New data by two leading U.N. agencies find the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine life-saving immunization services for millions of children, many of whom risk dying from vaccine-preventable diseases.The World Health Organization and U.N. Children’s Fund report 23 million children missed out last year on vaccines against killer diseases such as measles, polio, and diphtheria. They say global disruptions of immunization services caused by COVID-19 have set back progress in childhood vaccinations by a decade.They report children in the Southeastern Asian and eastern Mediterranean regions were most affected. India topped a list of 10 countries with the greatest increase in children who did not receive a first dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis combined vaccine. The nine following countries are in the Americas and African regions.Director of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals Department at WHO Kate O’Brien said new waves of COVID-19 and the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines must not derail routine immunization. She noted vaccines are the most powerful tools available to safeguard public health.A student reacts as a medical worker administers a shot of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination campaign for children ages 12-17 at a school in Tangerang, Indonesia, July 14, 2021.“The world has rightly prioritized the emergency response to COVID-19,” she said. “But if we fail to find a catch-up, and catch up those who have missed their vaccines, and restore and improve the essential immunization program, there is a serious risk of disease outbreaks that will continue to grow. We really cannot trade one crisis for another.”Principal adviser and chief of immunization at UNICEF, Ephrem Lemango, said immunizations in the first half of 2020 decreased significantly in many countries. This due to the closure of health facilities, pandemic lockdown measures and transportation disruptions.“Later on, recovery interventions, such as the community mobilization activities and supply of protective equipment to health providers and conducting participatory activities, have actually enabled some regions such as the Middle Eastern, Northern Africa region, as well, to really improve its coverage,” Lemango said.He adds the African region also saw a significant improvement in coverage.WHO, UNICEF and partners are helping countries and regions in their efforts to recover from the pandemic and strengthen immunization systems.The agencies aim to achieve 90% coverage for essential childhood vaccines by 2030. If this U.N.-designated goal is fully implemented, they say the deaths of an estimated 51 million future children could be averted.
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European Union leaders on Wednesday introduced the bloc’s most comprehensive plans yet to combat climate change, with a new goal of reducing carbon emissions to 55% below 1990 levels by 2030.Unveiled by the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, the legislation would make the bloc’s goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050 legally binding and completely overhaul its energy system.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a press conference that the “Fit for 55” plan would act as a road map of concrete actions necessary to achieve the bloc’s climate goals.“Our package aims to combine the reduction of emissions with measures to preserve nature, and to put jobs and social balance at the heart of this transformation,” von der Leyen said.The sweeping proposal would involve every sector of the EU’s economy in its Emissions Trading System, which incentivizes companies to lower their emissions by taxing the carbon they produce.New taxes on previously exempt sectors are proposed for aviation and shipping fuels. The plan also calls for increasing existing carbon taxes to the transportation, manufacturing and power sectors.FILE – Cars sit at a standstill during morning rush hour on a main artery in the European Quarter of Brussels, Dec. 12, 2019. The European Union on July 14, 2021, unveiled new legislation to help meet its pledge to cut climate-changing emissions.Border taxOne of the package’s most noteworthy aspects is a first-of-its-kind tax on the carbon produced by foreign imports, which in turn likely would raise prices for consumers.This border tax — known officially as the carbon border adjustment mechanism — would ensure the EU is reducing emissions across the board, and it would protect domestic companies against price competition from foreign companies without the same environmental restrictions.In April, environmental leaders from China, India, South Africa and Brazil spoke out against such a tax, asserting that a carbon border adjustment would be discriminatory against developing countries that lack the resources to focus on cutting emissions.The commission also is planning to completely phase out the sale of combustion-engine cars by 2035, effectively bringing new car emissions to zero.Other proposals include shifting millions of buildings in the EU toward renewable energy by 2030 via renovation and implementation of a carbon tax on road transport.“Emission of CO2 must have a price, and we know that carbon pricing works,” von der Leyen said. “Our existing emission trading system has already helped significantly to reduce emissions in industry and in power generation.”European Commissioner for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, July 14, 2021.Fairness, accessibilityThe commission emphasized a focus on making the transition to renewable energy fair and accessible to everyone, particularly low-income individuals and member states whose economies are more reliant on polluting industries.Environmental taxes that target the individual have caused controversy in the past, as seen with the massive yellow vest movement in opposition to the French government’s raising fuel taxes.Since energy prices are expected to rise, the commission proposed creating a $85.2 billion fund that citizens of member states could access to help mitigate the costs of switching to energy-efficient housing and transportation.The commission’s plan comes six years after the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement signaled a worldwide commitment to mitigating the impact of climate change and keeping global temperatures from increasing significantly.Additionally, since the EU produces only 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, the plan is intended to push other world powers to follow suit and produce more concrete plans for reaching climate neutrality.In coming years, the commission’s plan will be the subject of scrutiny and negotiation as the leaders from the 27 member states convene in the European Parliament and Council to implement the laws across the EU.
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More than 93,000 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S. last year, a record experts say was partly triggered by the isolation that many experienced during coronavirus-related lockdowns.
 
