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by Ivan Couronne Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump’s announcement in May of plans to develop a Covid-19 vaccine by year’s end is near realization — despite a setback among one of the six candidates that the US supported. The president described the effort as “a massive scientific, industrial and logistical endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project,” alluding to the US program during World War […]
Local private firms to buy vaccines and act as donor (Eagle News) — The Philippines has signed an agreement with the United Kingdom to secure 2.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, which will be purchased by top local businessmen for the country. The tripartite agreement was signed by national action plan against COVID=19 Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. who is also the country’s vaccine czar, Presidential Adviser for […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — One of the developers of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine announced Friday that India-based drugmaker Hetero will produce over 100 million doses of the jab. “Hetero, one of India’s leading generic pharmaceutical companies, have agreed to produce in India over 100 million doses per year of the world’s first registered vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection -– Sputnik V,” the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement, adding […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — The World Health Organization on Thursday urged African countries to improve their capacity to vaccinate populations against Covid-19, warning the continent was still “far from ready” for mass immunization. With three coronavirus vaccines now showing efficacy rates of 70 percent or more, the UN body called on Africa to “ramp up” preparations for “the continent’s largest ever immunization drive”. The African region is so far only 33 percent ready to […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The head of British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca said on Thursday further research was needed on its Covid-19 vaccine after questions emerged over the protection it offers, but the additional testing is unlikely to affect regulatory approval in Europe. AstraZeneca and its partner, the University of Oxford, announced on Monday that it was seeking regulatory approval for the vaccine after it showed average 70 percent effectiveness. That rate jumped to 90 […]
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Pfizer gave the office of Brazil’s health regulators results of the tests of their Covid-19 vaccine, a necessary step to approve and register the vaccine, the US-based pharmaceutical said Wednesday. “This is an important step so that the vaccine can be available in Brazil,” Pfizer said in a statement in Portuguese. Brazil, with a population of 212 million, has the highest Covid-19 death rate in the world after the United […]
(Eagle News) — The COVID-19 vaccines that the Philippines will acquire will first be given to areas with a high concentration of virus cases, and then to the poor and most vulnerable sectors of that region, including the front liners and first responders. COVID-19 vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., said that 60 million Filipinos are targeted for the vaccine distribution and this is meant to lead to the “herd immunity” of the entire population. […]
by Leila MACOR Agence France Presse A key facet of the global mad scramble by Pfizer, Moderna and other pharma groups to develop a viable coronavirus vaccine is the recruitment of tens of thousands of volunteers willing to participate in clinical trials. AFP’s correspondent in Miami, Leila Macor, took part in such a trial organized by US biotech firm Moderna, which announced Monday that its experimental vaccine was nearly 95 percent effective. Why did […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US plans to distribute 6.4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the first week after it is cleared for emergency use, which is likely next month, officials said Tuesday. A committee of the Food and Drug Administration meets on December 10 to decide on whether to green light the medicine. General Gustave Perna, chief operations officer for the government’s Operation Warp Speed, told reporters some 40 million […]
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — With Covid-19 vaccines on the horizon, the planet’s poorest must not be trampled as countries scramble to get their hands on them, the World Health Organization said Monday. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the latest batch of promising results from final-phase candidate vaccine trials showed there was light at the end of the “long dark tunnel” of the coronavirus pandemic. But he said the world had to […]
by AFP Bureaus TORONTO, Canada (AFP) — Canada’s biggest city entered lockdown on Monday in the latest bid to curb coronavirus infections, with case numbers surging across North America even as US officials said vaccinations could be available within weeks. Encouraging results from several vaccine trials have raised hopes of a decisive shift in the battle against a disease that has claimed around 1.4 million lives worldwide in the last year. But seesawing restrictions and […]
by Anuj Chopra Agence France Presse RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — G20 leaders said Sunday they will “spare no effort” to ensure fair distribution of coronavirus vaccines, but the united front was punctured by Germany’s Angela Merkel who voiced concern about slow progress. At a virtual summit hosted by Saudi Arabia, the world’s richest nations pledged resources to shore up the pandemic response, and to support poor countries whose economies have been ravaged by the […]
