Tag: vaccine

Elderly, sick, essential workers will get virus vaccine first: US

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States plans to give priority to the elderly, those with pre-existing conditions and essential workers once there is a vaccine against COVID-19, a senior Trump administration official said Tuesday. Under Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the US government is aiming to deliver 300 million vaccine doses by January 2021, investing in manufacturing capacity to relieve pharmaceutical firms of the financial risk. “Before any vaccines are approved or authorized, Operation […]

Palace: China vows to give PHL priority access to its COVID-19 vaccine once developed

(Eagle News)–Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed the Philippines would be a “priority” once China develops a vaccine against COVID-19. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said this was the assurance given by Xi himself in a phone conversation with President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, June 11. “President Xi reiterated China’s commitment to the international community to make any vaccine it develops a global public good and that as a friendly neighbor, China certainly considers the Philippines as […]

Pres. Duterte, Indian PM Modi firm up cooperation vs COVID-19; vaccine under dev’t in India to benefit PHL

  (Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte communicated by phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi where the two Asian leaders strengthened their cooperation in the fight against COVID-19. During their conversation, Prime Minister Modi “assured the supply of affordable medicines and COVID-19 pharmaceutical products to the Philippines, including Hydroxycholoroquine,” according to a Malacanang statement on the conversation of the two leaders. “Prime Minister Modi likewise said that India is ready to extend all possible […]

DepEd: Groundwork for blended learning “well underway”

(Eagle News) — The Department of Education on Monday, June 8, said the groundwork for blended learning was “well underway,” as it noted it would comply with President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive face-to-face classes be postponed until a vaccine against COVID-19 was available. In a statement, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said DepEd was currently conducting its remote enrollment nationwide “in order to assess learners’ household information, which will be crucial in the preparation and contextualization of […]

Brazil to test vaccine as Europe emerges from lockdown

by Joshua Howat Berger with AFP bureaus RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Researchers in hard-hit Brazil on Wednesday said they would begin testing a coronavirus vaccine developed in Britain, while across the Atlantic European nations began reopening borders in a bid to emerge from months of devastation caused by the disease. Authorities in Brazil — the latest frontline of the pandemic, with deaths and infections on the rise — imposed fresh restrictions in the […]

Pharma chiefs see coronavirus vaccine by year-end, but challenges ‘daunting’

by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Pharmaceutical company executives said Thursday that one or several COVID-19 vaccines could begin rolling out before 2021, but warned the challenges would be “daunting” as it was estimated that 15 billion doses would be needed to halt the pandemic. Well over 100 labs around the world are scrambling to come up with a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, including 10 that have made it to the clinical trial […]

COVID-19 cases worldwide close to 5.7 million as US death toll breaches 100,000 mark

  (Eagle News) – Coronavirus cases worldwide hit close to 5.7 million as the United States, the country with the most cases at close to 1.7 million confirmed infections, hit a death toll of more than a 100,000. Total COVID-19 infections worldwide reached 5,690,951 as of Thursday, May 28, with the global death toll at 355,615, according to the Johns Hopkins University virus dashboard as of 9:32 a.m. (Philippine time) The cases continued to spike […]

Don’t let patent rows hamper search for virus vaccine: UN agency

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The UN patent agency has hailed the push to create a coronavirus vaccine and make it globally available, but warned against allowing copyright rows to overshadow and delay the process. “What we need in the first place here is innovation,” Francis Gurry, the head of the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), told reporters in a virtual briefing. World Health Organization member states last week adopted a resolution recognizing that extensive […]

President Duterte: “Useless” to talk about opening of classes without COVID-19 vaccine

(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte early Tuesday, May 26, said it was “useless” to talk about the opening of classes without a vaccine against COVID-19. “Mga bata, ‘wag muna. ‘Yang opening ng classes, that’s a, I will not allow the opening of classes na magdikit dikit ‘yang mga bata,” the President said. “Bahala na hindi makatapos,” he said. He said if there was a vaccine, though, “okay na.” Earlier, the Department of Education said classes would […]

Palace: PHL to join clinical trials for development of COVID-19 vaccine by last quarter of 2020

(Eagle News) — The Philippines is expected to join clinical trials for the development of a vaccine against COVID-19, the Palace said on Sunday, May 24. In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said this was expected “by the last quarter of 2020 with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) taking a lead role.” “The President wants to save the life of each and every Filipino; and thus places great interest [in] these clinical […]

Astra gets $1 billion from US to fund coronavirus vaccine

by Roland JACKSON / Ben PERRY LONDON, United States (AFP) — British pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca on Thursday said it had secured more than $1.0 billion from the United States to help fund production of its coronavirus vaccine. AstraZeneca is partnering with University of Oxford to develop and distribute a vaccine being trialled in the UK. It comes amid concerns that the United States — which has the world’s highest official death rate from COVID-19 — […]

Virus vaccine will be ‘global public good’: top US official

by Ivan Couronne Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — If the United States is the first to develop an effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus, it has to quickly share it with the world, the head of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, told AFP in an interview. President Donald Trump’s administration has suggested that while it would share its scientific knowhow, it would prioritize the production of doses for the US […]