Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

Ever since the virus reared its ugly head and briefly sent the world into despair, the coronavirus has remained a staple, albeit almost sidelined, part of the news cycle. Despite this, the topic has come to the forefront of controversy once again, with an extremely popular <keyword id="20040659" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="COVID-19-vaccine" source="keywords">COVID-19 vaccine</keyword> now under scrutiny. Considering that the world is still healing from the scars left behind by the coronavirus tragedy, it is imperative that we gauge the situation to avoid any unwarranted public paranoia. Let’s look at the facts behind the ongoing <keyword id="19910149" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AstraZeneca" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="AstraZeneca" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="AstraZeneca">AstraZeneca</keyword> (or <keyword id="19960109" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="covishield" source="keywords">Covishield</keyword>, as it is known in India) vaccine controversy, and determine if there really is a cause for worry. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What happened?" comment="subhead" text="What happened?">What happened?</cmsannotation> Shortly after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, UK-based <keyword id="21472612" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jamie-scott" source="keywords">Jamie Scott</keyword> experienced a harrowing ordeal. He developed a brain clot and severe bleeding, resulting in permanent brain injury. This condition, known as <keyword id="21475609" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Thrombosis-with-Thrombocytopenia-Syndrome" source="keywords">Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome</keyword> (<keyword id="20218859" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tts" source="keywords">TTS</keyword>), can lead to dangerously low blood clot and platelet levels, posing a grave risk to those affected. Jamie's struggles with memory loss, impaired vision, and diminished cognitive abilities compelled him to seek legal recourse against the pharmaceutical company in 2023. Jamie's legal representative contends that AstraZeneca minimized the potential risks linked to their vaccines. Moreover, reports indicate that over 50 vaccinated individuals experienced similar adverse conditions, with numerous cases resulting in fatalities or severe injuries. Despite these assertions, the pharmaceutical company refutes the allegations, stating that they do not acknowledge a causal relationship between the vaccine and Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) on a generic level. However, a year of court wrangling later, legal documents submitted by AstraZeneca have now admitted that their vaccine can cause TTS in very rare cases, although the causal mechanism is still not well known. This revelation has led to renewed uproar against the vaccine’s side-effects. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Is there cause for worry?" comment="subhead" text="Is there cause for worry?">Is there cause for worry?</cmsannotation> In short words, not really. Links between the <keyword id="21483117" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AstraZeneca-vaccine" source="keywords">AstraZeneca vaccine</keyword> and vaccine-induced immune TTS have been scientifically identified since early 2021, soon after the first COVID-19 vaccines had come out. However, it is so very rare — a few dozen reported cases among the millions administered — that even the World Health Organisation has deemed the vaccine “safe and effective” for all individuals aged 18 and above. Moreover, even influenza, H1N1 and rabies vaccines can cause TTS in very rare instances. Further, it is important to note that an infection with COVID-19 is itself a major cause for clot, heart attacks and strokes. Being vaccinated actually lowers these risks. There is also the fact that all vaccines or drugs carry potential side-effects, and these medical interventions are only cleared for release after determining that their benefits vastly outweigh any complications. Finally, the <keyword id="21483118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="TTS-side-effects" source="keywords">TTS side-effects</keyword> — which include symptoms such as headaches, blurred vision, chest pain, leg swelling or tiny blood spots under the skin — manifest between 1-6 weeks of vaccination. Considering that most Indians received their Covishield jab a couple of years ago, there should be no reason to panic now. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Is it time to consider alternate vaccines?" comment="subhead" text="Is it time to consider alternate vaccines?">Is it time to consider alternate vaccines?</cmsannotation> There is no particular hard evidence that suggests the supremacy of one vaccine over another, considering that they all carry varying degrees of side-effects. That being said, <keyword id="9485939" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="covaxin" source="Orion">Covaxin</keyword> boasts a higher efficacy than Covishield, and has better research data among Indian subjects. However, it may also be important to know that the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine has been discontinued in many countries, mainly due the aforementioned risk of blood clotting in certain age groups. Whatever the choice, the fact of the matter remains that these vaccines have saved millions since their introduction, and it is pertinent that we continue taking them diligently, unless any premier health authorities recommend otherwise.

