Connecticut Data Show COVID-19 Vaccine Effective

Associated Press

In this Thursday, April 29, 2021, photo, a U.S. Border Patrol agent directs a driver after the passenger received a COVID-19 vaccine from nurses of the Blackfeet tribe at the Piegan-Carway border crossing near Babb, Mont. The Blackfeet tribe in northern Montana gave out surplus vaccines in April to its First Nations relatives and others from across the border. (AP Photo/Iris Samuels)

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Of the more than 1.4 million Connecticut residents who are now fully vaccinated, 242 later became infected with COVID-19, according to data released Friday from the state Department of Public Health.

Among the 242 so-called “vaccine breakthrough cases,” 109 people had no symptoms of the disease. DPH reported three deaths among vaccinated individuals who were confirmed to have had underlying medical conditions. They were between the ages of 55-64, 65-74, and 75 years and older.

Nationally, there have been 132 vaccine breakthrough deaths, DPH said.

“The main takeaway is that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective and cases of infection after a person is fully vaccinated are very rare,” Dr. Deidre Gifford, the state’s acting public health commissioner, said in a statement. Cases of COVID-19 in fully vaccinated individuals in Connecticut is less than 0.1%, according to the DPH data.

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HELENA, Mont. -- Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced that Montana will share COVID-19 vaccines with Canadian truck drivers from neighboring Alberta.

According to a memorandum of understanding signed Friday about 2,000 truck drivers from Alberta who transport goods from Canada to the U.S. will be eligible to be vaccinated at a highway rest stop near Conrad.

The vaccines will be available between May 10 and May 23. A similar program to vaccinate truck drivers from Canada began in North Dakota last month.

The Blackfeet tribe in northern Montana has given around 1,000 vaccines to their relatives and neighbors across the border.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The owner of a Northern California bar was arrested on suspicion of selling made-to-order fake COVID-19 vaccination cards to several undercover state agents for $20 each in what officials said Friday is the first such foiled operation they are aware of nationwide.

The plainclothes agents from California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control were told to write their names and birthdates on Post-it notes. They say bar employees cut the cards, filled out the identifying information and bogus vaccination dates, then laminated the finished product.

Vaccination cards are being used in some places as a pass for people to attend large gatherings. The European Union is considering allowing in tourists who can prove they have been vaccinated.

Acting on an an anonymous tip from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s office, four undercover agents went to Old Corner Saloon in the town of Clements several times in April and bought four fake laminated vaccination cards, officials said.

They returned to the small-town bar this week and arrested the bar’s owner. Agents say they found another two completed cards and 30 additional blank cards along with a laminator and cutting device.

It wasn’t immediately known if the bar owner, Todd Anderson, has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. No one answered the phone at the bar Friday.

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DENVER, Colo. -- A former Amazon warehouse worker has filed a complaint with the Colorado officials against Amazon over its COVID-19 policies and allegations that her firing was retaliatory.

Linda Rodriguez alleges Amazon fired her in 2020 because she raised concerns about the company’s COVID-19 policies that she said put workers at risk. Her complaint was sent Thursday to the state’s labor department.

An Amazon spokesperson in response to the complaint says Rodriguez was fired for timecard fraud that the company says was confirmed by time records and video footage. Amazon said the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration confirmed Rodriguez withdrew a complaint filed with the agency.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — At a time when fewer and fewer North Carolinians are coming in for a COVID-19 vaccine, state health officials are examining ideas from other states to see what incentives might work to boost participation.

Among the proposals being actively discussed are savings account payments to younger adults. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, says that’s a group that has been less willing to get the vaccine.

North Carolina’s top public health official says that her team has looked into a new program in West Virginia, where the state’s Republican governor recently announced that residents between the ages of 16 and 35 would be eligible for a $100 savings bond if they get the vaccine or have already gotten it.

Cohen’s office says that it is also examining Detroit’s Good Neighbor program, which allows people to get $50 for every Detroit resident they sign up for a first vaccine dose and bring in for an appointment. The first $600 someone could earn from the program is nontaxable.

The development comes as North Carolina turns down tens of thousands of doses from the federal government, considers returning some of its supply to a federal pool for others to draw from and has nearly 1.2 million doses waiting for residents to take.

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MEXICO CITY -- More than three months after COVID-19 infections peaked in Mexico City, the local government announced Friday that the public hospital network dedicated to fighting the disease is experiencing its lowest rate occupancy of the pandemic.

One year after the country instituted a color-coded alert system for the pandemic, the capital for the first time moved from orange to yellow, another step down from the top category, red.

City officials placed occupancy rate in public hospitals dedicated to COVID-19 care at 16%, a welcome change from January, when a surge following the holiday season pushed some hospitals to their limits.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said there was no scientific certainty to say why Mexico City is in a much better place, but she listed a half-dozen possible factors including greater discipline by citizens, expanded testing, a vaccination campaign, improved weather and the fact that many people in the city have already been infected.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia will lift its statewide mask mandate on June 20 after state officials projected more than two-thirds of eligible residents will be vaccinated against the coronavirus by then, Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday.

And even if that target isn’t met, Justice said the mandate will still end on that date, also known as West Virginia Day, which marks the state’s admission into the union.

The state has attempted to turn around its sluggish vaccination drive for weeks after hesitancy led to plummeting demand. The Republican governor has already dangled the prize of a “patriotic” $100 savings bond for people aged 16 to 35 who get a shot. The state is also attempting to make walk-up vaccine clinics ubiquitous, holding them at state parks, fairs, businesses, schools and other high-traffic places.

Justice said he expects 65% of all residents aged 12 and older to be at least partially vaccinated by June 20.

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s attorney general has secured a $2.6 million refund for the purchase of a malaria drug once touted by then-President Donald Trump as an effective treatment for COVID-19.

Attorney General Mike Hunter announced the agreement on Friday with California-based FFF Enterprises.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health purchased 1.2 million hydroxychloroquine pills in April 2020, at the start of the coronavirus outbreak. The drug has since been shown to have little or no effect on severe cases of COVID-19. A former state health official chalked up Oklahoma’s purchase to something that happens in “the fog of war.”

Oklahoma alleged that the price paid for the drug may have been excessive under the state’s Emergency Price Stabilization Act, which prohibits an increase of more than 10% for the price of goods and services after a declared emergency. Under the refund agreement, FFF Enterprises denies any accusations related to the pricing and delivery of the drug.

While governments in at least 20 other states obtained more than 30 million doses of the drug through donations from the federal reserve or private companies, Oklahoma and Utah bought them from private pharmaceutical companies. Utah later managed to secure a refund on the $800,000 no-bid contract it signed with a local pharmacy company that had been promoting the drugs.

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MIAMI — Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line is threatening to skip Florida ports because of the governor’s order banning businesses from requiring that customers be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The company says Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order conflicts with guidelines from federal health authorities that would let cruise ships sail in U.S. waters if passengers and crew members are vaccinated.

The CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Frank Del Rio, says lawyers think federal law tops state law. The CEO says if Norwegian can’t operate in Florida, it can go to other states or the Caribbean.

Cruise lines have been barred from sailing in U.S. waters or stopping at U.S. ports since March 2020. Some are slowly resuming trips in other countries and requiring all passengers on those cruises be vaccinated.

The companies are pushing the CDC to let them return the U.S. this summer, although none of the major companies — Norwegian, Royal Caribbean Group and Carnival Corp. — have announced any U.S. cruises.

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NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces growing pressure to impose a strict nationwide lockdown.

On Friday, India reported a new daily record of 414,188 confirmed cases and 3,915 additional deaths. The official daily death count has stayed over 3,000 the past 10 days.

Many medical experts, opposition leaders and even Supreme Court judges are calling for national restrictions, arguing that a patchwork of state rules is insufficient to stamp out the surge.

Indian television stations broadcast images of patients lying on stretchers outside hospitals waiting to be admitted, with hospital beds and critical oxygen in short supply. People infected with COVID-19 in villages are being treated in makeshift outdoor clinics, with IV drips hanging from trees.

India has registered more than 21.4 million coronavirus infections and more than 234,000 confirmed deaths. Health experts says the tolls are undercounts.

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GENEVA — A top official at the World Health Organization says the explosive number of coronavirus cases is only partly driven by the variants, warning countries that loosening control measures may worsen the pandemic.

WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan says the virus has “huge kinetic energy” in certain countries and leaders who think vaccination alone will stop the epidemic are mistaken.

“It is being driven both by human behavior, by the emergence of variants and many other factors,” Ryan said. “We’re expecting the virus to slow down and we’re pushing the accelerators.”

He admonished some leaders to acknowledge “the brutal reality” of the situation. India has experienced a surge of cases and deaths.

“Some of you are not in a good place,” Ryan said. “You need to protect your health system. You need to get your oxygen supply sorted out.”

Ryan says while new virus variants may help spread COVID-19, the driver is “proximity between people.” He says crowds and the mixing of people without protection or handwashing are still potentially dangerous, even with the start of vaccination programs.

