News

Volunteers on Covid jab trials should get travel certificates, say top scientists

Senior government science advisers from the UK, Europe and Canada have called on countries around the world to offer vaccination certificates to volunteers on Covid jab trials so they can travel internationally.

The UK has led the way in granting vaccine certificates to trial participants, but many countries have failed to follow suit and refuse to admit people unless they have had two doses of Covid vaccine that has already gone through trials and been approved by regulators.

The situation means many tens of thousands of people globally who enrolled in clinical trials to assess Covid vaccines, or combinations of different shots, cannot travel abroad unless they get an additional round of approved jabs.

In an open letter to governments around the world 14 senior advisers, including England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, and the UK’s chief scientist, Sir Patrick Vallance, warn that preventing trial volunteers from travelling was “unfair” and had led some participants to drop out of trials and seek extra vaccinations.

“Vaccine clinical trial volunteers have given their time freely to help others, and clinical trials are the way in which the world can understand which vaccines work and are safe,” the letter states. “There is a moral and ethical obligation to treat volunteers in a way that feels fair to them and to the wider public. It is the right thing to do.”

Among those affected are more than 15,000 people who took part in the phase 3 Novavax trial at hospitals across the UK. The firm has not yet submitted the trial data to regulators for approval.

Kris Gumbrell, the chief executive officer of a pub chain, took part in the Novavax trial and received four shots in total, two vaccine, two placebo, between October 2020 and April 2021. He has a vaccine certificate that can be used to enter events in the UK, but he cannot travel to any country that requires approved vaccines. To complicate matters further, the NHS app considers him vaccinated so he cannot book the extra shots he now wants so he can travel with his family in January.

“You hit a brick wall because your Novavax vaccination doesn’t count. You’re stuck in this trap. You can’t go anywhere that requires an approved vaccine,” Gumbrell said. “There’s an awful lot of upset people out there. The UK has done a huge amount of heavy lifting with vaccine trials. The politicians should be fighting our corner more.”

In an effort to find a solution, the UK government announced last week that it would provide two shots of the approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for thousands of Britons who took part in trials so they could travel abroad – meaning they would have four shots of Covid vaccine total.

The letter urges foreign governments to issue vaccine certificates or “passports” to volunteers on vaccine trials that have been approved by regulators, regardless of whether the participants have received unlicensed vaccines, combinations of shots, or even placebo jabs.

“Given the numbers of trial participants globally, the population contribution of admitting a small number of placebo recipients in trials will be trivial in terms of public health and national disease epidemiology,” the letter states.

“Of course trials will continue to be needed to improve vaccine design and coverage, especially as the virus mutates and evolves. Anything that acts as a disincentive to participate in trials will be to the detriment of public health,” it adds.

Prof Saul Faust, the Wessex regional lead for Covid vaccine trials at the University of Southampton, said the letter was “a massively important intervention” by Chris Whitty and his colleagues.

“Vaccine trial participants – of whom there are more than 50,000 in the UK but many tens of thousands more globally – have been discriminated against as second class citizens by politicians globally instead of treated as the heroes they are. Without them we would have no vaccines at all,” Faust said. “While the UK decided to honour participants with UK accreditation before the summer, because no other countries have agreed this principle none of our UK participants have been able to travel or go abroad so far without lying to get extra doses of approved vaccines – also at considerable personal risk as the effects of such combinations or doses are unknown.”

“If governments don’t sort this out, no one will ever want to take part in trials again, so booster trials and of any future pandemic vaccines will be at risk,” he added.

News

Bandits kill one, kidnap district head, eight others in Kebbi

Bandits have kidnapped Alhaji Isah Daya, the district head of Kanya under the Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State.

The bandits kidnapped the monarch and eight others when they stormed his village on Saturday, October 5, 2024.

The bandits also k!lled one and injured three persons during the attack.

