Vaccines
Moderna, McKesson, U.S. Army general begin rolling out new coronavirus vaccine
Distribution of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine to more than 3,700 locations in the United States has begun, vastly widening the rollout started last week by Pfizer Inc, U.S Army General Gustave Perna said on Saturday. Moderna has already moved vaccines from its manufacturing plants to warehouses operated by distributor McKesson Corp where they are being packed into containers and loaded on to trucks on Saturday, Perna said during a news conference. Trucks will set out on Sunday and shipments will start reaching healthcare providers as soon as Monday, he said. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s vaccine, the second COVID-19 vaccine to be approved. The jab developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE was approved Dec. 11....
California hospitals overrun even as vaccine is rolled out
Even as high profile figures like U.S. Vice President Mike Pence rolled up their sleeves for COVID-19 vaccinations, patients already ill with the disease crowded emergency rooms and overran intensive care units in California, now a worldwide epicenter. Another 41,000 people tested positive in the most populous U.S. state on Thursday, and 300 died, state public health officials said. In a state with 40 million residents, only about 1,200 intensive care beds remained available by Friday – just 2.1% of the total, the California Department of Public Health said. “We anticipated a surge, but I’m not sure if anyone imagined it would be as bad as it has been,” said Adam Blackstone, a spokesman for the Hospital Association of Southern California. Hospitals are strained under the press of patients,...
TikTok to hide graphic videos behind warning screens
TikTok has unveiled a newly updated set of community guidelines and tools, which include new warning screens on graphic videos, a new text-to-voice accessibility feature, and updated health resources. The update brings new vaccine information which will be added to TikTok’s coronavirus resource hub as well as resources to be shown if people search for certain terms, like those related to self-harm. According to TikTok, the graphic content warning screens are meant to prevent the accidental viewing of content that some might find disturbing. The screen gives two options, letting users either view the clip or skip it entirely. More extreme content is removed from the service entirely, but the new warning labels cover clips that might be allowed for “documentary reasons,” scenes from horror m...
First Americans vaccinated as U.S. death toll passes 300,000
An intensive care unit nurse became the first person in the United States to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, calling it a sign that “healing is coming,” as the U.S. coronavirus death toll crossed a staggering 300,000 lives lost. Sandra Lindsay, who has treated some of the sickest COVID-19 patients for months, was given the vaccine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in the New York City borough of Queens, an early epicenter of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, receiving applause on a livestream with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. “It didn’t feel any different from taking any other vaccine,” Lindsay said. “I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. “I want to instil...
FDA: Independent committee recommends authorization of coronavirus vaccine
An independent committee of experts recommended Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration authorize the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for people over the age of 16. Now, the FDA will decide whether to follow that recommendation. The agency could announce a decision within days. If they do authorize the vaccine, health care workers could begin receiving the shots almost immediately. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) met all day to review data on the vaccine, discuss plans for distribution, and outline plans for continued research. FDA scientists published a report about the vaccine on Tuesday, which analyzed data from the pharmaceutical companies and found that the vaccine was safe and 95 percent at preventing symptomatic COVID-19. Data fro...
India’s Serum Institute seeks approval for COVID-19 vaccine
The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer by volume, has sought government approval for emergency-use authorisation of the coronavirus vaccine that it has developed in partnership with the University of Oxford and British drugmaker AstraZeneca. “As promised, before the end of 2020, @SerumInstIndia has applied for emergency use authorisation for the first made-in-India vaccine, COVISHIELD,” the company CEO Adar Poonawalla tweeted on Monday. The experimental vaccine can be stored at two to eight degrees Celsius and can be distributed more easily in India, which has the world’s second-highest number of infections at 9.6 million. The company has applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), with Poonawalla saying the vaccine will “save countless lives” witho...
Nigerian governors to meet with President Buhari to address security challenges
Governors of the thirty six states under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF have resolved to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to address the security challenges with continued cases of armed banditry, terrorism and kidnapping across the country. The governors are meeting with President Buhari especially to discuss last week’s gruesome beheading of about 43 Farmers in Zarbamari near Maiduguri, Borno State by Boko Haram Insurgents while they were working in their farmland without any form of resistance. The decision was part of the resolutions reached at the end of the 22nd NGF teleconference meeting. In a Communique signed by the NGF Chairman and Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said, ” Members of the forum resolved to meet with Mr. President as soon as possible to ad...
France: Coronavirus vaccine will be free for all
France will ensure free COVID-19 vaccinations for all who are in its social security system and has earmarked 1.5 billion euros of next year’s social security budget to cover the cost, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday. Castex said the vaccination campaign would begin in a matter of weeks, pending regulatory approval by the European Medicines Agency. The inoculation programme would be staggered over three categories of people, he said, commencing with the most vulnerable in nursing homes. “The vaccination will be free for all,” Castex told a press conference. France has ordered some 200 million doses from different pharmaceutical companies developing vaccines, Castex said, enough to inoculate 100 million people – more than France’s population. The COVID-19 vaccination will be vol...
Interpol raises the alarm over fake coronavirus vaccines
The International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) has alerted Nigeria, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and 190 other countries of threat from organised criminal groups during the upcoming COVID-19 vaccination campaigns, including fake vaccines and the theft of supplies. The alert came as the UK yesterday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use. The need for a vaccine has become more urgent globally and nationally with Nigeria recording over 67,000 COVID-19 infections and over 1,000 associated fatalities, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has so far identified 49 “candidate vaccines” at the stage of clinical trials in humans. Hopes are high ...
PTF: Two coronavirus vaccines under trial have 90% efficacy
The Federal Government on Tuesday expressed optimism that COVID-19 would soon be a thing of the past in Nigeria as two vaccines under trial have more than 90 per cent efficacy to end the disease. The government also charged states to fully implement Social Health Insurance Schemes with the integration of HIV prevention and treatment services. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID–19, Boss Mustapha, stated this during an event held in Abuja to commemorate the 2020 World AIDS Day with the theme, ‘Global Solidarity, Shared Responsibility.’ The SGF also appealed to the private sector to support the National Agency for the Control of AIDS and the Nigerian Business Coalition against AIDS for a sustained access to life-saving medici...
Coronavirus vaccine breakthrough raises hopes of rapid global rollout
A coronavirus vaccine developed by Britain’s University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has shown successful results in early trials. If it is approved by regulators, the vaccine appears suitable for a fast rollout around the globe. Early analysis of trials involving 20,000 volunteers in Britain and Brazil show the vaccine is at least 62% effective after two doses. In volunteers given a different dosing regimen — a half dose, followed by a full dose — that figure rose to 90%. The average efficacy of the two dosing methods is 70%. None of those given the vaccine developed severe COVID-19 illness. Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the recent successful trials of three different vaccines by Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, represent a...