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NEW YORK — A U.S. health official, who last year shook the nation with her frank assessment of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic, is resigning.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier announced the decision Friday in an email to her colleagues at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Messonnier, who joined the agency in 1995, led the CDC’s work on respiratory diseases for five years and she was an early leader in the agency’s COVID-19 response.

During a briefing with reporters in February 2020, Messonnier contradicted statements by administration officials that the virus was contained. Stocks plunged, and President Donald Trump was enraged.

Soon after, a White House task force moved to center stage and Vice President Mike Pence took control of clearing CDC communications about the coronavirus. Messonnier didn’t make more public appearances.

In her email Friday, Messonnier says she was taking a new job with the California-based Skoll Foundation.

At a White House briefing, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky praised Messonnier as “a true hero.”

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LONDON — British residents can travel to countries including Portugal, Iceland and Israel later this month without having to quarantine on their return.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says a blanket ban on overseas vacations is being replaced by a system classing countries as low, medium or high risk. He says it’s the first “tentative steps towards unlocking international travel.”

The “green list” of 12 low-risk territories also includes Gibraltar, the Faroe Islands and the Falkland Islands -- but not major vacation destinations for Britons such as France, Spain and Greece. Britons traveling to those countries will have to self-isolate for 10 days on their return.

All but essential travel remains barred to countries with severe outbreaks, including India, Turkey and the Maldives.

The changes take effect May 17, the next date on the government’s road map out of lockdown. Pubs and restaurants in England can reopen indoor areas the same day, and venues including theaters and cinemas can open to limited audiences.

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GENEVA -- The head of the World Trade Organization says the U.S. administration’s call to remove patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines could help expand fair access to vaccines but might not be the most “critical issue.”

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s comments Friday came as officials in Europe increasingly insisted that more vaccine exports are the more pressing priority. Activists and humanitarian institutions cheered the American reversal in policy Wednesday and urged others to follow suit to remove the intellectual property protections on the COVID-19 vaccines.

But some world leaders have taken the U.S. to task for not sharing more vaccines.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn says the main issue is not the question of patents but of production capacity. And producing vaccines like the one developed by German firm BioNTech and manufactured with Pfizer is complicated, he says.

Spahn stressed, as has the pharmaceutical industry, that developed countries whose vaccination campaigns are going well should export more shots.

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MADRID — Spain will relax nationwide coronavirus pandemic measures this weekend, including travel restrictions, as the vaccine rollout continues to speed up.

However, some regional chiefs are concerned the six-month national state of emergency will be replaced by a patchwork of conflicting approaches.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has refused to extend the sweeping order that gave legal coverage to curfews, social gathering curbs and travel bans across the country.

Each region was taking a different path, and the response from courts was also varied. Spain’s cases surged sharply in January but slowed in mid-March before mildly picking up again.

Madrid, whose lockdown-skeptic regional chief was re-elected this week, announced there will be no more curfews or travel restrictions in and out of the region starting Sunday. The operation of bars and restaurants can be extended from the current 11 p.m. limit to midnight.

WHO Approves Emergency Use of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 Vaccine

By Zhang Hui and Leng Shumei

May 07, 2021 11:32 PM

Sinopharm Photo:VCG

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday approved the emergency use of the vaccine produced by Chinese firm Sinopharm. Observers said that Chinese vaccines are now "global public goods" in terms of standards, and more developing countries will have access to Chinese vaccines. 

"This afternoon, the WHO gave Emergency Use Listing to Sinopharm Beijing's COVID19 vaccine, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy and quality," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday. 

"The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, or SAGE, has also reviewed the available data, and recommends the vaccine for adults aged 18 and older, with a two-dose schedule," he said. 

"This expands the list of COVID-19 vaccines that COVAX can buy, and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approval, and to import and administer a vaccine," Ghebreyesus said. 

Feng Duojia, president of the China Vaccine Industry Association, told the Global Times that the WHO approval will allow Chinese vaccines to reach more developing countries through international purchase or donations, and it will also be helpful for some EU members' emergency use of Chinese vaccines. 

A Beijing-based immunologist who requested anonymity told the Global Times that with the vaccine being tested in more countries, Sinopharm has to ensure strict standards in manufacturing and delivery, as well as expansion of annual capacity. 

On Thursday, with the completion of the last tank of concrete, the COVID-19 Vaccine Workshop Phase III Project of the Sinopharm Beijing institute was successfully capped after 70 days of construction. 

Once the project is put into use, the annual capacity will reach 3 billion doses.

New Study Says U.S. COVID Death Toll Is Actually 900,000, Far Higher Than Reported

BY ELLIOT HANNON

MAY 07, 20218:10 AM

People walk by a sign pointing toward a COVID-19 testing center and a COVID-19 vaccination center at a Brooklyn hospital.

It’s always been near certain that the U.S., along with every other nation, has severely undercounted the number of coronavirus cases and deaths attributed to the virus. The speed and scale of the pandemic made getting an accurate reading of its impact a challenge, but, as of Friday, the numbers in the U.S. currently stand at more than 32 million reported cases resulting in 580,000 deaths. Those numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins are grim, but a new analysis by researchers at the University of Washington puts the death toll in the U.S. far higher, at 905,000 deaths.

The team at the university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation says the undercount globally is even greater than in the U.S. and that the global death toll is approaching 7 million, more than double the official recorded tally. The researchers found that the number of coronavirus-attributed deaths in a given country is largely dependent on the levels of testing. In most parts of the world, deaths that occur outside a hospital setting don’t get attributed to COVID because they likely were never tested for the virus. The severity of the pandemic has, understandably, meant that health officials have focused their resources on treating patients and saving lives, not surveying the symptoms of the deceased.

The analysis by the University of Washington researchers came to its revised, higher death toll by using the excess mortality from March 2020 through May 3, 2021, and comparing it to a non-pandemic year with a few adjustments. In the U.S., the researchers said just about all of the excess deaths could numerically be attributed to COVID because increases in certain types of pandemic-adjacent deaths, like drug overdoses, were offset by declines in other areas, like flu deaths, which were far lower last year because everyone was at home.

Israel Braces for Weekend Violence After Spate of Shootings and Eviction Protests

“I don’t know what will happen with us if they kick the families out from the houses,” Yacoub Abu Arafa who is facing eviction.

May 7, 2021, 3:02 PM EDT

By Raf Sanchez

Israeli authorities are bracing for more violence over the weekend after a recent spate of shootings and as tensions soar over the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinians from their homes in east Jerusalem.

Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians and seriously wounded a third after they opened fire with makeshift submachine guns on a base in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning, Israel’s police said. No Israelis were injured.

That came two days after Israeli student Yehuda Guetta, 19, died in a hospital from injuries sustained in a drive-by shooting Sunday as he was standing at a bus station near the West Bank city of Nablus. Two other teenagers were wounded in the attack. Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian man in connection with the attack Thursday.

Meanwhile, Saeed Yusuf Muhammad Oudeh, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy, was killed in a village near Nablus on Wednesday.

Israel’s military said troops opened fire when they were attacked with firebombs, but Defense for Children International - Palestine, a rights group, said Saeed was not involved in the confrontation. The teenager was shot twice in the back, it said.

Meanwhile, in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, tensions are high over a long-running legal case involving the homes of four Palestinian families on land claimed by Jewish settlers, set to be heard by Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday.

Palestinian families have lived in the area for decades, but the settler groups claim the land the houses were built on was originally owned by Jewish organizations before 1948, when fighting divided Jerusalem into east and west.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza — territories the Palestinians want for their future state — in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally and views the entire city as its capital.

But the Palestinians view east Jerusalem — which includes major holy sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims — as their capital, and its fate is one of the most sensitive issues in the conflict.

A law passed by Israel’s parliament in 1970 allows for property previously owned by Jewish people in east Jerusalem to be reclaimed, although Palestinians have no such right to reclaim property in west Jerusalem.

The four Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah are facing imminent eviction on the basis of that law, and several attempts at mediation have broken down. Israel’s supreme court is due to hold a hearing Monday and may issue a final eviction order, a ruling that could set a precedent affecting other families.

Yacoub Abu Arafa, 59, said he was born in the house he could be forced to leave and that his family had been fighting in the courts for nearly half a century to hold onto their home.

“We became old and tired,” he told NBC News. “I don’t know what will happen with us if they kick the families out from the houses.”

Palestinians protesting the case have clashed with Israeli police in the city on a nightly basis since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Activists say the legal battle in Sheikh Jarrah is one part of a systematic effort by settler groups to change the demography of east Jerusalem by displacing Palestinians and moving Israelis to the area.

Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday that the evictions "if ordered and implemented, would violate Israel's obligations under international law.”

"We call on Israel to immediately halt all forced evictions, including those in Sheikh Jarrah, and to cease any activity that would further contribute to a coercive environment and lead to a risk of forcible transfer," he said.

Demonstrators have also clashed with Israeli police over restrictions on outdoor gatherings at the Damascus Gate leading into the Old City.

