Biden says Trump ‘did not do his job’ on coronavirus vaccination program, urges patience

By Reuters• 12 February 2021

BETHESDA, Md., Feb 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said the coronavirus vaccination program he inherited from Donald Trump was in "much worse shape" than he had expected, while urging patience and also announcing the government has bought 200 million more doses

“We’re not going to have everything fixed for a while, but we’re going to fix it,” Biden said in remarks at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

With demand for the vaccine far outstripping supply, Americans are struggling to get appointments for their inoculations, leaving Biden with an acute problem less than a month after taking over from Trump.

Biden said Trump, who spent his last two months in office in a futile effort to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election that he lost, did not order enough vaccine and did not do enough to get people lined up to get vaccinated.

He said the vaccine program he inherited was in “much worse shape” than he had anticipated and that his transition team had been misled about the vaccine supply.

“While scientists did their job in discovering vaccines in record time, my predecessor – I’ll be very blunt about it – did not do his job in getting ready for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions,” Biden said.

Brian Morgenstern, a former White House official involved with the coronavirus effort, said the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed program had prepared plans well in advance, aided by many career officials still serving in government. “That is why the new Administration’s goals were being surpassed before they even came into office. Enough with the lies, excuses & political pot shots. Time to lead,” he said.(WARP SPEED WAS FOR R&D FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT ONLY)

Trump had expressed pride in the speed of the vaccine development on his watch.

Biden said the U.S. coronavirus death toll is likely to reach 500,000 next month. He urged Americans to wear masks to prevent the spread.

“We’ve now purchased enough vaccine to vaccinate all Americans,” Biden said.

He said the U.S. government has signed contracts for 100 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and 100 million more from Pfizer to help reach the target.

“We appreciate the confidence that the U.S. government has demonstrated in our COVID-19 Vaccine,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a press release.

Pfizer spokeswoman Sharon Castillo confirmed that it and BioNTech had reached a deal with the U.S. government.

“We will deliver 100 million doses by the end of March, a total of 200 million doses by the end of May, and the full 300 million doses by the end of July,” she said.

The new vaccine orders, in addition to 400 million doses previously contracted, would allow the United States to vaccinate a total of 300 million people by July 31 using doses from the two vaccines authorized.

That would be enough to vaccinate most people in the 330 million population who want it, given that the two vaccines are not authorized for children and that many people have said they don’t want shots.

In addition, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate is likely to be authorized later this month, and the company expects to supply 100 million doses of its single-shot vaccine to the United States by the middle of the year.

(Reporting by Alexandra Alper, additional reporting by Steve Holland, Andrea Shalal, Michael Erman and Peter Henderson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Grant McCool)

RIP

American jazz musician Chick Corea dies of cancer

The 23-time Grammy winner Chick Corea died of a rare form of cancer, according to a Facebook post shared by his team. He was part of Miles Davis' band and later formed his own group.

    

Corea died at the age of 79 due to a rare form of cancer

American jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea died of cancer at age 79, according to a post on his Facebook page. 

The post said Corea passed away due to a rare form of cancer, which was only recently discovered.

"I want to thank all of those along my journey who have helped keep the music fires burning bright. It is my hope that those who have an inkling to play, write, perform or otherwise, do so. If not for yourself then for the rest of us. It’s not only that the world needs more artists, it’s also just a lot of fun," he said in a message prior to his death, which was shared in the Facebook post. 

23-time Grammy winner

The 23-time Grammy award winner was best known for his compositions such as  "Spain," "500 Miles High," "La Fiesta," "Armando's Rhumba" and "Windows." He was known to push the boundaries of the genre, and worked alongside other jazz legends such as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock.

Corea was part of Miles Davis' group from 1968. He replaced Hancock, and played on landmark albums such as "In a Silent Way'' and "Bitches Brew.''