Should you be worried about the potential side-effects of the Covishield vaccine?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Users on Threads are unable to search for COVID-19-related terms including "coronavirus" and "vaccines."</li><li>Meta said the block is temporary while it rolls out a new search tool.</li></ul>Meta has temporarily blocked searches for COVID-19-related topics on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-threads-social-media-platform-guide">Threads</a> as <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home">cases in the US rise</a> after rolling out a new search tool for its X, formerly Twitter, rival. Attempts to search "Covid" and "coronavirus" on the app bring up a blank screen and a link to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage in the US with information on the disease. The move was initially reported by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/11/threads-covid-coronavirus-searches-blocked/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a>.Terms such as "vaccination" and "long Covid" also fail to bring up any results and redirect users to external websites. Meta confirmed to the Post that the block was intentional.The move was discovered after Meta rolled out a new search interface for Threads, one of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/threads-meta-features-retain-users-mark-zuckerberg-twitter-x-2023-8">latest features the company has introduced</a> in an attempt to reverse the platforms' declining user base. In a statement to Insider Meta confirmed that search on Threads "temporarily doesn't provide results for keywords that may show potentially sensitive content," and said that users would be able to search for COVID-19-related topics "once we are confident in the quality of the results." <div type="image" title="Threads search" height="615" width="820" msid="103607467" hostid="261" sizebytes="10852"></div>The decision to redirect queries about potentially divisive topics such as COVID-19 to external websites is in line with Meta's overall vision for its X competitor, which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-meta-threads-100-million-users-faster-chatgpt-2023-7">gained 100 million users</a> in less than a week after launching in July.The social media giant has attempted to cast Threads as a positive, brand-friendly environment where topics such as news and politics are largely sidelined. Insider's Nathan McAlone made the case that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-instagram-threads-is-destined-to-be-boring-2023-7">this makes the platform less interesting than X</a>, the site it was intended to replace. Instagram boss Adam Mosseri, who is spearheading Threads, said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/threads-twitter-politics-not-the-focus-adam-mosseri-2023-7">he does not see this platform as a space for hard news or politics</a>, although he stressed that the site would not block news topics entirely."Politics and hard news are important," he said in a post on Threads in July. "But my take is, from a platform's perspective, any incremental engagement or revenue they might drive is not at all worth the scrutiny, negativity (let's be honest), or integrity risks that come along with them."Meta has been gradually pivoting away from news across its various platforms, as social media sites such as Facebook have come under scrutiny for spreading misinformation and political division. Both Facebook and Instagram were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/02/facebook-failing-to-protect-users-from-covid-misinformation-says-monitor">accused</a> of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/report-facebook-tech-is-failing-to-detect-vaccine-misinformation-2021-10">failing to protect users from COVID-19 misinformation</a> during the pandemic.