Sunday night is "Laylat al-Qadr" or the "Night of Destiny," the most sacred in the month of Ramadan, and worshippers will gather for intense nighttime prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, a flashpoint site sacred to both Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

Jerusalem Day, a national holiday in which Israel celebrates its annexation of east Jerusalem and religious nationalists hold parades and other celebrations in the city, also begins Sunday night.

The two events have coincided in years past, sometimes leading to clashes.

Gaza's ruling Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union, has egged on the violence in recent days and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired rockets in support of the protesters.

Earlier this week, the commander of Hamas' armed wing, Mohammed Deif, released his first public statement in seven years, in which he warned Israel it would pay a "heavy price" if it evicts Palestinians from their homes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Israeli Police Clash with Protesters over Palestinian Evictions

Up to 178 Palestinians and six officers injured in skirmishes at al-Aqsa mosque and around east Jerusalem

A man prays as Israeli police gather during clashes at al-Aqsa mosque

A Palestinian man prays as Israeli police gather during clashes at the compound that houses al-Aqsa mosque. Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters

Reuters in Jerusalem

Fri 7 May 2021 18.50 EDT

Israeli police have fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinian youth at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque amid growing anger over the potential eviction of Palestinians from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers.

At least 178 Palestinians and six officers were injured in the night-time clashes at Islam’s third-holiest site and around east Jerusalem, Palestinian medics and Israeli police said, as thousands of Palestinians faced off with several hundred Israeli police in riot gear.

Tension has mounted in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with nightly clashes in east Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah – a neighbourhood where numerous Palestinian families face eviction in a long-running legal case.

Calls for calm and restraint poured in on Friday from the US and the United Nations, with others including the European Union and Jordan voicing alarm at the possible evictions.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians packed into the hilltop compound surrounding the mosque earlier on Friday for prayers. Many stayed on to protest against the evictions in the city at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

But following the evening meal that breaks the Ramadan fast, clashes broke out at al-Aqsa with smaller scuffles near Sheikh Jarrah, which sits near the walled Old City’s famous Damascus Gate.

Police used water cannon mounted on armoured vehicles to disperse several hundred protesters gathered near the homes of families facing potential eviction.

“If we don’t stand with this group of people here, (evictions) will (come) to my house, her house, his house and to every Palestinian who lives here,” said protester Bashar Mahmoud, 23, from the nearby Palestinian neighborhood of Issawiya.

An Aqsa official appealed for calm on the compound through the mosque’s loudspeakers. “Police must immediately stop firing stun grenades at worshippers, and the youth must calm down and be quiet.”

Israel’s supreme court will hold a hearing on the Sheikh Jarrah evictions on Monday, the same day that Israel marks Jerusalem Day – its annual celebration of its capture of east Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war.

The Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service said 88 of the Palestinians injured were taken to hospital after being hit with rubber-coated metal bullets.

One of the injured lost an eye, two suffered serious head wounds and two had their jaws fractured, the Red Crescent said. The rest of the injuries were minor, it added.

A police spokesperson said Palestinians had thrown rocks, fireworks and other objects towards officers, with some of the six injured requiring medical treatment.

“We will respond with a heavy hand to any violent disturbance, rioting or harm to our officers, and will work to find those responsible and bring them to justice,” the spokesperson said.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said he “held (Israel) responsible for the dangerous developments and sinful attacks taking place in the holy city” and called on the UN security council to hold an urgent session on the issue.

Kenya Looks Into Appointing First Woman Chief Justice

By Reuters

May 06, 2021 06:53 PM

Kenyan judge Martha Koome has defended dissidents and helped to write women's rights into the constitution - now she's on track to be the first female chief justice in a country where the role is particularly sensitive.

A child of subsistence farmers, she was chosen by a judicial panel over the lawyer who argued President Uhuru Kenyatta's case in a 2017 battle with the Supreme Court that she will now head.

Kenyatta endorsed her and his legislative majority means she is set to be confirmed by the end of this month. That makes her likely to be in place during 2022's elections, when Kenyatta must step down after two terms in office.

In 2017, the Supreme Court annulled initial election results that showed Kenyatta had won a second term, the first African court to have scrapped the win of a sitting president. Kenyatta won the rerun after the opposition boycotted the vote.

Koome - who has 33 years of legal experience - cut her teeth representing political detainees such as former prime minister Raila Odinga when he protested against repression under the late president Daniel Arap Moi in the 1980s and 90s.

"She played a key role in the fight for the second liberation from the authoritarian regime of President Moi," Priscilla Nyokabi, a lawyer and former legislator, said.

One of 18 children in a polygamous family, Koome cofounded and chaired the Federation of Women Lawyers, which campaigns for women's rights and offers poor women free legal services and contributed to a landmark 2010 constitution.

Nigerian Women Take Action as Rape, Assault Cases Surge During Pandemic

By Reuters

Apr 29, 2021 06:03 PM

When Kehinde Osakede's university closed due to COVID-19 in 2020, the visual arts student returned home to Lagos. A visit to a family friend nearby turned into a horrific ordeal.

The friend began touching her, she said, and became violent when she asked him to stop. He then raped her, she said.

"The guy was hitting me, beating me," said Osakede, now 21, "The last notion I had was to commit suicide." 

Reuters was not able to confirm her account independently. Osakede did not share the name of her alleged assailant and said she did not want to get involved in the legal case.

Osakede is one of hundreds of women across Nigeria who have reported being raped or sexually assaulted in a surge since the pandemic began, according to police and officials. Some experts say this represents only a fraction of cases.

The president's office referred Reuters' questions to the Ministry of Women Affairs. The ministry said it had helped coordinate the nation's response to rape and gender-based violence, including by setting up a national response team and meeting different ministries and nongovernmental organizations.

Lagos state, where Osakede lives, saw a nearly 40 percent increase in rape and domestic and sexual violence in 2020, official data showed. After a string of high-profile attacks, including the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl in northern Jigawa state, President Muhammadu Buhari declared a nationwide state of emergency in June 2020 to tackle the crisis. Some Nigerian women are now acting to address the problem of sexual violence, saying that cases have ended in few prosecutions, widespread stigmatization and a tendency to blame victims.

The 2018 official Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey found that 30 percent of girls and women aged between 15 and 49 reported suffering sexual abuse. The government has declared a state of national emergency over rape and gender-based violence and says it has directed the police and the states to do everything they can to tackle it.

One Year Later, a New York Times Article Flops for its Advice on Chinese System

By Zhang Yi

May 06, 2021 10:55 PM

Degradation in the Western system Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

An article written by a Peking University law professor and published by the Chinese edition of the New York Times in February last year has flopped in the past two days. In the article, the professor asked, under a global pandemic, "why could some countries smoothly resolve it, while others cause major public incidents and even social and political crises?" He said "different countries and different systems have different abilities to resolve and respond to crises." 

It was a time when China was struggling to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and before the novel coronavirus had hit many parts of the world later. The professor wanted to strengthen his argument that China needs constitutional democracy. 

The article flopped because one year later, China, which the Chinese professor claimed needs constitutional democracy, has successfully put the pandemic under control and swiftly resumed work and production, while the US, which labels itself the beacon for democracy, has seen more than 32.6 million confirmed cases and a death toll of more than 579,000. Recently, India, the most populous democracy in the world, became the global epicenter, with its daily confirmed cases reaching more than 400,000 at peak times. 

People around the world have seen how incapable "democratic" countries are in dealing with such a public health crisis as the COVID-19 pandemic. Even some US media outlets are reflecting on the fragility of US-style democracy. An article in The Atlantic last year titled, "America's COVID-19 Disaster Is a Setback for Democracy." Another one in the Washington Post this year said that the pandemic is "symptomatic of a democracy in crisis and a political system that rewards cronyism over competence."

But still, many Westerners are reluctant to acknowledge China's achievement and its systematic advantages shown in the pandemic. In late March, US President Joe Biden underlined his challenges in dealing with China - "We've got to prove democracy works." 

Song Luzheng, a research fellow at the China Institute of Fudan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the West's zeal to trigger a change in its system in China reflects its sense of insecurity, as the West only feels secure when China adopts the same system as them. He also noted that the aim of the West is not to make China stronger, but weaker. 

"The West clearly knows the high risks for a multi-ethnic country like China to adopt the Western system. Even the old capitalist UK finds it hard to manage its multi-ethnic society," said Song. 

After more than a year of the global struggle amid the pandemic, the challenges the West is facing come from not only its flawed system, but also the success of China's system. It feels that the justification of its system is seriously challenged. 

The only thing it can do is to incite systematic change in China and deny China in order to secure its own interests. And since the hard power of the West is in decline, soft power, in other words values, becomes its weapon. 

That the New York Times article flopped shows that the approach doesn't work anymore. The attractiveness of Western democratic systems to China and many other countries is declining, while China's attractiveness is increasing. The capability of a government is defined by whether it can protect the health of its people and raise their living standards. 

Attacking China's political system could bring some psychological comfort to US elites, but offers no solution to the woes of the US.

