What you need to know about coronavirus on Wednesday, January 28

What you need to know about coronavirus on Wednesday, January 28

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The European Union, which has long prided itself on rejecting nationalism in favor of international cooperation, is fighting an ugly battle with Swedish-British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca over supply delays and threatening to impose vaccine export controls.

AstraZeneca says the EU has been too slow to place orders, while EU officials are resisting what they call “first-come, first-served logic”. European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides attacked, saying, “This may work for neighborhood butchers, but not for contracts, not for our advance purchase agreements.”

“We lose people every day. They are not numbers, they are not statistics, they are people … pharmaceutical companies, vaccine developers, have moral, social and contractual responsibilities that they need to fulfill ”, he added.

EU officials declined to specify the scale of the vaccine deficiency, but it is clear that it is large enough to cause problems. German Health Minister Jens Spahn warned today that the country will face shortages for at least another 10 weeks. Italy had to revise its vaccination program, saying that those over 80 would be vaccinated four weeks later than planned previously. In Spain, the Madrid regional government has stopped administering the first doses of the vaccine for the next two weeks to ensure that there is enough to provide the second doses to those who have already received the first vaccines.

The EU is not the only one fighting for vaccines. In the United States, many states – including New York, South Carolina, Hawaii and Florida – have had to cancel or delay thousands of vaccination appointments due to lack of supplies and unpredictable shipment sizes. One official described the current situation as the “Hunger Games approach”.

Making and distributing hundreds of millions of vaccines from scratch has always been difficult. But as the world’s rich countries struggle for supplies, the developing world is being left behind.

US President Joe Biden plans to vaccinate almost the entire US population by the end of the summer or early fall. The European Commission’s goal is for 70% of adults to be vaccinated by June. The UK hopes to offer the vaccine to all adults by September.
Meanwhile, the People’s Vaccine Alliance has estimated that nine out of 10 people in the world’s poorest countries will miss the vaccine this year.

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWER.

Q: Why can’t other companies manufacture approved vaccines?

AN: When asked about the use of the Defense Production Act by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the goal was to “facilitate” the vaccine administration process and not make more doses.

“You can’t open another factory for a company other than Moderna, or Pfizer, and tell them to make an mRNA vaccine. It just won’t happen that way, because of the process. It is a difficult process, in the sense of starting from scratch, “Fauci told Anderson Cooper during a CNN Global Town Hall conference yesterday.

However, some cooperation is possible. Sanofi said it will fill and pack millions of doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine starting in July, in an effort to help meet the huge demand for injections from the American pharmaceutical company.

Submit your questions here. Are you a healthcare professional battling Covid-19? Send us a message on WhatsApp about the challenges you are facing: +1 347-322-0415.

WHAT’S IMPORTANT TODAY

Can post-vaccine life mean we’re back to normal? Not yet

The United Kingdom was the first country to start inoculating its citizens with a fully approved and authorized Covid-19 vaccine and is among the countries with the highest number of injections administered per capita.

But how quickly can the UK – and perhaps the rest of the world – hope to return to some form of normalcy? The truth is that not too soon, explains Kara Fox.

Covid-19 numbers are dropping in the US, even with the variants lurking and the vaccine launch delayed

Make no mistake: the United States is still at one of the worst points of the coronavirus pandemic. Daily deaths are close to the peak, and other daily statistics are incredibly high compared to where they were before a sudden increase in late 2020.

Still, Covid-19 cases and hospitalization numbers have been dropping. Vaccines have arrived and hot weather is approaching.

Manaus is collapsing again. Is it the fault of a new variant of the coronavirus?

Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas in Brazil and its current epicenter of the coronavirus, is often referred to as the gateway to the Amazon, its main link with the rest of the world by plane or boat.

If the city’s name sounds familiar, it may be because it was the scene of one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the world in April and May. However, the current situation is worse than ever – and scientists tell CNN that the evidence suggests that a new variant of the virus mixed with government inaction has created a perfect tragic storm.

Withdrawing Tokyo 2020 will be a logistical nightmare … and time is running out

The UFC had a “fight island”. The NBA had “the bubble”. Tokyo 2020 may need a miracle.

After the pandemic forced organizers to postpone last year’s Olympics, the Games are now scheduled to start on July 23, and the main questions remain about how Japan plans to host what could be the most complex sporting event ever held.
People wearing masks pass through the Olympic rings on January 22, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

ON OUR RADAR

  • Regeneron says his cocktail of monoclonal antibodies works against new variants of the coronavirus.
  • The son of polio vaccine creator Jonas Salk took the Covid-19 vaccine. He wants you to do that too.
  • Britons arriving from “high risk” countries will have to go through a 10-day hotel quarantine at their own expense. Residents outside the UK will be refused entry.
  • Millions of US vaccine research funds went to unrelated office expenses, says the HHS inspector general.
  • Washington State Hospital apologized after inviting donors to apply for a Covid-19 vaccine.
  • Oklahoma state officials are trying to return the state’s $ 2 million hydroxychloroquine stock.
  • Sekou Smith, an NBA reporter and analyst for more than two decades, died of Covid-19. He was 48 years old.

BEST TIP

Think of masks as the newest fashion accessory that can save your life – and the life of the one you love. But instead of what pattern, logo or slogan you display, choose your mask based on its effectiveness against the deadly coronavirus in the environment you are in.

Here is an analysis of respirators and masks based on current scientific knowledge and what experts are saying about the best way to use them.

TODAY’S PODCAST

“When we think about the risk of seriousness, it is the fact that many people of color in our country are living with various chronic diseases because of the chronic inability to access high quality health care.” – Dr. Marcella Nunez Smith, President of the White House Health Equity Task Force

The Biden government is starting to put its Covid-19 strategy into action and outline plans to end the pandemic. Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper spoke with three key members of President Biden’s Covid response team: CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Biden’s chief medical consultant, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the head of the new White House Health Equity Task Force, Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith. Listen now.

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