He later formed his own group, Circle, and Return to Forever. Throughout his career, he worked on many collaborative projects, including those with Hancock and Gary Burton. He also performed classical music, standards, solo originals, Latin jazz and tributes to great jazz pianists.

Corea has the most jazz Grammy nominations in the show's history. He has also been nominated for best improvised jazz solo for "All Blues" and best jazz instrumental album for "Trilogy 2," for the awards that will be held in March this year. 

tg/sms (AP, AFP)

China Finalizes Internet Antitrust Rules in Just Three Months

(Bloomberg) -- China finalized rules to root out monopolistic practices in the internet industry just three months after unveiling the draft guidelines, underscoring the urgency of a campaign to rein in its tech giants.

The rules, aimed at curbing anti-competitive behavior such as sharing sensitive consumer data, forming alliances that squeeze out smaller rivals and subsidizing below-cost services to eliminate competitors, take effect immediately, according to a statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation. The antitrust watchdog had first sought feedback on the draft legislation in November, sparking a sell-off in the tech industry.

The speedy formalization of the rules compare with a previous antitrust law governing the automobile sector that took years to finalize. China’s Politburo, the top decision-making body of the Communist Party, vowed in a meeting at the end of last year to strengthen anti-monopoly efforts in 2021. Less than two weeks later, Beijing kicked off an investigation into Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. for alleged anti-competitive practices.

“The three-month period is considered a fast process, indicating Beijing’s commitment to clamp down on monopolistic practices,” said Scott Yu, an antitrust lawyer with Beijing-based Zhong Lun Law Firm.

Suspected monopolistic behaviors in the platform economy have emerged in recent years in which the strong get stronger, SAMR said a statement. Law enforcement agencies globally have taken steps to step up oversight of tech companies, especially the largest internet giants. China is implementing the antitrust rules to create a fair and competitive market environment, they added.

Read More: China Clampdown on Big Tech Puts More Billionaires on Notice

Alibaba Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang told analysts last week the firm has set up a taskforce to conduct internal reviews and is actively communicating with regulators on complying with their requirements as investigations continue. The probe, along with the aborted initial public offering and forced restructuring of affiliate Ant Group Co., has wiped roughly $130 billion off the market value of Jack Ma’s flagship e-commerce company. The stock was little changed in Hong Kong trading Monday.

While Alibaba has been the most high-profile target, other companies have also come under fire. Discount retailer Vipshop Holdings Ltd. was fined 3 million yuan ($464,000) for unfair competition, SAMR said Monday. In December, regulators also handed Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd.-affiliate China Literature Ltd. a 500,000 yuan fine each over a pair of years-old acquisitions and said it’s reviewing an impending Tencent-led merger of DouYu International Holdings Ltd. and Huya Inc.

ByteDance Ltd. last week sued Tencent over alleged monopolies in its WeChat and QQ platforms, escalating a feud between two giants of Chinese social media. A court in Beijing has agreed to hear the case, a ByteDance representative confirmed on Sunday.

(Updates with comment in fourth paragraph and context throughout.)

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

South Korea celebrity suicides put spotlight on gender inequality

The recent death of a young actress has triggered a debate about gender inequality and increasing societal pressures facing young women in South Korea.




Over 4,000 South Korean women took their own lives in 2019, including young female K-pop artists Goo Hara and Sulli

Young actress-model Song Yoo-jung had enjoyed a successful career before a recent downturn in work and prospects. On January 23, she died suddenly. Initial media reports suggested she took her own life. If true, she would be the latest in a series of young South Korean female entertainers to die by suicide.

In addition to uncovering the mental health challenges facing those in the spotlight, it shows the alarming trend of suicides among young women in a country already grappling with a high suicide rate.

Actress Oh In-hye, 36, took her life last September. Singer Sulli, followed by her celebrity friend Goo Hara, ended their own lives months apart in late 2019. Male celebrities have also died by suicide in recent years, most notably Kim Jong-hyun from the group SHINee in December 2017.

