, proved that it is a political body and not a judicial institution," Netanyahu said in a statement, adding the decision undermined the "right of democracies to defend themselves against terrorism".

An Israeli official said the decision "will not be helpful" as there is a "wind of change" in the region.

"It is a decision that is not good for the court, not good for Israel, not good for the region", the official said.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Friday called on the ICC to speed up legal proceedings over the 2014 conflict in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian prisoners and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"This decision (of the ICC) is a victory for justice and humanity, for the values of truth, fairness and freedom, and for the blood of the victims and their families," Shtayyeh said, according to the official Wafa news agency.

- 'Serious concern' -

The US State Department said Israel should not be bound by the court as it was not a member.

"We have serious concerns about the ICC's attempts to exercise jurisdiction over Israeli personnel. We have always taken the position that the court's jurisdiction should be reserved for countries that consent to it or are referred by the UN Security Council," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

Human Rights Watch however said the ruling was "pivotal", adding that it was "high time that Israeli and Palestinian perpetrators of the gravest abuses" should face justice.

"The ICC’s decision finally offers victims of serious crimes some real hope for justice after a half century of impunity," Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at HRW, said in a statement.

The ICC's Bensouda, who steps down in June, has urged the Biden administration to lift the sanctions against the court.

© 2021 AFP

PROMOTED

CULTURE
German LGBT+ actors come out to demand recognition

Under the #actout initiative, 185 German actors and actresses with diverse sexualities came out this week in a campaign calling for more visibility on the stage and screen.




Stars of German stage and screen call for greater diversity in film, TV and theater

The latest cover of Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, a weekly supplement to Germany's daily newspaper of the same name, is a tribute to the legendary 1971 Stern magazine cover on which 374 women, celebrities and non-celebrities proclaimed that they had had abortions.

Back then, the signatories were taking a stance against the controversial article 218 of the German Penal Code, which at the time still made abortion a punishable offense, almost without exception. The action not only caused an enormous stir nationwide — it ultimately triggered change.

The latest montage of public figures to come out en masse in the magazine was published on Friday under the headline "We are already here" and the hashtag #actout.

The 185 lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, non-binary and trans* actors are demanding more recognition in theater, film and television. With their joint public coming out and manifesto, they are standing up for more public visibility for diverse gender identities and sexual orientations on German stages and screens.

Watch video 03:10 LGBT asylum in Germany: Similar cases, different outcome
Incentive for change

In the group coming-out, six of the initiators speak about their experiences in the film, TV and theater industries. Many of their statements might not be surprising; yet they are no less shocking.

They speak about the few role models they had as young people, or how often they were asked during their careers to "play as if they were heterosexual." Agents advise actors not to make their sexual orientation public, or not to bring their respective partners along to red carpet events so they are still considered for straight roles.

Their experiences reinforce the ongoing difficulty for people in the spotlight to stand by their sexuality if it strays from the so-called mainstream.

Celebrating at Berlin's annual Gay Pride parade: Many Germans, however, have been pressured to repress their sexuality

More diverse cultural narratives

Diversity has long been a social reality in Germany, however this fact is still not reflected enough in the nation's cultural narratives and stories, reads the manifesto. "Our industry should stand for togetherness and reflect society in all of its diversity," it says.

Under similar pressure, cultural institutions in the US like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that oversees the Oscars has promised to promote greater diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity when honoring the film industry.

A number of high profile German cultural institutions have come out in support of the initiative, including the Berlinale.



The #actout statement outlines the opportunities for more diverse ensembles and narratives in the culture industries, for re-imagined camera angles for sex or kissing scenes, or woman being cast for male roles in period pieces — an echo of the colorblind casting that has brought more racial diversity to the Bridgerton streaming series, for example.

The manifesto ends with the words: "We are looking forward to all the new stories we’ll be able to tell and the characters we can portray. The world is changing and we are all playing a part in it."

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Switzerland: Same-sex marriage, transgender rights move a step forward

Switzerland has lagged behind other Western European countries on LGBT+ rights. A progressive rights bill may still have to face a public vote before becoming law.

Pope endorses same-sex civil unions in new documentary

Pope Francis spoke out in favor of same-sex civil unions, saying that homosexuals were "children of God and have a right to a family." Commenting on the issue in a documentary, the pontiff called for a civil union law.