G7 Statement Shows US Ambition Shortfall in Dominating China Ties: Experts

By Wang Qi

May 06, 2021 11:13 PM

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (R) and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attend a press conference ahead of the meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) foreign and development ministers in London, Britain, on May 3, 2021. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Monday met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss efforts to build back better from COVID-19 and a possible free trade agreement between the two countries. (Simon Dawsond/No 10 Downing Street/Handout via Xinhua)

 Following the "China threat" hype in the G7 meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday at a virtual United Nations Security Council meeting.

Blinken had just discussed Beijing's "challenge" in the G7 meeting but refused to call the US-China competition a "new Cold War."

A Wednesday-issued statement by the foreign ministers of G7 countries tried to reaffirm their leadership by outlining China and Russia as "threats" and listing issues regarding China's Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan, but no concrete steps of confrontation were disclosed.

The discrepancies are regarded by Chinese experts as signaling the US' prowess falls short of its ambition in trying to dominate China-US relations since the Alaska talks in March, a contrast to China's consistency and confidence in the bilateral ties.

Observers said that the G7 joint statement shows the US and its allies used the old-fashion slanderous rhetoric against China, which shows less and less confidence in their China policy. Under such circumstances, China's hosting of the Security Council meeting will further expose the fake multilateralism of the US and competition in the guise of cooperation.

Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Friday that instead of multilateralism, the US is practicing "several-lateralism," through bullying allies into making rules and excluding dissent. 

China is committed to multilateralism with the UN Charter at the center and China has always won more support from other countries on key agenda, the expert said. 

Analysts said that the anti-pandemic cooperation, global economic recovery, and regional security issues will be major concerns for both China and the US at Friday's Security Council virtual meeting, but none of these issues can be resolved without China-US cooperation.

By recently denying that China and the US face a "Cold War" and the US was not aiming to "contain China" but to "uphold this rules-based order," Blinken's remarks were viewed as a sign of losing clout, as well as seeking cooperation. 

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday that what China really cares about is whether the US' will to cooperate would materialize.

The actions of the US against China reflect the intention to contain. The US diplomatic discourse is reluctant to use this powerful phrase to explain its actions in order to avoid taking responsibility for creating confrontation and divisions in the world, Li said.

In the face of complex international issues, China is willing to cooperate with the US, but Washington sees cooperation from the angle of competition, which pushes away its potential partners, said Li, noting that the Biden administration is making a policy transition, cooperating in the short term and competing in the long term.

"It will take some time for the Biden administration to come to a clearer understanding of its own strength and international reality… If it collides with China in a 1v1 fashion, it won't take any advantage," Lü said. 

Europe has neither the need nor the will to confront China. And even within the G7 group, it is difficult for them to adopt a coherent China policy, Lü said.

The Biden administration has no guarantee that its commitment to allies and cooperation with China will be kept by a GOP administration after they leave office, Li said.

China wants cooperation with the US to be sustainable, but given domestic political problems in the US, full trust in the US is likely to mean being played by the US, the expert said. 

US Takes Subtle Moves to Rope in G7 Allies against China

By Chen Qingqing and Zhang Hui

May 06, 2021 12:09 AM

Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (R) welcomes US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the G7 foreign ministers meeting in London on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

With China topping the agenda of the Group of Seven (G7) meeting as foreign ministers of member states have been urged to coordinate and form a common stance in addressing the "challenges" posed by China, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected claims of a "Cold War" between the US and China, signaling that rather than making all-out efforts to form an anti-China choir, the Biden administration is making subtle moves to align its allies, Chinese experts said, noting that in return, EU officials' mixed signals on the ratification of its most promising investment deal appear to be a gesture of echoing the "alignment sentiment" in the face of growing domestic pressure. 

The UK held the first face-to-face meeting of G7 foreign ministers this week since the COVID-19 pandemic began, during which China-related topics remained the major focus, despite Blinken clarifying ahead of the meeting that "it is not our purpose to try to contain China or to hold China down," the US Secretary of State was quoted as saying in a Reuters report. Blinken however further elaborated that the West would defend the international rules based order from subversive attempts by any country, including China. 

Apparently, during the three-day talks, which wrapped up on Wednesday Blinken sought to rope in allies to form a common front against China, but experts raised doubts whether tactics like a war of words embedded with "targeting China" or "blaming China" would really work when not only members of the G7 but also the US itself, need to work with Beijing on major global issues such as vaccine supplies, climate change, North Korea and Iran, experts said.

Tactical 

The final session of the G7 meeting that set the agenda for a G7 leaders' summit next month in Cornwall will focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, as member countries emphasize on the COVAX vaccine jab distribution mechanism under the UN, after the WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently urged G7 countries to take decisive action in funding the global post-COVID-19 recovery, as "they are also home to many of the world's vaccine producers."

Even though the COVAX mechanism has shipped about 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 121 countries and economies, the world still faces severe supply constraints, the WHO said in a post on Monday, noting that solving this dilemma demands courageous leadership from the world's largest economies. 

Blinken has been emphasizing that the purpose of the G7 is not about containing China because he clearly understands if he pressures other nations to form a unified anti-China stance, the allies of the US would keep their distance from it, so he has to be more tactical in handling the matter    because other nations have large-scale interactions with China regarding the economy and people-to-people exchanges,  Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

"The US government has to weigh the current situation with full consideration of the level of acceptance among its allies," Li said. 

Besides economic benefits, the global post-COVID-19 recovery demands an active role of Chinese-made vaccines, experts said on Wednesday, after Europe's medicines regulator said it has begun a real-time review of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine, according to media reports on Tuesday. Meanwhile, vaccines developed by two major vaccine producers Sinopharm and Sinovac have been put under the WHO's assessment for emergency use. 

The US and the West need China's cooperation in regional security issues and public goods distribution, including the Korean Peninsula and the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, which were on the agendas of the G7 foreign ministers, according to experts.

"Without China's cooperation, these issues will not be solved. On the contrary, they might be worsened," Li said, noting that the EU has realized this and will not follow the US' China containment policy.

Diplomats from South Korea, the US and Japan held three-way talks on the sidelines of the G7 meeting early Wednesday, a crucial meeting coming after the Biden administration said last week that it completed its policy review on North Korea, according to the Yonhap News Agency. 

The US government also recognized the importance of engaging with China on various issues such as Iran and the North Korean and climate change, as Blinken told the Financial Times in a recent interview that climate change is also among the areas the two countries have overlapping interests in. 

What Blinken said about "not containing China" was not new at all, indicating that the US is very clear in its own mind that it's impossible to contain China, especially not like what it did to contain the Soviet Union, and the US, whose power is not what it used to be, is incapable of roping in its allies to besiege China, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for US Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

An echoing gesture

Amid the G7 foreign ministers' meeting, the European Commission seems to have  "dialed down" efforts to push forward its planned investment deal with China, with some media reports suggesting that "EU efforts to ratify the China investment deal is on ice after sanctions."

After the EU's trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis reportedly suggested on Tuesday that Brussels has suspended some efforts in ratifying the deal, the EU spokesperson on Wednesday sought to clarify the issue without specifically confirming the EU has halted efforts.  

The agreement needs to be now legally reviewed and translated before it can be presented for adoption and ratification. However, the ratification process of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) cannot be separated from the evolving dynamics of the wider EU-China relationship, Miriam García Ferrer, a spokesperson of the European Commission, said in an e-mail to the Global Times on Wednesday.

The prospects for the CAI's ratification will depend on how the situation evolves, she said, referring to sanctions on members of the European Parliament and an entire parliamentary committee as "unacceptable and regrettable."  

With the mixed signals, the European Commission was trying to placate the discontent and maladaptation of some EU members after China's countermeasures against the EU over so-called human rights issues, and also to make a gesture to please the US, Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of European Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

"However, EU members, especially major powers such as France and Germany want the deal to be approved as soon as possible, and the EU is likely to approve the deal in the first half of 2022 at the latest when France takes over the rotating EU Council presidency," Wang said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday she remained convinced that the EU-China investment deal was an "important undertaking" even as strained relations complicate the agreement's ratification.

"Despite all the difficulties that will surely arise with the ratification, it is a very important undertaking," Merkel said.

Wang Yi also contributed to this story 

No Way for Washington to Replicate Cold War Victory: Global Times Editorial

By Global Times

May 06, 2021 10:41 PM

Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

G7 foreign ministers issued a 12,400-word communiqué after three days of meetings in London. Among various topics of no substance, China and Russia were the real focus. Just as many Western media outlets said, the communiqué criticized China and Russia, but it lacked substantial actions against the two countries. This also demonstrates that the US efforts to rally allies against China don't have much energy, but are like an arrow at the end of its flight.     

Hegemony is the lifeblood of the US. The US is still the world's most powerful country in terms of comprehensive strength and has super-dominance over the world. The problem with Washington is that it is too greedy. Its demands for hegemony have far gone beyond its capabilities, and the US has fallen into an unprecedented sense of crisis and confusion. As such, the strength of the world's strongest country seems to be not enough to meet its demands, and a large deficit in mobilization capability appears.  

