entertainment gist

  The Vatican has purchased a low temperature refrigerator for storing the vaccine, with inoculations to start in the second half of January. Pope Francis It has been reported that the global leader of the Roman Catholic church, Pope Francis is set to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the Agence France Presse, AFP, the Pope has called opposition to the coronavirus vaccine “suicidal denial” urging people to get the jab and saying he would get vaccinated himself next week. “Next week, we will start to do it here (in the Vatican) and I made an appointment, we must do it,”  he told Canale 5 in segments released on Saturday from an interview set to be broadcast the next day. “There is a suicidal denial which I cannot explain, but today we have to get vaccinated,”  the pontiff said. The Vatican had announced that its Covid-19 vaccination campaign will begin “in the next few days” with health workers and the elderly to receive vaccines from the second half of January. “...

  Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, who addressed journalists in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, said he and his colleagues had accepted to do so. South South governors used to tell the story It has been revealed that many Nigerian governors will be given COVID-19 vaccine on live television in order to encourage Nigerians to accept the vaccine. Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, who addressed journalists in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, said he and his colleagues had accepted to do so. “Absolutely,”  Mr Fayemi answered when asked if governors will also take the vaccines on live television.  “We too will like to demonstrate to our citizens that we believe that vaccines would work.” “Don’t forget, we have a lot of experience on this. Governors Forum managed the polio vaccines administration in the country and we have garnered a lot of experience,”  said Mr Fayemi, the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum. PREMIUM TIMES earlie...

  Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.    The Pfizer vaccine which is the first Coronavirus vaccine to be granted emergency use authorisation by the WHO, is said to be 90 percent effective.   In a statement released by the spokesperson of the former PDP Presidential candidate Paul Ibe, Atiku expressed hope of Nigerians, especially medical professionals in the frontline and the most vulnerable will be vaccinated in the country.     It read;    “The importance of the #COVID19 vaccine in mitigating the effect of the coronavirus cannot be overstated, particularly in Africa and Nigeria. Yesterday (Wednesday), as part of the mass vaccination programme, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.  “He is anxiously looking forward to when Nigerians, especially medical professionals in the frontline and the most vulnerable will...

  The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, says the Federal Government is currently in talks with China to have access to COVID19 vaccines for Nigeria.   Onyeama made this disclosure while briefing newsmen shortly after a bilateral meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, who was in Nigeria on a working visit.   He said that China was of immense assistance to Nigeria at the advent of the pandemic, noting that the donation of protective equipment greatly helped the nation in the fight against COVID19 during the first wave. The minister said that at this point when countries were discovering vaccines and China being one of them, Nigeria was engaging the country in the area of access to the vaccine. “We have received a lot of support from China in the area of personal protective equipment that they were very quick to provide us with. “China is also one of those countries that have been able to discover vaccines for COVID-19, so we are also engaging with ...

  A Portuguese health worker has died two days after getting the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.   41-year-old Sonia Acevedo, who worked in paediatrics at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Porto, suffered a 'sudden death' at home on New Year's Day 48 hours after receiving the jab.    The mother-of-two is not said to have suffered any adverse side-effects after being vaccinated, Mail Online reported.    Ms. Acevedo's father Abilio Acevedo told Portuguese daily Correio da Manha that he got the call to say her daughter had been found dead around 11am last Friday morning hours after they ate together on New Years Eve, adding: 'My daughter left home and I never saw her alive again.'   'She was okay. She hadn't had any health problems. She had the Covid-19 vaccine but she didn't have any symptoms. I don't know what happened. I just want answers.;   'I want to know what led to my daughter's death.'   Ms. Acevedo's daughter Vania Figuer...

  US singer Selena Gomez has called out Facebook, and asking the social media networking site to curtail the   spread of false news to curb covid-19 deaths . The 28-year-old singer spoke out against the site as she reposted part of a BBC interview with Imi Ahmed, the CEO of London charity Center For Countering Digital Hate. Share Selena Gomez says Facebook will be responsible for Covid-19 deaths Selena told her millions of young fans: “Scientific disinformation has and will cost lives. @ Facebook said they don’t allow lies about COVID and vaccines to be spread on their platforms. “So how come all of this is still happening? Facebook is going to be responsible for thousands of deaths if they don’t take action now!” In the segment she shared, Ahmed claimed social media companies have done “absolutely nothing” to stop the spread of false information concerning vaccines during the pandemic. Selena’s strong stance comes after she previously tackled the social media giant over a rep...

  A well-known divorce lawyer in Connecticut, US, killed his wife, who had Coronavirus, before turning the gun on himself in a Christmas Day murder-suicide, according to police authorities.   John Liquori, 59, fatally shot Cindy Liquori, 55, before shooting and killing himself on Friday at his mother inlaw's home in Windsor Locks, about 15 miles north of Hartford, the Hartford Courant reports.   Police say Cindy had COVID-19 and John may have had it.   According to Windsor Locks Detective Sgt. Jeff Lampson, Cindy was dog-sitting for her mother, Claire Palmer, while the mum was being treated for covid at a local hospital. Police now say they believe there is no evidence that the couple, who shared one child, happened to be estranged. Shortly before the murder-suicide took place, John called Cindy’s brother, requesting he come by Palmer’s home to pick up her dogs.  The lawyer called back, sounding distressed, which “raised serious concerns,” according to Lampson. ...

  The nurse tested positive for coronavirus despite taking the vaccine two weeks before. Matthew W A California nurse who received the COVID-19 vaccine for more than a week has tested positive for the virus, though medical experts say the timeline isn’t unusual. ER nurse Matthew W., who works at two different hospitals in San Diego, received the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Dec. 18, and initially reported arm soreness for a day, KGTV reported. The 45-year-old nurse then felt sick after working his shift in the Covid-19 unit seven days later on Christmas Eve. The nurse was experiencing classic symptoms such as fatigue, chills and body aches. Two days later, Matthew got tested at a drive-up hospital and his results came back positive for the coronavirus, according to the outlet. Dr. Christian Ramers, an infectious disease specialist with Family Health Centers of San Diego, told KGTV it’s a possibility that Matthew contracted the virus before getting the shot since it takes about two...

  Margaret Keenan, 91, the World’s first patient to get Covid vaccine has received her second dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.  She had her follow-up injection today and is now at home and recovering well, the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust said. The grandmother made headlines when she became the first person in the world to get the jab on December 8, and NHS England said that she would have a ‘booster jab’ 21 days later ‘to ensure she has the best chance of being protected against the virus’.    At the time, Margaret who hails from Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, but has lived in Coventry for more than 60 years said it was ‘a privilege’ to get the first dose, and said it was ‘the best early birthday present I could wish for’ after being ‘on my own’ for most of 2020.    She added: ‘I can’t thank May and the NHS staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it – if...