Instagram's Threads never wanted to be a platform for hard news or politics. Now it's blocking searches about COVID-19.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The general public's attitude toward COVID is more relaxed than ever, even amid a summer surge.</li><li>Doctors say relaxed COVID precautions are to be expected and are not necessarily a bad thing.</li></ul>Gone are the days of scrubbing surfaces, sudden <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-shut-down-school-two-days-after-classes-started-2022-1">school closures</a>, and social distancing.Where a positive COVID-19 test once wrought panicked <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-mistakes-us-focus-on-contact-tracing-not-sequencing-2021-3">contract tracing </a>and guaranteed two weeks of isolation, these days, a diagnosis sparks relatively little worry for most people.Even amid a summer spike in cases — everyone from President <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-tests-positive-for-covid-19-2024-7#:~:text=President%20Joe%20Biden%20tested%20positive,Press%20Secretary%20Karine%20Jean%2DPierre.">Joe Biden</a> to the 2024 Summer Olympians seems to be battling the virus — the general public's attitude toward the pandemic that upended our lives more than four years ago is more relaxed than ever.The federal public health emergency for COVID expired in May 2023, officially <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-covid-19-global-health-emergency-is-over-who-says-2023-5">ending the crisis</a>, at least in name, more than three years after it was first declared. Since then, thanks to high infection and immunization rates, the country has continued climbing toward the herd immunity doctors so desperately sought in the early days of the pandemic, four medical professionals told Business Insider."The risk perception and anxiety around acute COVID infection has definitely lessened," said Dr. Anita Chopra, an internist at the University of Washington medical system. "People are interacting and mingling more like in pre-pandemic times."Healthcare professionals told BI that the public's more relaxed attitude toward COVID is ultimately a good thing. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/life-returning-to-normal-labor-market-vaccines-pandemic-2021-11">A return to normality</a> was the goal, after all.But COVID is still very present and very much a potential threat, especially for the immunocompromised and those unlucky enough to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-official-individuals-coronavirus-infection-unlucky-long-covid-2022-6">develop long COVID symptoms</a> — up to 10% of patients, according to some doctor estimates. Meanwhile, relaxed masking and declining vaccination rates, while to be expected at this point, could be linked to the rising case numbers doctors are seeing in clinics around the country, medical professionals told BI."We need to acknowledge that we're in a very different place now than we were at the height of the pandemic," said Dr. Eric Chow, chief of communicable disease epidemiology and immunizations at Public Health Seattle and King County. "But so long as COVID-19 continues to circulate, there are health implications to getting infected."<h2 id="8540c815-ae27-4465-8106-21a572b3f035">Evolving behaviors and beliefs</h2>Many of the early-day pandemic precautions have all but disappeared in 2024. Chief among them, according to doctors, are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mask-mandates-lifted-states-reasonable-experts-2022-2">masking</a>, isolations, and vaccinations.Soon after the pandemic emerged, medical professionals emphasized masking as a key way to slow the spread of the virus.The face coverings quickly became a contentious cultural topic and among the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-decision-to-oppose-masks-bizarre-self-sabotaging-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-6">most politicized aspects</a> of COVID. But these days, even many who once championed masks have ditched the deterrent entirely. An August 2023 Yahoo News/YouGov <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/only-12-percent-of-americans-wear-mask-in-public-194019882.html">poll</a> of 1,665 US adults found that 12% of respondents said they were masking — down from 60% in January 2022. And doctors told BI that they've seen a steady decrease in masking since then."I think the public has appropriately adjusted their attitudes to what they hear in the news and what they see around them," said Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez, infectious disease specialist with Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California.More worrying to medical professionals is the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-us-vaccination-sites-joe-biden-2021-4">decline in vaccinations.</a>While early immunization rates helped bolster immunity, vaccination uptake has been on the decline in recent years, and fewer and fewer people are keeping up to date with their booster shots, a preventive step the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html#:~:text=Everyone%20aged%205%20years%20and,of%20updated%20COVID%2D19%20vaccine.">CDC recommends</a> in its COVID guidelines.Most medical professionals also recommend a yearly COVID-19 vaccine. There's a new shot coming out in September. But Chow, who previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the height of the pandemic, said most people aren't aware of the recommended vaccine schedule — a challenge that is indicative of a larger problem doctors are trying to navigate in this new COVID age."People are much more fatigued by COVID messaging," he said. "We're trying to right-size the appropriate message to make sure people continue to acknowledge the health impacts of COVID."<h2 id="3c719499-920d-46e7-b315-35ec4a1cdc50">The long COVID scare</h2>Relaxed attitudes are not necessarily a bad thing, according to doctors."I think it's to be expected as we learn more about the virus over these four years and as we've developed these other COVID countermeasures to address infection," said Dr. Jessica Bender, a primary care doctor at Harbor View Medical in Seattle and the co-director at the university's long COVID clinic.On the one hand, people are generally not getting as sick as they once did when ill with COVID, medical professionals told BI. On the other hand, this summer seems to have brought yet another COVID surge with a spike in cases.People don't typically equate respiratory illnesses with the warmer months, but an increase in summer socializing combined with the general decrease in preventive measures is likely fueling the uptick, Bender said.For an unlucky subset of patients, a COVID diagnosis — even in this new relaxed era — could mean <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/long-covid-survivor-its-wrecked-my-life-2022-1">long-term challenges.</a>Doctors define long COVID as any infection related to the virus that is present for at least three months, said Chopra, who treats patients at the UW long COVID clinic. The often <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-workers-nurses-long-covid-impact-careers-labor-shortage-2022-5">debilitating</a> condition is indiscriminate in who it affects. Up to 10% of all people who get COVID are susceptible, according to Chopra, and patients of all ages, genders, races, and vaccination statuses can present with long COVID.<div type="image" title="A young girl gets a COVID vaccine" height="2661" width="4000" msid="112065018" hostid="261" sizebytes="341938"></div>Even as the country relaxes its COVID response, doctors said they are still seeing many new patients presenting with long COVID each day. The condition has at least <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/common-long-covid-symptoms-hair-loss-vertigo-low-libido-2022-7">200 known signs and symptoms</a> that range from shortness of breath to chronic fatigue and brain fog.Doctors told BI they'd treated several patients who have been forced to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/long-covid-symptoms-disability-insurance-unemployment-quit-job-2022-11">stop working</a> or rendered unable to participate in any physical activity because of a long COVID diagnosis. A 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9721155/">study</a> published in the National Library of Medicine explored a possible link between long COVID and the risk of suicide because of the condition's tendency to inflict depression, anxiety, posttraumatic symptoms, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and cognitive deficits.Medical professionals are doing their best to understand long COVID, but admit that there's still much to learn. According to the CDC, about 17 million people <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm">reported</a> having long-term COVID-19 in March 2024.For these people, the pandemic is still very real."When I treat people with long COVID, they are always masked," Chopra said.<h2 id="c71342ed-0973-4d09-978b-dae3bd11fc3e">The future of COVID</h2>As doctors look to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-cross-says-world-is-dangerously-unprepared-for-next-pandemic-2023-1">future</a> of COVID, little is for sure."We always say the one thing that is predictable about COVID is its unpredictability," Chow said.But medical professionals told BI they are optimistic that even as the virus continues to evolve, the next few years will continue to look like the past year, with small seasonal surges and hopefully less intense illness.While lax attitudes may be a welcome sign of a cautious new normal, doctors said it's important to remember the lessons we've collectively learned from COVID. The precautions that proved useful against the virus protect people from other illnesses, too.Just because the world has adapted to COVID-19, medical professionals say, doesn't mean we should drop the hygiene, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-circulation-coronavirus-how-to-judge-ventilation-systems-2020-8">ventilation</a>, and masking lessons learned along the way."We've learned so much about how we can protect ourselves," Chow said. "It's hard to see people leave some of those precautions behind."Doctors recommend people gauge their individual risk, as well as the risk of those close to them when considering which precautions to take in this new COVID age. Most medical professionals still recommend masking, testing, and visiting a doctor after testing positive."We're aiming to get to a state where COVID is not a threat to our healthcare system," Bender said. "And not a threat to our lives and livelihoods.

