As Israel expands its third COVID booster shot campaign, analysts are pointing to wide disparities between Jews and Arabs when it comes to getting vaccinations. While 80% of eligible Jewish Israelis have been vaccinated, about one-third of Arab citizens of Israel have yet to get their shots. As Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem, some root causes are poverty and distrust.Camera: Ricki Rosen
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Day: August 26, 2021
African countries have committed to ending all forms of polio after cases of vaccine-derived polio increased last year, partly because of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, Africa had been declared free of the wild poliovirus, after four years without a single case. But a variant has since returned in communities where not enough children have received the vaccine against it.Addressing a session of the World Health Organization’s regional committee for Africa, the director of Uganda’s Health Ministry, Henry Mwebesa, said his country would carry out a national campaign to vaccinate children against polio before the end of the year.“The challenges we anticipate is vaccine hesitancy, which has been common even with the COVID vaccines, and we expect to continue during this period. But we will try our best to mobilize the whole country, cultural leaders, the political leadership and professional associations to assist us to mobilize the communities to address the challenge, the hesitance, to make sure that all our children below five years have received this novel OPV,” Mwebesa said.The novel Oral Polio Vaccine is key to stopping polio outbreaks. Last year, Africa was declared free of wild poliovirus.In the last three years, however, 23 African states have experienced outbreaks of vaccine-derived poliovirus 2. That’s a strain of weakened poliovirus that was included in the oral virus but mutated over time and now behaves like the wild or naturally occurring virus. WHO regional director Matshidiso Moeti said the continent needs to do more to eradicate that form of the poliovirus.“Our shared objective is to stop all polioviruses by 2023 and to integrate a polio infrastructure to strengthen border disease surveillance and outbreak response systems, as well as immunization policies,” Moeti said.Ethiopia has recorded seven cases of poliovirus type 2 in 2021. The country’s health minister, Lia Tadesse, says her government is trying to address the current outbreaks. “We all agree that the quality of any campaign is as good as our preparedness. We follow our preparedness to the national foundation mechanisms using electronic data tools and self-assessment at the different levels up to the district and then validate those assessments,” Tadesse said.More than 100 million African children have been vaccinated against the poliovirus since July 2020. But many others missed the vaccinations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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A Taiwanese company, TiSPACE, plans to launch Australia’s first commercial rocket later this year.The rocket is called Hapith, which means “flying squirrel” in a Taiwanese Indigenous language.So far, no specific date for the rocket’s launch has been given. However, officials say an experimental flight is planned this year from a private facility on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Official approval was granted by the Australian government this week.Developers hope the vehicle will reach outer space, at least 100 kilometers above sea level, before falling back to Earth, over the sea. The rocket’s data, navigation and propulsion systems will be scrutinized.James Brown, the chief executive of the Space Industry Association of Australia, said it will be a significant mission.“This is the first, sort of, major rocket launch in about 40 years for Australia,” he said. “So, this is a rocket that is about 10 meters high, it’s got two stages, it’ll be launched from South Australia out over the ocean and it will get to about 100 kilometers high. It is basically testing this Taiwanese technology, which is a rocket built around a hybrid engine, and if that works well, if it is all safe, if it’s all reliable, then the plan is for this company to come back and launch a bigger rocket that is about 20 meters high that can carry up to 400 kilograms worth of satellite payload into space, so it is a really exciting development for the industry.”TiSPACE is Taiwan’s first private space company, which reportedly chose a launch site in Australia because of regulatory problems back home. The Taipei Times reported concerns over the legality of proposed launch sites in Taiwan.Researchers have said the project is potentially significant for both Australia’s and Taiwan’s space industries, which have lagged behind other space programs. Australia only established a domestic space agency in 2018.Alice Gorman, an associate professor at Flinders University and space exploration expert, says Australia is well-positioned to benefit from the global space sector.“At the top of the country, in the north, we are relatively close to the equator and that is a huge advantage for launching satellites into geostationary orbit because you get the assistance of the Earth’s rotation,” she said. “In the south, where Southern Launch is developing its launch sites, we are perfectly located to launch things into polar orbit, and this is where a lot of our earth observation satellites are, a lot of scientific satellites, and we are not looking at, you know, monumentally massive, big rockets here. We are looking at small rockets, small satellites and with both ends of the country able to specialize in different kinds of launch, we really do have a geographic advantage.”Australia’s rocket-launching heritage goes back decades. For years, launches were taking place regularly at the Woomera range in South Australia, including missile experiments for the military. The site remains a major Australian defense and research facility.TiSPACE has said it plans further “suborbital launches and several orbital launches” after this year’s test flight.