The government reported Wednesday that the 2020 total easily surpassed the previous record of about 72,000 deaths in 2019.
 
“This is a staggering loss of human life,” Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends, told the Associated Press. He said the United States was already faced with an overdose epidemic but that the pandemic “has greatly exacerbated the crisis.”
 
In addition to isolation, many sources of help for addicts were not available during lockdowns.
 
“During the pandemic, a lot of [drug] programs weren’t able to operate. Street-level outreach was very difficult. People were very isolated,” said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, a health policy expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
 
Health experts say that while prescription painkillers once played a key role in U.S. drug overdose deaths, heroin and then in recent years fentanyl — a dangerously powerful opioid — proved exceptionally lethal.
 
Fentanyl was developed to legitimately treat intense medical pain, but now is sold illicitly and mixed with other drugs.
 
The government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said its studies show fentanyl was involved in more than 60% of overdose deaths last year.This August 2017 shows Jordan McGlashen, left, and his siblings, Brandon, Collin, and Kaitlin, in Battle Creek, Michigan. Jordan died of a drug overdose in his Ypsilanti, Michigan, apartment in 2020. (Courtesy Collin McGlashen via AP) One of the 93,000 was Jordan McGlashen of Ypsilanti, Michigan, who died of a heroin and fentanyl overdose May 6. He would have turned 39 six days later.
 
“It was really difficult for me to think about the way in which Jordan died. He was alone, and suffering emotionally and felt like he had to use again,” said his younger brother, Collin McGlashen.
 
Fentanyl is increasingly being found mixed with other drugs.
 
“What’s really driving the surge in overdoses is this increasingly poisoned drug supply,” said Shannon Monnat, an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University who researches geographic patterns in overdoses. “Nearly all of this increase is fentanyl contamination in some way. Heroin is contaminated. Cocaine is contaminated. Methamphetamine is contaminated.”
 
The scope is staggering. The CDC is reporting that drug overdoses in 2020 increased in every state but New Hampshire and South Dakota.
 
States with the biggest increases in overdose deaths were Vermont, up 57.6%; followed by Kentucky, up 54%; South Carolina, up 52%; West Virginia, up nearly 50%; and California, up 46%.
 
Sharfstein of Johns Hopkins says the U.S. is likely now seeing more overdose deaths than deaths from COVID-19.
 
