Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

About 20,000 deaths from complications of Covid-19 were prevented by vaccination against the coronavirus infection, according to a new pre-published study by professors Sotiris Tsiodras and Theodoros Lytras, conducted during the period 11 January 2020 - 8 December 2021.

Pfizer yesterday applied to the US Medicines Agency to allow the emergency use of the vaccine produced by the company to children aged 6 months to 4 years, AFP and Reuters reported.

The Omicron sub-variant with the scientific name BA.2, also known as "stealth" or Omicron 2, which is constantly gaining ground in several countries, is not a cause for serious concern, as it is unlikely to "insidiously" create a new catastrophic epidemic. wave and change the course of the pandemic again.

"We have been climbing the fifth wave of Covid all week and we have no reason to be optimistic. I think we will reach a peak next week - maybe by Tuesday, Wednesday we will have 15,000 infected a day, after which there will be a decline." This was said to BNR by Prof. Penka Petrova, director of the Institute of Microbiology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Meral Akşener, the leader of the opposition İYİ (Good) Party, has become yet another senior politician who has tested positive for COVID-19.

"The PCR test, which I had, came out positive. My husband and I will in quarantine for one week. We are feeling very well," Akşener wrote on Twitter.

Turkovac protects against the Alpha and Delta variants of the coronavirus and trials on its effects against the Omicron variant are ongoing, the head of the center that developed the Turkish COVID-19 vaccine has said.

The Pfizer vaccine triples the likelihood of developing various forms of inflammation of the heart tissue, but these side effects are extremely rare. This was established by an international team of scientists, and their findings were published in an article in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

A US hospital has denied a patient a heart transplant, at least in part because he has not been vaccinated against Covid-19.

DJ Ferguson, 31, is in dire need of a new heart, but a Boston hospital has removed him from its list, said the patient's father, David.

Turkey has started to give the locally developed inactivated vaccine, Turkovac, as a booster shot to those who have already received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA jab.

Kosovo will not withdraw its decision to demand three COVID-19 vaccine doses or two doses together with a negative PCR test for foreigners entering the country or for citizens who have spent more than 12 hours abroad, despite complaints from people and businesses in the region who frequently pass the border.