General News
Meropi Kyriacou Honored as TNH Educator of the Year
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
TOKYO — Japan’s health ministry on Tuesday formally approved Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine, a fourth foreign-developed tool to combat the infections as the country sees signs of a resurgence led by a subvariant of fast-spreading omicron.
The ministry approval comes the day after its experts panel endorsed use of Novavax’s protein vaccine, which is designed with similar technology used to fight diseases such as the flu and hepatitis B, for the first two shots and a booster.
Health Minister Shigeyuki Goto told reporters that Novavax product adds variety to the choices available and could appeal to those who are hesitant to use COVID-19 vaccines such as Pfizer’s and Moderna’s, which are designed with newer technologies.
Jabs using Novavax vaccine are expected to start as early as late May.
Japan reported 24,164 new cases Monday, according to the health ministry. Japan in March lifted all COVID-19 restrictions as the infections slowed significantly, but experts noted signs of a resurgence in a number of prefectures during a season of traveling and parties for people marking graduation and the start of the academic and business year.
The government is trying to expand businesses and get the pandemic-hit economy back on track. Japan is slowly easing the border controls following sharp criticisms for its longtime restrictions on non-resident foreign students, scholars and business people, but Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said Japan is not considering restarting inbound tourism anytime soon.
Booster shots have been slow in Japan and less than 50% of the population had received booster shots of mainly mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. A third vaccine, AstraZeneca, is hardly used due to public concern about reports of rare blood clotting and is largely donated to vaccine-scarce Asian countries bilaterally or through a United Nations-backed program. About 80% of the Japanese elderly population had received three shots.
Goto said Japan has agreed to purchase 150 million doses of the Novavax shots developed by the Maryland company, which will help stabilize vaccine supply in a country that fully relies on foreign imports while development of its own vaccines have fallen behind. Novavax’s distributor in Japan, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., is to locally manufacture 250 million doses annually.
NEW YORK – Meropi Kyriacou, the new Principal of The Cathedral School in Manhattan, was honored as The National Herald’s Educator of the Year.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst.
LONDON (AP) — The British Museum on Thursday appointed National Portrait Gallery chief Nicholas Cullinan as its new director, as the 265-year-old institution grapples with the apparent theft of hundreds of artifacts and growing international scrutiny of its collection.
ATHENS - The European Union needs to get involved in the case of the two-year jail sentence given ethnic Greek Fredi Beleri who was elected Mayor of the seaside town of Himare and said the trial was a farce to get him and protect Prime Minister Edi Rama’s business friends.
Brace yourself for what could be another scorching summer in Greece as scientists are anxious that a warm winter - the warmest January recorded - and climate change will continue to bring weather anomalies.
Mykonos’ run has been going on for a long time, bringing hordes of tourists, but it’s being cut down by its reputation for being rowdy, expensive, overcrowded and gouging diners while businesses evade taxes.