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U.S. President Joe Biden is concerned about the nation splitting into two groups: the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.”I don’t want to see the country that is already too divided become divided in a new way, between places where people live free from fear of COVID, and places where … the fall arrives and death and severe illnesses return,” Biden said Wednesday as he announced new coronavirus vaccination initiatives with inducements.”Getting the vaccine is not a partisan act,” added Biden, noting production of the vaccines was done under presidents from both parties. “We need to be one America — united, free from fear.”FILE – Members of the Nevada National Guard offer coronavirus vaccines at a mobile vaccination clinic held at a tribal health center on the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Reservation and Colony on May 18, 2021 in Fallon, Nev.Biden has set a goal of vaccinating 70% of adults in the United States with at least one injection by July 4, when the country celebrates its Independence Day. The rate is currently 63%.With COVID-19 vaccination rates lagging, especially in some minority communities, Biden recommends the Shots at the Shop program, which includes more than 1,000 neighborhood barbers and hairstylists. The hair professionals will attend training sessions this month about coronavirus vaccines and then hold vaccination clinics in their establishments.”Barbershops, beauty shops are hubs of activity and information in Black and brown communities particularly,” Biden said at the White House.The administration’s National Month of Action will also include several “national organizations, local government leaders, community-based and faith-based partners, businesses, employers, social media influencers, celebrities, athletes, colleges, young people and thousands of volunteers,” according to the White House.FILE – Medical workers and volunteers administer the coronavirus vaccine at a drive-through clinic in Mora, N.M., April 20, 2021. New Mexico is the latest U.S. state to offer cash lottery prizes in a bid to increase vaccination rates.”America is headed into the summer dramatically different from last year’s summer — a summer of freedom, a summer of joy, a summer of get-togethers and celebrations. An all-American summer that this country deserves after a long, long, dark winter that we’ve all endured,” Biden said.Two of the largest child care providers in the United States are offering free drop-in appointments at more than 2,500 sites to parents and other caregivers while they get vaccinated.Some pharmacies this month will stay open overnight on Fridays for vaccinations.”We’re going to continue encouraging people to get vaccinated with incentives and fun rewards,” said Biden.Among vaccine incentives being offered by the private sector and endorsed by the White House:— A national pharmacy chain is launching a sweepstakes for vaccinated people to win free ship cruises, cash prizes and other rewards.— The top professional baseball league is giving free tickets to those who get vaccinated, and it is also offering vaccinations at stadiums.— A supermarket chain will award dozens of vaccinated shoppers free groceries for a year.— An airline is offering its frequent-fliers a year of free flights or a round trip for two in any class of service.FILE – George Ripley, 72, of Washington holds up his free beer after receiving the J & J COVID-19 vaccine shot, at The REACH at the Kennedy Center in the nation’s capital, May 6, 2021.— A major brewery is also giving away free beer to all Americans 21 and older if the U.S. reaches Biden’s 70% goal by July 4.”That’s right — get a shot and have a beer,” Biden remarked, as he listed some of the inducements.The Krispy Kreme doughnut chain says anyone can get a free doughnut June 4 to celebrate National Doughnut Day, but those who have been vaccinated against COVID will get an extra one.A national doughnut chain said Tuesday that it had given away 1.5 million glazed doughnuts to those with proof of vaccination.Krispy Kreme said anyone could get a free doughnut, vaccinated or not, on Friday to celebrate National Doughnut Day. But people who have been vaccinated will get an additional doughnut.”I would not recommend a Krispy Kreme with a beer, but I would leave that to other people to decide,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki remarked about the plethora of nationwide promotions tied to COVID-19 vaccinations.A national vaccination tour, led by Vice President Kamala Harris, will also be launched across Southern and Midwestern states, Biden announced Wednesday.Harris will be joined by her husband, Doug Emhoff, as well as first lady Jill Biden and members of the president’s Cabinet.
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Hundreds of Zimbabweans protested Wednesday about a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines as the country awaits more doses from China.  The government wants to inoculate at least 60% of Zimbabwe’s more than 14 million people by the end of the year but has struggled to get the necessary supplies.  Claudina Maneni brought her 60-year-old mother to get her second vaccine dose Wednesday at Wilkins Hospital, Zimbabwe’s main COVID-19 vaccination center.  She was among people who arrived at 4 a.m. but waited in vain for hours.  The crowd demanded to see authorities and began to protest but dispersed upon hearing police were on their way.  Maneni says she wonders why Zimbabwe’s finance minister, Mthuli Ncube, has not imported more vaccines to avert shortages. “That’s the problem with freebies. Shortages must affect those who want their first jabs,” she said. “I hear some private points are selling it. I will pass through to check. It must be them — government officials — taking vaccines to those places. They are not ashamed at all. There will be chaos here. Why did they call us to come for vaccination?” On Wednesday, Dr. John Mangwiro, Zimbabwe’s junior health minister, refused to comment. Tuesday, he told state-controlled media that government would redistribute COVID-19 vaccines from areas with lower demand to those where uptake has been high to avert current shortages. He said Zimbabwe still had more than 400,000 doses from the 1.7 million COVID-19 vaccines it got from China, Russia and India since February.  Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa was mum about the COVID-19 vaccine shortages on June 1, 2021 in Harare while updating journalists on the global pandemic. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)Updating media Tuesday about Zimbabwe’s COVID-19 situation, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa was mum about the shortages. “As of 31st May, 2021, a total of 675,678 people had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and about 344,400 their second dose — this is across the country. Priority is being given to second doses,” she said.