IDT Biologika moves into spotlight as Germany eyes Sputnik V vaccine

The eastern German firm is raising hopes amid the EU's troubled vaccination drive, after Russia reportedly weighs producing its Sputnik V vaccine there. But despite promises of state support, IDT remains cautious.

Dessau-based IDT Biologika is reported to be in talks with Russia over the production of the Sputnik V vaccine

The official news earlier this week that Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 is safe and effective has caused a flurry of activity in Germany.

While Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday that talks were being held with Moscow to explore production capacities for the Russian jab in Germany, a regional leader confirmed one day later that the Russian developers had reached out to IDT Biologika to discuss jointly producing Sputnik V at a facility in eastern Germany.

"There are no ideological reservations against Sputnik V. We welcome anything that can help in the fight against the coronavirus," a spokesman for Saxony-Anhalt Premier Rainer Haseloff told reporters. "If IDT Biologika wants to produce the Russian vaccine and it would be approved in the EU, we as a state government would of course do everything to help the company."

The possibility of another jab coming within reach has been warmly welcomed in Germany, where anger is growing over the slow pace of vaccinations in comparison with countries such as the United States, Israel and former EU member Britain. Criticism here is especially loud because Berlin has failed to secure preferential access to the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, even though the company is based in Germany and its vaccine was the first to be approved in the West.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn (second from right) has pinned great hopes on domestic companies

Time is of the essence

IDT Biologika is a contract development and manufacturing company that produces viral vaccines and other biological products for pharmaceutical companies across the world. The company was founded almost exactly 100 years ago, and has about 1,400 employees working at plants in Dessau-Rosslau and Magdeburg — both in eastern Germany — as well as in Rockville, Maryland, in the United States.

As the coronavirus began to spread last year, the company launched its own effort to make a vaccine against the disease, supported with €114 million from the German government for clinical phase I trials. But its MVA-SARS-2-S shot, developed with the help of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), failed to prompt a sufficient immune response in humans.

Early last month, the company said it had begun optimizing its vaccine but was two months behind schedule.

As a contract manufacturer though, the company is heavily involved in the global vaccine push, especially after opening a new plant in Dessau-Rosslau in 2019, where since January it has produced 8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

IDT Biologika chief executive Jürgen Betzing has so far declined to comment on the prospect of manufacturing the Sputnik vaccine, saying only that the company was currently in talks with various manufacturers to discuss "the challenges of reliable vaccine supply."

"Our know-how is currently in high demand," he told the newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung on Thursday, noting that his company was one of the most important players in vaccine manufacturing across the world. At the same time, Betzing dampened hopes for a quick rollout of Sputnik V in Germany, saying production preparations for any new vaccine would take "four to five months." He called that an "ambitious" timetable, but one IDT would be "able to achieve."

Earlier this week, IDT development chief Andreas Neubert generally warned against lofty public expectations from vaccine makers, noting that IDT actually "doesn't have spare capacities, but capacities that could be built up." Here, too, time was of the essence, he told German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.

"Each process that we establish, each quality control and technology we apply requires a specific amount of time," he said. "If I'm not given this time, it just doesn't work, that's all I can say."

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is already being used in a number of countries

Another contender

If approved by EU regulators, Sputnik V could be the fourth vaccine available in the bloc after those from BioNTech-Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca. Their rollout, however, is currently hampered by delivery delays, production bottlenecks and political blunders.

Leading medical journal The Lancet reported on Tuesday that Sputnik V, which was developed at Russia's Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, was 91.6% effective against symptomatic cases of COVID-19.

The assessment came after critical phase III trials and defies criticism of Moscow's decision to start using it on a mass scale last year, before all the trials were completed and results analyzed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has offered her government's help in fast-tracking approval of Sputnik V in the EU application process, and France, as well as Spain, have signaled their willingness to use the shot.

According to Russian public investment fund RDIF, which has been financing research into the vaccine, more than 2 million people in 15 countries, mostly in the developing world, have so far received Sputnik V shots

Fact check: Are COVID-19 vaccines causing deaths?

Online claims of coronavirus vaccines being lethal are rife following a string of deaths in care homes that vaccinated residents. DW looks into cases around the world and what was behind them.


Rumors of alleged vaccine-related deaths have helped to fuel anti-vaccine and conspiracy theory supporters

With coronavirus vaccine distribution well underway around the world, all eyes are on those who have already received the jabs.

