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GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday it plans to provide 500 million doses of its vaccine for poor countries once results of clinical trials are announced by the end of January. It plans to sell the vaccine at cost price and will provide the doses to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the group’s scientific director Paul Stoffels told a virtual round table in Geneva. The vaccine is currently undergoing final-stage […]
by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said Tuesday he understands concerns around the speed at which pharmaceutical companies have produced Covid-19 vaccines, but insisted that no corners had been cut. As Britain on Tuesday became the first Western country to start a mass coronavirus vaccine campaign, using the new Pfizer-BioNTech jab, Bourla said people should feel confident that it is safe and effective. “We didn’t cut any corners,” he […]
by Kelly MACNAMARA PARIS, France (AFP) — Oxford University and AstraZeneca on Tuesday became the first Covid-19 vaccine makers to publish final-stage clinical trial data in a scientific journal, clearing a key hurdle in the global race to produce safe and effective drugs for the coronavirus. The study, published in the respected Lancet medical journal, confirmed that the vaccine works in an average of 70 percent of cases. It comes during a flurry of positive […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Tuesday began the biggest vaccination program in the country’s history, with a 90-year-old grandmother becoming the first person to receive the Covid vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech. The historic inoculation was given to Margaret Keenan in Coventry, central England. © Agence France-Presse
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization said Monday that persuading people on the merits of a Covid-19 vaccine would be far more effective than trying to make the jabs mandatory. The WHO said it would be down to individual countries as to how they want to conduct their vaccination campaigns against the coronavirus pandemic. But the UN health agency insisted making it mandatory to get immunized against the disease would […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Nearly 13,000 residents were evacuated in Frankfurt on Sunday as experts defused an unexploded World War II bomb, local emergency services said. The 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) British bomb had been found on a construction site in Germany’s financial capital on Thursday, the emergency services said. It was successfully defused in less than two hours, the fire service announced on Twitter in the afternoon. Some 12,800 residents had been asked to leave their […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within weeks, after UK regulators granted emergency approval and the world’s first roll-out begins next week, reports late Saturday said. The monarch, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip are in line to get the jab early due to their age and will not receive preferential treatment, the Mail on Sunday reported. The newspaper said Britain’s most senior royals would […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Moscow on Saturday began vaccinating workers at high risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus at newly opened clinics across the city. Health officials said they had opened 70 coronavirus vaccine centres in the Russian capital that would initially offer jabs for health, education and social workers. “Citizens from the main risk groups who in connection with their professional activities come into contact with a large number of people can get […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping sent condolences on Friday over the death of former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, state television reported, calling him a “remarkable French statesman”. The former president died on Wednesday from Covid-19 aged 94, at his family’s estate. Xi expressed “deep condolences” to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, state media said, adding that the former president had “loved Chinese culture”. Giscard “actively encouraged friendly exchanges and cooperation […]
by Jitendra JOSHI with AFP bureaus Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Wednesday became the first western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine for general use, while Japan and Italy pledged free inoculations for all even as the global death toll rose towards 1.5 million. The news came as the UN convenes a special two-day summit on the pandemic Thursday, with European leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and […]
by Ella IDE Agence France Presse ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy will give all its citizens free vaccinations against coronavirus starting with doctors and care home residents once the jabs are approved, its health minister said Wednesday. The immunisation drive is expected to begin in the spring. Italy will get its vaccines via an EU procurement programme and is waiting for the European Medicines Agency’s green light, Roberto Speranza said. Britain on Wednesday became […]
by Jitendra JOSHI LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Wednesday became the first Western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine for general use, announcing a rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech’s drug from next week in a historic advance for humanity’s fightback against the coronavirus. “Help is on its way,” health secretary Matt Hancock tweeted as his department announced emergency use approval by the UK’s independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). “The NHS (National Health […]
