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SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout began Sunday, with top officials among a small group receiving the first jabs a day before the vaccination programme starts in earnest. Prime Minister Scott Morrison was injected with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at a medical centre in Sydney’s northwest, in what the government said was an effort to boost public confidence in the vaccinations. Jane Malysiak, an aged care resident and WWII survivor in her 80s, […]
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany’s BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer on Friday said tests have shown that their coronavirus vaccine can stand warmer temperatures than initially thought, potentially simplifying the jab’s complex cold-chain logistics. The companies said they have asked the US Food and Drug Administration to allow for the vaccine to be stored for up to two weeks at minus 25 to minus 15 degrees Celsius (minus 13 to five […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — A South African company is seeking to help solve the logistical nightmare of keeping Covid-19 vaccinations at the ultra-cold temperatures necessary as they are shipped across the continent. Johannesburg-based natural gas producer Renergen is developing an ultra-cold biologic transport freezer for the task as countries throughout Africa plan for rollouts of comprehensive vaccination programmes. The vaccines developed jointly by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech must be stored at […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The emirate of Dubai has said it was slowing down its rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine due to a temporary delay in global deliveries. Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, began mass inoculations in December after the approval of vaccines by Chinese firm Sinopharm and US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. According to health officials, the UAE has […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Pfizer announced Friday that it will provide up to 40 million of its Covid-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries on a non-profit basis, through the globally-pooled Covax facility. While dozens of the world’s richer countries have begun their vaccination campaigns in a bid to curb the pandemic, coronavirus jabs have been few and far between in the world’s poorer nations. Covax — the globally-pooled coronavirus […]
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — German firm BioNTech said Friday it was racing to ramp up production of its Covid-19 jab in Europe, to fill the “gap” left by the lack of other approved vaccines. The vaccine developed by BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer was the first to be approved in the European Union in late December. Countries including Britain, Canada and the United States okayed the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine earlier and have […]
WHO criteria for safety and efficacy met (Eagle News) — The World Health Organization (WHO) has given emergency validation to the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine, the first vaccine against COVID-19 to receive such a validation from WHO since the pandemic. This was after WHO listed the Comirnaty COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for emergency use. The Comirnaty vaccine requires storage using an ultra-cold chain and needs to be stored at -60°C to -90°C degrees, makes the deployment […]
by Hui Min NEO with Yannick PASQUET in Hamburg and Michelle FITZPATRICK and Yann SCHREIBER in Mainz Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — It was over breakfast on the wintry morning of January 24 that Ozlem Tureci and her husband Ugur Sahin decided, “we need to fire the starting gun on this”. Sahin “had concluded from a publication describing coronavirus cases in Wuhan… that there was a high probability that a pandemic could be […]
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore received Asia’s first delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Monday, capping what the city-state’s premier said had been a “long and arduous” year spent fighting the pandemic. The trade and finance hub last week joined a handful of other countries around the world, including Britain and the United States, which have approved the jab. It plans to innoculate its 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021, with […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The co-founder of BioNTech said Tuesday it was “highly likely” that its vaccine against the coronavirus works against the mutated strain detected in Britain, but it could also adapt the vaccine if necessary in six weeks. “Scientifically, it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variant,” said Ugur Sahin. But if needed, “in principle the beauty of the messenger technology is […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been authorized for use in Switzerland, regulators announced Saturday, with immunisation set to start within days as the country battles rising coronavirus cases and deaths. The Swissmedic regulatory authority said it had given the green light following a two-month rolling review. It is the first Covid-19 vaccine approved in the wealthy Alpine nation, with rivals being assessed. “After a meticulous […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British health officials on Wednesday warned that anyone with a history of significant allergic reactions should not have the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid jab for the time being. The warning came after two members of the state-run National Health Service who were among the first to receive the vaccine on Tuesday suffered allergic reactions and needed treatment. NHS England medical director Stephen Powis said both people, who had a history of […]
