The Latest: UN OKs vaccine honor system for world leaders

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By The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly is relying connected a vaccine grant strategy for satellite leaders earlier they talk astatine adjacent week’s meeting.

Presidents, premiers, monarchs and different dignitaries won’t person to amusement vaccination cards oregon different impervious of inoculation. Assembly President Abdulla Shahid says they’ll simply attest to being vaccinated by swiping their ID badges.

The U.N. has been wrestling with however to instrumentality a New York City vaccination request for normal centers. Russia has criticized the policy, and the archetypal scheduled speaker, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, says helium doesn’t program to get vaccinated anytime soon. He contracted the coronavirus successful July 2020.

Shahid told members earlier this week helium supported the New York City argumentation but didn’t springiness details connected however it would work. Shahid, a 59-year-old Maldivian, was elected president of the U.N. General Assembly successful June.

Next week, much than 100 heads of authorities and authorities and implicit 20 overseas ministers person signed up to talk successful person. Other nations are participating by video for the speeches, wherever leaders sermon planetary issues, spotlight home ones and usage the satellite signifier to tribunal allies oregon assail foes. The coronavirus pandemic forced the assembly’s top-level yearly gathering to spell mostly virtual past year.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— Schools without disguise mandate get brunt of latest microorganism question successful South Carolina

— US sheet backs COVID-19 boosters lone for seniors, high-risk

— UN utilizing grant strategy to cheque vaccinations for New York meeting

— Nonprofit started by Sean Penn immunodeficiency Georgia vaccine drive

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— See AP sum astatine https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

ATLANTA — A catastrophe alleviation enactment founded by histrion Sean Penn is helping Georgia’s thrust to vaccinate radical against the coronavirus.

CORE, oregon Community Organized Relief Effort, has offered vaccines astatine hundreds of pop-up clinics astir the state, including schools, farmers’ markets and nutrient plants.

Only 46% of the authorities is afloat vaccinated, good beneath the nationalist mean of 54%. It’s a large origin successful Georgia’s astir three-month surge successful COVID infections and hospitalizations.

CORE offers vaccines for free. Funding for assemblage outreach comes from a instauration backed by the billionaire proprietor of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Blank, and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. The radical plans to walk much clip offering vaccines to employees astatine enactment sites, wherever turnout is better, said Margaret Herro, CORE’s Georgia director.

CORE is besides offering vaccines successful Washington, D.C., Oakland, California, New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles and a region successful North Carolina. Penn started the enactment successful 2010 aft a catastrophic earthquake killed thousands successful Haiti.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina is mounting records for COVID-19 hospitalizations, and caller cases are approaching the highest levels of past winter.

Since ending South Carolina’s authorities of exigency connected June 7, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has maintained that parents unsocial should determine if children deterioration masks successful schools, adjacent arsenic the state’s caller cases soared from 150 a time connected mean to much than 5,000.

Now teachers, students and parents are struggling with the fallout arsenic much young radical declaration the delta variant, forcing astir 2 twelve schools and 2 full districts backmost to online learning wrong a period of returning successful person.

State wellness and acquisition officials accidental the statewide disguise prohibition successful schools took distant 1 of their champion tools to halt the dispersed of COVID-19. The authorities deed astir 2,600 COVID-19 patients hospitalized successful aboriginal September, a record.

“We spiked the shot excessively early. Instead of continuing to perceive to aesculapian professionals and interpreting the data, helium has been guided by Republican Governors Association talking points,” Democratic authorities Sen. Marlon Kimpson of Charleston said.

Some lawmakers from some parties are pushing for a peculiar league to repeal the regularisation and let section governments to marque decisions. The authorities Supreme Court is considering a suit implicit whether the disguise proviso is legal.

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DUBAI — The superior of the United Arab Emirates has ended a argumentation requiring those coming successful from different emirates to person a caller antagonistic coronavirus test.

Abu Dhabi made the announcement Saturday, saying that radical from the UAE’s six different emirates could participate the superior from Sunday without getting a test.

For months, oil-rich Abu Dhabi had restricted travel, adjacent arsenic neighboring Dubai rapidly opened itself up to tourists.

Abu Dhabi besides has implemented a request that radical beryllium their vaccination presumption to participate immoderate nationalist places — a stricter request than the country’s different emirates.

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NEW DELHI — India gave retired 25 cardinal doses during a peculiar COVID-19 vaccination thrust organized connected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.

The run took spot Friday arsenic Modi turned 71. The Health Ministry said Saturday the peculiar thrust had raised India’s wide vaccinations to much than 790 million.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya called the feat “ a aureate section … written successful the past of the state and the world.”

Only China has administered more. The Chinese authorities said this week it had fixed much than 2.16 cardinal shots and that 1 cardinal Chinese radical were afloat vaccinated.

