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Showing posts with label Vaccine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vaccine. Show all posts

June 3, 2021

Coronavirus news: : Hungary to produce China′s Sinopharm jab

The Hungarian goverment on Monday announced plans to produce the Chinese-developed Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine locally.

Hungary is the only EU country to inoculate its citizens with the Chinese jab after domestic regulators approved its use.

Speaking in China, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said officials would open a planned €157 million ($193 million) vaccine plant in the eastern town of Debrecen.

Read more at Coronavirus digest: Hungary to produce China′s Sinopharm jab | News | DW | 31.05.2021

May 19, 2021

EU leaders confront US over vaccine patent waiver demands - by Sam Fleming, Jim Brunsden, Mehreen Khan and Michael Peel and Guy Chazan

EU leaders have confronted the Biden administration over its calls for Covid-19 vaccine patent waivers and urged the US to export jabs directly if it wants to help poor countries in need.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a two-day EU leaders’ summit in Porto, Portugal, that suspending intellectual property rights was no solution to supply shortages and called for a focus on ramping up production instead.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron and top EU officials echoed the German premier’s rhetoric as the union scrambled to respond to this week’s surprise US move. Both powers are attempting to fend off accusations they are hoarding vaccines as much of the world sees few or no shipments.

“I don’t think waiving patents is the solution to supply the vaccine to more people,” Merkel told reporters after the summit concluded on Saturday. “I think that we need the creativity and innovation of the companies — and for that we need patent protection.”

Read more at: EU leaders confront US over vaccine patent waiver demands | Financial Times

April 15, 2021

EU Coronavirus - Vaccine: EU puts faith in Pfizer jab with plan for 1.8 billion doses - "Too little, too late"??

The EU has announced plans to buy 1.8 billion doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine through 2023. The bloc is also bringing forward shorter-term Pfizer deliveries after suspending orders for the Johnson & Johnson.

On Wednesday, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said the EU planned to order 1.8 billion doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine by 2023.

Von der Leyen said Brussels had full confidence in the technology behind the Pfizer vaccine. The manufacturing process used for the Pfizer product — dependent on mRNA — is different then the one behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, which uses a cold virus to transport a segment of the coronavirus to the recipients' cells.

Read more at: EU puts faith in Pfizer jab with plan for 1.8 billion doses | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 14.04.2021

March 31, 2021

European Union & Vaccine Rollout: Disaster Unfolding

For a long time now, the creation of the euro, a dangerous experiment that placed political fantasy over economic reality, has been the most damaging example of just how far, and just how incompetently, those running the EU would go in the name of “ever-closer union.” That dismal precedent may now have been eclipsed by Brussels’s involvement in securing supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine for those who live within the EU’s borders, a lethal experiment that placed political dogma over medical need.

Supported by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, the EU Commission (its administrative arm) took over the negotiations with vaccine manufacturers on behalf of all EU member-states last June. This was designed both as a declaration of EU “solidarity” and because of the belief that bargaining on behalf of the whole bloc could secure the vaccine at a cheaper price, a calculation that appeared to take little account of the economic costs of any delays, and delay was what — for a variety of reasons — Brussels delivered.

The U.K. came to its deal with AstraZeneca (the manufacturer of the Oxford vaccine) three months earlier than the EU, and its contract came with sharper teeth. The EU also took four months longer than the U.K. and U.S. to sign up with Pfizer.

Readmore at: European Union & Vaccine Rollout: Disaster Unfolding | National Review

January 20, 2021

Coronavirus vaccine: Scientists racing to understand new COVID-19 variants and whether they will derail vaccination efforts

Multiple new coronavirus variants have been discovered across several continents, from Europe to Africa to South America. Confirmed cases keep popping up in dozens of countries, Canada included.

Scientists are now racing to understand these sets of mutations, all while concerns are growing over their ability to infect people more easily or, in some cases, potentially evade the army of antibodies we create after being infected or vaccinated.

Read more at: Scientists racing to understand new COVID-19 variants and whether they will derail vaccination efforts | CBC News

January 9, 2021

The Netherlands- coronavirus vaccinations: more action required by Rutte Government to speed-up vaccination process and prioritise the vulnerable elderly

The rising number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in the Netherlands coupled with the new threat from mutant variants, makes it more urgent to vaccinate the oldest and most vulnerable, experts say.

Vaccine supplies are now coming into the Netherlands, and doctors say they need to get them into many more arms. So far Prime Minister Mark Rutte has not been very clear explaining how he plans to speed-up the vaccine rollout or give a precise schedule on the plan of action.

More than 60 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in the Netherlands have been among residents at the elder care homes and those aged 70 and older, according to an epidemiology update. More hands-on action is needed urgently.

Read more at: Almere-Digest

December 3, 2020

Coronavirus vaccine: US Presidents Obama, Clinton and Bush pledge to take Covid vaccine on TV to show its safety

ormer US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton have pledged to get vaccinated for coronavirus on television to promote the safety of the vaccine.

The trio’s effort comes as the Food and Drug Administration prepares to meet next week to decide whether to authorize a Covid-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech as more than 3,100 people died from the coronavirus in America on Wednesday, a record single-day high and more than the number of people killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/03/obama-clinton-bush-covid-vaccine-safety?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

November 9, 2020

Coronavirus vaccine : Our COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective, says Pfizer - by Alice Tidey

A potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has been found to be more than 90% effective.

The vaccine has been tested on more than 43,500 participants during Phase 3 — the final stage of development when it is given to thousands to test its efficacy and safety.

Analysis carried out evaluated that 94 trial participants had been confirmed to have contracted COVID-19.

"Today is a great day for science and humanity," Pfizer Chairman and CEO, Dr Albert Bourla, said in a statement.

Read more at: Coronavirus: Our COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective, says Pfizer | Euronews

October 31, 2020

Coronavirus - Flu Vaccination: A Flu Shot Might Reduce Coronavirus Infections, Early Research Suggests - by Melinda Wenner Moyer

U.S. health officials are urging Americans to get their flu shots this year in the hopes of thwarting a winter “twindemic”—a situation in which both influenza and COVID-19 spread and sicken the public. But a new study suggests that there could be another key reason to get a flu jab this year: it might reduce your risk of COVID-19. The research, released as a preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed, indicates that a flu vaccine against the influenza virus may also trigger the body to produce broad infection-fighting molecules that combat the pandemic-causing coronavirus.

n the new study, Mihai Netea, an infectious disease immunologist at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and his colleagues combed through their hospital’s databases to see if employees who got a flu shot during the 2019–2020 season were more or less likely to get infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19. Workers who received a flu vaccine, the researchers found, were 39 percent less likely to test positive for the coronavirus as of June 1, 2020. While 2.23 percent of nonvaccinated employees tested positive, only 1.33 percent of vaccinated ones did. Netea and his team posted their findings on the preprint server MedRxiv on October 16.

Read more at: A Flu Shot Might Reduce Coronavirus Infections, Early Research Suggests - Scientific American

October 27, 2020

EU -Britain: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old as well as young adults - by Guy Faulconbridge, Kate Kelland, Kate Holton

The vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford, also triggers lower adverse responses among the elderly, British drug maker AstraZeneca Plc AZN.L, which is helping manufacture the vaccine, said on Monday.

Read more at: Vaccine hopes rise as Oxford jab prompts immune response among old as well as young adults | Reuters

April 20, 2020

Coronavirus: 'Possible to be infected with Covid-19 more than once'

The leader of a team working on a coronavirus vaccine says scientists believe its possible to become infected with Covid-19 more than once.