The U.N. Population Fund called on nations Wednesday to respect bodily autonomy as a universal right, saying too many women and girls are denied this basic power over their own bodies.“The right to autonomy over our bodies means that we must have the power and agency to make choices without fear of violence or having someone else decide for us,” UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem told reporters.Natalia Kanem, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, gives a press conference in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on March 22, 2021.Those other decision-makers include partners, family members, society and government.In a new report, “My Body is My Own,” UNFPA reviewed data from nearly 60 countries, representing about a quarter of the world’s population. It found that nearly half of the women lack the power to make their own decisions about their health care, whether or not to use contraception, or to have sexual intercourse with a partner.“A woman who has control over her body is more likely to have power in other spheres of her life,” Kanem said.
But when they are denied this power, she said it reinforces inequalities and perpetuates violence arising from gender discrimination, which is at the root of the problem.“When control rests elsewhere, autonomy remains perpetually out of reach,” the report notes.Crimes and practices that violate a woman’s bodily autonomy include “honor” killings, forced and early marriage, “virginity” tests and female genital mutilation. Forced pregnancy or abortion also violate a woman’s power to make decisions concerning her body.“Some violations, such as rape, may be criminalized, but then not always prosecuted and punished,” Kanem said. “Other violations go unchallenged altogether because they are reinforced by community norms, practices and laws.”Despite constitutional guarantees of gender equality in many countries, the report says on average, women globally enjoy only 75% of the legal rights of men.Kanem said COVID-19 has worsened the situation for millions of women, increasing sexual violence, especially during lockdowns, creating new barriers to access to health care, and job and education losses.The report notes that bodily autonomy is an issue for other often marginalized groups, including unmarried women, LGBTI communities and persons with disabilities.No country has achieved total gender equality, but among those with the best track record are Sweden, Uruguay, Cambodia, Finland and Netherlands.“A diversity that shows you that this aspirational value doesn’t really depend on culture or location,” Kanem said, noting that the same is true at the bottom of the scale.She said governments have a lead role to play by fulfilling obligations under human rights treaties and altering social, political, institutional and economic structures that reinforce gender inequalities.
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Several U.S. states have temporarily stopped providing Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines in line with federal guidance after six people who received the shots developed rare blood clots. Meanwhile, several countries have suspended the AstraZeneca vaccines after reports it, too, may be linked to blood clots. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports. 
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U.S. health officials have pressed pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after a handful of people developed a rare but serious blood-clotting disorder following vaccination. Six cases have been reported so far, out of nearly 7 million doses given. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up a small proportion of the U.S. vaccine supply, so the setback may be relatively minor. But experts say the problem may make more people reluctant to get vaccinated. The six cases occurred among women between 18 and 48 years old, between six and 13 days after vaccination. The patients developed an unusual combination of blood clots and low platelet counts. One woman died, and one was hospitalized.  Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
A Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is administered at the Banning Recreation Center in Wilmington, Calif., April 13, 2021. The site switched from its original plan to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the Pfizer vaccine.The symptoms of a serious clotting problem include severe headaches, abdominal or leg pain, and shortness of breath. Patients who experience those symptoms should tell their doctor if they have been vaccinated recently because treating these kinds of clots requires different treatment than normal, and standard treatment can be harmful, officials said. Vaccination drive continues Pausing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine “will not have a significant impact on our vaccination program,” White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters Tuesday. He said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine accounts for less than 5% of the shots delivered so far. The Biden administration had secured enough Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to immunize 300 million adults by the end of July, he added.  “The bottom line is, the vaccines that are now being administered are clearly safe and are saving lives,” Zients said. “Every American should get vaccinated when it’s their turn.” The fact that regulators spotted a one-in-a-million adverse event is, in a way, a good sign, noted vaccine expert Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.”You can be reassured that the other vaccines don’t have that rare side effect or else it would have also been picked up,” he said. The adverse reactions appear very similar to a small number of cases of serious blood-clotting problems linked to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Europe and Britain. People arrive at the Javits Center mass vaccination location amid the coronavirus pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, April 13, 2021.Those patients appear to have developed an immune response to a protein that platelets produce, according to a new study.The same thing may be happening with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.  “I think it’s a rare phenomenon, but I think it’s real,” Offit said. ‘Very wise’ Bad news about the vaccines will likely make it harder to get enough people vaccinated to stop transmission of the virus, experts say. “I think there’s no doubt that it will make hesitant people even more hesitant, which will mean that we have a bigger job to do to reach out to them, whatever the results of the investigation are,” said infectious diseases professor William Schaffner at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Schaffner called the pause “very wise,” adding it “actually reinforces the notion that we have an excellent, comprehensive and very transparent vaccine safety system in the United States.” Experts have been cautioning that these kinds of one-in-a-million problems tend to pop up as the vaccines move from clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people to large-scale use among hundreds of millions.  “That’s what happens when there’s very widespread implementation of any new therapy,” said Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. “We just haven’t experienced this before, where we have a set of brand new vaccines that we’re trying to effectively vaccinate everybody in the world with.”  Thirteen other countries and the World Health Organization have authorized the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It is favored for harder-to-reach populations because it requires just one shot and can be stored at refrigerator temperatures. The Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines require two doses, and the Pfizer and Moderna shots need ultra-cold storage.  VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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U.S federal health officials Tuesday said “out of an abundance of caution” they are recommending an immediate pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after six cases of blood clots were reported in the United States.
At a joint virtual news briefing, officials of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the pause would last “a matter of days” while the agencies investigate the cases of blood clotting, known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), which occurred in women between 18 and 48 years old within six to 13 days after receiving the one-dose vaccine.  
They note the six cases occurred out of more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine administered.
 
CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat said people who received the vaccine more than two weeks ago have very little to fear. Those who received the vaccine within the last week or so who develop symptoms such as severe headache, abdominal or leg pain, or shortness of breath, should contact their health care provider.
The officials said they are working to reschedule those people who had appointments to receive the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Schuchat said the decision is not a mandate, and people who, after discussions with their physicians, feel they can safely take it, will be allowed to do so.
In a statement Tuesday, White House COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator Jeff Zients said the decision to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will not have a significant effect on the nation’s vaccine program, as it made up less than five percent of the vaccine administered to date. Zients says the U.S. has secured enough doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for 300 million people.
The New York Times is reporting that one woman has died and another woman in the state of Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition.   
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the second one linked to potential blood clots. Several nations have issued new guidelines on the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after the European Union’s medical regulator announced a link between the vaccine and rare, possibly fatal blood clots.   
Meanwhile, a new single-day record of COVID-19 cases has pushed India into second place, behind the United States, as countries with the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus infections.
The South Asian nation’s 168,912 new COVID-19 cases posted on Monday gives India 13,527,717 total cases, compared to Brazil’s 13,517,808 total cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 
The new surge coincides with an acute shortage of vaccine in some Indian states, along with the annual Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, on the Ganges River, where millions of Hindu devotees bathe to seek absolution, raising fears it could evolve into a superspreader event. 
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she is asking Parliament for temporary powers that would allow her federal government to implement nationwide coronavirus lockdowns to curb a third wave of the pandemic in the country.
 
Merkel spoke to reporters after her Cabinet approved a draft of legislation that would give her government the power to impose pandemic-related restrictions, including curfews and school and business closings in areas with high infection rates.
 
The chancellor said the measures are needed to “break the third wave of the pandemic and stop the rapid rise in infections” in those areas where infection rates are more than 100 per 100,000 residents for three consecutive days within a week.
 
Earlier this year, when laying out a plan for reopening the nation and lifting restrictions, Merkel mentioned the need for what she called “an emergency brake” should infections rise.  
 
Merkel said it is clear that emergency brake is overdue. Citing daily figures from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, she said the latest daily infection rate is at nearly 11,000 new cases, and nearly all the nation’s intensive care unit beds are in use. Merkel said she hoped Parliament would swiftly debate and pass the bill.
 
