Day: November 7, 2021

Poland’s Health Ministry issued instructions Sunday to doctors confirming that it is legal to terminate a pregnancy when the woman’s health or life is in danger, a directive that comes amid apparent confusion over a new restriction to the country’s abortion law. 

The document addressed to obstetricians comes in reaction to the hospital death of a 30-year-old mother whose pregnancy was in its 22nd week. The woman died in September but her death became widely known this month. Doctors at the hospital in Pszczyna, in southern Poland, held off terminating her pregnancy despite the fact that her fetus lacked enough amniotic fluid to survive, her family and a lawyer say.

The doctors have been suspended and prosecutors are investigating. 

Angered Poles held massive nationwide protests over the weekend, blaming the woman’s death on Poland’s restrictive abortion law. Women’s rights activists say it has a chilling effect on doctors in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

The ministry stressed it is in line with the law to terminate a pregnancy when the woman’s health is in danger, even more so in case of threat to her life. It included guidance in case of premature loss of the amniotic fluid.

“It should be clearly stressed that doctors must not be afraid to take evident decisions. stemming from their experience and the available medical knowledge,” the ministry said.

Until a year ago, women in Poland could have abortions in three cases: if the pregnancy resulted from a crime like rape, if the woman’s health or life was at risk, or in the case of irreparable defects of the fetus. That last possibility was eliminated a year ago, when the Constitutional Tribunal ruled it went against Poland’s law. 
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High wind off the Florida coast have prompted SpaceX to delay the return of four space station astronauts who have been in orbit since spring.

The U.S., French and Japanese astronauts were supposed to leave the International Space Station on Sunday, with their capsule splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday morning. But with gusts exceeding safety limits, SpaceX bumped the departure to Monday afternoon, with a nighttime return to conclude their six-month mission. 

The good news is that their trip home will now last eight hours, less than half as long as before. The toilet in their capsule is broken, and so the four will need to rely on diapers while flying home. 

SpaceX still is aiming for a Wednesday night launch, at the earliest, of their replacements. This flight also has been delayed by bad weather, as well as an astronaut’s undisclosed medical issue. The issue, described as minor, should be resolved by launch time, officials said. 

Last week, SpaceX and NASA flipped the order of the launch and landing because of the deteriorating weather and the looming deadline to get the capsule back from the space station. SpaceX capsules are certified for a maximum 210 days in orbit, and the one there now is approaching 200 days. 
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The Taliban-run Afghan public health ministry announced Sunday the start of a four-day nationwide polio vaccination campaign aimed at inoculating children younger than 5.

For the past three years before taking control of Afghanistan, the Taliban had barred U.N.-organized vaccination teams from doing door-to-door campaigns in parts of the country under their control. The group apparently was suspicious the team members could be spies for the previous government or the West.

Because of the ban and ongoing fighting, some 3.3 million children over the past three years have not been vaccinated.

“Without any doubt polio is a disease that without treatment will either kill our children or cause them with permanent disability, so in this case the only way is to implement the vaccination,” said Dr. Qalandar Ebad, the Taliban’s acting public health minister.

Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic, and the disease can cause partial paralysis in children. Since 2010, the country has been carrying out regular inoculation campaigns in which workers go door to door, giving the vaccine to children. Most of the workers are women, since they can get better access to mothers and children.

The four-day campaign will start Monday and take place countrywide, Ebad said. The estimated target population is Afghanistan’s 10 million children younger than 5, including the more than 3.3 million who could not be reached since 2018.

“Vaccination of [children] less than five years of age in the country during the national immunization days is a gigantic task. It is not possible for the ministry of public health alone to complete this task successfully, so we need the support of all lined departments,” said Nek Wali Shah Momin, a health ministry official in the polio eradication department.

The Taliban’s reported endorsement of the campaign appeared aimed at showing the international community they are willing to cooperate with international agencies. The longtime militant insurgent force has been trying to win the world’s recognition of its new government and reopen the door for international aid to rescue the crumbling economy.

The World Health Organization and the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF in a joint statement last month said they welcomed the decision by the Taliban leadership supporting the resumption of house-to-house polio vaccinations across the country.