“This is a different kind of crisis, and it’s not going to go away as quickly,” he said.Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
 
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Residents in Sydney, Australia will remain under lockdown for another two weeks as officials continue to struggle to contain a growing outbreak of the delta variant of COVID-19.The lockdown was first imposed on June 26 after a Sydney airport limousine driver who had been transporting international air crews tested positive for the variant. More than 800 people have since been infected, including 97 new infections reported Wednesday.  Two people have died in the current outbreak.”It always hurts to say this, but we need to extend the lockdown at least a further two weeks,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Wednesday in Sydney, the state capital.  The city’s five million residents are only allowed to leave home for work, exercise, essential shopping or medical reasons, while schools and many non-essential businesses are closed.People queue in line to wait for coronavirus testing at a testing site in Seoul, South Korea, July 8, 2021.South Korea dealing with new outbreak
South Korea is also dealing with a stubborn outbreak of new COVID-19 cases triggered by the delta variant.  Officials with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 1,615 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, a new single-day record.  The majority of the new infections came from the capital, Seoul, and immediate surrounding neighborhoods.   The outbreak has prompted authorities to enforce strict restrictions and social distancing rules across much of South Korea, including a ban on private gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m. in the Seoul area, with bars and restaurants closing by midnight.   South Korea now has 171,911 total COVID-19 cases, including 2,048 deaths. Only 30.6 percent of its 52 million citizens have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.   US Experiencing New COVID Surge Surge of new infections blamed on fast-moving delta variant, low rates of vaccinations and political oppositionThe CDC has banned most cruising from U.S. waters since March 2020. Companies have been working with the health agency to resume sailings under its conditional sail order — a set of guidelines for cruise companies wishing to resume sailing in the U.S., including test cruises and vaccine requirements.Norwegian Cruise Lines, which is set to resume cruises from Florida on August 15, said in the complaint that it wants to resume operations “in a way that will be safe, sound, and consistent with governing law,” according to court documents obtained by CNN.
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New Zealand students have developed sustainable materials made from cabbage tree leaves and flax that could soon be used to make high-performance skis, kayaks and skateboards. Their plan is to use them to replace traditional fiberglass and carbon fiber. Skateboards need to be tough. Two students at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, Ben Scales and William Murrell, believe they can make them even more durable by using fiber from plants. After experimenting in their garage workshops, they created new, natural composite materials.  Scales, who is 21 and studies product design, says their first version is looking good. “The prototype is a harakeke bio-composite skateboard. So, it is 25 percent harakeke fiber and 75 percent recycled polylactic acid, which is a plastic derived from corn starch. It is commonly used in 3D printing, and we have found it to be (a) quite well-suited material to a skateboard because it absorbs the bumps and shocks a lot more than, say, a carbon-fiber skateboard or a conventional wood skateboard,” Scales said.    The fiber is extracted from the Harakeke plant, which is a native New Zealand flax, and mixed with various resins. Leaves from the cabbage tree, which is similar to a palm tree, are also a key ingredient.   The plan is to use these sustainable materials to make skis, snowboards and kayaks, which are currently manufactured from fiberglass and carbon fiber. The university students have attracted interest from potential business partners in other countries. “They range in companies in Europe that make boats to skis, and then a few startups overseas who are looking to sort of shape the personal transport industry with e-bikes and things like that, and they are looking to use sustainable materials that just are not offered in industries like that. So, they are wanting to use our material once we have gotten it ready, which will hopefully be soon,” Scales said. If they’re successful, the students could reinvigorate New Zealand’s flax fiber industry, and revive practices used by indigenous Māori before European colonization. 
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The United States should accommodate millions of refugees who will be forced to flee disasters and other effects of a changing climate, according to a task force report released Wednesday.  The In this April 15, 2021, file photo, President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. No nation offers asylum or other protections to people displaced because of climate change. Biden’s admin is studying the idea.In an executive order in February, U.S. President Joe Biden instructed National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to examine how to identify and resettle people who will be displaced by climate change.    “We are actively working on a report on climate change and its impact on migration, including forced migration, internal displacement and planned relocation, for the president and expect a final version, or summary thereof, will be made public by the fall,” a senior administration official told VOA.  Opposition to resettlement proposal There is certain to be pushback from conservative lawmakers and groups opposing liberal immigration reform.   America’s immigration system “is already strained to the breaking point” with more than 1.3 million pending asylum cases, and “inviting untold millions more to seek refugee status, or arrive here and claim asylum, based on assertions of harm as a result of climate change would cause the system to collapse entirely,” predicted Ira Mehlman, media director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform.  Climate change “cannot be addressed by advocacy group-driven attempts to engage in mass resettlement of people in the United States,” added Mehlman, who contends the task force’s proposal “ironically would further hinder our ability to address the root causes of climate change. Large-scale, migration-driven population growth would make it nearly impossible for the United States to meet goals set for reductions in CO2 and other harmful emissions.”  The founder of another organization seeking stricter limitations on immigration to the United States also expresses concern.  “Of all forms of migration, refugee resettlement has tended to have the most direct negative effect on the ability of lower-skilled Americans — disproportionately minorities — to obtain jobs and on depressing the wages of those who retain their jobs,” said Roy Beck, founder of anti-immigration group NumbersUSA.  Priority should be given to those from adjacent countries or the same region, but the task force suggests America “would be a destination for the whole world, making the lack of numerical caps in the proposal especially problematic,” added Beck.  The NumbersUSA leader also is concerned about the ramifications of Temporary Protection Status for those whose displacement is caused by disasters exacerbated by the effects of climate, as the task force proposes. “This would continue the corruption of the program’s purpose, which already is threatened with losing the support of the American people for the very real and manageable need for the U.S. to provide respite for as many calamities as possible, but only if the respite is truly temporary,” said Beck.  Biden previously announced the United States intends to double, by 2024, its annual public climate finance for developing countries and triple public finance for climate adaptation, compared to what the country was providing during the second half of former President Barack Obama’s administration (who was in office from 2009 to early 2017).   The 2022 fiscal year request by Biden of $2.5 billion for international climate programs “is very significant but still less than the amounts for which climate experts had advocated,” according to the task force, which wants the U.S. to increase the foreign aid budget to reduce the risks of climate-related disasters and for international programs dealing with climate adaptation. According to the report, there is globally a $2.5 trillion gap in resilience infrastructure.  Advocates such as Ober at Refugees International, are optimistic that the Biden administration will help close that gap, saying, “it has already shown a good faith effort to really dig into these issues, and in fact, is the first administration of its kind to really set a high bar for addressing climate change and migration issues.”  
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Seven COVID-19 vaccines have received the green light from the World Health Organization so far. And as new variants of the coronavirus evolve, questions arise about how well each vaccine works. It can get confusing. But as VOA’s Steve Baragona reports, when it comes to keeping people out of the hospital and the grave, any shot will help.
Video editor: Bronwyn Benito
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Students in Afghanistan have lacked access to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, as schools have remained closed and the virus has not been controlled.”The real tragedy is that over 3,000 students in Kabul who come from poor families simply do not have the ability to pursue online education during the pandemic when schools are closed,” said Aziz Royesh, a teacher and founder of the A doctor fills a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center, in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 11, 2021.Not all have internet, electricityStudents in big cities such as Kabul and Herat have better security and a few hours of electricity most days, and more privileged students have access to the internet, although it is often weak and unreliable. But in the countryside, students do not have the same security, power is very limited and the internet is almost nonexistent, they report.A teacher talks with students at a coffee shop in the Kardan University in Kabul, June 15, 2021.’I will be a year behind’Mohammad Reza Nazari, a recent high school graduate in Kabul, is struggling to get an education during COVID-19. He was taking English classes at Star Educational Society when the center shut down, putting a stop to his education. “I was taking a TOFEL class to pass the exam and apply for schools abroad, but unfortunately the limited electricity and poor Wi-Fi connection prevented me from doing online study,” he said, referring to the Test for English as a Foreign Language