NEW YORK (VINnews) — A visit by a volunteer dressed as Santa Claus has apparently led to a huge outbreak of coronavirus in a Belgian care home in Mol,Antwerp, leaving 121 residents and 36 health care workers infected and 18 dead from the virus, according to a report in the British newspaper Daily Mail. Santa […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israel is leading the world in terms of ratio of vaccinations to the entire population, with only tiny Bahrain ahead of Israel in the number of vaccinations administered. During the first week of vaccinations Israel vaccinated 280,000 people, some 3% of the entire population. In comparison, some 700,000 people have been vaccinated […]

NEW YORK (VINnews/Daniel Berman, M.D.) — With great pain, we recently heard of two more grandparents attending two different weddings of their grandchildren, contracting Covid 19 and being niftar. I do not know the total count, but we have heard of more than a few other cases like this over the past year. It is […]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — A criminal invetsigation has been announced into a health-care network that operates clinics in Boro Park, Bensonhurst and Williamsburg over administering unauthorized COVID-19 vaccines. Health Commissioner Howard Zucker made the announcement on Saturday, saying in a statement that ParCare Community Health Network “may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine, transferred it to […]

TORONTO — Officials in Canada’s most populous province have confirmed the first two known Canadian cases of of a more contagious variant of COVID-19 that was first identified in the United Kingdom. The province’s associate chief medical officer says that the cases are a couple from Durham Region, just east of Toronto, with no known […]

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Morocco announced it has acquired 65 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China’s Sinopharm and Britain’s AstraZeneca, as the north African kingdom prepares to launch a COVID-19 vaccination program that aims to immunize 80% of the country’s adult population. Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb announced the figure at a Cabinet meeting […]

TOKYO — Japan’s health ministry has confirmed the country’s first cases of infection with the new variant of the coronavirus that was identified in Britain. The five people arrived between Dec. 18 and Dec. 21, before Japan stepped up border control on Friday for entrants from Britain. A man in his 60s developed fatigue, but […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau was asked by health minister Yuli Edelstein, who is an orthodox Jew himself, whether he would permit vaccinations on Shabbos due to the life-threatening nature of coronavirus. Rabbi Lau responded that at present, since vaccinations are not taking place on a continuous 24/7 basis, there is no […]

One paper shows body retains high level of memory B cells for lengthy period; two others examining statistics indicate reinfection chances very low for at least half a year

NEW YORK (JNS) — A survey found that a large percentage of Jewish philanthropists have increased their charitable giving in response to emergency needs brought on by the global coronavirus pandemic and that nearly all expect to give at the same or increased levels over the next 12 months. Conducted by the Jewish Funders Network, […]