Most people don't really care about COVID anymore. That's good — and bad. 

Fewer than one in five children (18.7 per cent) in <keyword id="6354759" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bangladesh" source="Orion">Bangladesh</keyword> participated in remote learning during Covid-19 school closures, a new report has revealed. This extraordinary scale of the impact of school closures was confirmed in a report released here on Thursday, reports <keyword id="106387" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="xinhua-news-agency" source="Orion">Xinhua news agency</keyword>. The report titled "National Survey on Children's Education in Bangladesh 2021", a joint survey by the <keyword id="3041703" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bangladesh-bureau-of-statistics" source="Orion">Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics</keyword> and <keyword id="56000" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="unicef" source="Orion">Unicef</keyword>, shows that the hardest hit is the most vulnerable children who have limited access to the Internet and TV, and who lack supportive devices such as computers or smartphones at home. Fewer children from rural areas (15.9 per cent) participated in remote learning, such as online and televised, compared to those from urban areas (28.7 per cent). "The pandemic's impact on children is still reverberating throughout the country. It is critical to close the digital divide and to make the education system more shock responsive," said <keyword id="16109209" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sheldon-yett" source="Orion">Sheldon Yett</keyword>, Unicef representative to Bangladesh. The survey would help understand the extent of the impact of the prolonged school closure during Covid-19 pandemic on attendance, out-of-school, drop-out, and learning loss of children, in a bid to support the government to take steps for improving the quality and standard of education, said <keyword id="16822345" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="mohammad-abdul-mannan" source="Orion">Mohammad Abdul Mannan</keyword>, the minister of planning. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/lolita-chakrabartis-stage-adaptation-of-life-of-pi-comes-to-new-york/articleshow/98725796.cms">Lolita Chakrabarti's stage adaptation of 'Life of Pi' comes to New York</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/reliance-shares-down-22-from-all-time-high-attractive-entry-opportunity-says-jp-morgan/articleshow/98725589.cms">Reliance shares down 22% from all-time high: Attractive entry opportunity, says JP Morgan</a>