The spokesperson for the State Police Command, Nafui Abubakar, who confirmed the attack, gave the name of the deceased as Sherriff Alhaji Almu.

According to the PPRO, a combined security team led by the police has launched a manhunt on the abductors of the monarch to rescue the abducted persons.

He noted that the Kebbi State Government has provided the needed logistics to tame banditry in the affected towns, particularly Kebbi South, Zuru Emirate.

The attack came a few days after bandits k!lled the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Suru Local Government Area of the state.

News

FG mobilises Julius Berger to complete N820b road projects

The Federal Government has told Julius Berger Nigeria Plc to fast-track the completion of the rehabilitation of the 82-kilometre Section II of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano dual carriageway and the construction of the Bodo-Bonny road with bridges across the Opobo Channel, Route 430 in Rivers State.

Works Minister David Umahi said the government could not continually negotiate with the contractor over the same projects.

In a statement in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media, Uchenna Orji, during a meeting with Julius Berger, represented by its Executive Director for Projects, Benjamin Bott, and the Head of Contract Management, Omonigho Brown, the minister stressed the need for contractors handling Federal Government’s projects to exhibit corporate nationalism in price negotiation in the face of the daunting economic challenges facing the country.

Umahi said the Federal Executive Council (FEC), at its meeting on September 23, approved the re-scoping and downward review of the contracts.

He said: “We have Section II, which is 82 kilometres by two, which is the section that JBN Plc is working on.

“And so, if you check what FEC approved on September 23, FEC had approved that the total contract sum within the scope of Berger would be N740 billion. This means that if you remove N391 billion paid already, you now have about N340 billion remaining. This is the scope of their work for the 164 kilometres.”

The minister urged the contractor to mobilise for work on the four sections of the Abuja-Zaria-Kaduna-Kano project to finish the job within 14 months.

News

Police thwart plan by armed men to kidnap a foreigner in Anambra, recover four dead bodies

Police Operatives in the morning of Sunday, October 6th, 2024 thwarted the abduction/kidnapping plan of a foreigner by suspected armed secessionist members in Ogbunka village.

The Operatives courageously engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle and saved the VIP.

SP Tochukwu Ikenga, Police Public Relations Officer who disclosed this in a statement said during the gun duel, two Police Operatives who were hit by bullet escaped with the foreigner.

He added that they are stable and are currently receiving treatment in a hospital.

Meanwhile, Operations are ongoing in the area for the possible arrest of the Armed men.

Also, Police operatives attached to Nimo Police Station responded to a distress call on 6/10/2024 by 8:25 pm of a suspected cult clash at Umuka, Nawfia. The Operatives upon arriving at the scene, found four lifeless bodies of young men in a pool of blood with suspected multiple gunshot injuries lying on the road.

The victims were confirmed dead by a doctor on duty and have been deposited to the morgue.

They were later identified as one Ebuka Nwaonkwube Ekenta of Mmimi village Nawfia, Nnatuanya Junior A.K: A Starboy of Mmimi village Nawfia, Aniemena A.K.A Osama of Umuariam Village and one Ahmed Auwal.

Information from eyewitnesses and some villagers reveal that the victims are known for their nefarious activities and are always in rivalry with another cult group in the area.

Furthermore, Joint patrol with Operatives of the Special Anit Cultism Squad (SPACS) has been intensified in the area.

In another development, the Commissioner of Police *CP Nnaghe Obono Itam* has ordered
immediate investigations into the gruesome murder of a 17-year-old girl suspected of being used for ritual purpose.

The girl’s lifeless body was found in a bush at Omasi village on 6/10/2024 by 4:25 pm and she was later identified as one Chinasa Adigwe from Umueje village and her private parts were cut off in a bush at Omasi Village before Police were alerted. The body has been recovered and deposited in a morgue.

The CP while condoling with the family, friends and Community of the deceased states that the Police shall do everything possible to make sure that those behind the barbaric act are arrested and justice served.