Large sections of the country have been out of reach for vaccinations in recent years. In parts of the south, particularly, the ban by the Taliban was in effect. In other areas, door-to-door campaigns were impossible because of fighting between the government and insurgents, or because of fears of kidnappings or roadside bombs. In some places, hardline clerics spoke out against vaccinations, calling them un-Islamic or claiming they were part of a Western plot. 
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Jesse Readlynn, a father of two from Rochester, New York, breathed a huge sigh of relief this week. “My children getting coronavirus was one of my biggest fears,” he told VOA.“Finally, this worry and uncertainty I’ve been living with can begin to relax.”

Readlynn’s relief comes after last week’s U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation that children 5-11 years old be vaccinated with a pediatric version of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. The guidance makes 28 million American children eligible for a vaccine that has proved overwhelmingly effective in slowing the spread of coronavirus.

For many parents like Readlynn, the development is highly welcome news. When his 7-year-old receives his first dose of the vaccine next week, and his 4-year-old receives a version of the vaccine in a clinical study, Readlynn is hopeful life can return closer to what it was in the years before the coronavirus pandemic.

“Playdates, having real birthday parties, eating inside restaurants, going to museums,” he listed as things he’s looking forward to doing once his children are vaccinated.“Visiting family we have to fly to and just exploring the big, wide, exciting world again! It’s going to bring a normalcy to our lives that we haven’t had in two years.”

Uncertainty for some

According to an October survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly three in 10 parents (27%) are eager to get a vaccine for their child, 5-11 years old. A slightly higher number (30%) said they will definitely not get the vaccine for their child, while a full third of respondents said they will wait a while to see how the vaccine is working.

“It’s honestly the most difficult decision I’ve had to make for my child,” said Kerri Paino of Hauppauge, New York, mother of a 7-year-old now eligible for the vaccine and a 4-year-old who is not.

Like so many parents over the last two years, Paino said she and her husband, both vaccinated, have had to make seemingly constant and uncomfortable decisions about what is and isn’t safe for their unvaccinated children. Everything from an afternoon trip to the mall to a full family vacation caused uncertainty and second-guessing.

“We took a trip to Mexico this summer and we had to take a COVID test to get back home,” Paino said. “My 7-year-old daughter wailed so loud in the lobby, it was embarrassing. But I also feel bad because this all must be so uncomfortable and strange for her. I just want it to be over.”

Still, Paino said she is worried about the long-term effects of the vaccine and isn’t ready for her daughter to get hers yet.

“We’re still on the fence,” she said. “I don’t want to make a decision that could negatively affect her future without her being able to make a conscious choice along with me.”

Other parents trust the safety of the vaccine but are still in no hurry to have their children vaccinated. As the number of coronavirus cases drops throughout the country, many don’t feel the same urgency they might have felt earlier in the year.

Hillary Sardinas of Albany, California, said her eldest child is eligible for the vaccine. While she’s confident in the science behind the vaccine, she doesn’t feel pressured to have her son get vaccinated immediately.

“Maybe it’s a luxury, but we feel comfortable with the protocols at his school and live in an area with high vaccination rates,” Sardinas told VOA. “My son has a fear of shots, and so I thought knowing his friends got it, and waiting to do it in our pediatrician’s office where he’ll feel more comfortable, is a good thing for him.”

While Sardinas is sure she’ll have her son get the vaccine before the end of the year, Paino isn’t nearly as confident.

“I feel like the debate around the vaccine has become so political,” she said, “and it has made me lose trust in where I’m getting my information from. I want to trust science, but I feel like I don’t know what the truth is. You have doctors arguing both sides.”

To trust or not to trust

“The only ‘experts’ arguing against vaccines right now are rogue doctors, rogue scientists, and conspiracy theorists,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and one of the most notable vaccine experts in the United States.

COVID-19 cases have been less widespread among children than adults, though the number of children and adolescents admitted to the hospital with the virus increased nearly fivefold this summer as the delta variant surged.

In the U.S., more than 8,300 children aged 5-11 have been hospitalized with serious illness caused by the coronavirus. An additional 5,200 children and teens have developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a condition linked to COVID-19 that often leads to hospitalization.

The CDC trial found the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine is effective in protecting children from the worst effects of the disease.

“The science on this is very clear,” Offit said. “The CDC-approved vaccine is effective in keeping children safe from coronavirus.”

Despite consensus among scientists, nearly one in three parents remain opposed to having their child receive the vaccine.