Less than 1 in 5 Bangladeshi kids could learn remotely during Covid: Unicef report

Nearly 30,000 child Covid-19 cases were reported in the US in just a week, the second consecutive weekly increase, according to the latest report by the American <keyword id="6382289" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="academy" source="Orion">Academy</keyword> of Pediatrics (<keyword id="6356115" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="aap" source="Orion">AAP</keyword>) and the Children's Hospital Association. Over 14.9 million children in the country have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, according to the report. Nearly 105,000 of these cases have been added in the past four weeks, reports <keyword id="106387" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="xinhua-news-agency" source="Orion">Xinhua news agency</keyword>. For the week ending November 3, the portion of child <keyword id="8764262" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="covid" source="Orion">Covid</keyword> cases was 13.2 per cent. Reported cases are likely a "substantial undercount" of Covid-19 cases among children, said the report. There is a need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects, said the AAP. "It is important to recognize there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children's health, but importantly we need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of this generation of children and youth," the Academy added. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sustainability/news/cop27-adb-pledges-200-million-funds-for-water-related-infra-in-asia-pacific/articleshow/95392419.cms">COP27: ADB pledges $200 million funds for water-related infra in Asia, Pacific</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/health-tech-startup-curebay-raises-50-crore-in-series-a-funding-led-by-elevar-equity/articleshow/95397581.cms">Health-tech startup CureBay raises ₹50 crore in Series A funding led by Elevar Equity</a>

US reports nearly 30,000 weekly child Covid cases

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Neanderthal genes could be to blame for severe cases of COVID-19, The Wall Street Journal reported.</li><li>Scientists in Italy found people with Neanderthal gene variants were more likely to be hospitalized.</li></ul>Researchers in Italy say their study of people infected with COVID-19 shows that those with certain genetic variations attributable to Neanderthal ancestry were far more likely to experience severe symptoms requiring hospitalization, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/neanderthal-genes-are-linked-to-severe-covid-risk-d992ccad">reported Sunday</a>.Writing in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(23)01706-6">iScience</a>, the researchers, associated with the nonprofit Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, reported that they examined the DNA of nearly 1,200 volunteers in the Bergamo province, which was especially hard hit in the early days of the pandemic. What they found is that "Neanderthal haplotype," a set of genetic variants associated with the human ancestor, is "the major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19."In particular, they found that people with the Neanderthal haplotype were twice as likely to develop severe pneumonia, the Journal reported, and three times as likely to end up on a ventilator in an intensive-care unit.The link between health and Neanderthal DNA has been suggested by other studies. A study published in June by the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-interbreeding-between-humans-and-neanderthals-affects-our-health-today-2023-6">indicated a link</a> between Neanderthal DNA and a genetic disorder known as Dupuytren's disease. And in March, a study published in Nature also found a connection between Neanderthal ancestry and an increased risk of an extreme immune response, or cytokine storm, from contracting COVID-19.Have a news tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cdavis@insider.com</a>

You Searched For "COVID19 news" and got 6 results

Should you be worried about the potential side-effects of the Covishield vaccine?

Ankush Banerjee

Instagram's Threads never wanted to be a platform for hard news or politics. Now it's blocking searches about COVID-19.

Tom Carter

Most people don't really care about COVID anymore. That's good — and bad.

Erin Snodgrass

Less than 1 in 5 Bangladeshi kids could learn remotely during Covid: Unicef report

IANS

US reports nearly 30,000 weekly child Covid cases

IANS

Did you have a severe case of COVID-19? Research suggests that Neanderthal genes could be to blame

Charles R. Davis

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides