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The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is less effective in children aged five to 11 than in adolescents and adults, according to new data from New York state health officials, The Guardian reported.

The new research was announced shortly after federal authorities relaxed masking guidance and a day after Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, said he would probably follow Governor Kathy Hochul in ending a mask mandate in city schools.

The study was carried out during the Omicron variant surge but was made public at a time of rapidly dropping cases and hospitalizations in New York and elsewhere.

In the study released on Monday, not yet peer-reviewed, six New York state public health scientists analyzed cases and hospitalization rates from 13 December 2021 to 30 January 2022 among 852,384 fully vaccinated children aged 12 to 17 and 365,502 fully vaccinated children aged five to 11.

Results revealed that vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization during the Omicron variant surge declined from 85% to 73% for children aged 12 to 17.

Among children aged five to 11, effectiveness fell even more significantly, from 100% to 48%.

Vaccine effectiveness against testing positive declined from 66% to 51% among children aged 12 to 17. In the younger group, effectiveness dropped from 68% to 12%.

In the last week of January, vaccine effectiveness against infection among 12-year-olds was 67% – but just 11% for 11-year-olds.

“The difference between the two age groups is striking,” Florian Krammer, an immunologist at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, told the New York Times.

He noted that 12-year-olds were administered 30mg of the vaccine, the same dose given to adults. But 11-year-olds were given only 10mg.

“This is super interesting because it would almost suggest that it’s the dose that makes the difference … the question is how to fix that,” Krammer said.

Eli Rosenberg, the New York state deputy director for science, told the New York Times that although it was disappointing to see the decline in vaccine effectiveness, it should be acknowledged that the Pfizer/BioNTech shot was developed in response to an earlier virus variant.

“It looks very distressing to see this rapid decline but it’s again all against Omicron,” he said.

A government team recently conducted a field survey of Seti River in Sudurpaschim Province for the proposed Seti Hydropower Project.

The 750MW project has remained on the drawing board for the past 40 years. Most people in and around the proposed project area doubt the plan will ever come to pass. For them, it is just an agenda that politicians bring up whenever elections are close.

Bishnu Chand, a resident of Dhungad village in Baitadi, says Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has not prioritized the power plant even though his home district of Dadeldhura is also part of the project area.

“This is the fifth time Deuba has become prime minister. West Seti Hydropower Project is always in his election agenda, but soon he is elected, the plan goes on the backburner,” he says. “It is the same for other leaders from this region who run for office.”

The proposed project site and its transmission lines span the districts of Bajhang, Baitadi, Doti, Dadeldhura, Kailali and Kanchanpur.

Over the years, three foreign companies–Sogreah of France, Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation of Australia and China Three Gorges International Corporation of China–have conducted preliminary studies and field works, but actual work never started.

Successive governments have taken up the project and failed to deliver.

“The project remains in limbo owing to the uncertainty concerning investment, energy market and potential low returns,” says Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation.

Five years ago, the Nepali Congress government had announced a plan to develop the project with domestic investment. But the plan was shelved when the communist government came to power.

“The government of KP Sharma Oli seemed uninterested. There was also the issue of finding the market. Our energy market is India but the Indian government considers only the projects it invests in,” says NP Saud, a Nepali Congress leader.

Gokarna Bista, a former energy minister, blames the government for not prioritizing the project.

“The West Seti power development plan became a government priority during my tenure as energy minister. That was 11 years ago and successive governments have failed to develop the project, which is vital for the development of Sudurpaschim Province,” he says.

The government recently roped in the Investment Board Nepal to take the project forward. The 47th board meeting has formed a committee to study the project.

“We will soon come up with a development modality,” says Sushil Bhatta, executive director of the board. “We are also finalizing our survey report to be submitted to the government by March 12.”

Locals say they have heard the plans for West Seti from many prime ministers and ministers and such promises now ring hollow.

“I am 40 now and I’ve been hearing about the West Seti project all my life, but there has been no progress,” says Chand of Dhungad village of Baitadi.

Nepal logged 127 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths on Wednesday. 

With this, the country's active caseload mounted to 1,116,656. Similarly, the death toll has climbed to 11,941. 

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 4,672 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 123 returned positive. Likewise, 2202 people underwent antigen tests, of which 4 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 321 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 79,272 active cases in the country. 

The Ministry said that 7,580 people are staying in home isolation while 190 are in institutionalized isolation.

Two people died in a motorbike accident at Saraswotinagar of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-6 on Tuesday.

The deceased have been identified as biker Shivaraj Karki (30) and pedestrian Durga Bahadur Karki of Okhaldhunga district.

The incident occurred after the biker lost control over the vehicle all of a sudden and hit the pedestrian last night. 

The rider breathed his last in course of treatment at the Chabahil-based Helping Hands Hospital and the pedestrian died during the course of treatment at the Om Hospital, according to the police. RSS