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Should kids be vaccinated? Brazil turns to online survey

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — As world leaders rely on public health specialists to inform their decisions about whether and how to vaccinate children against the coronavirus, Brazil’s government is asking the online public for guidance. In recent weeks, President Jair Bolsonaro has staked out a position against immunizing kids aged between 5 and 11, and his administration took the unusual step of creating a platform that could validate a stance that is widely opposed by experts. Since his government on Dec. 23 unveiled its online questionnaire on the issue, the president’s supporters ...

Omicron’s New Year’s cocktail: Sorrow, fear, hope for 2022

PARIS (AP) — Sorrow for the dead and dying, fear of more infections to come and hopes for an end to the coronavirus pandemic were — again — the bittersweet cocktail with which the world said good riddance to 2021 and ushered in 2022. New Year’s Eve, which used to be celebrated ...

U.S. children hospitalized with COVID in record numbers

SEATTLE (AP) — The omicron-fueled surge that is sending COVID-19 cases rocketing in the U.S. is putting children in the hospital in record numbers, and experts lament that most of the youngsters are not vaccinated. “It’s just so heartbreaking,” said Dr. Paul Offit, an ...

Nursing home workers are urged to get boosters as cases soar

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials on Thursday pressed nursing home workers to get their booster shots amid a spike in COVID-19 cases among staffers and a concerning lag in booster vaccination for residents and staff. The omicron variant “is lightning fast, and we can’t afford ...

Scholz to Germans: Let’s all help to defeat COVID in 2022

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz is urging Germans to pull together to defeat the coronavirus in 2022 and promising to react “quickly and decisively” to the advance of the omicron variant. In his first televised New Year’s message since taking over from longtime leader Angela Merkel three weeks ago, Scholz also pledged to use Germany’s presidency of the Group of Seven industrial nations to make the G-7 a “trailblazer” in climate-neutral economic activity. Much of Scholz’s message was taken up with the immediate challenge of fighting COVID-19. The highly ...

UK reports surge in COVID deaths, builds temporary wards

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. reported a sharp increase in coronavirus-related deaths Thursday as the National Health Service announced it was building temporary structures at hospitals in England to prepare for a possible surge of patients infected with the highly transmissible omicron variant. The government reported 332 deaths, the highest figure since March 2. Public health officials cautioned that the number included a backlog of cases that stemmed from incomplete reporting during the Christmas holiday period. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 jumped to 11,898, up 44% ...