3:07 am
Millions of prizes in vaccination lottery in Australia
Undecided residents of Australia are now to be persuaded with the help of a million-dollar lottery to get vaccinated against the corona virus. A total of 4.1 million Australian dollars (around 2.5 million euros) have been raised by companies and philanthropists to bring the vaccination rate in the country to over 80 percent, the media reported. The top prize is a check for a million dollars (around 625,000 euros); the winner is to be drawn on November 5th. The remaining participants will receive 3,100 prizes of 1,000 dollars each in the coming weeks.
“The campaign aims to reward people who would rather get vaccinated now than wait so we can reduce the community impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Craig Winkler, one of the organizers of the Million Dollar Vax – Lottery. “The sooner we get high vaccination rates, over 80 percent, the faster we can safely get back to full business and social activity.” Currently, 54 percent of all adults over the age of 16 in Australia are vaccinated.
2:59 am
Israel’s government is putting pressure on people who have been vaccinated twice
Due to the high number of infections, the Israeli government is increasing the pressure on people who have been vaccinated twice during the corona crisis: From today, the so-called green passport, which facilitates access to public life, is only valid for up to six months after the second vaccination. Afterwards, those affected must receive a third injection as a booster. Even those who tested positive for Corona must receive a vaccination no later than six months afterwards. According to figures from the Ministry of Health, the new regulation could affect more than a million people.
According to the Ministry of Health, around 61 percent of the 9.4 million inhabitants have been vaccinated twice, around 37 percent three times. The prerequisite for the third injection is that the second vaccination was at least five months ago. At the end of July, Israel became the first country in the world to start giving third vaccinations. The background to the decision are figures from the Ministry of Health, according to which the effectiveness of the vaccination has declined sharply since the beginning of June.
02:41 am
Medical officers complain of a shortage of staff in health departments
The chairwoman of the Federal Association of Doctors in the Public Health Service, Ute Teichert, complained about ongoing staff shortages in the health authorities in the corona crisis. There is still a shortage of staff, said Teichert to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “In the first three waves we had temporary employees who are no longer there.” In addition, the Bundeswehr temporarily helped out. “But it cannot be that there are still no solution concepts and that the health authorities have to call the Bundeswehr every time during the pandemic when things get tight.”
In order to improve contact tracking, Teichert also spoke out in favor of the health authorities being informed of the corona vaccination status of people who tested positive. “Then the authorities could initially concentrate on those who are not vaccinated. After all, they are a greater danger to others when they are infected. Such an approach would make it much easier for the authorities to follow up.”
1:32 am
Romania and Lithuania are high risk areas
The EU countries Romania and Lithuania are now considered to be corona high-risk areas. Anyone who has not been fully vaccinated or recovered and who enters from there has to be in quarantine for ten days and can only get rid of it after five days with a negative test. So far, Slovenia is the only member state of the European Union that is fully classified as a high risk area.
Around 70 countries around the world are wholly or partially on the risk list. As of today, in addition to Romania and Lithuania, Belarus and El Salvador are also high-risk areas in Latin America, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Only Mozambique in Southeast Africa will be deleted.
00:04 am
Lufthansa wants to have vaccinations for flight personnel
Deutsche Lufthansa has spoken out in favor of compulsory corona vaccination for flight personnel in Germany. “As an airline that operates worldwide, we advocate mandatory vaccination for our crews and also need a way to record the vaccination data,” said Lufthansa board member Detlef Kayser of “Bild am Sonntag”. As a reason, Lufthansa announced that Hong Kong was the first international destination to require a vaccination for pilots and flight attendants. The group expects that Canada and the USA will soon enact similar regulations.