For those who don't read past the headlines, a concerning narrative appears — "Fifteen deaths after coronavirus vaccination," "Deaths at care home after coronavirus vaccine," "Volunteer in vaccine trial dies after COVID-19 vaccine."

In each case, there's more to the story than meets the eye. DW reviewed several cases in Germany, Spain, the United States, Norway, Belgium, and Peru, finding that in all cases experts from multiple health authorities could not find causal links between the vaccination and deaths.

As of publication, at least 37 million coronavirus vaccinations have been administered in these countries, according to Bloomberg's global vaccine tracker. In those countries, the total number of reported deaths that have occurred post-vaccination is fewer than 250. As US data includes user-submitted information, at least 181 of these cases have not been independently verified.

Germany: 'Deaths after coronavirus vaccination'

People in Germany find COVID-19 vaccination is lagging

The Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), which is in charge of vaccination in Germany, investigated 10 deaths in the country between several hours to four days following coronavirus vaccinations. In all these cases, those who died were aged from 79 to 93 years old and had pre-existing conditions, according to Brigitte Keller-Stanislawski, the head of the PEI's department of safety for medical products.

"Based on the data that we have, we assume that the patients died of their underlying disease — in a coincidental time with the vaccination," she told German broadcaster n-tv. While she did not comment on individual cases, she said, "They were very seriously ill patients with many underlying diseases."

"If the elderly or people with severe pre-existing conditions are vaccinated, there will be a certain number of accidental deaths that occur shortly after vaccination, which cannot be causally associated with the vaccination. In its latest safety report, the Paul Ehrlich Institute highlights the cases of 20 vaccinated individuals who died in the setting of the COVID-19 disease.

A press spokeswoman told DW via email that "all of them except one man had incomplete vaccination protection, since the COVID-19 disease occurred after the first vaccination. Protection begins seven to 14 days after the second vaccination (depending on the vaccine) so it is possible to become ill and die from COVID-19 after receiving only the first dose. 33 Individuals with multiple pre-existing conditions are either suffering from the worsening of their underlying disease or from another disease independent of vaccination. Ten individuals died from another infectious disease, not COVID-19."

"In all other persons, there were in some cases multiple previous diseases such as carcinomas, renal insufficiency, heart diseases and arteriosclerotic changes, which were presumably the cause of death," she added.

According to calculations of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut in this report, the deaths with an unclear cause reported by 31.01.2021 are not more frequent than the expected number of deaths.

In Germany, the BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines are being used.
Spain: 'At least seven die at care home after getting Pfizer COVID-19 jab'

Spanish media report that nine people died in a Spanish care home after receiving the first dose of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccination, all of whom had previous illnesses.


The reported deaths in a Spanish care home have been attributed to complications arising from COVID-19 infections

The director of the El Salvador residence for the elderly in Lagartera said symptoms "such as headaches or occasional diarrhea" started showing in residents after five days and a doctor told him these could be due to side effects of the vaccinations.

All nine deaths have been attributed to complications with COVID-19 infection, as the consequence of an outbreak that took place while the vaccination schedule was underway.

The manager of the care home said: "The vaccine will protect you, infections are not derived from the first vaccination."

Even after a vaccination, it's possible to develop the illness if the vaccination took place during the coronavirus incubation period (5-6 days). It is also possible to become infected after the vaccination has been administered, as it usually takes effect 10-14 days after the first dose, according to the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI).

Both Russian and Chinese state media have heavily reported on this case, with the latter citing the former.

Despite the attention-grabbing headline, the original article from Russian state media clearly states, "There is currently no indication that the vaccine played any role in the deaths."

It then refers readers to a fact-check stating that "It is statistically inevitable that some people will get sick and die after getting the shot, for reasons that are unrelated to their body's response to the vaccine." This disclaimer is missing from those who have replicated the article.
US: 'Government database shows 181 deaths following COVID-19 vaccine'

Watch video 03:00 Mistrust curbs India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive

Widely reported in India, this claim is based on a press release by Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccination advocacy group headed by prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and known for producing misinformation on vaccines and anti-vaccine propaganda.

Although the headline claims that data comes from a "government database," the figures linked to are on the website of the National Vaccine Information Center, an organization described as "the most powerful anti-vaccine organization in America," by science, technology and public health journalist Michael Specter.

Digging deeper, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) claims their data is drawn from the US Government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which explicitly states "anyone can submit a report to VAERS, including parents and patients," and that "VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness."