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Vietnam is facing challenges in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts from global shortages and anti-Chinese vaccine sentiment as it tries to reach herd immunity by the end of next year’s first quarter.“Shot or no shot?” Chau Nguyen asked her sister after spending nights thinking about whether to get vaccinated and whether to accept the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. While not a vaccine skeptic, the restaurant owner in the city’s Go Vap District worried about her health after she ultimately got the vaccination.Her reluctance is understandable given the anti-Chinese vaccine sentiment circulating on social media; many Vietnamese worry about Chinese vaccines’ safety and efficiency.Chau’s dilemma came as Ho Chi Minh City entered the vaccination campaign, targeting at least one shot for 70% of its population in August. The month kicked off with controversy as authorities announced a plan to purchase and use 5 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.On Aug. 25, Vietnam reported 12,096 new COVID-19 cases and 335 deaths, marking the seventh day in a row the country recorded more than 10,000 cases a day.The latest number brings the total number of cases in the fourth COVID-19 wave to 377,245. The COVID-19 death tally was at 9,349.Ho Chi Minh City continued to see spikes in COVID-19 cases. As of Aug. 25, the city reported 5,294 new cases and 266 deaths.From March to mid-August, Ho Chi Minh City, with a population of about 10 million, vaccinated more than 4.3 million people, more than 100,000 of whom received the full two shots, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Duong Anh Duc told reporters Aug. 13.That group included 456,000 people over 65, a priority group getting vaccines that are still scarce in Vietnam, such as the Moderna and Pfizer shots. During that period daily vaccinations ranged up to more than 318,000.High demandVietnamese people tend to accept vaccinations — a June UNICEF survey said 67% of Vietnamese are eager to be vaccinated.There are many reasons why people in Ho Chi Minh City are encouraged to get shots, even though they acknowledge that vaccines provide only partial protection from COVID-19.The government seems to have convinced people of the severity of COVID-19. Most of those speaking with VOA judged the current pandemic situation in Ho Chi Minh City as “dangerous.” Van Anh, 26, disagreed with the notion that the economic costs of dealing with the pandemic are worse than those of the pandemic.Chau, the Go Vap District restaurant owner, who ended up having an AstraZeneca dose Aug. 2, told VOA local authorities called her to get a shot. She had asked whether she could refuse vaccination and was told she could, but if she became infected and spread the virus to others, she risked being fined millions of dong.Unlike Chau, some others say being vaccinated is better than continuing under the country’s strict social distancing measures under Directive 16, which was extended for a month, starting Aug. 15.Asked about the argument that lost jobs, closed businesses and other consequences of pandemic measures are more of a risk than dying from the pandemic, Bich Nguyen, a 30-year-old who works in the media industry, told VOA, “I 70% agree with this opinion.”He said he has been desperate to start a probationary period for work since June 1 because the city has been locked down since May 31.“It cost me nearly 100 million dong [about $4,400] from a purely financial aspect, but when it comes to the mental aspect, the stress, fatigue, loss of will … are immeasurable,” he said.Thao Vu, 31, whose husband’s company has been closed since the start of the lockdown period, said that she is willing to get a shot because it is the only way to open the economy and restore social activities.“It is necessary to realize that the pandemic will not stop just because we are in lockdown. Once we open the society and economy, there is a complete risk of an outbreak again, so we need to learn how to live with it. Long-term lockdowns only push manual workers into poverty and businesses to close, leading to social evils that will increase when people are unemployed. The consequences on the economy and social security may be more serious than the pandemic itself,” she said.Vaccine shortages, anti-Chinese vaccine sentimentWhile citizens are willing to get vaccinated, Ho Chi Minh City faces challenges that could result in interruption.As of Aug. 12, the city had administered most of the roughly 4.3 million doses allocated by the national Health Ministry. Municipal leaders said that Ho Chi Minh City’s current vaccine strategy is to reach high coverage as soon as possible.Regarding plans for the future, the city said it would continue to search for vaccines. It is in talks to buy 5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and aims to get 2 million doses in October. In addition, it has said it has international commitments for another 750,000 doses.The Vietnamese government established a working group on COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy Aug. 13. The working group is expected to mobilize donated vaccines, drugs for treatment and medical supplies, as well as technology transfer for vaccine and drug production from other countries.In its first meeting on Aug. 16, group members said countries, especially developing countries, will face difficulties obtaining vaccines through the end of the year, given complexities of the global pandemic situation.The assessment is worrisome for Ho Chi Minh City. While the city faces vaccine shortages, the local government finds it hard to take advantage of available Sinopharm vaccines because of anti-Chinese sentiment.Van Anh, who works in the media industry, said she approves of government social distancing measures and stressed the importance of