that many U.S. colleges and universities require for acceptance.”I get really sad and depressed when I remember that I will be a year behind other students my age,” he said.Khodadad Jafari from Daikundi, Afghanistan, is a student at Star Educational Society. He moved to Kabul three years ago to learn English so he could study abroad and find a part-time job to support himself and his family back in his village.”I came to Kabul with a lot of hope, but I had to return to the village with all my wishes destroyed,” Jafari said.He tried to stay in his village, but his drive to get an education led him back to Kabul.”I have access with my mobile to some phone data in Kabul that I did not have at home. I learn English by watching YouTube videos and from websites, but I have limited data and resources,” Jafari said.Maryam Darwish is a high school senior in Kabul. Since her school shut down, she has found it hard to study by herself.”I can study social studies, but I need someone to help me with science and math. I try to spend my day drawing, reading fiction and going over my social studies books,” Darwish said. “I want to continue my education online, but I am always worried and sleepless.””It’s hard to overstate the impact that COVID has had on the continuity of education in Afghanistan. So many students lost nearly all of 2020 to school closures, and now schools are closed again for the foreseeable future,” said Shabana Basij-Rasikh, co-founder of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan, in Kabul.”SOLA, as a boarding school, is fortunate in that we’ve been able to institute health and safety procedures that have allowed us to operate throughout this year without any outbreaks on our campus, but our model is unique in Afghanistan,” she said. “COVID is the great thief that has robbed millions, literally millions, of Afghan girls and boys of their education.” 
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is adding a new warning to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine because of a link to a rare neurological condition.The federal oversight agency issued a statement Monday saying it had received preliminary reports of 100 people who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome after receiving the single-shot vaccine. According to the FDA, Guillain-Barré syndrome occurs when the immune system damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and occasional paralysis.  Between 3,000 and 6,000 people are diagnosed each year with the condition in the United States.The FDA said of the 100 vaccine recipients who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome, one person died and 95 were hospitalized. Most of the cases were reported in men 50 years old and older, and usually two weeks after being inoculated.The numbers are a small fraction of the 12.8 million people who have received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, which makes up a small proportion of the U.S. vaccine supply.  The FDA said after evaluating the information it has determined that “the known and potential benefits” of the vaccine “clearly outweigh the known and potential risks.”But the new warning casts another cloud over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been plagued with problems since it was approved by the FDA.  Both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention briefly halted use of the vaccine back in April after several women under 50 years old developed a rare but serious blood-clotting disorder following vaccination, and at least one person died. Another problem occurred earlier this year when millions of doses were ruined when a Baltimore-based manufacturing plant mixed the Johnson & Johnson vaccine with ingredients from the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca.   Global COVID Cases Up for 4th Consecutive Week, WHO Says Spike comes as delta variant has now been reported in more than 104 countriesThe company said in a statement it has been discussing the reports with the FDA and other health regulators around the world.The latest tally from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center shows 187.3 million total COVID-19 infections around the world, including over 4 million deaths.  The U.S. leads in both categories with 33.8 million total cases, including 607,442 deaths.  India and Brazil are second and third in total infections with 30.8 million and 19.1 million, respectively, while the positions are reversed in fatalities — Brazil is second with 534,233, followed by India with 408,764. [[ COVID-19 Map – Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
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Wildfires that torched homes and forced thousands to evacuate burned across 10 parched Western states on Tuesday, and the largest, in Oregon, threatened California’s power supply. Nearly 60 wildfires tore through bone-dry timber and brush from Alaska to Wyoming, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Arizona, Idaho and Montana accounted for more than half of the large active fires. The fires erupted as the West suffered through the second bout of dangerously high temperatures in just a few weeks. A climate change-fueled megadrought also is contributing to conditions that make fires even more dangerous, scientists say. The National Weather Service says the heat wave appeared to have peaked in many areas, and excessive-heat warnings were largely expected to expire by Tuesday. However, they continued into Tuesday night in some California deserts, and many areas were still expected to see highs in the 80s