“I’m not against vaccinations,” said Janelle Witten of Gastonia, North Carolina. Witten has a son who is eligible for the pediatric vaccine, and she also is pregnant. “But I’m not willing to risk the health of my children on a vaccine that doesn’t have data on its long-term health effects.”

Alberto Perez of Blairsville, Georgia, has similar concerns for his children.

“If this was a virus killing 3% to 5% of children, I would have my kids get the vaccine immediately,” he said, “but that’s not what this is. I don’t feel coronavirus is as big a threat as the unknown odds of long-term side effects caused by the vaccine — fertility issues, for example.”

The concern over future fertility issues was repeated by several parents interviewed, but Offit said it should not be a reason for concern.

“It’s a false notion that science can disprove,” Offit said. “Clinical trials included pregnant women with no issue. This is an example of those against the vaccine throwing things against a wall to see what will make people scared. Because when people are scared it’s difficult to unscare them.”

Offit said those who get the vaccine should feel confident that long-term side effects will not surface.

“When you get a vaccine, you have what is called ‘immune response’ almost immediately,” he said. “It doesn’t crop up years from now, it peaks within 7-10 days. That’s the response, and we know that because we’ve seen how other similar vaccines work.”

Some parents will likely wait additional weeks or months, making sure their kids’ classmates are vaccinated without issue, before letting their own children get the COVID-19 vaccine.

However, Jesse Readlynn said he’s done waiting.

“The chance of a child getting seriously sick from coronavirus is low,” he acknowledged. “But they’re still much more likely to get sick from COVID than from the vaccine. I’m hopeful this turns out to be the light at the end of the tunnel for my children as we exit this uncertainty and get back to a normal life.” 
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The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said Sunday it has recorded 249.5 million global COVID cases and more than 5 million deaths. The center said 7.2 billion COVID vaccines have been administered.

A northern California town’s city council has declared itself a “constitutional republic” as a way to express its displeasure with what it considers state and federal overreach in the issuing of mandates, such as for mask wearing, designed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legal experts say Oroville’s city council’s move, however, does not allow Oroville to opt out of the mandates.

The fully vaccinated in Australia’s New South Wales state are on the verge of having a number of COVID restrictions eased Monday, including elimination of limits on the number of home visitors.

Health professionals in India are bracing for a surge in coronavirus cases following Diwali, the annual festival of lights, that began Thursday.

Dr. Prakash Singh, a virologist, told The New York Times, “For this Diwali, people almost forgot the virus is still here and killing people.”

Johns Hopkins reports that India has 34.4 million COVID infections, but public health experts say the tally is likely undercounted. Only the United States has more COVID cases, with 46.5 million.

Fire swept through a newly built hospital ward for coronavirus patients in western India Saturday, killing at least 10 coronavirus patients.

Officials said about two dozen patients were in the intensive care unit of the hospital in the western city of Ahmednagar when the fire broke out.

It was the latest in a string of deadly fires at COVID-19 hospital wards in India since the country’s underfunded public health care system was overwhelmed by a coronavirus surge between April and May.

Maharashtra state’s chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray, ordered an investigation into Saturday’s fire and the safety conditions at the hospital.

Sixteen COVID-19 patients and two nurses were killed in May in a fire at a hospital in India’s Gujarat state. In April, about 35 patients were killed in separate fires at two health facilities in Mumbai.

In Russia on Saturday, the government’s coronavirus task force reported 41,335 new infections over a 24-hour period, the country’s highest one-day total since the beginning of the pandemic. It also reported 1,188 coronavirus-related deaths.

Officials say Russia’s low vaccination rate is largely to blame for a surge in cases that began in mid-September. Less than 40% of the country’s 146 million people are fully vaccinated.

A record high number of coronavirus-related deaths were reported in Ukraine on Saturday. The health ministry reported 793 deaths over the previous 24 hours, topping the country’s previous high of 734 on Oct. 26.

Unvaccinated people in Greece, about 40% of the country’s population, are facing more stringent government restrictions as the country grapples with a surge in coronavirus infections.

The restrictions, imposed on Saturday, require the unvaccinated to show proof of a negative test to enter indoor public facilities such as banks, government buildings and most shops.

They must also show proof in order to eat at outdoor restaurants and cafes. 

 
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