IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — As the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign accelerates, governors, public health directors and committees advising them are holding key discussions behind closed doors, including debates about who should be eligible for the shots and how best to distribute them. A review by The Associated Press finds that advisory committees created to […]

MASSACHUSETTS (JTA) — A longtime Chabad emissary in Massachusetts was fired after months of social media posts in which he railed against pandemic-related lockdowns and mask mandates. In more recent weeks Rabbi Michoel Green, the Hasidic movement’s envoy in Westborough for 20 years, encouraged his followers not to be vaccinated with the new COVID vaccines. […]

UNITED KINGDOM (AP) — AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine does more than prevent people from falling seriously ill — it appears to reduce transmission of the virus and offers strong protection for three months on just a single dose, researchers said Wednesday in an encouraging turn in the campaign to suppress the outbreak. The preliminary findings from […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — 19-year-old Chemi Trachtenberg is a United Hatzalah volunteer who seems to have a natural inclination to be involved in saving lives. As soon as the COVID-19 vaccinations arrived in Israel in December, Chemi volunteered to be one of those vaccinating the chareidi public and since then he has performed a remarkable 10,000 […]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, an Orthodox Jewish doctor who rose to fame last March by promoting Hydroxychloroquine, a drug he claimed had successfully treated coronavirus, was denied that very drug in a Walgreens Tuesday evening. Zelenko arrived in Walgreens with his prescription to pick up the medication, which he said he presribed […]

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Pressure is building on school systems around the U.S. to reopen classrooms to students who have been learning online for nearly a year, pitting politicians against teachers who have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In Chicago, the rancor is so great that teachers are on the brink of striking. In […]

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel is sending 5,000 coronavirus vaccines to the Palestinian areas, earning praise from some U.S. lawmakers who had urged the country to extend its successful vaccination program to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “In accordance with the recommendation of the Defense Minister and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, […]

PARIS (AP) — France will only administer the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to people under age 65, President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday after the government’s health advisory body cited a lack of sufficient data about its effectiveness in older people. The decision could shake up the French vaccination strategy, because the country has prioritized nursing home […]

LONDON (JTA) – In a study of 1,800 people from a single Jewish haredi community in London, 64% of those tested appeared to have contracted and beat the coronavirus, researchers said. The study, which researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine conducted at the request of the community in question, looked into […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — With all the harsh news about the COVID-19 pandemic, it is uplifting sometimes to hear that good things can come from coronavirus. The following post tells the story of an unusual shidduch meeting: “Hi, this is Shani Yaakovson, aged 29 and Amir Tzioni aged 34. On Erev Rosh Hashana Shani tested positive […]