The reasons behind this disturbing development are many. For Song and Oh, it may have been most connected to the waning of their careers. For Sulli and Goo Hara, more related to the stress of lives in the public eye.

Sulli had stepped out of the carefully corporate-crafted mold of K-pop idolatry to expose South Korea's societal Achilles' heel — gender inequality. After joining a feminist group advocating women not to wear bras, she was bombarded by online trolls, which many suggested contributed to her vulnerability.

Song Yoo-jung's death has triggered a debate about gender inequality in South Korea

Mental health under stress

For the last ten years, the suicide rate of young South Korean women has been increasing by roughly 5% per year. Overall, South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) club of advanced industrial nations, with about 14,000 people taking their own lives in 2018. Although men still die by suicide more often than women, by about 2 to 1, more women attempt suicide.

Several factors drive the phenomenon: poverty, unemployment, gender inequality and gender-based violence, generational conflict, single-person households, poor parenting, inadequate social welfare, and perhaps — above all — competition, Jang Soong-nang, a researcher of social epidemiology at the Chung-ang University, told DW.

When it comes to suicide among celebrities, Jang explains that social media plays a role. Everything celebrities do and say is revealed, manipulated, critiqued and sometimes — driven by identity politics — shown hate.

The increase in suicide is not due to the so-called Werther effect, Jang said, arguing that it's not a copycat trend. What is seen in South Korea is an ongoing increase in female suicides, with numerous interrelated causes, the expert pointed out.


K-POP: THE SCANDALS AND TRAGEDIES OF 2019
More and more deaths
Cha In-ha, a popular South Korean actor-singer, was found dead at his home on December 3, 2019. A police official told media that the cause of Cha's death was not immediately known. The 27-year-old celebrity made his film debut in 2017 and was part of the Surprise U band, which released two albums. There were no reports to suggest that Cha had been a target of personal attacks or cyberbullying. PHOTOS 123456

'There is endless competition'

After the 1950-53 Korean War, South Korea enjoyed rapid economic development, but the so-called Miracle on the Han River did not happen without great sacrifice.

That ideal of sacrifice, coupled with classicism, ageism, and patriarchy in society, creates an insurmountable obstacle for the modern, perhaps ambitious, unconventional young woman.

The way to success is seen as paved by education, dependent on the brand of the institute attended, like the "SKY" universities. For graduates of Seoul National, Korea and Yonsei Universities, doors open. For others, it's more of a struggle.

"There is endless competition. They are just enduring life day-to-day. Staying alive itself is very tough, it's a suffering, and the only happiness they feel is in very minor things like eating something delicious," Jang said. "As for everything else in life, things are unbearable, tough, and competitive." And when they get out of university, the patriarchal nature of South Korea's working culture can be oppressive.


Everything celebrities do and say is revealed, manipulated, critiqued and sometimes — driven by identity politics — shown hate, said Jang
Pandemic hits young women hard

Now, young people in South Korea also confront the effects of COVID-19. In the first half of 2020, when the pandemic struck the country, there was a 30% spike in young female suicides. The societal consequences of the health crisis have weighed more heavily on young women here.

South Korea has fared relatively well economically since the onset of the pandemic, with GDP declining by just 1%. The modest decline was partly due to the nation's export-driven economy, which offers little comfort to the hardships faced by those in low-end, temporary and service jobs, predominantly women, said Jang.

Prior to the health emergency, the youth jobless rate stood at about 20%, now it's roughly 25%, say government statistics.

Strengthening suicide prevention is not enough, argued Jang. The problems driving people to take their own lives here stem from deep-rooted societal inequalities, she said. "These require mid- to long-term solutions … employment and economic support for youth in their 20s and 30s, and much more support for young families with children."

If you are suffering from emotional strain or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information on where to find such help, no matter where you live in the world, at this website: https://www.befrienders.org/

Germany sees spike in anti-Semitic crimes — reports

The Central Council of Jews in Germany blames coronavirus conspiracy theorists for the recent rise in anti-Semitic hate crime.

According to the data collated by the German police, the vast majority of anti-Semitic hate crimes came from the far-right. Cases involving Islamists, left-wingers and others were just a small minority.


Anti-Semitic attacks and hate crime have been increasing in recent years, including the deadly attack outside a Synagogue in Halle in 2019

The number of registered anti-Semitic hate crimes in Germany hit a new upward trend in 2020, according to figures released by the German government and seen on Thursday by the Tagesspiegel newspaper and the Evangelische Pressedienst news agency.

The authorities have logged at least 2,275 crimes with an anti-Semitic background until the end of January 2021. Some 55 of those were acts of violence.

Only five suspects were detained by the authorities, despite police investigating 1,367 cases- No arrest warrants have been issued.

Watch video 00:32 Charlotte Knobloch: Anti-Semitism has become socially acceptable again

This is the highest number of anti-Semitic hate crimes since German police started collecting data on "politically motivated criminality" in 2001. The preliminary numbers were released upon the request of Left party member and Bundestag Vice-President Petra Pau. The tally could rise further as various states give updates on their crime statistics.

The number of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Germany has been steadily growing from 1,799 recorded in 2018, to 2,032 in 2019.
How did the Jewish community react?

The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, saw the root of the problem in the spread of conspiracy theories and coronavirus skepticism.

"In view of the numerous anti-Semitic incidents at the coronavirus-denier protests last year and the conspiracy myths online, it was, unfortunately, to be expected that the number of anti-Semitic crimes would rise again," he told the Tagesspiegel.

Schuster said that the spike in hate crime showed that "the radicalization of society is progressing and respect for minorities is declining."

He called for the anti-Semitic developments to be stopped "especially in the upcoming elections."

Watch video00:40 Trailer: Young, German and Jewish

Germany must 'stand together' against anti-Semitism

The federal government's Anti-Semitism Commissioner Felix Klein told the paper that the new figures "must be a warning to us."

The increase in criminal acts is "a clear sign that democracy must show itself to be defensible, especially in crises like the ongoing pandemic."

The commissioner said that social cohesion "is measured, especially here in Germany, by how firmly we stand together against hatred of Jews."

According to the data collated by the German police, the vast majority of anti-Semitic hate crimes came from the far-right. Cases involving Islamists, left-wingers and others were just a small minority.

A Previously Unseen Chemical Reaction Has Been Detected on Mars

The giant Martian sandstorm of 2018 wasn't just a wild ride - it also gave us a previously undetected gas in the planet's atmosphere. For the first time, the ExoMars orbiter sampled traces of hydrogen chloride, composed of a hydrogen and a chlorine atom.

© NASA/JPL-Caltech

This gas presents Mars scientists with a new mystery to solve: how it got there.

"We've discovered hydrogen chloride for the first time on Mars," said physicist Kevin Olsen of the University of Oxford in the UK.

"This is the first detection of a halogen gas in the atmosphere of Mars, and represents a new chemical cycle to understand."

Scientists have been keeping an eye out for gases that contain chlorine in the atmosphere of Mars, since they could confirm that the planet is volcanically active. However, if hydrogen chloride was produced by volcanic activity, it should only spike very regionally, and be accompanied by other volcanic gases.

The hydrogen chloride detected by ExoMars did not, and was not. It was sniffed out in both the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars during the dust storm, and the absence of other volcanic gases was glaring.

This suggests that the gas was being produced by some other process; luckily, we have similar processes here on Earth that can help us understand what it could be.

It's a several-step process that requires a few key ingredients. First, you need sodium chloride (that's regular salt), left over from evaporative processes. There's plenty of that on Mars, thought to be the remnants of ancient salt lakes. When a dust storm stirs up the surface, the sodium chloride gets kicked up into the atmosphere.

Then there's the Martian polar ice caps which, when warmed during the summer, sublimate. When the resulting water vapour mingles with the salt, the resulting reaction releases chlorine, which then reacts further to form hydrogen chloride.




1/1 SLIDES © Provided by ScienceAlert
How hydrogen chloride may be created on Mars pillars
Graphic showing the potentially new chemistry cycle detected on Mars. (ESA)


"You need water vapour to free chlorine and you need the by-products of water - hydrogen ­- to form hydrogen chloride. Water is critical in this chemistry," Olsen said.

"We also observe a correlation to dust: we see more hydrogen chloride when dust activity ramps up, a process linked to the seasonal heating of the southern hemisphere."

This model is supported by a detection of hydrogen chloride during the following 2019 dusty season, which the team is still analysing.

However, confirmation is still pending. Future and ongoing observations will help put together a more comprehensive picture of the process's cycles.

Meanwhile, laboratory experiments, modelling and simulations will help scientists rule out or confirm potential mechanisms behind the release of hydrogen chloride in the Martian atmosphere.

The research has been published in Science Advances.

Smoking gun of rare "zombie star" supernova discovered in Milky Way
By Michael Irving
February 09, 2021

Chandra X-ray image of Sagittarius A East, which may turn out to be a rare Type Iax supernova – the first observed in the Milky Way
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Nanjing Univ./P. Zhou et al. Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA

Astronomers have identified the remains of a rare type of supernova in our home galaxy for the first time. These events, known as Type Iax supernovae, occur when white dwarfs explode and may leave behind a “zombie star.”

Not all supernovae are created equal. Some occur when massive stars run out of fuel and collapse into a neutron star or black hole. Others are produced by white dwarf stars that slurp too much material off a companion star, triggering runaway nuclear fusion. The latter is known as a Type Ia supernova, and the brightness they emit is so consistent that they’ve been dubbed “standard candles” and used as yardsticks to measure distance in the cosmos.

A rare subgroup of these is what’s called Type Iax, which appear to occur under similar circumstances but throw off material at a slower speed and don’t shine as bright. Only about 30 of these are currently known and, most intriguingly, they’ve been hypothesized to leave behind an unexploded remnant nicknamed a zombie star.

And now, astronomers may have discovered the smoking gun of one of these Type Iax supernovae in the Milky Way, for the first time. The object in question is named Sagittarius A East (Sgr A East), and located close to the center of the galaxy near the similarly-named supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*.


An annotated image of Sagittarius A East, showing the supernova remnant and its proximity to the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Nanjing Univ./P. Zhou et al. Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA

Sgr A East has appeared as a cloud-like shape on images of the region for decades, with astronomers mostly assuming it to be a run-of-the-mill supernova remnant, or perhaps a Type Ia. But for the new study, researchers used the Chandra X-Ray Observatory to watch the object for 35 days, and found that it’s probably a Type Iax.

“While we’ve found Type Iax supernovae in other galaxies, we haven’t identified evidence for one in the Milky Way until now,” says Ping Zhou, lead author of the study. “This discovery is important for getting a handle of the myriad ways white dwarfs explode.”

The team came to this conclusion by studying Sgr A East’s X-ray spectrum, which can reveal the fingerprints of elements produced in the explosion, and in what amounts they occur. From this, the researchers came to the conclusion that the blast was weaker than most, in line with a Type Iax supernova.

“This supernova remnant is in the background of many Chandra images of our galaxy’s supermassive black hole taken over the last 20 years,” says Zhiyuan Li, an author of the study. “We finally may have worked out what this object is and how it came to be.”

If its identity is confirmed, the team says this would be the closest known Type Iax supernova to Earth – and possibly, the nearest zombie star, too.

The research was published in the Astrophysical Journal. The work is described in the video below.

Mystery of gamma radiation solved: Hidden cannibal star is just having dinner

The mystery at the heart of an unexplained, bright point of gamma-ray light in the sky has been solved: There's a deadly spider star flaying a second, wimpier star to bits, sending out rapid-fire bursts of gamma radiation in the process

© Provided by Live Science 

An illustration shows the orbits of PSR J2039-5617 and its companion.

"Black widows" and "redbacks" in astronomy, as Live Science previously reported, are species of neutron stars — the ultradense remnant cores of giant stars that exploded. Some neutron stars, called pulsars, rotate at regular intervals, flashing like lighthouses. The fastest-spinning among them are millisecond pulsars. When a millisecond pulsar is locked in a rare, tight orbit with a lightweight star, it slowly shreds its partner to bits with each rotation. These binary cannibals are known as black widow or redback stars. Now, with the help of citizen scientists, a team of researchers has revealed a new redback at the heart of a bright system known as PSR J2039–5617.

Related: 15 unforgettable images of stars

Since its discovery in 2014, researchers have suspected that PSR J2039–5617 contained a millisecond pulsar and a second star. The bright source of X-rays, gamma rays and visible light closely matched the expected traits of such a system. But proving it required scads of telescope data and more number-crunching than a typical desktop computer could do in a century.

To prove that the star system was indeed a redback, the researchers leaned on the computing power of Einstein@Home — a project of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Germany's Max Planck Institute where more than 500,000 volunteers let their idle computers work together on complex astronomy problems.

In two months, the researchers revealed that PSR J2039–5617 houses a deadly redback, heating up one side of its companion star so that side appears brighter and bluer. The redback’s massive gravity also warps its companion's shape, causing "the apparent size of the star to vary over the orbit," lead author Colin Clark, a University of Manchester astronomer, said in a statement,

The redback's radio emissions also sometimes get eclipsed by material blown off the surface of the companion star. All those features of the complex system produce strange, varying light patterns, described in a paper set to be published in March (and available online now) in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Originally published on Live Science.

South Africa’s coronavirus strain upends country’s vaccination plans


Volunteers in a COVID-19 vaccine trial wait to be checked at a hospital in Soweto, South Africa. Health officials there have suspended plans to inoculate front-line healthcare workers with a vaccine made by AstraZeneca after disappointing results in a small clinical trial.
(Jerome Delay / Associated Press)

By MELISSA HEALY,
EMILY BAUMGAERTNER

FEB. 7, 2021 

The coronavirus strain fueling a resurgence of COVID-19 in South Africa was not slowed down by a vaccine that officials had been counting on to protect its front-line healthcare workers, prompting the government to shelve plans for an inoculation campaign that would have begun this month.

“We have decided to put a temporary hold on the rollout of the vaccine,” Dr. Zweli Mkhize, South Africa’s health minister, said Sunday. “More work needs to be done.”

The experimental vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, seemed promising just a few months ago. In clinical trials conducted in South Africa, people who received the vaccine were 75% less likely to develop mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 than were people who received a placebo. The government ordered 1 million doses.

“The AstraZeneca vaccine was showing tremendous potential,” said Dr. Shabir Madhi, a vaccine expert at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

But that was before the emergence of a coronavirus strain called B.1.351, which is now dominant in South Africa and has spread to more than 30 other countries, including the United States. Since November, clinical trial participants who received the vaccine have fared no better than their counterparts who got the placebo.


New clinical trials raise fears the coronavirus is learning how to resist vaccines
Jan. 29, 2021

Madhi and other scientists suspect this is because mutations in the virus’ genome have changed the shape of its spike protein, which is the vaccine’s primary target. That means the antibodies generated by the immune system in response to the vaccine are less well-equipped to neutralize the new version of the virus.

That problem isn’t limited to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In the crowded social media universe, only a few platforms have a chance to dazzle a global audience and rise above the competition. One of those rising stars is Bigo Live, a rapidly growing streaming-first social network that’s discovering an...

A COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson reduced the risk of moderate to severe illness by 72% in clinical trial participants in the U.S. But in South Africa, the same vaccine reduced that risk by just 57% — and nearly all those who became sick were infected with the B.1.351 strain.

Similarly, a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the U.S. company Novavax was nearly 90% effective against all types of COVID-19 when tested in Britain, yet only 49% effective in South Africa.

“All of the vaccines that have currently been developed have been designed based on the original virus that was circulating,” Madhi said.

Madhi pointed to other concerning data from the trials of the Novavax vaccine: Some of the South Africans who got the placebo had already weathered a bout of COVID-19. In theory, their past coronavirus infections should have offered them some protection against the new strain. However, they were just as likely to be sickened by B.1.351 as people in the placebo group who had never had COVID-19.





Dangerous new coronavirus strains may incubate in COVID-19’s sickest
Jan. 30, 2021

The AstraZeneca study that prompted Mkhize’s announcement involved a comparatively small group of about 2,000 people who were relatively young and healthy. A total of 42 of them developed COVID-19 during the course of the trial, including 19 who got the vaccine and 23 who got the placebo. From a statistical point of view, those who got the vaccine fared no better than those who didn’t.

“We have not proven that this particular vaccine protects against COVID-19,” Madhi said.

But that doesn’t mean it’s worthless.

Two-thirds of the study volunteers who became ill had mild cases of COVID-19, and the rest experienced moderate illness.

“What these data don’t tell us is whether or not this vaccine might still protect at least against severe COVID-19, especially in individuals that are at high risk of developing severe disease,” Madhi said. “That might still be biologically plausible.”

Mkhize agreed that the AstraZeneca vaccine might still be able to protect people from the worst effects of COVID-19.

“We’re uncertain about the impact of the vaccine, that it will have on hospitalization, severe diseases and death,” he said.

Tulio de Oliveira, an infectious-disease researcher at South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal, noted that that the findings of the small trial are preliminary.

But even at this stage, the potential for new variants like B.1.351 to erode the effectiveness of vaccines underscores the importance of “coming up with next-generation vaccines,” he said.

Such vaccines might withstand the corrosive effects of new mutations by targeting sites on the virus that, unlike the spike protein, are less prone to change.

“We’re beginning to know where a virus can mutate and where it can’t,” said Dr. Bruce Walker, an immunologist and director of the Ragon Institute in Boston.






SCIENCE

By tracking coronavirus mutations, scientists aim to forecast the pandemic’s future

Feb. 7, 2021

Other efforts to overcome new mutations would recruit an entirely separate part of the immune system — its B-cells and T-cells — to recognize and kill the coronavirus. (A COVID-19 vaccine being developed by El Segundo-based ImmunityBio, headed by Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, aims to activate T-cells.)

In a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances, a group of cancer researchers working in mice was able to accomplish this by adding a so-called adjuvant — an ingredient intended to induce a stronger immune response — to their vaccine. The boosted vaccine recruited T-cells that provided strong protection to coronavirus-infected lungs.

“A vaccine like ours would have an independent set of weaponry to attack the virus by other means,” said co-author Dr. Christopher Haqq, head of research and development at Elicio Therapeutics. By prompting a T-cell response as well as antibody response, “we’d have a lot more shots on goal,” he said.

At the same time, the inevitable arrival of new coronavirus variants has prompted some researchers to acknowledge that not all COVID-19 disease needs to be prevented to bring the pandemic under control.

“Don’t look at overall efficacy,” said Dr. James Campbell, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “Look at the efficacy for severe disease.”

Madhi agreed that preventing hospitalizations and deaths was the most important thing to focus on. A vaccine that can do that will still be valuable, he said: “I’ve become a little more realistic about what to expect from vaccines.”

Uganda:
Unease after alleged election abduction

A spate of disappearances linked to January's general election have raised alarm among members of the opposition and the families of those kidnapped.



Supporters of Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine gather outside his campaign headquarters after police it was allegedly raided by police in 2020

Concern is rising in Uganda over the alleged forced disappearances of dissidents across the country in the lead-up to and following last month's general election.

Members of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party say they have been especially targeted. NUP candidate Bobi Wine was defeated in the January 14 election, with incumbent President Yoweri Museveni taking 58.64% of the vote to win a sixth term in office after 35 years of rule.

Wine has challenged the outcome of the elections in court, accusing Museveni of voter fraud.

Plain-clothed members of Uganda's defense forces have been blamed for the abductions, most of which took place at night.

In an address to his supporters from his home over the weekend, Wine estimated that over 3,000 NUP party members had been taken by authorities.

Ugandan authorities say only 31 NUP members have been arrested on suspicion of planning a rebellion.

"All those arrested will be investigated and those found with cases will be charged in courts of law," police spokesman Fred Enanga said on Tuesday.


Uganda's January election was marred by accusations of fraud, internet outages and violent protests
An unknown fate

The families of those kidnapped say the abductees were beaten before being forced into vehicles and driven away.

One 55-year-old mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, says her son was abducted and his whereabouts are still unknown.

In an interview with DW, she implores President Museveni to release those who have been imprisoned.

"Who will this government lead if our children are imprisoned," she said. "We haven't been able to trace them in prisons. Dear president, when you take your oath and ask the clergy to pray for you, how will they bless you when our children are missing? Have pity on us because you are a parent, too."

Charles Kirumira, who ran in the elections as a NUP parliamentary candidate for Kyotera County in Central Uganda, says he has been living in fear ever since NUP colleagues of his were allegedly forcibly abducted in the days before the January 14 poll.

Kirumira says several NUP members were picked up from their homes by unidentified security operatives traveling in vans without number plates.

"Team leaders, our campaign agents and people whom we expected to be the polling agents are the people who have been arrested," he told DW.
Questions raised over reason for arrests

Ugandan lawyer Asuman Basalirwa says the lack of information about those who have disappeared, as well as the manner of their abduction, means that the disappearances can't be categorized as arrests.

"The reason why people are saying security is kidnapping Ugandans is because the mode of arrest is completely against the constitution," he told DW. "I think that's where the focus should be."


Bobi Wine and his NUP party enjoy strong support among Uganda's young, urban population

When questioned on the recent spate of kidnappings, the Minister of Internal Affairs Jeje Odongo said investigations were underway to determine who was behind the arrests.

"It is true many of the incidents were perpetrated by numberless tinted vehicles," he told DW. "We have taken interest in and arrested some of them, together with their arms, and they are in our custody."

In a statement to parliament last week, Odongo said 44 people had been reported kidnapped and 31 were still missing.

The Executive Director of the Uganda-based Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Livingstone Sewanyana, says Museveni's government should swiftly bring those arrested before the courts of law in accordance with the country's constitution, pointing to a troubling resurgence of violent intimidation in the past.

"The act of abductions, kidnappings and enforced disappearance is a relic of dictatorship," Sewanyana told DW. "It speaks of our past history and also developments and trends [seen] during the 1970s," he said, referring to the brutal rule of former Ugandan President Idi Amin.

"This must be rooted out. Those held responsible must be punished."







One of Museveni's most outspoken critics, Stella Nyanzi is now seeking asylum in neighboring Kenya
Stella Nyanzi seeks refuge in Kenya

Political activist and former university lecturer Stella Nyanzi, a prominent Museveni critic, has meanwhile fled Uganda with her children and sought asylum in Kenya.

Nyanzi, who ran for a seat in the January election alongside the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, alleges her partner —a NUP member — was abducted from his car and tortured a week before the vote took place.

Previously, Nyanzi spent nearly 16 months after being found guilty of insulting the president with a graphic poem describing the birth of Museveni, criticizing his "oppression, suppression and repression" of Uganda. She was released in February 2020.