The following are what the US is most worried about. 

First, the continuous development and expanding strength of China will challenge the US' overwhelming advantages. If China is bogged down or falls into chaos, and this trend proves to be irreversible, then Washington will heave a sigh of relief and get assured. However, the common forecast of the world is that China will continue to develop and it's only a matter of time that China's economic aggregate exceeds that of the US. For some US elites, China's rise is equivalent to a geopolitical event akin to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.   

Second, the US alliance system is not as useful as it appears to be, with some important allies only responding to Washington in ideology but reluctant to take real actions to support Washington in encircling China. As the China market grows bigger and bigger, trade between many US allies and China has already surpassed those between them and the US and the tendency will further aggravate. Washington will find it more difficult to mobilize those allies to make self-sacrifice "for the common interests of the West." 

Third, the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination may continue to deepen so that the two countries will become "real allies" in confronting US hegemony. This will lead to more uncertainties in the US-China-Russia game. 

US efforts to rally allies have almost hit the ceiling. Their unity is like the last few drops of water in a sponge -- almost nothing is left. It's believed no US ally is willing to confront China and Russia simultaneously as doing that is almost equivalent to strategic suicide. That's why Washington softened some of its rhetoric against China and Russia during the G7 meetings and has had to make some ideological show to demonstrate the West shares "hatred" toward common enemies.  

There is still a lot of room for China-Russia cooperation. Our sponge has just been fully soaked with water. China and Russia could make more diplomatic coordination in opposing hegemony and take counteractions against US attempts to strengthen alliances. The two can also tap the huge potential for economic complementarity. In addition, the two countries have just begun in moving closer to each other militarily, if necessary, there could be a lot of cooperation that can cause shocks. 

The US greed for hegemony has caught it up in a difficult strategic overdraft. Many empires in history have experienced such quagmires. China and Russia have acquired some kind of initiative as they pursue their reasonable and controllable interests in a pragmatic manner. The US pressure on both China and Russia, as a matter of fact, has failed. 

China and Russia have the capabilities to sabotage the US strategy. The degree of intimacy between the US and its allies now is not enough to increase the US strength in dealing with China and Russia. It only serves as a bluff. But it's totally not difficult for China and Russia to maintain the current cooperation with the Western countries. There is also the possibility that they can continue to deepen cooperation. It's much easier for China and Russia to disintegrate the US alliance system and make it invalid than for the US to strengthen the system to unleash new lethal energy.  

As long as China and Russia don't make mistakes, do their own things well, reinforce comprehensive strategic coordination with each other and continuously deepen integration with the world, the US will have no chance to realize its ambition. Although Washington won the Cold War, in the 21st century, there is no way it can replicate that unexpected victory.

China's Approval of mRNA Vaccine 'in Final Stage'; Effective Against Over 30 Variants Including Indian One: BioNTech CEO

Promising path to protection

By Hu Yuwei

May 06, 2021 08:03 PM

Editor's Note: The innovative BioNTech-Fosun mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 (known as BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine in the West) has been widely used in over 65 countries and regions across the world so far, while its potential green lighting in the Chinese mainland has attracted much attention as it could be the mainland's first imported vaccine against the coronavirus disease given its promising efficacy. The Global Times reporter Hu Yuwei (GT) recently talked exclusively to the German-based vaccine developer BioNTech's CEO, Ugur Sahin (Sahin) who expressed his strong confidence in the marketing prospects of the vaccine in China. The approval has entered the final stage in the decision-making processes, and the co-developer's conversation with Chinese authorities is very "encouraging," said Sahin.

Safety and efficacy improvements

GT: We know from news reports that there have been several cases of deaths linked to vaccine shots in some EU countries that have raised public doubts about the safety of the vaccine. What do you think about these deaths? How do we scientifically understand the risks of a vaccine?

Sahin: It is extremely important to deal with that in a transparent fashion. We did one of the largest clinical trials involving over 46,000 participants and we published the data which show that our vaccine is generally well-tolerated in all populations. 

One important aspect is that we have started vaccination in elderly people, who often have further comorbidities such as diabetes. We see classical moderate side effects of the vaccine e.g., pain on the injection site and fever which are well-known symptoms related to all kinds of vaccines. In addition, we are investigating the reports of all side effects. 

Safety is of utmost priority for us. We monitor our vaccine very closely and have employed safety surveillance systems in collaboration with our partners to provide ongoing safety monitoring.

GT: Mutations of the coronavirus disease have been discovered in multiple places around the world. How is BNT162b2 effective against the mutant coronavirus disease strains discovered so far? Are you preparing to upgrade the vaccine to deal with the mutations? How long does the development and production process for vaccine upgrades take?

Sahin: We are continually monitoring various virus variants with new mutations, and we are testing the efficacy of our vaccine against various prevalent virus mutations using the sera of vaccines. We did that for more than 30 variants including those from Britain, South Africa and India.

So far, we found that our vaccine is able to neutralize all variants in almost the same manner. In addition, we have real-world data indicating that our vaccine also provides protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. 

If a strain were to arise that is not adequately tackled by our vaccine, we could adapt the sequence of our mRNA and start with a different DNA template for this variant, but this needs to be approved.  

Once it is approved, we could provide a new vaccine within about 3 months.

GT: How long can the immune effect of the BNT162b2 vaccine last? Will you consider a third shot to boost immunity and efficacy as some other producers have? Are relevant studies and trials ongoing?

Sahin: The antibody response after vaccination declines over time. This is normal for all types of vaccines. We now have 6 months of efficacy data from our global trials. After six months, the vaccine still has 91 percent of efficacy. So this is still high. However, we saw that there is a decline in antibodies after 8 months. So it is a good idea to consider booster shots with not only our own vaccine but also other types. We are considering to evaluate the combination of our vaccine with vector-based vaccines and inactivated ones as potential booster shots to stabilize the antibody level against the coronavirus disease once the immune response of antibodies wanes. 

GT: Reports have revealed multiple cases in the US of the vaccines' improper temperature storage degrading their quality. Are you making some efforts toward improving the accessibility of the BNT162b2 in terms of temperature?

Sahin: We have already increased the duration for the range of 2 to 8 degrees. We will come up with updated data showing that our vaccine can be stored for a longer time at - 20 or 2 to 8C. We will continue to leverage our expertise to develop potential new formulations that can be stored at 2 to 8C for at least 3 months. These potential formulations could become available in autumn.

Prospect of approval in mainland

GT: The Wall Street Journal on April 16 reported that the BioNTech-Fosun vaccine is expected to be approved in the mainland within about 10 weeks. What are the prospects of BNT162b2 being widely used in the Chinese mainland?

Sahin: We have been in touch with the Chinese authorities since we started our cooperation with Fosun Pharma. The Chinese authorities are extremely diligent. Now we are in the final process, and the conversation with the authorities is encouraging. 

We are confident about the final decision of the authorities based on the benefits that our vaccine could bring for China and for the elderly people. We are optimistic about it being approved soon.

GT: It is interesting that we notice in the conversation between you and the Shanghai municipal government you even give yourself a Chinese name which is really impressive to the Chinese public. Should we believe that it is a kind of signal to deliver your confidence to the Chinese market?

Sahin: Yes, my confidence is really based on the great international collaboration that happened between different governments. I'm from Turkey. 

I know that the Chinese vaccines have also been delivered to Turkey and are helping Turkish people. 

If we can work together and make our vaccine available in China, we would be happy to engage ourselves as much as possible.

GT: How did the cooperation start? Why did you choose Shanghai-based Fosun as a co-developing partner?

Sahin: I met with Dr. Aimin Hui, President of Global R&D and Chief Medical Officer of Fosun Pharma in early February 2020. At that time, the outbreak was still ongoing in China. Instead of engaging in business discussions, we just started to develop a clinical trial plan during a dinner.

We just took pieces of paper and started to design a clinical pipeline, because we knew there's no time to lose, and we need to come up with specific scenarios as soon as possible. 

We realize how we are diligent and how we can be driven by the desire to do something. We speak the same language and that is the foundation of our working together. For me, it was clear that Fosun has the same motivation, the same standard, and the same deep scientific understanding as we do. It is the feeling of trust from the very beginning.

GT: Why did BioNTech determine to use mRNA technology to design the COVID-19 vaccine at the very beginning? 

Sahin: We have been developing our mRNA technology for more than 20 years - even before founding BioNTech.  Thus, messenger RNA is our expertise. The mRNA technology is based on a beautiful concept: Instead of making a vaccine outside of the human body, mRNA vaccines provide a piece of genetic information taken up by human cells to activate the body's immune response. mRNA is a natural molecule. Vaccines based on this molecule utilize the genetic sequencing of the virus but not the virus itself. 

We spent more than 10 years optimizing our technology at BioNTech. We have always been driven by our mission to improve the health of people around the world. When COVID-19 arose, we saw it as our duty to use our decades of research expertise to make an important contribution to getting this global pandemic under control.