Furthermore, VAERS encourages vaccines providers to report significant health problems "whether or not they believe the vaccine was the cause," and disclaims that its data "cannot be interpreted or used to reach conclusions about the existence, severity, frequency, or rates of problems associated with vaccines" and "should be interpreted in the context of other scientific information."

As far back as 2015, a study assessing claims of deaths from vaccinations highlights that data from the VAERS system is skewed, as it is a system which "accepts any submitted report of an adverse event without judging its clinical significance or whether it was caused by a vaccination." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also warns against reporting bias and inconsistent data quality in the VAERS system.

However, the NVIC also solicits reports through its own website in the same basic format as the VAERS report. It does not specify whether the two datasets are combined in their database or kept separate.
Norway: '30 people died in nursing homes following the coronavirus vaccine'


The Norwegian Medicines Agency says there's no connection between deaths in a nursing home and the vaccine.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency, Statens Legemiddelverk, has investigated a total of 33 reports of deaths in nursing homes following vaccination of residents, as of January 26, 2021.

In a subsequent analysis, the agency writes "many of the nursing home residents who have been vaccinated so far are very frail or terminally ill patients. Every day, an average of 45 people die in Norwegian nursing homes or other similar institutions. Therefore, deaths that occur close to time of vaccination is expected, but it does not imply a causal relationship to the vaccine."

The European Medicines Agency'sPharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) also investigated the cases, stating in a report that "the review did not reveal any safety concerns," adding, "(multiple) pre-existing diseases seemed to be a plausible explanation for death. In some individuals, palliative care had already been initiated before vaccination."

When assessing the cases, an article in the British Medical Association's peer-reviewed medical trade journal quotes Steinar Madsen, medical director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency saying, "There is no certain connection between these deaths and the vaccine." Instead, Madsen said that "common adverse reactions, that are not dangerous in fitter, younger patients and are not unusual with vaccines, may aggravate underlying disease in the elderly."

"We are not alarmed or worried about this, because these are very rare occurrences and they occurred in very frail patients with very serious disease," he said.

Belgium: 'Fourteen deaths after coronavirus vaccination'

In Belgium, the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) reported that 14 people died after being vaccinated against the coronavirus. However, causality has not been found.

All of the patients were over 70 and five over 90, the Brussels Times reported. Further details of the individuals who died have not been released.

"The fact that the reported deaths did not present a common clinical picture is a rather reassuring element, as is the fact that the deaths occurred after a variable period of time," the FAMHP told the Brussels Times, adding "to date, no causal relationship has been formally found" with the COVID-19 vaccine.

As a result, the FAMHP has published weekly reports examining vaccine side effects. The February 4 report outlined "To date, no formal causal relationship with the COVID-19 vaccine has been established."

Although the exact vaccinations were not specified in these cases, Belgium issues the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines.
Peru: 'Volunteer in vaccine trial dies of COVID-19 pneumonia'


A volunteer (not pictured above) in a Peruvian trial of a Chinese vaccine died of pneumonia related to COVID-19, however she had been given a placebo, not the vaccine.

Cayetano Heredia University, which was conducting a study on China's Sinopharm vaccination had to unblind a local Peruvian trial after a participant died of COVID-19-related pneumonia, according to Reuters. 

After unblinding the trial, it was revealed that the volunteer who died has not been administered the vaccine but was instead in the placebo group. In a statement, the university said, "It is important to stipulate that the death of the participant is not related to the vaccine since she received the placebo."

Coronavirus fact check: Fake reports about vaccination

COVID-19 vaccines as 'biological warfare' in Middle East?

Groups fighting around the region are using the vaccination rollout for their own ends, by blocking aid or distributing it to friends and allies only.


Passive biological warfare? A Palestinian health worker holds a vial of COVID-19 vaccine


Aid and human rights organizations say they fear that the COVID-19 vaccine could become a tool for governments, rebel groups and other fighters involved in conflicts in the Middle East to advance their own goals.

Using vaccines this way "is a form of indirect, passive biological warfare," Annie Sparrow, a public health expert at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York, told DW.

It has happened before and it has been very deliberate, Sparrow said. Near the beginning of the Syrian civil war, in 2013, a disease the world had mostly eradicated broke out in Deir ez-Zour. The country officially eliminated polio in 1995. But medical researchers say that in 2012, Bashar al-Assad's government deliberately excluded the area, controlled by fighters who oppose it, from earlier routine vaccination drives. "This was a man-made outbreak," Sparrow wrote at the time.

