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COVOD-19

American Airlines and Southwest to defy Texas ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates

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3 years ago

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Two of the biggest employers in Texas, American Airlines Group  and Southwest Airlines Co.  have said they would not follow the executive order signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the Lone Star State, because, as federal contractors, they are bound to comply with President Joe Biden’s requirement.

The news highlights the clash between the Republican governor, who has accused the Biden administration of overreach for mandating vaccines, and private companies, who require greater certainty to operate safely, as the Wall Street Journal reported. Abbott has said vaccination must be voluntary, even though close to 70,000 Texans have died of COVID, and recent fatalities are almost all among unvaccinated people. The state’s vaccination rate of about 50% lags the national average.

A coalition of some 900 companies grouped under the Greater Houston Partnership, including such giants as Exxon Mobil Corp. JPMorgan Chase & Co.  Chevron Corp.  and Accenture PLC said Tuesday that Abbott’s order would complicate their efforts to run their businesses safely. The organization has been supportive of Biden’s effort to require vaccines for companies with more than 100 employees.

“Employers, like most businesses, want to minimize uncertainty, and certainly this isn’t helping,” Todd Logsdon, a labor-law expert at law firm Fisher Phillips, told the newspaper.

The news comes as the U.S. continues to suffer almost 2,000 deaths from COVID a day, according to a New York Times tracker. And while new cases and hospitalizations are continuing to decline, tens of thousands of Americans are still getting sick every day.

Alaska, which has been a hot spot for weeks and where hospitals have been forced to ration care, has been joined by Minnesota, which has seen new cases climb 36% in the past two weeks, the tracker is showing. ICUs are now nearing capacity, and there is a shortage of healthcare workers to tend to the sick, the Times reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says all of the state’s counties are at high risk of community transmission.

The CDC’s vaccine tracker shows that 187.7 million people living in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, equal to 57% of the overall population, still way below the 70% required to contain the spread, according to health experts. The number has barely budged in recent weeks, even though vaccines have proved safe and effective at preventing severe illness and death.

Some 8.55 million Americans have received a booster dose of vaccine, and the pace of booster vaccination is outpacing primary vaccination. CDC data shows that 238,059 Americans got a first vaccine dose on Tuesday, while 362,489 got a booster dose, according to an analysis by Axios.

The U.S. is planning to reopen its land borders in November to fully vaccinated travelers, ending a 19-month freeze, the Associated Press reported. Vehicle, rail and ferry travel between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico has been largely restricted to essential travel, such as for trade, since the earliest days of the pandemic. The new rules, to be announced Wednesday, will allow fully vaccinated foreign nationals to enter the U.S. regardless of the reason for travel starting in early November, when a similar easing of restrictions is set to kick in for air travel into the country.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, two mothers whose children contracted COVID in September in schools without face-mask mandates have sued their school districts, accusing them of “needlessly and recklessly endangering the health and safety” of their children, the Guardian reported. The suits accuse the school districts of creating a “snake pit” for students by failing to implement the public safety measures experts say are essential to prevent spread.

Elsewhere, Russia suffered yet another one-day record death toll of 984, the Moscow Times reported, cementing its position as the country in Europe with the most deaths. Russia has in the last 12 months seen the worst peacetime decline in its natural population, at just under 1 million, mostly due to COVID, the Guardian reported, citing official government statistics.

China has started to give third vaccine shots to elderly and high-risk people in 10 regions, the Times reported. The shots are viewed as part of primary vaccination and not boosters.

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COVOD-19

COVID-19 Impact: Enugu Govt., Traditional Rulers Partners With AUDA-NEPAD To Empower 2,000 Farmers

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2 years ago

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January 30, 2022

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Rebuilding the nation from the debilitating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic is paramount as the Enugu State Government in partnership with the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for African Development, AUDA-NEPAD seeks to empower smallholder farmers in the state to boost food production to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The administration of #Governor Ifeanyi #Ugwuanyi of #Enugu State has taken measures in furtherance of its efforts to cushion the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people and the economy of the state.

Consequently, the Enugu State office of the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for African Development (AUDA-NEPAD), yesterday, held an interactive meeting with stakeholders in the state (Traditional Rulers of autonomous communities and Presidents General of town unions) on the agency’s agricultural project aimed at empowering smallholder farmers and boosting food production to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing the stakeholders, the Enugu State Commissioner for Special Duties and State Co-ordinator/Focal Person in charge of AUDA/NEPAD, Enugu Office, Hon. Mrs. Mabel Agbo disclosed that AUDA-NEPAD Continental Office in collaboration with some International Agencies took bold measures to cushion the impact of COVID-19 on the citizens by initiating the project, entitled “Innovative Strengthening of Smallholder Farmers Capabilities Towards Productive Land Restoration Amid COVID-19 in Nigeria”.