GT: What do you think the success of this mRNA vaccine means for the future development of this technology?

Sahin: Before COVID-19, there was no approved mRNA vaccine. But today we have delivered more than 350 million doses of vaccines worldwide, and we have various data demonstrating the high efficacy and favorable safety and tolerability profile of our vaccine. So this new drug class could now become a new industry standard because of advantages such as short manufacturing timelines, the development speed, and because it lacks any animal material. It is a clean technology with a lot of advantages.  

Other technologies will continue to remain with excellent vaccine technologies. In addition, we have a new technology which could support and could be positioned in a complementary way, for example, in eliciting strong immune responses in elderly people.

US Support for Vaccine Patent Waiver 'Political Tactic,' Won't Benefit Countries Lacking Production Capacity

By Leng Shumei

May 06, 2021 10:30 PM

A man receives China-made COVID-19 vaccine in Brasilia, Brazil. Photo: Xinhu

After the Biden administration announced support on Wednesday for waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, a sharp reversal from sitting on stockpiles indifferent to other countries' demands, Chinese experts pointed out the attitude change was more a case of crisis management to restore the country's international reputation, and there is little chance that it will be more than "lip service." 

In response to the US announcement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that for the accessibility of vaccines, China hopes that under the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework, constructive communications and effective results can be achieved. 

China supports efforts to improve vaccine accessibility and is willing to make contributions to promoting accessibility and affordability in developing countries. 

The US is one of the wealthy countries and regions - others include the UK and the EU - that previously blocked negotiations at the WTO about a proposal led by India and South Africa to waive protection for some patents and technology, and boost vaccine production in developing countries.

Ten meetings in seven months failed to produce a breakthrough on the proposal, as any easing in the WTO's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property requires all 164 members' agreement, which remains difficult despite the US' support, as other rich countries not necessarily would follow, observers said. 

The US' reversal came amid a large-scale outbreak in India and floods of criticism of the US for its indifference to its Indian partner's sufferings. 

World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the US' move "a monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19" and "a powerful example of US leadership to address global health challenges." 

Western media said the Biden administration was bowing to mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and more than 100 other countries by making the reversal, which angered pharmaceutical companies.

Shares in Moderna Inc and Novavax Inc dropped several percent in regular trade following the Wednesday announcement, although Pfizer Inc stock fell only slightly, according to Reuters.

Besides different reactions to the US government stance, the waiver is more like a political tactic that the US is using to restore its ruined reputation, given its previous indifference and negative actions as a major vaccine supplier while many poor countries are in severe need of shots, Feng Duojia, president of the China Vaccine Industry Association, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"The highest priority of the US is to win back public trust, this is the only explanation that I can think of for the US' reversal on the IP waiver," Feng said.

Observers noted the US government can hardly push forward the administrative and legal process of the waiver it proposed. 

"The key to vaccine supply is not the patents or technology itself, but manufacturing techniques and the personnel that poor countries lack. So it is difficult for poor countries to actually benefit from the waiver," a Beijing-based vaccine expert told the Global Times on Thursday on condition of anonymity.

The manufacturing techniques of mRNA vaccines are very advanced, especially the techniques to deliver nano-lipsomes and modify nucleic acid, which are difficult even for major vaccine manufacturing countries like China and India at the current stage, the Beijing expert said.  

A more plausible model would be directly selling and donating vaccines or helping local manufacturing of the products, experts said. 

China has contributed more than 30 percent of global vaccine supply and the ratio continues to increase, according to Feng. Data compiled by Airfinity, a London-based science intelligence platform dedicated to COVID-19, shows that out of the 164 million COVID-19 vaccines the US manufactured up to March, none were exported while the EU exported 42 percent of the 110 million doses it produced by the same month.

China has also been transferring techniques to developing countries, including Argentina, Mexico and Pakistan, and helping them build production lines to enhance local vaccine accessibility, Chinese vaccine producers  said.  

"Piles of shots are approaching expiration dates in warehouses in the US. Selling these shots to poor countries would do hundred times more good than waiving patents. What could patents bring about to countries that even do not have a production line?" a Chinese netizen commented on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

Is India's COVID-19 Crisis Spilling into Asian Neighbors?

By Liu Xin and Wan Lin

May 06, 2021 09:48 PM

Patients receive treatment inside a COVID-19 ward in a hospital, in Bangalore, India, April 30, 2021. India's COVID-19 tally reached 19,164,969 on Saturday, with a single day spike of 401,993 cases, the health ministry said. This is the first time when over 400,000 new cases were recorded in India in 24 hours, and a record number of 3,523 deaths since Friday morning took the total death toll to 211,853. (Str/Xinhua)

The "double mutant" variant that is wrecking havoc in India is feared to be spilling into neighboring countries and is starting to affect Southeast Asia. Experts warned that without strict border controls and anti-virus measures, countries in South and Southeast Asia would fall into a grave situation, given their weak medical systems and lack of vaccines, and they suggested anti-virus cooperation with China may be helpful. 

India has continued to show a COVID-19 surge with the country hitting a new record of 412,262 new cases and 3,980 deaths on Thursday. The country has reported a death toll of more than 230,000 and an infection tally of 21 million, according to the Times of India. 

Nepal recorded 8,600 new cases on Wednesday, a fourth day with more than 7,000 daily cases. The Nepalese government has been scrambling to handle a shortage of supplies and overwhelmed hospitals. 

In Bangladesh, the new outbreak since March has shown a downturn after the daily tally peaked at 7,626 on April 7. The country saw 1,822 new cases on Thursday, with 41 new deaths.

Sri Lanka on Thursday became the latest of India's neighbours to seal its borders. Bangladesh and Nepal have already banned flights and sought to close their borders with India, AFP reported. 

To reduce infections, South Asian countries should strengthen border controls and limit personnel exchanges with India. They should also take strict measures domestically - offering medical observations to close contacts and promote vaccinations, Tian Guangqiang, assistant research fellow with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Tian also called on the international community to help these countries before things get worse. Given that there are many South Asian migrant workers in Southeast Asia and the virus variants found in India, many countries in Southeast Asia also face great pressure to prevent a new wave of COVID-19. 

Chinese living in these countries reached by the Global Times expressed concerns over local epidemic controls.

A man surnamed Lu who works in Myanmar told the Global Times that due to limited testing capabilities, the real epidemic situation in Myanmar may be different from what the authority's statistics showed. Chinese companies are operating in accordance with local governments' prevention requirements - asking workers to wear face masks and keep social distance.

Lu said that seeing the horrific situation in India also frightens them as Myanmar borders India. Lu said once the variant spreads, people in Myanmar would suffer considering the weak medical systems. 

Dan Dan, a Chinese who has lived in Thailand for nine years, told the Global Times on Thursday that Thailand had reported an average of 2,000 cases every day and the government has suspended issuing travel documents from India. 

"Thailand currently relies on entry controls to prevent being affected by B.1.617 variant first found in India. The country does not have enough resources to resist a round of COVID-19," Dan Dan said, noting that many Chinese living or working in Thailand have returned and some China-invested companies have shut down.

Tian said that prevention is important for Southeast Asian countries and more anti-virus cooperation with China may be helpful, including strengthening information sharing and cooperation on vaccination, vaccine producing and purchasing. 

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met virtually with his counterparts from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on April 27 and they reached an agreement to build China-South Asia emergency supply reserves. 

Tian noted that with the cooperation mechanism, China could assist with medical supplies or vaccines. 

A batch of 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine sent by the Chinese government arrived in Myanmar on Sunday. 

An team of 25 experts sent by the Chinese government arrived in Vientiane, capital city of Laos, on Tuesday. 

The Global Times learned from the Health Commission of Southwest China's Yunnan Province that the experts are from the Yunnan health commission and local hospitals, covering fields of public health, infection control, laboratory, respiratory, critical care, and traditional Chinese medicine. 

Sinopharm Vaccine Likely to Get WHO Approval with Condition: Experts

By Cao Siqi and Leng Shumei

May 06, 2021 09:13 PM

A resident of Beijing's Haidian district receives a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at  a mobile vaccination center that was created from a renovated bus. The capital city has administered more than 18 million doses as of Friday. Photo: cnsphoto

As the World Health Organization (WHO) is scheduled to announce the results of its evaluation of vaccines from Chinese producers Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech for emergency authorization this week, the latest document uploaded by the WHO on the assessment of Sinopharm's vaccine showed that WHO experts have "overall confidence" in its ability to prevent COVID-19 while having "low confidence" on the risk of side effects for older patients. 

The document was interpreted by some overseas media, such as Reuters, as a new "proof" to question the vaccine's efficacy. In a report published on Wednesday, Reuters said in the headline that "WHO experts voice 'very low confidence' in some Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine data" and explained that the data is in regard to the risk of serious side effects in some patients.

Chinese vaccine experts pointed out that the Reuters report amplified part of the WHO document's results, as the "some patients" it refers to are "older patients (beyond 60 years old)." The reason why the confidence is low is because the number of elderly people taking part in the trials was very limited. 

