World Coronavirus Dispatch: No vaccines for Palestinians in Israel

Pressing issues before travel industry, Thousands in Pakistan line up for China vaccine trials, Singaporeans won't be able to choose between vaccines, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

UK plans to mix coronavirus vaccines

Britain is planning to administer different vaccine shots for first and second doses, a move experts say is not unreasonable but should be backed by rigorous investigations. According the guidelines, different vaccines will be given in rare cases where the same vaccine is not available or it is not known what vaccine the patient received. The move is based on the theory that two approved candidates from Oxford and Pfizer target the spike protein of the virus, which makes it likely that the second dose will help boost the response to the first, and would be better than not giving any dose at all. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 85,136,586

Change Over Yesterday: 533,729

Global deaths: 1,843,342

Nations with most cases: US (20,639,217), India (10,340,469), Brazil (7,733,746), Russia (3,203,743), France (2,712,975).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

How pandemic will change travel in 2021

The coronavirus pandemic has upended the travel industry like no other, with sweeping restrictions forcing people to stay put and airlines posting huge losses. Just when countries began opening their borders to cross-border travel, the second and third waves threw a spanner into reopening plans. The new highly contagious coronavirus variant also forced several countries to impose severe curbs and suspend travel links, further dampening the prospects of safe traveling. However, as countries roll out vaccines, there is some relief in sight for the industry. This story tries to answer some of the most pressing queries facing the travel industry and individual travelers, from showing proof of immunity or vaccination to how long will it take for the industry to reach pre-pandemic levels. Read here

Palestinians excluded from Israeli vaccine rollout

Led by aggressive buying, a strongly digitised community-based health system and muscular central government, Israel's inoculation programme is powering ahead in terms of sheer vaccinations per day. But the drive is excluding Palestinians residing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza as the vaccines are only given to Jewish settlers there. Meanwhile, Palestine is trying hard to secure vaccines through WHO-led initiative called Covax, which is aimed at helping poorer countries. Read here

Thousands in Pakistan line up to volunteer for Chinese vaccine trials

Vaccine scepticism runs deep in Pakistan, and has been a major problem for the country in eradicating diseases. However, thousands are queuing up to volunteer for Chinese vaccine trials, defying the country's long-held misconceptions and doubts over efficacy, safety of the vaccine. As is the case through out the pandemic, Pakistan is depending on China to innoculate its population. While Pakistan has contained the outbreak better than immediate Asian neighbours such as India, the country is seeing a surge in infections in the second wave. This story chronicles how volunteers rose over inherent biases when it come to vaccines before participating in trials. Read here

Singaporeans won’t be able to choose between vaccines

When Singapore starts its immunisation drive, its citizens aren't being allowed to choose from different vaccines available in the market, instead the government will decide, taking into account the number of vaccines available and after assessing which vaccine suits which group better, based on the medical history. Singapore has already received its first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and has begun inoculating frontline health care workers. A recent survey showed that almost 60 per cent of people would get vaccinated if one was available in the country. Read here