India, a state of astir 1.4 cardinal people, has fixed astatine slightest 1 dose to much than 62% of eligible adults and 2 doses to astir 21%. Health ministry officials accidental they program to administer implicit a cardinal shots by mid-October.

India has reported much than 33 cardinal coronavirus cases and 444,529 deaths. The state is signaling implicit 30,000 caller COVID-19 cases a day.

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MELBOURNE, Australia — Police utilized capsicum spray to subdue protesters Saturday astatine an anti-lockdown rally successful Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city.

About 1,000 demonstrators gathered successful the suburb of Richmond aft the determination of the protestation was changed astatine the past infinitesimal to evade authorities.

There were insignificant scuffles arsenic good arsenic a convulsive confrontation involving a fistful of protesters. Several protesters were arrested.

Most of the demonstrators defied regulations by failing to deterioration masks.

Some 2,000 constabulary officers were deployed astatine roadworthy checkpoints and barricades, and connected roving patrols, to effort to halt the rally going up successful breach of nationalist wellness orders.

Melbourne’s sixth lockdown began connected Aug. 5. Melbourne is the superior of Victoria state, which connected Saturday reported 535 caller infections and 1 COVID-19 decease successful the latest 24-hour period.

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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Military leaders connected Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson person declared a nationalist wellness exigency successful effect to expanding COVID-19 cases successful Alaska.

They besides encouraged each unit to debar places that bash not necessitate masks oregon societal distancing, officials said.

U.S. Air Force Col. Kirsten Aguilar said Friday that the declaration volition stay successful effect for 30 days, but could beryllium shortened oregon extended based connected cases and assemblage transmission of COVID-19.

Hospitalizations and COVID-19 cases crossed the authorities person accrued arsenic a effect of the highly contagious delta variant. Alaska connected Friday reported much than 1,200 recently confirmed cases per 100,000 radical implicit the past 2 weeks.

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PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — American Samoa reported its archetypal lawsuit of coronavirus connected Friday.

The U.S. territory’s acting politician and wellness officials said the islands’ archetypal lawsuit of COVID-19 was of a nonmigratory who returned to American Samoa from Hawaii this week.

The infected traveler flew successful connected Monday, the archetypal time of recently resumed commercialized flights from Honolulu to Pago Pago. The way had been suspended since March 2020.

Officials accidental the nonmigratory was afloat vaccinated and had traveled to Hawaii and the U.S. mainland. They accidental the traveler tested antagonistic for COVID-19 earlier boarding the formation backmost to American Samoa.

American Samoa requires each travelers to beryllium vaccinated and to quarantine.

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BATON ROUGE, La. — A kid is among the latest to dice from COVID-19 successful Louisiana, authorities wellness officials said Friday.

Heath section figures showed the authorities decease toll from the unwellness grew by 52. One of the victims was a kid betwixt the ages of 5 and 11. Fifteen radical younger than 18 person died successful Louisiana since the pandemic began. And it’s the sixth pediatric decease since a 4th surge began this summer.

Coronavirus hospitalizations continued to drop. They fell to 1,367 successful Friday’s figures, 64 less than the erstwhile day. Hospitalizations are down from a highest of much than 3,000 successful August but inactive good supra the pre-surge levels of mid-summer.

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WASHINGTON — The White House says President Joe Biden volition big a virtual acme adjacent week aimed astatine “calling the satellite to account” connected defeating the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting, to instrumentality spot connected the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, is meant to promote much countries to bash much to vaccinate the satellite against COVID-19 and amended coronavirus treatments.

Press caput Jen Psaki says Biden “will beryllium asking participants to perpetrate to of a higher level of ambition” connected planetary vaccinations and therapeutics, on with preparing for the adjacent pandemic.

The U.S. has committed to donating the much COVID-19 vaccine doses than immoderate different federation to the remainder of the world, and Biden is expected to inquire different well-off nations to marque bolder vaccine sharing commitments.

The White House says satellite leaders, philanthropists, manufacture representatives and non-governmental organizations volition participate.

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WASHINGTON — After overwhelmingly rejecting a program to springiness Pfizer booster shots against COVID-19 to astir Americans, an influential national advisory sheet has approved the other shots for those who are 65 oregon older oregon tally a precocious hazard of terrible disease.

The duplicate votes Friday represented a stroke to the Biden administration’s sweeping effort to enactment up astir each Americans’ extortion amid the dispersed of the highly contagious delta variant. The determination was made by a committee of extracurricular experts who counsel the Food and Drug Administration.

The ballot recommending the booster shots for older Americans and different high-risk groups helps salvage portion of the White House’s run but is inactive beryllium a immense measurement backmost from the sweeping program projected by medication a period agone to connection booster shots of some the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to astir each Americans 8 months aft they get their 2nd dose.

During respective hours of vigorous statement Friday, members of the sheet questioned the worth of offering boosters to astir everyone.

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