They stressed that Sinopharm's vaccine has still been proven effective in the group aged 18-59, which means it is very likely to gain the WHO's approval. 

The Sinopharm vaccine was authorized by 45 countries and jurisdictions for use in adults, with 65 million doses administered, according to media reports. The WHO document includes summaries of data from clinical trials in China, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Vaccine efficacy in multi-country phase III clinical trials was 78.1 percent after two doses, the document said. The efficacy in preventing hospitalization was 78.7 percent but the chance of preventing severity was "not estimated". Most adverse reactions were mild to moderate, with injection site pain, headache and fatigue being the most common.

The document also shows an analysis of safety among participants with comorbidities (was) limited by the low number of participants with comorbidities (other than obesity) in the phase III trial.

"Low confidence in some data does not necessarily mean the vaccine's efficacy is low or questionable, as the quality of the data would be affected by various elements such as the number of volunteers," Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou-based vaccine expert, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

The problem of clinical trials involving the Sinopharm Beijing institute vaccine is that few elderly people took part in the trials. But the WHO reports showed that the efficacy of the vaccine for people aged 18-59 is unquestioned and the safety of it is satisfactory, Zhuang said. 

According to the WHO document, only 209 people beyond 60 years old participated in the phase III trial while participants aged from 18 to 59 were 13,556. 

As there is a lack of clinical trial data to prove that Sinopharm's vaccine is safe and effective in older patients, he predicted that the WHO would grant approval with a limitation on being used on people aged 18-59.

The Sinopharm vaccine was effective among older people in Morocco, the Moroccan Health Ministry said in a statement in February. So far, only eight people in this age group reported minor adverse effects after receiving Sinopharm doses, which was equivalent to 2.2 cases per 10,000, it said.

Available data from the Moroccan vaccination campaign showed no increase in adverse effects among vaccinated people aged 60 and above, compared with others receiving the Sinopharm vaccine, the ministry said. 

On Thursday, with the completion of the last tank of concrete, the COVID-19 Vaccine Workshop Phase III Project of the Sinopharm Beijing institute was successfully capped after 70 days of construction. 

Once the project is put into use, the annual capacity will reach 3 billion doses.

EU Electoral Observers Not Coming to Ethiopia: MY WAY OR THE HIGH WAY

May 4, 2021 

By By Ezana Minas

Election-monitoring groups are used for publicizing and deterring fraud, for helping to “hold together shaky electoral processes in transitional countries,” and for “strengthening . . . basic standards of election administration.” However, there are obvious problems of the presence of many amateurs or politically lobbied groups who go to the field just because they are from developed countries or freelance visitors who go to see what goes on and make some money with an excessive focus on polling day, and the frequently superficial judgments of “free and fair election.”  Election observers often fail to be impartial. They are not selected like jury members. They are interested in politics and have a rough and unpolished political outlook about African Countries by far if not all. Or they belong to one or other grouping of political lobbying. Election observations have “continue to be an important part of international politics the last few years with the UN Electoral Bureau of DP having a roster and retired individuals who are highly opinionated and have gone as observers to many developing countries.  I remember one time President Obasanjo saying what happened in Florida with the BUSH and Al GORE required sending electoral observers from Africa.   So the field needs to push itself toward more professional standards, and for now the EU observers not going to Ethiopia is good riddance. Of course, this is an orchestrated move to add pressure on the Ethiopian Government on the “negotiation” style they want followed or else.

With the future viability of election observation progressively in trouble, no exception and surprise with EU pull out from Ethiopian election, it is time to look into a better, more effective observation capacity that understand the dynamics of African politics and the internal nature of politics as opposed to naïve way of looking at the dynamics of African politics from the point of view of stopping refugees and terrorists marching to Europe. Today election monitoring is widely practiced by organizations all over the world.  However, progressively many African countries are also deciding to have their own election without the political interference of God fathers Nation, observers, who think and act in their interest. We have seen the endorsements of elections in many countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt and or making close economic and investment as well as political deals with those who do not have rudimentary democratic ideas like Monarchs who never hold elections. 

Given this broadening content of the field and the history of observations and observers, it is time to undertake a more systematic analysis of the activities of international election monitors. We must analyze the effects of international election observation and determine whether monitoring boosts voter confidence, improves election logistics, deters fraud, alleviates violence, and spreads international electoral norms. In addition, avoid using elections to put puppet governments or at least governments that are not ideologically and religious wise antagonistic. At the same time, we must also focus on concerns about adherence to professional standards, as different electoral observer organizations  continue to issue puzzlingly contradictory statements or to give outright endorsements to elections that do not represent the public and national interests of the people but geopolitical calculations. 

If monitors are guided by factors other than the quality of an election, they could inadvertently legitimize undemocratic regimes, enable governments to spin the results, or even stifle viable opposition movements which they have in many places. Presumably none of these should be the goal of international observers. My intent is not to render a simplistic critique of these monitors—indeed, controversial assessments of sometimes be warranted on moral or other grounds—but rather to identify and discuss prevailing patterns so that we ask ourselves why the EU is so gung Ho in all directions against the Ethiopian government.  Are they on a destabilization mission? An in-depth description of the data is available on election observation and observers in many research centers. Examining them will help many developing countries.  A close examination is required on most of the major organizations that issue public reports.

There are good examples actually from many experiences in developing countries—in particular, Kenya’s 1992 and 1997 elections, Cambodia’s 1998 elections, Russia’s 1999 elections, and Zimbabwe’s 2000 elections and Ethiopia 1985  (EC) election. In most cases where outside monitors observe elections, more than one organization will send an observer mission. Yet different monitoring organizations do not always reach the same conclusions about a given election, as a few brief examples illustrate. Cambodia’s 1998 elections exemplify a situation in which different monitoring organizations disagree. The months leading up to the balloting in Cambodia that year were marked by terrible violence. Moreover, a last-minute rule change aided the incumbent’s victory, rendering the outcome highly questionable. A joint memorandum by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) called the preselection environment “fundamentally flawed.” Although the co chair of the NDI-IRI delegation, former congressman Stephen Solarz, publicly wondered whether the election might one day be seen as the “miracle on the Mekong,” the NDI issued a detailed report that was, in fact, highly critical.

The IRI’s final report declared that the election “did not meet the standards of democratic elections” and noted that “the final vote count and post-election period were deliberately incomplete as the NEC [National Election Commission] and Constitutional Council dismissed complaints of vote fraud and irregularities without full and proper legal considerations.

In contrast, the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU), cooperating under the auspices of a Joint International Observer Group (JIOG), endorsed the elections even before the counting was complete, 160 Journal of Democracy stating, “In general the polling achieved democratic standards . . . [W]hat could be observed by us on Polling Day and Counting Day was a process which was free and fair to an extent that enabled it to reflect, in a credible way, the will of the Cambodian people.” 

Yet after monitors left the country, violence erupted anew, and there was an attempted assassination of the victorious incumbent.

By the way people have to differentiate the difference between UNDP that provides election materials, training and logistical support and Electoral Assistance Office of UN Department of political Affairs whose major objective is politicking and dancing with the major Donors. The UN and EU marriage is usually EU DPA marriage which is mostly political and heavily oriented to Donor countries.

Russia’s 1999 elections tell a different tale—one of monitoring organizations contradicting not each other, but themselves. According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), voting day went well. The OSCE’s final report, however, documented major problems and was riddled with contradictions. For example, the executive summary concluded that the electoral laws “provided a sound basis for the conduct of orderly, pluralistic and accountable elections,” but the body of the report pointed to a “major flaw in the legislation” and criticized it in numerous ways. Whereas the executive summary said that the elections reflected a “political environment in which voters had a broad spectrum of political forces from which to choose,” the report itself documented abuses of government resources and authority and media biases, as well as harsh restrictions placed on the media. 

The European Parliament’s final report was similarly contradictory. It stressed the complete lack of party competition, but ended by weakly noting that “conclusions are always hard to draw after such experiences because, in Russia, the election process was legal and constitutional yet one comes away with a sense that there is still some way to go before the election process as a whole becomes comparable with EU systems.”  

All in all the record of EU electoral observation is not that thrilling and if they do not go to Ethiopia, unless they dictate their record is not that exciting.  Go back and see Ana Gomez”s report and look at your action on Ethiopia. Where were you when Egypt overthrew a legitimately elected Islamic government by Generals and rearranged elections to elect a General. The major concern was Egyptian threat of flood of refugees to Europe. So much for principle that must apply to Ethiopia. The EU Ambassador in Ethiopia has an obsessive hate toward the current Ethiopian leader and that is manifested in so many closed meetings among Donors. He takes his cue from Broking institute hard liners like Jeffery Faltmen who is just appointed as special envoy on the Horn. Already in his discussion at the Brooking Institute his strong motto was to put all kinds of pressure on Ethiopia. And use different venues to put pressure. Pressure to what end? No intelligent analysis, no background depth but simple bureaucratic logic on how to put pressure? No updated assessment and in-depth understanding of Ethiopia or the Horn or Africa. The Horn and its people are totally different from the Middle East, Israel and Lebanon. Need to be open minded, read and understand before using a metric system you set to use. Eric Haggai of Israel might help. 