She again asked for Germans to show patience and noted the vaccine program has been “building momentum every day,” with the recent start of vaccinations in doctors’ offices.
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Much of Europe has been forced back into lockdown amid a deadly third wave of the coronavirus. In Britain however, pubs, shops and services reopened Monday as the government hailed its vaccination program for cutting infections. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell 
Producer: Jason Godman  
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Federal health officials in the United States are recommending an immediate pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after reports of potentially dangerous blood clots.   The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration issued a joint statement early Tuesday announcing the agencies are investigating six instances of “a rare and severe blood clot” occurring in women between 18 and 48 years old within six to 13 days after receiving the one-dose vaccine.  The statement noted that more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the country. The New York Times is reporting that one woman has died and another woman in the western state of Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition.   The CDC says it will hold an emergency meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday to “to further review these cases and assess their potential significance.”CDC will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Wednesday to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. FDA will review that analysis as it also investigates these cases.— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) FILE – World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference in Geneva.The World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday blamed   “confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures and their application” for seven consecutive weeks of rising COVID-19 infections and four consecutive weeks of increasing numbers of deaths, after starting the year with six weeks of declining numbers. During a briefing Monday from WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, Tedros said while vaccines are a vital and powerful tool in fighting the pandemic, the standard mitigation efforts of social distancing, hygiene, masks and continued testing and tracking continue to be effective means of saving lives.  Britain reopensIn a relatively positive development, Britain announced that it is ahead of schedule of offering a first shot of COVID-19 vaccine to its older citizens on Monday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said vaccinating all people 50 years old and older by the self-imposed deadline of April 15 means “more than 32 million people have been given the precious protection vaccines provide against COVID-19.”  People drink in the Soho area of London, on April 12, 2021, as coronavirus restrictions are eased across the country in step two of the government’s roadmap out of England’s third national lockdown.The prime minister’s triumphant statement capped the end of a three-month strict lockdown imposed across Britain in response to a wave of infections triggered by a more transmissible strain of the virus, which was discovered late last year in the southeastern county of Kent.Thousands of gyms, hair salons, retail shops and zoos reopened their doors across England, along with bars and restaurants, which are limited to just outdoor service.   Similar restrictions remain in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have their own timetables for reopening. 
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A new single-day record of COVID-19 cases has pushed India into second place behind the United States for the world’s most confirmed coronavirus infections.The South Asian nation’s 168,912 new COVID-19 cases posted on Monday gives India 13,527,717 total cases, compared to Brazil’s 13,517,808 total cases, according to the FILE PHOTO: File labelled “Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine”, March 24, 2021.Reuters is reporting that India has approved the use of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.In the United States, the Biden administration is urging the midwestern state of Michigan to impose a mandatory lockdown to deal with a new surge of coronavirus infections sweeping the state.Michigan ‘s Governor Gretchen Whitmer has pleaded with the administration to provide extra doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the state in an effort to blunt the surge, which has the highest rate of new infections in the nation. But Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday “the answer is not necessarily to give vaccine” because of the length of time it takes for one to become effective.“The answer is really to close things down, to shut things down, to flatten the curve, to decrease contact,” Walensky said. The administration says it will send extra supplies of COVID-19 antibody treatments and tests to Michigan, but says it will stick with its plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to all states based on population.Governor Whitmer came under fire last year from conservatives for implementing strict coronavirus restrictions at the start of the pandemic, including armed groups entering the state capitol building in Lansing during a heated protest.FILE PHOTO: World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference in GenevaThe ongoing surge of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and India comes as the World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday blamed “confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures and their application” for seven consecutive weeks of rising COVID-19 infections and four consecutive weeks of increasing numbers of deaths, after starting the year with six weeks of declining numbers.During a briefing Monday from WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, Tedros said while vaccines are a vital and powerful tool in fighting the pandemic, the standard mitigation efforts of social distancing, hygiene, masks and continued testing and tracking continue to be effective means of saving lives.People drink in the Soho area of London, on April 12, 2021, as coronavirus restrictions are eased across the country in step two of the government’s roadmap out of England’s third national lockdown.In a relatively positive development, Britain announced that it is ahead of schedule of offering a first shot of COVID-19 vaccine to its older citizens on Monday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said vaccinating all people 50 years old and older by the self-imposed deadline of April 15 means “more than 32 million people have been given the precious protection vaccines provide against COVID-19.”The prime minister’s triumphant statement capped the end of a three-month strict lockdown imposed across Britain in response to a wave of infections triggered by a more transmissible strain of the virus, which was discovered late last year in the southeastern county of Kent.Thousands of gyms, hair salons, retail shops and zoos reopened their doors across England, along with bars and restaurants, which are limited to just outdoor service. Similar restrictions remain in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have their own timetables for reopening.
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