The BioNTech / Pfizer photo and another being developed by the American firm Moderna.
Washington, United States:
American biotech giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech sought approval on Friday to launch its coronavirus vaccine early, a first step toward relief as rising infections triggers a return to shutdowns that traumatized nations and the global economy earlier this year.
The world hopes that scientists will be saved from the global pandemic. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said its vaccine committee would meet on December 10 to discuss the application for emergency use authorization.
“The FDA recognizes that transparency and dialogue are essential for the public to have confidence in COVID-19 vaccines,” FDA Director Stephen Hahn said in a statement.
“I want to assure the American people that the FDA process and the evaluation of the data for a potential Covid-19 vaccine will be as open and transparent as possible.”
He said he couldn’t predict how long the review would take, but the federal government previously said the final green light would likely come in December.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called the presentation “a critical milestone in our journey to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine to the world.”
The BioNTech / Pfizer injection and another being developed by the American firm Moderna have taken the lead in the worldwide search for a vaccine.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European bloc could also approve both before the end of the year.
No quick fix
But the highly complex and controversial question of how to speed up production and distribution means there will be no immediate respite.
And the latest wave of the pandemic is hitting many regions more strongly than the first wave that swept across the world after the virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Deaths worldwide are close to 1.4 million and infections to 57 million, although the actual figures are unknown, as countries have different reporting methods and many cases go unrecognized.
India’s infections have surpassed nine million, second only to the United States, and some of its graveyards have run out of space.
“Initially when the virus broke out, I thought it would bury 100-200 people and it would be done. But the current situation is beyond my wildest thoughts,” New Delhi gravedigger Mohammed Shamim told AFP.
And Mexico became the fourth country to see its death toll exceed 100,000.
“We are at a point where we do not see a clear phase of decline,” the former official of the Ministry of Health of Mexico, Malaquias López, told AFP.
Schools in New York
In the United States, it was revealed that President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr, tested positive for the virus earlier this week and was in quarantine “in his cabin” without any symptoms.
Trump Jr. is the latest in a long line of infections related to the White House, including his father. Both Trumps have consistently downplayed the danger of the pandemic even as cases spike across the country.
More than a quarter of a million deaths have been reported in the United States since the pandemic began, with 1,800 recorded on Friday.
The current figures have alarmed authorities enough to advise people to stay home during the Thanksgiving holiday next week, when Americans often travel for family celebrations.
Not everyone is happy with the new guidelines and regulations, like the 13,000 petitioners who called New York City’s decision to close schools but leave open bars and gyms “meaningless.”
California will also impose a 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew beginning Saturday, a measure that mirrors that imposed by Istanbul for its 15 million residents on weekends beginning Friday night.
Elsewhere, Canada’s largest city Toronto will be placed under a new lockdown starting Monday.
And the latest restrictions in Europe include Northern Ireland’s decision to close bars and shops for two more weeks as Portugal extends the state of emergency until December 8.
But health officials in France said three weeks of restrictions appeared to have helped them overcome the peak of their second wave.
‘Extraordinary advances’
Governments are now pinning their hopes on a vaccine that can save them from business and school closings and stay-at-home orders that put people’s mental health under severe strain.
Spain expects to vaccinate “a very substantial part” of its 47 million inhabitants by mid-2021, while the Netherlands aims for 3.5 million in the first quarter.
The British government said it had asked its independent drug regulator to study the Pfizer / BioNTech coronavirus vaccine with a view to an imminent launch.
A separate candidate vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca is now in a phase 3 trial.
But developing countries will face deeper challenges. The World Health Organization has asked G20 nations to help fill a funding gap of $ 4.5 billion for a program to distribute vaccines globally, according to a letter seen by AFP.
And the unprecedented speed at which vaccines are being developed has raised some alarm.
China’s Sinopharm revealed on Friday that it has already administered its experimental vaccine to nearly a million people.
But America’s top infectious diseases official, Anthony Fauci, has tried to allay concerns about the Pfizer and Moderna candidates, saying the speed at which they were developed “did not compromise safety” but was rather a “a reflection of the extraordinary scientific advances in this type of vaccine..”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
.