After speaking, she did not field questions from reporters. Calvin Fambirai, executive director of Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, says his organization is worried about the COVID-19 vaccine shortages with winter season approaching the region.   “The vaccine shortages could have been avoided if there was proper planning on part of the government,” he said. “Although we understand the limited availability of vaccines on the market, we have some countries like South Africa, which entered into bilateral deals with manufacturers. We cannot afford to rely on donations, government must be proactive and secure the vaccines for all Zimbabweans.” Last week, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s director for Africa, appealed for at least 20 million vaccines of second doses for everyone who received their first shots on the continent to curtail a potential third wave of COVID-19.  Zimbabwe has 38,998 confirmed coronavirus infections and just under 1,600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which tracks the global outbreak.     
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Authorities in Australia’s southern state of Victoria have extended a one-week lockdown for its capital, Melbourne, to contain the spread of a new COVID-19 outbreak. The lockdown was initially imposed across the entire state last week after health officials detected a highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that was rapidly spreading across Victoria state.  The latest outbreak has been linked to an overseas traveler who became infected with a variant first detected in India during his mandatory hotel quarantine phase. FILE – A mostly-empty city street is seen on the first day of a seven-day lockdown as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, May 28, 2021.Health officials announced six new locally acquired COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 60.   “If we let this thing run its course, it will explode,” Victoria state Acting Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne.  “We’ve got to run this to ground because if we don’t, people will die.”   Although Melbourne’s 5 million residents will remain under strict restrictions until June 10, the lockdown measures have been lifted for residents in regional Victoria, with limits on public and private gatherings and restaurant capacity.   The new lockdown is the fourth one imposed on Melbourne and Victoria state since the start of the pandemic.  The most severe period occurred in mid-2020, which lasted more than three months as Victoria was under the grip of a second wave of COVID-19 infections that killed more than 800 people. Moderna seeking full FDA authorization
In the United States, Moderna said Tuesday it is seeking full authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its COVID-19 vaccine for adults 18 years old and older. The Moderna two-shot vaccine is one of three coronavirus vaccines the FDA authorized for emergency use in the United States, playing a major role in the steadily declining number of new infections in the country.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say more than 150 million doses of the Moderna vaccine have been distributed since the emergency use authorization was granted last December.   FILE – A nurse draws a Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, in Los AngelesModerna announced last week that it will apply for emergency use authorization this month to administer the vaccine to young people after discovering it was safe and effective for children between 12 and 17 years old.  If approved, it will join the two-shot vaccine developed by Pfizer and Bio N Tech that was authorized for use in 12 to 15 years old last month.   Brazil to host soccer tournamentBrazil confirmed Tuesday that it will host the troubled Copa America soccer tournament despite warnings of an upcoming new wave of new infections.   President Jair Bolsonaro said the tournament, which will take place from June 13 to July 10, will be held in the capital Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Cuiaba and Goiania.   The tournament’s organizers, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), announced Monday it was moving the upcoming event to Brazil due to a surge of new COVID-19 infections in Argentina, which was co-hosting the tournament with Colombia, which is unable to stage the tournament because of massive anti-government street protests.   Scientists in Brazil are concerned about hosting a tournament in a nation with a more transmissible COVID-19 variant, with many predicting another wave of the disease to hit the country in a matter of weeks.  The opposition Workers Party has filed an injunction with the Brazilian Supreme Court to block the tournament.  FILE – Demonstrators shouts slogans during a protest against the government’s response in combating COVID-19, demanding the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro, in Rio de Janeiro, May 29, 2021.President Bolsonaro has come under heavy criticism for his apparently dismissive attitude toward the pandemic, and is the subject of a congressional investigation over his government’s management of the crisis.   Brazil trails only the United States and India in the total number of coronavirus cases with more than 16.6  million, and is second only to the U.S. in deaths at more than 465,199, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
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Australian scientists are leading an international consortium that is building one of the world’s most powerful ground-based telescopes. It promises to see further and clearer than the Hubble Space Telescope and unlock mysteries of the early Universe.The telescope is called MAVIS, or Multi-conjugate-adaptive-optics Assisted Visible Imager and Spectrograph. It’s a long name for a highly complex instrument that will be the first of its kind. It aims to remove blurring from conventional telescope images caused by turbulence in Earth’s atmosphere, which is why the stars appear to twinkle in the night sky. Scientists in Australia say the new technology will allow them to “peer back into the early Universe” and help them explore how the first stars formed 13 billion years ago, as well as monitoring changes in the weather on planets and moons in our solar system.  Images produced by MAVIS will be three times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope that was launched into Earth’s low orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. Associate Professor Richard McDermid, a scientist based at Sydney’s Macquarie University, says the new telescope will change the way we explore space. “The clarity gives us two things,” he said. “It helps us see a sharper image, but it also helps us gain in sensitivity, so we can see fainter things and we can see them more clearly. That allows us to push into a new frontier of the furthest and faintest things we can see. So, for example the first stars in formation, inside the first galaxies because when we look far away in astronomy we are also looking far back in time because it takes time for the light to reach us. And so, yes, we are really building on the legacy of Hubble but we are going to go deeper and even sharper.”  The ground-based telescope will be installed at a facility in Chile run by the European Southern Observatory, a research organization based in Germany. It will take seven years to build at a cost of $44 million.  The MAVIS consortium is led by The Australian National University, and involves Macquarie University, Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics and France’s Laboratoire d’Astrophysique.   
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