Today there are fears the same sort of thing might happen with COVID-19 vaccines.
The politics of vaccination

"We have significant concerns for several reasons," Sara Kayyali, a Syria expert at Human Rights Watch, said. Her organization is worried about the destruction of infrastructure in Syria, everything from the deliberate targeting of hospitals and medical workers to lack of water or power. Human Rights Watch is also concerned about the politics of supplying vaccines to Syria.

Kayyali explains that current and potential closures of border crossings nearest opposition-held areas, where millions of civilians still live, mean that international aid agencies will need permits from the al-Assad government to bring vaccines in. If they can get permits, they will most likely have to travel through Damascus. And this, Kayyali noted, "involves significant restrictions."

Syrian health workers in rebel-held Idlib protest about government attacks against them

"The Syrian government is being difficult to make sure that there is dependency on them," the researcher explained. "This is no surprise. We have seen them use aid to really punish people before."

For example, a December 2020 report by the US organization, Physicians for Human Rights, on healthcare in the Syrian region of Daraa, noted that the al-Assad government kept blacklists, whereby aid was denied to families considered disloyal to the government.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, other groups in disputes are also using the COVID-19 vaccine for their own ends. Healthcare as a victim of, or tool in, conflict is nothing new, said Leonard Rubenstein, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. "It's just that more attention is being paid to it now," Rubenstein told DW. "One of the examples is what is happening in Israel."

Palestinians not vaccinated

Israel has been the fastest in the world to vaccinate its population. It has sent COVID-19 doses hundreds of kilometers to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank but has refused to help vaccinate over 2.7 million Palestinians living around them. It only recently sent 2,000 doses to Palestinian medical staff. According to the United Nations, instructions were given in the Israeli prison system that Palestinian prisoners were not to be vaccinated either.


Israel has vaccinated almost 50% of its population already

Israel argues that, according to the Oslo Accords, set up in the 1990s to provide a temporary framework for governing Gaza and the West Bank, the Palestinians should take care of their own health needs. However, as has been pointed out by critics, the Oslo Accords also contain a phrase that says the two parties should cooperate to combat "epidemics or contagious diseases." Additionally, international humanitarian law says that an occupying power must take responsibility for the healthcare of the occupied. Israel usually denies it is occupying the West Bank.

In Yemen, where a war has been ongoing since 2014, the internationally recognized government announced that COVID-19 vaccines, sourced through the World Health Organization's COVAX facility for poorer countries, would arrive in April or May. The amount delivered may only cover 20% of the population but the government says it will distribute doses in areas controlled by the rebel Houthi organization, with whom it is fighting, too. The Houthis control the most populated central and northern parts of Yemen.

No vaccines by 'Jews and Christians'

However, the Houthi rebels have been antagonistic toward aid organizations — for example, only allowing them access to civilians in exchange for medical supplies for their own wounded fighters. Blockades of vaccination campaigns and disinformation are thought to be responsible for a late-2020 polio outbreak in Houthi-controlled areas. Religious leaders have told locals not to use "vaccines made by Jews and Christians" and at one stage, the Houthi health minister even said they would develop their own COVID-19 vaccine.

Polio vaccinations underway in Yemen in 2020, after an earlier outbreak

At the same time, Saudi Arabia, which backs the government in south Yemen and has led an aerial war against the Iran-affiliated Houthis, pledged to help fund the purchase of more COVID-19 vaccines for Yemen. Yet, the Saudi-led coalition has also conducted over 130 attacks on medical facilities in Houthi-held areas between 2014 and 2019, according to the Yemen Archive, which documents human rights abuses in the country.
Virus only has one job

Meanwhile in Libya, the internationally recognized government in Tripoli will receive almost 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX. Up until relatively recently Libya was being governed by two separate authorities — one in the east, the other in the west, in Tripoli. But Claudia Gazzini, an analyst on Libya for the consultancy, International Crisis Group, doesn't believe that vaccines will be weaponized here. "On a more technical level, the two sides actually coordinate a lot and institutional ties are improving," she said, with the COVID-19 response coming from out of Tripoli but working through representatives in the east.