and 90s. In Northern California, a combined pair of lightning-ignited blazes dubbed the Beckwourth Complex was less than 25% surrounded after days of battling flames fueled by winds, hot weather and low humidity that sapped the moisture from vegetation. Evacuation orders were in place for more than 3,000 residents of remote northern areas and neighboring Nevada. There were reports of burned homes, but damage was still being tallied. The blaze had consumed 362 square kilometers (140 square miles) of land, including in Plumas National Forest. A fire that began Sunday in the Sierra Nevada south of Yosemite National Park exploded across 36 square kilometers (14 square miles) and was just 10% contained. A highway that leads to Yosemite’s southern entrance remained open. The largest fire in the United States lay across the California border in southwestern Oregon. The Bootleg Fire — which doubled and doubled again over the weekend — threatened about 2,000 homes, state fire officials said. It had burned at least seven homes and more than 40 other buildings. Over the weekend, the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office warned that it would cite or even arrest people who ignored orders to “go now” in certain areas immediately threatened by the blaze. Tim McCarley told KPTV-TV that he and his family were ordered to flee their home on Friday with flames just minutes behind them. He described the blaze as “like a firenado,” with flames leaping dozens of feet into the air and jumping around, catching trees “and then just explosions, boom, boom, boom, boom.” The fire is burning in the Fremont-Winema National Forest, near the Klamath County town of Sprague River. It had ravaged an area of about 621 square kilometers (240 square miles), or nearly twice the size of Portland. Firefighters hadn’t managed to surround any of it as they struggled to build containment lines. The fire drastically disrupted service on three transmission lines providing up to 5,500 megawatts of electricity to California, and California’s power grid operator has repeatedly asked for voluntary power conservation during evening hours. Elsewhere, a forest fire started during lightning storms in southeast Washington grew to 223 square kilometers (86 square miles). It was 20% contained Monday.  Another fire west of Winthrop closed the scenic North Cascades Highway, the most northern route through the Cascade Range. The road provides access to North Cascades National Park and the Ross Lake National Recreation Area.  In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little mobilized the National Guard to help fight twin lightning-sparked fires that have together charred nearly 62 square kilometers (24 square miles) of dry timber in the remote, drought-stricken region. The July heat wave follows an unusual June siege of broiling temperatures in the West, and comes amid worsening drought conditions throughout the region. Scientists say human-caused climate change and decades of fire suppression that increases fuel loads have aggravated fire conditions across the region. 
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Scientists funded by U.S. space agency NASA are studying how small impacts from space materials have affected the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa and how they could affect the search for signs of life there. Scientists have determined that on Europa, beneath a thick layer of ice, is a salty ocean whose conditions may be suitable for life. The water may even make its way into the icy crust and onto the moon’s surface. Because of its proximity to Jupiter, Europa is subject to impacts with space debris and intense electron radiation generated by the planet. Each of these impacts can stir up the surface of the moon. Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have been studying the cumulative effects the impacts have on Europa’s surface as part of their preparations to send a probe mission to the distant moon later this decade. FILE – The icy moon Europa rises above Jupiter’s cloud tops in this undated image taken by NASA spacecraft New Horizons.The study, published Monday in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy, explains how the JPL scientists, using models, determined that the icy surface of Europa had been churned by small impacts to an average depth of about 30 centimeters over tens of millions of years. And that any molecules that might qualify as potential biosignatures — including chemical signs of life — could be affected at that depth. The researchers call the surface-churning process “impact gardening,” and they say the impacts would churn some material to the surface, where radiation would likely break the bonds of any potential large, delicate molecules that suggest or are indicative of life.  University of Hawaii at Manoa planetary research scientist Emily Costello, lead author of the study, said impact gardening has likely exposed biosignatures within those 30 centimeters, requiring their search for life to go deeper than the impact zone. The study will help the scientists at the JPL designing the Europa Clipper probe target their search for life on the moon. JPL Europa scientist Cynthia Phillips, a co-author of the study, says it also provides a broader understanding of processes that shape the surface planets and other bodies throughout the solar system.  The Europa Clipper spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2024 and is being designed to conduct a series of close flybys of Europa as it orbits Jupiter. 
 
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