Australia to bring forward COVID-19 vaccine rollout plans
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia will bring forward by two weeks to early March its COVID-19 vaccine rollout plans, health authorities said on Wednesday as the country battles to contain fresh cases in its two largest cities. Australia has repeatedly resisted pressure to expedite its vaccination distribution time table citing low coronavirus cases in the country though […]
Explainer – Where are we in the COVID-19 vaccine race?
Reuters India on Friday became the fourth country to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, authorising the vaccine’s rollout in coming weeks in the country with the second highest number of infections. The following is what we know about the race to deliver vaccines to help end the coronavirus pandemic, which […]
WHO emergency COVID-19 vaccine listing aims to lift access in poor countries
Zurich, SwitzerlandReuters The World Health Organization on Thursday listed Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, in a move seeking to speed access in the developing world. The United Nations health agency said it will work with regional partners to tell national health authorities about the two-dose shot and its anticipated benefits. Syringes are […]
Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca: Which COVID-19 vaccine could reach developing countries first?
Thomson Reuters Foundation Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca as it battles a major winter surge driven by a new, highly contagious variant of the virus. Britain has already ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, and the government said it had […]
Production and delivery challenges set up turbulent Year of the Vaccine
Zurich, SwitzerlandReuters As 2020 closes, regulatory approval of COVID-19 vaccines has raised hopes the world can defeat the pandemic next year. But production and delivery challenges suggest beating the disease will be a marathon whose finish line is still far away. Europe on Monday followed Britain and the United States in giving a green light […]
BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine heads to EU as effectiveness against new strain tested
Frankfurt, Germany/Zurich, SwitzerlandReuters BioNTech is testing the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with Pfizer against a highly infectious new strain of the coronavirus as it prepares to send 12.5 million doses to EU countries by the end of year. The European Union is gearing up for a vaccination campaign of unprecedented scale following […]
WHO expects decisions on Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca vaccines in weeks
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The World Health Organization expects to make decisions on whether to give emergency use approval to COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca in the coming weeks, its chief scientist said on Friday. Soumya Swaminathan said the global health body could decide on Pfizer’s vaccine candidate in the next “couple of weeks”, and […]
“Go for it”, says grandmother who got world’s first Pfizer COVID vaccine in Britain
London, UKReuters Margaret Keenan, the 90-year-old grandmother who became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine outside of a trial in Britain on Tuesday, has a message for others: “go for it” to beat the devastating disease. An early riser, Keenan, from Northern Ireland, received the Pfizer-BioNTech shot at her […]
UK approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in world first
London, UKReuters Britain approved Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation program in history. Prime Minister Boris Johnson touted the green light from Britain’s medicine authority as a global win and a ray of hope for the end […]
AstraZeneca says COVID-19 “vaccine for the world” can be 90 per cent effective
London, UKReuters AstraZeneca said on Monday its COVID-19 vaccine was 70 per cent effective in pivotal trials and could be up to 90 per cent effective, giving the world’s fight against the global pandemic a third new weapon that can be cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale-up than rivals. The British […]