vaccines for public health purposes but said she will not accept Chinese vaccines.Similarly, Binh Tran, a 20-year-old student who is in his second year of medical school in Ho Chi Minh City, argued that vaccines will protect people from COVID-19 but said that he would not accept Chinese vaccines because of “low immune efficiency and unreliable data.”Anti-Chinese vaccine sentiment has prompted Vietnamese government and Ho Chi Minh City officials to repeatedly affirm that “the best vaccine is the first one,” emphasizing that vaccination is good for everyone and contributes to the pandemic fight. They have also called on people to be aware of the importance of vaccinations and ready to receive the vaccine.Since Aug. 13, having used up the doses allocated by the Health Ministry, Ho Chi Minh City has officially administered Sinopharm vaccines while promoting access to other vaccine supplies and making use of available sources.Earlier, on Aug. 12, the city allocated Sinopharm vaccines to its localities. Specifically, the Center for Disease Control of Ho Chi Minh City issued an order to provide 1,000-7,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, also known as Vero Cell, per city region, a total of 44,000 doses.Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City Party chief Nguyen Van Nen said local authorities should tell people what type of vaccine they were getting before vaccinations. After inspecting a local COVID-19 vaccination location Aug. 13, Nen noted an instance of people expressing disappointment after receiving Chinese vaccinations.“We should use our experience and tell people the type of vaccine in advance, so only those who accept the vaccine will go to get the shots,” he said.Meanwhile, though, he stressed that the city has no choice regarding what vaccine to provide, saying that while the city has tried various sources, “supplies are extremely limited.”
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Some of the country’s leading technology companies have committed to investing billions of dollars to strengthen cybersecurity defenses and to train skilled workers, the White House announced Wednesday following President Joe Biden’s private meeting with top executives. The Washington gathering was held during a relentless stretch of ransomware attacks that have targeted critical infrastructure and major corporations, as well as other illicit cyber operations that U.S. authorities have linked to foreign hackers. The Biden administration has been urging the private sector to do its part to protect against those increasingly sophisticated attacks. In public remarks before the meeting, Biden referred to cybersecurity as a “core national security challenge” for the U.S. “The reality is most of our critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, and the federal government can’t meet this challenge alone,” Biden said. “I’ve invited you all here today because you have the power, the capacity and the responsibility, I believe, to raise the bar on cybersecurity.” After the meeting, the White House announced that Google had committed to invest $10 billion in cybersecurity over the next five years, money aimed at helping secure the software supply chain and expand zero-trust programs. The Biden administration has looked for ways to safeguard the government’s supply chain following a massive Russian government cyberespionage campaign that exploited vulnerabilities and gave hackers access to the networks of U.S. government agencies and private companies. Microsoft, meanwhile, said it would invest $20 billion in cybersecurity over the next five years and make available $150 million in technical services to help local governments upgrade their defenses. IBM plans to train 150,000 people in cybersecurity over three years, Apple said it would develop a new program to help strengthen the technology supply chain, and Amazon said it would offer to the public the same security awareness training it gives to employees. Top executives of each of those companies were invited to Wednesday’s meeting, as were financial industry executives and representatives from the energy, education and insurance sectors. A government initiative that at first supported the cybersecurity defenses of electric utilities has now been expanded to focus on natural gas pipelines, the White House said Wednesday. Though ransomware was intended as one aspect of Wednesday’s gathering, a senior administration official who briefed reporters in advance said the purpose was much broader, centered on identifying the “root causes of any kind of malicious cyber activity” and also ways in which the private sector can help bolster cybersecurity. The official briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. The meeting took place as Biden’s national security team has been consumed by the troop withdrawal in Afghanistan and the chaotic evacuation of Americans and Afghan citizens. That it remained on the calendar indicates the administration regards cybersecurity as a major agenda item, with the administration official describing Wednesday’s meeting as a “call to action.” The broad cross-section of participants underscores how cyberattacks have cut across virtually all sectors of commerce. In May, for instance, hackers associated with a Russia-based cyber gang launched a ransomware attack on a major fuel pipeline in the U.S., causing the pipeline to temporarily halt operations. Weeks later, the world’s largest meat processor, JBS, was hit with an attack by a different hacking group. In both instances, the companies made multimillion-dollar ransom payments in an effort to get back online. Biden on Wednesday pointed to a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June when he said he made clear his expectation that Russia take steps to rein in ransomware gangs because “they know where (the hackers) are and who they are.”
