Covid vaccine safety to be debated in Parliament after heart attack fears raised

architecture bascule bridge bridge building

Covid-19 vaccine safety will come under scrutiny in Parliament on Monday after a petition from concerned Brits reached the threshold for a debate. MPs are set to debate the safety of Covid vaccines after a petition calling for an “immediate and full scientific investigation” into likely links between Covid-19 vaccination and a supposed increase in […]

End of federal transportation mask mandate greeted with confusion, relief

Ladies in mask on airlines

Marty Chavez stepped into the terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for his flight to Ohio early Tuesday and frantically began to search for his mask. He turned to a United Airlines employee standing nearby and asked if he had a spare. “Sir, the mandate has been lifted,” the worker said. “You don’t have to […]

Philadelphia to restore indoor mask mandate as cases rise

Face Mask Required

Philadelphia became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate on Monday after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, with the city’s top health official saying she wanted to forestall a potential new wave driven by an omicron subvariant. Confirmed COVID-19 cases have risen more than 50% in 10 days, the […]

NO JAB, NO JOB: 1,428 NYC workers terminated for failing to follow mandate

NY Mandate

New York City employees who failed to comply with the city’s vaccine mandate were sent termination notices on Friday, the mayor’s office said. A total of 1,428 employees were terminated, with the majority of terminations coming from the Department of Education at 914. New York City Housing Authority racked the second highest number of terminations […]

Japan widens virus restrictions as omicron surges in cities

Tokyo, Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Restaurants and bars will close early in Tokyo and a dozen other areas across Japan beginning Friday as the country widens COVID-19 restrictions due to the omicron variant, which has caused cases to surge to new highs in metropolitan areas. The restraint, which is something of a pre-state of emergency, is the […]

COVID-19 in Europe: Austria’s parliament approves vaccine mandate for adults

Austria covid mandate

Several countries in Europe have registered a record number of COVID-19 infections this week — here is our summary of the situation across the continent. The number of new coronavirus cases globally rose by 20 percent last week to more than 18 million, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus […]

Supreme Court halts COVID-19 vaccine rule for US businesses

Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate for most health care […]

Erie County mask mandate for all indoor, public locations takes effect

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — On Monday afternoon, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced that a mask mandate will take effect Tuesday. Effective at 6 a.m., masks must be worn in all public, indoor facilities. This does not apply to facilities with a 100 percent COVID-19 vaccination requirement for entry. This new policy is in response […]

Austria orders lockdown for residents who have not received COVID-19 vaccine

Austria Covid Lockdown

The Austrian government has ordered a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people starting at midnight Monday to combat rising coronavirus infections and deaths. The move prohibits unvaccinated people 12 and older from leaving their homes except for basic activities such as working, grocery shopping, going for a walk — or getting vaccinated. Authorities are concerned about rising infections and deaths […]