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BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has signed up to a deal to ensure future Covid-19 vaccines are distributed to developing countries, the biggest economy yet to join the World Health Organization-led bid to control the pandemic. The COVAX pledge to get vaccines to poorer nations as soon as they are developed aims to head off fears rich countries will limit distribution of game-changing medicines made by their pharmaceutical companies. The deal gives China, the country […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Food and Drug Administration made public its guidance for issuing emergency approval for a Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, making it clear it wants to see follow-up two months after trial volunteers have their second dose. It is therefore unlikely for President Donald Trump’s administration to have a vaccine on the market before the November 3 election, something the president frequently says is on the cards. “Data from Phase […]
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Sunday his son will join trials of Sputnik V, the coronavirus vaccine which was met with caution when Russia announced it was the world’s first to be approved. An initial batch of the vaccine arrived in Venezuela on Friday, the government announced, and 2,000 residents will participate in the trials. “In this clinical trial phase, my son, Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, told me of his decision […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Early clinical trials of a second Russian coronavirus vaccine have proved successful, its developer said Thursday after Russia boasted of approving the world’s first vaccine. Russia’s Vektor — a top-secret state virology research centre in Siberia — said that early-stage trials were successful for its own experimental vaccine, named EpiVacCorona. “The first two phases of clinical trials demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of the EpiVacCorona vaccine,” Vektor’s press department told […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The World Bank on Tuesday said it has asked its board of directors to approve $12 billion to help poor countries purchase and distribute eventual vaccines against Covid-19. The bank has already implemented emergency response programs in 111 countries and the extra money, if approved, would be aimed at low- and middle-income countries. “An effective and safe Covid-19 vaccine is the most promising path forward for the world to reopen […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Up to 100 million additional doses of any eventual safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines will be secured for delivery to poorer countries in 2021, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced Tuesday. The announcement means 200 million doses have been secured from the Serum Institute of India, following a previous announcement in August from Gavi and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that they had secured an initial 100 million doses from SII, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US biotech firm Novavax said Thursday it was initiating its final Phase 3 clinical trial for its experimental Covid-19 vaccine. The trial will be carried out in the United Kingdom and aims to enroll 10,000 volunteers, aged 18-84, with and without underlying conditions, over the next four to six weeks. “With a high level of SARS-CoV-2 transmission observed and expected to continue in the UK, we are optimistic that this […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday it was entering the final Phase 3 stage of its Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial following positive results in earlier stages. The trial will seek to enroll up to 60,000 volunteers across more than 200 sites in the US and around the world, the company and the US National Institutes for Health (NIH), which is providing funding, said. With the move, J&J becomes the tenth maker […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — More than 60 wealthy nations have joined a WHO-backed programme to facilitate poor countries’ access to coronavirus vaccines, but the US and China are not on the list published Monday. The World Health Organization has in coordination with the global vaccine alliance group Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) created a mechanism aimed at ensuring a more equitable distribution of any future Covid-19 vaccines. But the mechanism, known […]
by Ivan Couronne WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US biotech firm Moderna, one of nine companies in the late stages of clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine, became the first to publish the complete blueprints of its study following calls for greater transparency. Pfizer, the other American company currently carrying out Phase 3 trials in the US, followed suit a short time later and there is now added pressure for the remainder to do the […]
by Michael Mathes, with Elodie Cuzin in Wilmington Agence France Presse US President Donald Trump expressed renewed confidence Wednesday that a viable Covid-19 vaccine would be ready by October, directly contradicting a top administration health expert and facing fierce criticism from his Democratic election rival Joe Biden. Trump sowed confusion about the issue with an extraordinary public rebuke of one of his top health experts who said masks were a leading weapon for fighting the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A group of wealthy nations representing 13 percent of the global population have already bought up more than half of the promised doses of future Covid-19 vaccines, according to a report by Oxfam on Wednesday. The non-governmental organization analyzed deals struck by pharmaceuticals and vaccine producers for the five leading vaccine candidates currently in late-stage trials, based on data collected by the analytics company Airfinity. “Access to a life-saving […]