"No naivete about how governments will use these vaccinations," says Annie Sparrow

Public health expert Sparrow doesn't doubt that different parties to various regional conflicts might try to use the COVID-19 vaccine to advance their own agendas. "I don't think that you can have any naivete about how governments will use these vaccinations," she told DW. "But what is stupid is that by not giving people a shot in the arm, governments are shooting themselves in the foot. You cannot actually protect your country unless you vaccinate everybody, at the same time."

Sparrow explains that the more a population remains unvaccinated, the more opportunity a virus has to mutate. Those mutations may eventually be able to re-infect people who have already been vaccinated if the virus isn't taken out of circulation, she said.

"The virus doesn't care whether you are Palestinian or Israeli," Sparrow concludes. "It's only job is to infect and evolve."

Görlach Global: China is capitalizing on the COVID crisis

China has weathered the coronavirus pandemic well. Western states are alarmed this could cast autocratic systems in a favorable light, says Alexander Görlach.



Beijing has shifted toward vaccine diplomacy, writes Alexander Görlach

When face masks were getting scarce in the free world, China stepped up to the plate. Now, with a dearth of vaccine doses, the autocratic state is once more offering its help.

China has progressed from mask to vaccine diplomacy, so to speak. Only the naive will assume China's altruism stems from compassion alone. In reality, however, China's delivery of vaccines, first to Serbia — and now Hungary, has caused alarm in Western capitals all the way from Washington to Berlin. China's altruism is a clever move in the ongoing battle of political systems.

China's nomenclature is convinced that the country has weathered the pandemic so well because decision-making is not hampered by rival parties nor free elections. Chinese leader Xi Jinping persistently claims that the Communist party has been so effective in fighting the pandemic because of its combination ofConfucianism and "Chinese-style socialism."

Tongdong Bai, a professor of philosophy at Shanghai's Fudan University, believes in the superiority of the Chinese model. His study Against Political Equality: The Confucian Case, argues that the inherent weakness of Western democracies stems from the principle of universal suffrage, granting adults the right to vote on, and ultimately decide, issues they do not always fully understand.

Expertocracy

This argument is sometimes fielded in the West, when proponents argue governments should rely on expert advice alone without consulting parliament. In 2011, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano tasked Mario Monti to form an expertocracy to steer the country out of the eurozone crisis.

Italy's party system, after all, is notoriously fractured, which complicates political decision-making processes. Controversially, however, none of Monti's cabinet members belonged to any party. A fact that plays well with supporters of the Chinese political model.

Tongdong Bai, for instance, argues that democratic systems should limit elections to the local level. He says that as decision-making becomes more abstract, one should hand over power to a meritocratic expertocracy — precisely what the Communist Party of China imagines itself to be.

China bounced back

China has weathered this pandemic better than nations of the free world, which are struggling with a drop in economic productivity and rise in employment. China's economy, in contrast, has bounced back.

Even former US President's Donald Trump four-year trade war left China's economy unharmed. Foreign investment in China remains high — even though we know it keeps 1 million people locked up in concentration camps in its northwestern periphery. China's exports have returned to pre-pandemic levels and domestic consumption has increased.

In light of this situation, European leaders are rightfully concerned that the sluggish vaccination rollout across the EU could lead to widespread disillusionment with the bloc.

China always lacked the kind of soft power — the ability to influence and persuade — the US marshaled in the second half of the 20th century. US music and films, for example, transported the notion of the American way of life to peoples far and wide, and in the process piqued their interest to learn the English language.

A poll conducted among Germans during Trump's last year in office revealed that America's popularity is in decline – and China's on the rise. China's recent mask and vaccine diplomacy will amplify this trend.

Global repercussions

China's popularity could also grow in other regions of the world currently neglected by the European state fully occupied by combating the pandemic at home. The US will return to its former standing under US President Biden's leadership. It will, however, remain preoccupied with containing the pandemic at home, after Trump's incompetence allowed it to get out of control.

If coronavirus vaccines from Europe and North America are only available in white-majority countries, these countries will have to wait — or turn to China. This would, however, seriously diminish the degree of soft power wielded by the West and undermine the appeal of democratic governance.

DW columnist Alexander Görlach

Alexander Görlach is a senior fellow with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and a senior research associate at the Religion & International Studies Institute at Cambridge University. He has also held several scholarly and advisory positions at Harvard University, National Taiwan University and the City University of Hong Kong. He holds doctorate degrees in comparative religion and linguistics.

