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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the United States is buying 10 million courses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 treatment pill, in a $5.3 billion deal he touted as “critical” to fighting the pandemic. Pfizer applied this week for US emergency use authorization for its Paxlovid antiviral pill, shown to be highly effective in preventing hospitalization and death among high-risk patients. While the deal hinges on the treatment’s approval by the Food […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Thursday announced that clinical trials of an antibody-based Covid-19 drug had shown robust efficacy and long-term prevention. The Anglo-Swedish laboratory follows in the footsteps of US firms Merck and Pfizer, which announced in October and early November respectively that they had developed drugs that could prevent severe forms of the disease, and that could be taken at the first sign of symptoms. The AstraZeneca drug AZD7442, […]
by Ania TSOUKANOVA Agence France Presse KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Three-month-old Misha has spent 10 days in a Kiev paediatric hospital — including three in intensive care — due to pneumonia triggered by Covid-19. He is one of an influx of young patients to the infectious diseases hospital in Ukraine’s capital, which has seen the coronavirus pandemic hit children much harder in recent months. “It’s difficult when your baby suffocates, it’s very scary,” says […]
by Jan HENNOP THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Pharmaceutical giant Novavax has applied for authorization for their coronavirus vaccine in the EU with a decision possible “within weeks”, Europe’s drugs regulator said Wednesday. The jab, if approved, would be the fifth authorized for use within the EU — the other four are made by Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca/Oxford, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. The assessment of the vaccine, which goes under the brand name Nuvaxovid, would be […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States wants to produce one billion more doses of mRNA vaccines each year, starting in 2022, both for the current pandemic and future threats, officials said Wednesday. “The goal of this program is to expand existing capacity by an additional billion doses per year, with production starting by the second half of 2022,” said Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator during a press conference. To reach […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Covax scheme aimed at equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines has now delivered more than 500 million doses around the world, figures showed Wednesday. Covax was established to ensure poorer countries get Covid jabs but the facility has been hit by setbacks as wealthy nations hog doses straight off the production lines. Covax, co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, and CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic […]
ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Spain will provide Covid booster shots for those aged 60 and over as well as health staff, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday as infections numbers rise. During an official visit to Turkey, Sanchez said the key to fighting the pandemic is to “continue this successful vaccination strategy in our country”. The Spanish leader did not say when the third vaccine doses would start to be given. Spain has one of […]
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Ride-hailing giant Uber has resumed its ride-sharing service in the United States, a top executive announced Tuesday, offering customers in Miami a feature that was stopped last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The UberX Share option — formerly called Uber Pool — allows people to share rides with strangers at a reduced cost, and builds in precautions against the spread of the coronavirus. “609 days later, shared […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Strict new Covid-19 restrictions come into force in Beijing on Wednesday for visitors to the Chinese capital, requiring negative tests and dramatically cutting domestic flights as the city raises the drawbridge against the coronavirus ahead of the Winter Olympics. With less than 100 days to go to the games in February, China is bracing for a challenge to its zero-Covid strategy when thousands of international athletes descend on Beijing after months […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US pharmaceutical company Pfizer on Tuesday asked regulators to authorize its Covid pill after it was shown to cut hospitalization or death by nearly 90 percent among newly-infected high risk patients. The move comes a few weeks after Merck also approached the Food and Drug Administration seeking a green light for its antiviral capsule against the coronavirus. Experts see the oral medications as an invaluable addition to vaccines in the […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York City will allow crowds into Times Square on New Year’s Eve to ring in 2022, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday, after the pandemic muted last year’s celebrations. Hundreds of thousands of revelers will be able to attend the traditional ball drop at midnight providing they can prove they are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, de Blasio told reporters. Attendees who are unable to get vaccinated because […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna are making combined profits of $65,000 every minute from their highly successful Covid-19 vaccines while the world’s poorest countries remain largely unvaccinated, according to a new analysis. The companies have sold the vast majority of their doses to rich countries, leaving low-income nations in the lurch, said the People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA), a coalition campaigning for wider access to Covid vaccines, which based its calculations on […]