Mrs. Agbo said that “this project as the title connotes is aimed at empowering smallholder farmers in our different communities in all agriculture value chains and segments (crops and livestock) to boost their capacity for food production, especially in the aftermath of the devastating impact of COVID-19 on our economy”.

She stressed that “to reduce the negative impact of this pandemic, we must step up efforts to enhance the capacity of our farmers to provide food for the wellbeing of our citizens”.

Revealing that the African Union (AU) has set the ball rolling by providing the required money for the realization of the agricultural project, the AUDA-NEPAD State Coordinator pointed out that “our goal-oriented Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, was equally not found wanting as he readily approved the provision of the counterpart fund required for this project”.

Mrs. Agbo, therefore, urged the Traditional Rulers of the autonomous communities in Enugu State and the Presidents General of Town Unions to ensure that lands are made available for use by the potential farmers, who she said are eager to embrace the challenges of cluster farming but do not have the requisite land space for the agricultural project in their various communities.

“As the custodians of your ancestral lands, we expect you to help by disentangling those cultivable lands under your jurisdiction that are not presently in use.

“We are also aware that in some communities, the Green Lands earlier earmarked/acquired by the government for agriculture have been encroached by land grabbers.

“We enjoin you to help us identify these lands and take necessary steps to free them for use in this project”.

Also speaking, the representative of the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Afam Ngene, described the project as laudable, commending the AUDA-NEPAD for the initiative.

The Commissioner equally lauded Gov. Ugwuanyi for ensuring that the programme reaches all the nooks and crannies of Enugu State, for full actualization of the objectives in the interest of the farmers in particular and the state in general.

He hinted that the project has a ten years duration that will outlive the present administration both at the state and federal levels.

In their separate contributions, the Deputy Chairman of Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers, HRH Igwe Barr. R.S.N. Eze; Igwe P.U. Agbo; Igwe Engr. Okey Ogbodo; Igwe Greg Ugwu; Igwe H.I. Eze; the Coordinating Chairman of Presidents General (PGs) in Enugu State, Barr. Paulinus Eze, and other PGs, thanked Gov. Ugwuanyi for attracting the international project to the state and promised to consult widely with their communities for the realization of the all-important programme.

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Flights From 12 African Countries To United Arab Emirates Resume on January 29

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2 years ago

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January 28, 2022

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The National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority (NCEMA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) revealed in a Twitter update that passenger flights from Nigeria and 11 other African countries will resume from Saturday, January 29.

Other affected countries are Ethiopia, Tanzania, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, and the Republic of Congo.

It added that entry procedures have been updated for flights originating from Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Travel restrictions were put in place by the Arab country in December last year, over the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

“From January 29, entry into the UAE for arrivals from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, the Republic of South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe is allowed again.”

“Passengers arriving from the three countries must have a negative COVID-19 test which was obtained within 48 hours of departure from approved labs in their respective countries,” the tweet read.

The UAE authority also said the passengers must undergo a Rapid PCR test at the airports of departure.

On arrival in the UAE, they will be subjected to another PCR test

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COVOD-19

Over 14 million eligible Nigerians Received First Dose Of COVID-19 Vaccine

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2 years ago

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January 27, 2022

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As of the 25th of this month, over 14 million eligible persons in Nigeria have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the country while over 5 million eligible Nigerians had been fully vaccinated.

The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, stated this in Abuja during a media briefing on the Progress of COVID-19 vaccination in the country.

He also identified the Federal Capital Territory, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Ogun, and Kwara states as the top 5 performing states on COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

Dr. Shuaib however advocated State Governors support especially those on low performance to be charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the populace within their constituencies was duly vaccinated.

He said Nigeria has not recorded any death arising from Covid Vaccine since the commencement of the exercise in March last year.

Dr. Shuaib also said childhood immunization and other Primary Health Care services will be integrated into the mass COVID-19 campaign.

He said alongside the COVID-19 vaccines, childhood vaccines would also be available at COVID-19 vaccination sites to prevent any neglect in other health care services or even have outbreaks of childhood vaccine-preventable diseases at hand.

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