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MUMBAI, India (AFP) — The head of the world’s largest vaccine maker directly tweeted US President Joe Biden on Friday urging him to lift an export ban on raw materials desperately needed to make more coronavirus shots. The unusual step by Serum Institute (SII) chief Adar Poonawalla underlined the crisis in providing vaccines to developing nations, many of which rely heavily on the firm for supplies. “Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The head of Pfizer said in an interview aired Thursday that people will “likely” need a third dose of his company’s Covid-19 shot within six to 12 months of vaccination, while elsewhere defending the relatively higher cost of the jab. CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required. “We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The number of people killed by Covid-19 in France climbed past 100,000 on Thursday, with the virus claiming a further 300 lives in the past 24 hours, the country’s health authority said. A day earlier, the death toll stood at 99,805. France is the third country in Europe to reach the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths, after the United Kingdom and Italy. “We will not forget a single face, a […]
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Public hospitals are critically short on the drugs needed to intubate Covid-19 patients in Sao Paulo, the most populous state in Brazil, officials said Thursday, warning of a potential public health catastrophe. Sixty-eight percent of public clinics have run out of neuromuscular blockers, which are used to relax a patient’s muscles during intubation, and 61 percent are out of sedatives, a report from the state council of municipal health secretaries […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A senior Japanese politician said cancelling the Tokyo Olympics over the coronavirus remains a possibility on Thursday, as a surge in cases renews concerns about the Games with less than 100 days to go. Toshiro Nikai, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s number two, said the Olympics must be cancelled “without hesitation” if the virus situation is too severe. A year after their historic postponement, the 2020 Olympics remain beset by pandemic […]
The head of Pfizer said Thursday the company’s Covid vaccine, among the priciest on the market, is no more expensive than the cost of a meal and will not be sold to poor countries for a profit. The head of the US-based company defended the cost of the jabs, which he said are saving lives and can help countries emerge from the pandemic. “Vaccines are very expensive,” Albert Bourla said in an interview […]
by Louis GENOT RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — The “Brazil variant” — a more contagious mutation of the coronavirus that emerged in the Amazon late last year — is fueling fears the pandemic could flare anew, leading several countries to suspend flights from Brazil. Here is a rundown of what we know — and don’t — about the variant known as P1. Why is it worrying? There are still a lot of unknowns about […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India added a record 200,000 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, official data showed Thursday, as the country’s huge second wave accelerates. The number of new infections in a day has more than doubled since early April, with a cumulative total 14.1 million cases. India also added 1,038 deaths in the past day, taking the total to almost 175,000, the health ministry data showed, although on a per […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The developer of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine said Wednesday its jab did not cause blood clots, a potential side effect that has disrupted rollouts in several Western countries. The United States has recommended pausing its rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after one person out of nearly seven million Americans died from a rare type of clot in the brain following inoculation . Denmark on Wednesday became the […]
by Camille BAS-WOHLERT Agence France Presse Copenhagen, Denmark (AFP) — Denmark on Wednesday announced it would stop using the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine altogether, becoming the first European country to do so over suspected rare but serious side effects. “Denmark’s vaccination campaign will go ahead without the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Danish Health Authority director Soren Brostrom told journalists, despite recommendations from the World Health Organization and Europe’s medicines watchdog to keep using it. “There is a […]
by Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Opening windows and ventilating spaces should be at the heart of efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19, a group of experts said Thursday, arguing that confusion over airborne transmission meant this simple measure was being overlooked. Mounting evidence convinced many places to adopt mask-wearing recommendations and health authorities have for months said that crowded, badly ventilated indoor spaces are a particular risk. The virus […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse Researchers on Thursday reported the first clinical evidence that drug-resistant mutations of the parasite responsible for malaria are gaining ground in Africa. Experts have long worried about the emergence of drug resistance across the continent, which accounted for more than 90 percent of malaria deaths worldwide in 2019. A new study published in The Lancet appears to confirm those fears. In clinical trials, the disease lingered longer in […]