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A Spanish judge in a decision cheered by environmentalists has put a halt to backup plans for the construction of a giant telescope in the Canary Islands — eliminating at least for now the primary alternative location to the preferred spot in Hawaii, where there have been protests against the telescope. Construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, on Hawaii’s tallest mountain, Mauna Kea, has been stalled by opponents who say the project will desecrate land held sacred to some Native Hawaiians.Telescope officials had selected the alternate location near an existing scientific research facility on the highest mountain of La Palma, one of the Spanish islands off the western African coast, in the Atlantic Ocean. But an administrative court in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the Spanish archipelago, ruled last month that the 2017 concession by local authorities of public land for the tentative project was invalid. The ruling was dated on July 29, but only became public this week after local media reported about the decision. In the ruling obtained by The Associated Press, Judge Roi López Encinas wrote that the telescope land allocation was subject to an agreement between the Canary Astrophysics Institute, or IAC, and the telescope’s promoter, the TMT International Observatory (TIO) consortium. But the judge ruled that the agreement was not valid because TIO had not expressed an intention to build on the La Palma site instead of at the Hawaii site. The judge also sided with the plaintiff, the environmental group Ben Magec-Ecologistas en Acción, in rejecting arguments by TIO’s legal team and the island’s government that the land concession was covered by an international treaty on scientific research. An official for the Canary Islands High Court said questions about the ruling could not be answered because other court officials in a position to answer the questions were on vacation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to be named in media reports. The island’s local elected government chief, Mariano Zapata, said it was “sad” that advocacy groups “are so occupied by administrative matters instead of environmental issues.” “I wish we were all in the same boat with the intent of creating jobs in the La Palma island so it can keep being an international reference on scientific research,” Zapata said. His government estimated last year that the telescope would generate 500 permanent jobs and at least 400 million euros ($470 million) in investment. Scott Ishikawa, a spokesperson for the consortium hoping to build the telescope, said that the consortium plans to appeal the ruling. “While we respect the court’s ruling in La Palma, we will pursue the legal process to retain La Palma as our alternative site. Hawaii remains our preferred location for TMT, and we have renewed our efforts to better connect with the Hawaii community in a meaningful and appropriate way,” he said in an email to The Associated Press. Pablo Batista, a spokesman of the Ben Magec-Ecologistas en Acción group, hailed the decision as a big setback for what he called a “fraudulent” project that he said made “fake promises” of new jobs for the island. “The whole idea of offering the island as a back-up was nothing else but as a strategy to put pressure on the Hawaii plans,” Batista said. In a statement, the group also said that “the five years that the TIO consortium has lost on La Palma should make it reflect on the arrogant and disrespectful strategy that they have carried out both in Hawaii and in the Canary Islands, emboldened by institutional support and despising the arguments of the opposition to the TMT.” The group’s concerns echo some of the concerns expressed by those fighting the telescope in Hawaii, said Kealoha Pisciotta, one of the leaders seeking to keep the project off Mauna Kea. “I’m glad that they challenged it, because like here, the challenge helps bring awareness to TMT’s not only lack of following the process, but caring for the environment and Hawaiians’ sacred site,” she said.
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