Free Republic

A large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Grace Emilia ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Wednesday. Local media reports the shipping traffic is unaffected as the incident took place in a southern section of the canal where a second channel allows for ships to bypass the blockage. AIS data from Vesselfinder (below) showed four tugboats working to move the 293-m-long vessel. Equasis lists the 2021-built 174,000 cu m ship, which entered the canal early Wednesday morning, as owned by Japan’s NYK. The latest incident comes just three weeks after the bulker Glory bound for China carrying 66,000 mt of...

Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is finally over — we have President Joe Biden’s word on this — the Lancet Commission set up more than two years ago to investigate it has finally issued a report. It’s a huge disappointment as it dances around the key question of origins: “More than 2 years into the pandemic, the search for the origin of SARS-CoV-2 remains incomplete and inconclusive.” Its weak-sauce conclusion — maybe it came from a lab, maybe it came from nature — has given an opening to a China-led disinformation campaign that claims against all evidence the virus was...

Vaccine efficacy refers to how well a vaccine performs in a carefully controlled clinical trial, and effectiveness describes its performance in real-world observational studies. Evidence demonstrates that the approved or authorized COVID-19 vaccines are both efficacious and effective against symptomatic, laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, including severe forms of the disease. In addition, as shown below, a growing body of evidence suggests that COVID-19 vaccines also reduce asymptomatic infection and transmission. Rhesus macaque challenge studies provided the first evidence of the potential protective effects of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Janssen COVID-19 vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection, including both symptomatic and asymptomatic infection. Vaccinated macaques developed...

(President Trump's Operation Warp Speed Update) (New Cases rose over 26K on this report, highest in six weeks, in a quick jump - Hospitalizations slightly rising, Deaths still low - Vaccination slow but steady on this report - Delta Variant is now the dominant strain in the USA, over 80% in four States) Total Vaccine Doses Delivered: 386,058,070 (21,434,300 J&J) Administered: 332,966,409 (12,751,618 J&J) People Vaccinated, At Least One Dose: 183,542,871 Fully Vaccinated: 158,629,431

(President Trump's Operation Warp Speed Update) (No update was provided on 5 July, the first day that was skipped - Vaccination slow on this Holiday weekend report - Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths remain low - Reports from Israel that Pfizer less effective (64%) against mild cases of Delta variant, but still strong against severe disease - Biden announced new vaccination plan) Total Vaccine Doses Delivered: 383,068,840 (21,434,300 J&J) Administered: 331,214,347 (12,646,604 J&J) People Vaccinated, At Least One Dose: 182,714,064 Fully Vaccinated: 157,636,088

The number of serious coronavirus cases in Israel has risen by almost 50 percent since last week, Health Ministry data released on Sunday showed, as the delta variant continues to spread across the country. According to the Health Ministry, 326 new COVID cases were diagnosed on Friday and 185 on Saturday, with the number of serious cases currently standing at 35 – 11 more than the number reported last Sunday. Within this group, 17 are in critical condition and 16 are on ventilators. Fourteen of the 35 cases defined as serious have received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.