Electoral Observation has become an industry and politically and strategically connected to powerful nations. Few examples:  Intergovernmental Organizations • Carter Center • National Democratic Institute • International Republican Institute • International Foundation for Electoral Systems • Norwegian Helsinki Committee • International Human Rights Law Group • Asian Network for Free Elections, • United Nations  Electoral Assistance Office • Organization for  Security and Cooperation in Europe • Council of Europe • Commission of the European Union • European Parliament • Organization of American States • Commonwealth Secretariat Parliamentary Forum • Commonwealth of Independent States • La Francophonie 

In many elections monitored by these multiple observer missions, the disagreements were stark: One organization endorsing the election while another clearly denouncing it. In addition, there are cases where the monitors agreed, but other commentators raised serious questions. For example, both the OSCE and the UN generally accepted Bosnia’s 1996 election, while others called it fraudulent. The International Crisis Group asserted that nationalist parties manipulated the elections, which were also marred by fraud, and it accused the OSCE of spinning the results.

Discrepancies among their assessments have been consequential. What Influences Election Assessments?  Need for Democratization? Fulfilling people’s will? Economic prosperity? Peace and security? Geopolitics and major power interest? Local politics?  

The election in Ethiopia is for Peaceful Transition to Democracy, Security, equality of all Ethiopians, and fair share of the economic pie.  Detractors have to be fought stubbornly.  

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Editor’s note : this article by Ezana Minas appeared first on P2P forum on May 4, 2021

Eritrea, Sudan to “Consolidate Bilateral Ties”, Discuss Regional Integration

May 4, 2021

Eritrea seems to be pursuing regional integration as a panacea to address challenges in the region which it says are “interlinked.” 

Eritrean President Isaias Afeworki (left) and Sudanese leader Al – Burhan (right) (Photo : SUNA)

Borkena

Eritrean President Isaias Afeworki is on a two days two working visit to Sudan. Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, and Yemane Gebreab, advisor to the president, accompanied him as usual. 

He was greeted by  Abdel Al-Fattah Al-Burhan, the head of state, with whom he had a meeting  in the Republican Palace in the afternoon. SUNA reported that the two leaders emphasized on the need to  strengthen bilateral relations that serve the interests of the people from the two countries. 

The source added that the two leaders expressed optimism that issues in the region will be addressed through dialogue. 

Following the political and military development in Northern Ethiopia where Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) launched a surprise attack on the Ethiopian Defense Force on November 4, Sudan took control of a vast area within the Ethiopian border. The two countries have been disputing about it since then.

Also, Sudan changed its position in relation to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiation – which has been going on for over ten years now. Like Egypt, Sudan is now saying GERD constitutes a national security threat. And both countries need a binding agreement before Ethiopia undertakes the second round of the dam filling. 

Eritrea itself was drawn to the conflict in Tigray after Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fired rockets targeting the capital Asmara in mid-November 2020.  

Eritrean President Isaias Afeworki also met with Prime Minister Abdella Hamdok. According to the Ministry of Information of Eritrea, the two leaders discussed the issue of regional integration in the Horn of Africa. And they seem to be on the same page regarding its importance.  

Vigils, Rallies Mark Day of Awareness for Indigenous Victims

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and FELICIA FONSECA

Family members of missing and murdered indigenous women in Montana gather in front of the state Capitol in Helena, Mont., Wednesday, May 5, 2021. They received colorful shawls in a traditional Native American ceremony called "wiping away of tears." From Washington to Indigenous communities across the American Southwest, top government officials, family members and advocates gathered Wednesday as part of a call to action to address the ongoing problem of violence against Indigenous women and children. (AP Photo/Iris Samuels)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Some shared agonizing stories of frustration and loss. Others prayed and performed ceremonies. All called for action.

Across the U.S. on Wednesday, family members, advocates and government leaders commemorated a day of awareness for the crises of violence against Indigenous women and children. They met at virtual events, vigils and rallies at state capitols and raised their voices on social media.

In Washington, a gathering hosted by U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and other federal officials started with a prayer asking for guidance and grace for the Indigenous families who have lost relatives and those who have been victims of violence.

Before and after a moment of silence, officials from various agencies vowed to continue working with tribes to address the problem.

As part of the ceremony, a red memorial shawl with the names of missing and slain Indigenous women was draped across a long table to remember the lives behind what Haaland called alarming and unacceptable statistics. More names were added to the shawl Wednesday.

Haaland, the first Native American U.S. cabinet secretary and a former Democratic U.S. representative from New Mexico, recalled hearing families testify about searching for loved ones on their own and bringing a red ribbon skirt to a congressional hearing that represented missing and slain Native Americans.

She believes the nation has reached an inflection point, and said it’s time to solve the crisis.

“Everyone deserves to feel safe in their communities, but the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples crisis is one that Native communities have faced since the dawn of colonization,” Haaland said as she joined the event virtually.

In Montana, a few dozen members of the state’s eight federally recognized tribes gathered in front of the Capitol in Helena, including many relatives of missing and slain Indigenous women. Some wore red or had handprints painted over their mouths, symbolizing the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s movement.

Marvin Weatherwax, a Democratic state representative and member of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, said legislative initiatives to address the issue have given tribal citizens hope. The Blackfeet tribe has two ongoing searches for missing members.

The event ended with a ceremony called the “Wiping Away of Tears,” where victims’ family members were given colorful shawls. The gifts marked the coming out of mourning, said Jean Bearcrane, a citizen of the Crow tribe and executive director of Montana Native Women’s Coalition.

“Among the tribes, when people are grieving, they wear black,” she said.

The sisters, mothers and aunts of missing women shed tears as they received their shawls.

Indigenous women have been victimized at astonishing rates, with federal figures showing that they — along with non-Hispanic Black women — have experienced the highest homicide rates.

Yet a 2018 Associated Press investigation found nobody knows the precise number of cases of missing and murdered Native Americans nationwide because many go unreported, others aren’t well documented, and no government database specifically tracks them.

In New Mexico, members of the state’s task force on Wednesday shared some of the findings of their work over the past year, which included combing through public records and requesting data from nearly two dozen law enforcement agencies to better understand the scope of the problem. Only five agencies responded.

Even with such limited data, they pointed to an estimated 660 cases involving missing Indigenous people between 2014 and 2019 in the state’s largest urban center, putting Albuquerque among U.S. cities with the highest number of cases.

New Mexico’s task force will be expanded and its work extended into 2022, with the goal of recommending policy changes and legislation.

Other states also have established task forces or commissions to focus on the problem, with Hawaii becoming the latest through legislation that points to land dispossession, incarceration and harmful stereotypes as reasons for Native Hawaiians’ increased vulnerability to violence.

In Arizona, a couple of dozen people wearing red shirts and skirts gathered in front of the state Capitol in Phoenix. They included several state lawmakers, along with representatives of the Phoenix Indian Center and the motorcycle group Medicine Wheel Ride, which has been carrying a message of awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Shelly Denny, a citizen of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and member of Medicine Wheel Ride, noted support for the cause has been growing as more members of Native communities share their stories.

“This movement was started by Indigenous women, many of whom their names will probably never be known. But they’ve been inching the movement forward,” she said.

Now, she said, “we’ll need to move into prevention, protection and prosecution.”

President Joe Biden has promised to bolster resources to address the crisis and better consult with tribes to hold perpetrators accountable and keep communities safe.

Haaland said that includes more staffing in a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs unit dedicated to solving cold cases and coordinating with Mexico and Canada to combat human trafficking.

The administration’s work will build on some of the initiatives started during former President Donald Trump’s tenure. That included a task force made up of the Interior Department, the Justice Department and other federal agencies to address violent crime in Indian Country.

Advocates have said a lack of resources, language barriers and complex jurisdictional issues have exacerbated efforts to locate those who are missing and solve other crimes in Indian Country. They also have pointed to the need for more culturally appropriate services and training for how to handle such cases.

Over the past year, advocacy groups also have reported that cases of domestic violence against Indigenous women and children and sexual assault increased as nonprofit groups and social workers scrambled to meet the added challenges that stemmed from the coronavirus pandemic.

Bryan Newland, principal assistant secretary for Indian Affairs at the Interior Department, said staffing at the Bureau of Indian Affairs unit will go from a team of 10 to more than 20 officers and special agents with administrative and support staff it previously didn’t have.

He also said the federal government has started distributing funding under the American Rescue Plan Act, including $60 million for public safety and law enforcement in Indian Country.

“We’re really looking to build upon many of the things that have been done, to expand them and bring focus to them,” Newland said.

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Fonseca reported from Flagstaff, Ariz. Associated Press/Report for America writer Iris Samuels in Helena, Mont., and AP writer Cheyanne Mumphrey in Phoenix contributed to this report.