WASHINGTON – Dr. Anthony Fauci predicts that in April it will be a “hunting season” for vaccinations in the United States, as the increased supply allows most people to receive injections to protect themselves against covid-19.
Speaking to NBC’s Today Show, Fauci, who serves as scientific adviser to President Joe Biden, said the vaccination rate will accelerate a lot in the coming months. He credits the forthcoming deliveries of the two approved vaccines, the possible approval of a third and the measures taken by the Biden government to increase the country’s ability to deliver the doses.
He says: “when we get to April”, it will be “the hunting season, that is, practically everyone and anyone in any category can start getting vaccinated”.
He warned that it will take “several more months” to logistically deliver the injections to adult Americans, but predicted that collective immunity could be achieved in late summer.
In other coveted news
The head of the World Health Organization for Europe says he is launching a $ 48.5 million program with the European Union to help deploy covid-19 vaccines in six countries that were once Soviet republics.
Dr. Hans Kluge, who also highlighted a drop in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, while the alert case count remains very high, says the program complements the work through an existing EU program and the COVAX Facility, supported by WHO, which aims to distribute vaccines to all people in needy countries, whether rich or poor.
The program will involve Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova.
“Vaccines offer a way to emerge more quickly from this pandemic. But only if we ensure that all countries, regardless of income level, have access to them, ”Kluge told reporters in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“Unfair access to vaccines can backfire. The longer the virus lasts, the greater the risk of dangerous mutations, ”he added.
Kluge welcomed the “good news” that new infections in the 53 countries of the WHO region in Europe have declined for four consecutive weeks and said that deaths from greed have fallen in each of the past two weeks. He also pointed to declining hospitalization rates.
In the region, about 7.8 million people have completed immunization, Kluge said.
AP
Ellie Bull, an associate nursing apprentice, administers a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to a homeless person at the Welcome Center in Ilford, East London.
In Kenya
The Tanzanian president denies that covid-19 is in his country, but the WHO says that two travelers from Tanzania have the virus now dominant in South Africa.
WHO chief in Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, told reporters that the travelers went to the United Kingdom. She once again encouraged the Tanzanian government to share information about the pandemic and considers Tanzania to be one of eight African countries with the variant.
The East African nation has not updated its number of virus cases since April, and populist President John Magufuli not only claimed that God helped defeat covid-19 there, but also expressed doubts about his vaccines.
The US Embassy on Wednesday reported a “significant increase” in the number of covid-19 cases in Tanzania since last month, without details. The Catholic Church in Tanzania has also been outspoken in warning that covid-19 is present and encouraging citizens to take precautions.
In London
AstraZeneca said on Thursday that it is working with the University of Oxford to adapt its covid-19 vaccine to protect against new strains of the virus, as public health officials raise concerns about mutations that could make the virus more resistant to existing vaccines. .
The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company worked with Oxford to develop one of the first covid-19 vaccines authorized for widespread use. AstraZeneca said it hopes to reduce the time needed to produce large quantities of any new vaccine to between six and nine months.
Comments were made at a time when Astra-Zeneca said that fourth quarter net income rose to $ 1.01 billion from $ 313 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Drug sales increased 11% to $ 7.41 billion, driven by a 24% increase in cancer treatments.
The company recorded $ 2 million in revenue from its covid-19 vaccine, which it pledged to provide nonprofit during the pandemic.
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