Coronavirus Live News: WHO Warns ‘Vaccine Nationalism Will Generate New Covid Mutations’ | World News

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that all his compatriots who want a vaccine will be offered one “by the end of the summer,” Reuters reports.

He told channel TF1 that 80 percent of nursing home residents, some 500,000 people, would be vaccinated in early March.

Macron defended France’s record against criticism for its slow deployment, especially compared to its neighbor Britain, which started its inoculation program weeks before EU countries and has set a much faster pace.

He said France’s launch “may seem too slow” compared to countries that had “made other bets.”

“But I defend the strategy we have adopted with Germany, with the European Union, which is precisely to vaccinate in Europe,” he said.

Coronavirus vaccine nationalism is detrimental to everyone, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday, saying weak cooperation between nations is a major barrier to achieving global vaccination to the scale needed to end the coronavirus pandemic.

“Despite the growing number of vaccine options, current manufacturing capacity covers only a fraction of global need,” said the WHO director general in an article published in Foreign Policy magazine.

“Allowing the majority of the world’s population to go unvaccinated will not only perpetuate unnecessary illness and death and the pain of ongoing lockdowns, it will also generate new virus mutations as Covid-19 continues to spread among unprotected populations,” he wrote.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

As always, you can find me on Twitter. @helenrsullivan.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Tuesday that weak cooperation between nations is a major barrier to achieving global vaccination on the scale necessary to end the coronavirus pandemic.

“Allowing the majority of the world’s population to go unvaccinated will not only perpetuate unnecessary illness and death and the pain of ongoing lockdowns, it will also generate new virus mutations as Covid-19 continues to spread among unprotected populations,” Tedros wrote in Foreign Policy magazine. .

Here are the other key developments of the last few hours:

• The nationalism of the Covid-19 vaccine is harmful to everyone, said the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He said weak cooperation between nations is a major barrier to achieving global vaccination on the scale necessary to end the pandemic.
• The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in France is at its highest level since November. The Health Ministry reported that 28,029 people were hospitalized with the virus and 3,270 in intensive care. Both numbers set new highs for 2021.
• Nicola sturgeon announced a gradual return to school for Scotland’s youngest children, with nurseries and all primary students from P1 to P3 scheduled to be back in the classroom from February 22. The announcement will put pressure on the UK government to respond to calls from Conservative MPs about why England is operating on a slower timetable.
• Saudi Arabia suspended the entry of 20 countries in a bid to stem a rise in coronavirus infections. The Interior Ministry announced that the “temporary suspension” would be effective from 9 pm on Wednesday.
• A single dose of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine provides sustained protection against Covid-19 for at least three months and reduces transmission of the virus by two-thirds., according to a new study.
• French President Emmanuel Macron said that all French willing to get vaccinated will be offered a vaccine by the end of the summer.
• Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that most of the lockdown measures in the Netherlands, many of which have been in place since October, will remain in place until at least March 2. due to fears about an increase in cases as a result of new variants of the coronavirus.
• Portugal, currently feeling the full force of its third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, has appealed for international help to relieve the overwhelmed hospital staff. Prime Minister Antonio Costa acknowledged that the country’s hospitals are under “gigantic pressure.” The government acted after the 24-hour death toll in the country surpassed the 300 mark and television stations broadcast images of ambulances queuing in front of Lisbon’s largest hospital.
• The Palestinian Authority began vaccinating its health workers in the occupied West Bank against Covid-19 after receiving doses from Israel.