Coronavirus vaccines could cement Africa's relationship with China

To many Africans, Europe has been greedy, hoarding vaccinations produced in the West to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The repercussion is that Africa could cozy up further to a generous Asian giant — China.



Chinese medical experts have been advising Africans on how to fight the coronavirus pandemic

Nothing in the world right now is in as much demand as the coronavirus vaccine. The available BioNtech-Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines come in short supply and have been purchased by countries with the thickest wallets.

The People's Vaccine Alliance, an NGO network, reports that rich nations, representing only 14% of the world's population, have bought up more than half of the most promising vaccines. On the other hand, Africa is at the end of the queue. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, vaccines will not be available in most African countries until April 2022 at the earliest.

While Europeans in the EU complain about the slow rollout of the vaccines, many Africans do not even see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Frustration with the West

Africa has pre-ordered about 900 million doses so far. The African Center for Disease Control predicts the continent will need at least 1.5 billion doses to vaccinate 60% of the population. Distribution systems could cost up to $10 billion (€8.3 billion) to purchase and set up.

China was the first country to send aid packages including PPEs to African countries at the beginning of the pandemic

"We have to be independent as a continent and country when it comes to vaccines and pharmaceutical products," Kenya's Minister of Health, Mutahi Kagwe, told DW. "It is foolish to rely on Western nations for medical issues. We don't always want to be the last people on the planet."

Former Rwandan Health Minister Agnes Binagwaho has a similar message to the West. "Be honest and say, 'My people first.' Don't lie to us and say we are equal," she told DW.
The first doses arrive

South Africa has received a million doses from AstraZeneca this week. Rwanda has ordered a million doses from US pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, with the first shipment expected to arrive in February. And Uganda expects its first doses of Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca in April.

The COVAX program — an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the vaccination alliance GAVI — is committed to the fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in poor countries. It hopes to deliver at least 1.3 billion doses to 92 low-income countries by the end of the year. But it can only buy vaccines approved by the WHO. So far, this only includes the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine.

Looking to the Far East

China plans to fill the gap. The Asian giant, with deep pockets and generosity, has already signaled its intentions of becoming the first global powerhouse to deliver free vaccines to Africa.

It could be purely for humanitarian reasons. And even if it is, one thing is certain – Africa's vaccine debacle will leverage its trade and development interests to the Chinese.

Kenya's Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe has called on Africa to step up on vaccine and drugs supply

At the moment, the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm is not in major use in Africa. And even if Pfizer suddenly had enough vaccines available, it wouldn't solve Africa's problem. "These vaccines were not made for developing countries. They have to be frozen," Eric Olander, founder of the information platform China-Africa-Project, said.

"These vaccines are in many ways useless to most developing countries because the infrastructure to store them is not in place," Olander told DW.

On the other hand, China and Russia emphasize that their vaccines are already available and can easily be stored in a common refrigerator or freezer. As early as May, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to make coronavirus vaccines available primarily to the Global South.

Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jiping have touted their vaccines as Africa-friendly

"Europe and America are concentrating on themselves, and China has stepped in and invested a lot to get into the African vaccination market," said Robert Kappel, Africa researcher at the University of Leipzig. The EU had given the WHO a lot of money to secure vaccines for African countries, "but China is all ready for the vaccine distribution," Kappel told DW.
'A friend in need is a friend indeed'

Despite the African continent's multibillion-dollar close ties with China, Western nations including Europe and the United States have always remained closer at heart with Africans.

But the hoarding of vaccines by the West could become a deal-breaker – the last straw for that matter. The fast pace at which the Sino-Africa relationship grew in the past decades and the reliability that China has shown as a development partner, delivering vaccines and saving millions of African lives could prove to Africa the old saying — a friend in need is a friend indeed.

Even though China has been criticized for pursuing a so-called neo-colonialist agenda in Africa, the coronavirus vaccine assistance could change all that.

"If China managed to give vaccines and save a large part of the African population, do you think they will see China negatively?" Rwanda's ex-minister Binagwaho asks, rhetorically.

"This is an opportunity to literally pull the rug out from under the feet of rivals USA and Europe," Eric Olander said. "Why shouldn't China take advantage of it?"

This article was adapted from German by Abu-Bakarr Jalloh.

Rosie Birchard, Mariel Müller and Alexandra von Nahmen contributed to this article

Watch video 02:09 Relief in South Africa as first vaccine doses arrive