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More than two-thirds of the 15 million coronavirus vaccines shipped within the United States have not been used, US health officials said.
It comes as the governors of New York and Florida pledged to penalize hospitals that do not give injections quickly.
Medical authorities have faced widespread mistrust of immunization safety, including among some healthcare workers, due in part to the record speed with which Covid-19 vaccines were developed and approved.
But some American officials have also cited organizational failures in launching the most ambitious mass vaccination campaign in the country’s history in the year-end Christmas season.
“The logistics of getting the people who want it are really the issue,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease specialist, told MSNBC.
“We are not where we want to be. There is no question about that. I don’t think we can blame all of it on vaccinations.”
Germany to extend closure
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders are expected to extend a shutdown on Europe’s main economy today, as coronavirus deaths continue to rise despite tough restrictions in the lead-up to the holidays.
After daily deaths in Germany passed the 1,000 mark for the first time on December 30, pressure mounted to curb the spread of the disease that has claimed more than 34,000 lives.
Merkel and the prime ministers of Germany’s 16 states will meet today, and regional leaders said they would extend the current partial lockdown beyond the Jan.10 deadline, probably until the end of the month.
“Since infection rates are still too high, it will be necessary to extend the restrictions,” Health Minister Jens Spahn said yesterday.
Michael Kretschmer, prime minister of Saxony, the state with the highest infection rates in the country, said a continued shutdown was “inevitable.”
Current rules have kept most stores closed along with schools, restaurants, cultural and leisure facilities, and Christmas and New Years celebrations limited to small gatherings.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said that with some 5,700 corona patients in intensive care across the country, “hospitals in many places are working near capacity.”
New variant of Covid-19 detected in France
France has seen around a dozen cases of the most contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in the UK, Health Minister Olivier Veran said.
Veran also told RTL radio that the high level of coronavirus infections in France made easing the current restrictions unlikely.
He added that France is expanding its implementation of Covid-19 vaccination to firefighters and humanitarian workers over the age of 50.
“We are going to expand, accelerate and simplify our vaccination strategy,” Veran said.
France yesterday accelerated its Covid-19 vaccination of medical personnel in hospitals after being criticized for a slow initial start.
Italy imposes post-holiday restrictions to control infections
Italian ministers have decided to maintain country-wide restrictions this weekend to curb coronavirus infections, but agreed to relax the restrictions on weekdays.
Italians spent much of Christmas and New Years at home, and people were allowed to leave their homes only for work, health and emergencies, or for short trips to see a limited number of friends or family.
These rules will expire on Thursday and ministers agreed last night to return to the old three-tier system, which allows different measures to be applied in different regions.
But every bar and restaurant in the country will have to close this weekend, and travel between towns and cities will be kept to a minimum.
The government has also decided to postpone Thursday’s reopening of secondary schools at 50% capacity until Monday. Some regions, including northern Veneto around Venice, have decided to delay the reopening until January 31.
The number of daily cases has fallen from a peak of around 40,000 in mid-November to less than 20,000 today, but the infection rate has faltered, with many hundreds dying every day.
England back locked up
People in England have woken up to a new national lockdown to contain a surge in Covid-19 cases that threatens to overwhelm parts of the healthcare system before a vaccine program reaches critical mass.
Nonessential stores and hospitality remain closed, while primary and secondary schools close as of today for all students except vulnerable children and those whose parents are key workers.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that if the launch of the vaccine went according to plan and the number of deaths responded to the lockdown measures as expected, it should be possible to start exiting the lockdown in mid-February.
However, he urged to be cautious about the timing and asked everyone to abide by the rules.
Japan’s decision on virus measures ‘too little, too late’
A Japanese government decision will be made this week on a state of emergency in and around Tokyo, a senior official said today, a move ridiculed by citizens as too little, too late, especially in a nation that will host the Olympics. in less than 200 days. .
Tokyo and the three surrounding prefectures, which requested an emergency declaration, asked residents to refrain from conducting non-essential and non-urgent departures after 8 p.m. from Friday until at least the end of the month, and said restaurants should close before that time.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said yesterday that “limited and concentrated measures” would be the most effective, but the details remain unclear, including the closure of sports facilities, theaters and cinemas.
Indonesia vaccinates its workforce first
Indonesia’s mass vaccination program will start next week, a senior minister said, pending clearance from the country’s food and drug agency (BPOM) as around 700,000 doses of vaccines have already been widely distributed.
His plan to prioritize working-age adults over the elderly, with the aim of quickly achieving herd immunity and reviving the economy, will be closely watched by other countries.
Professor Dale Fisher from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore said he understood the rationale for Indonesia’s approach.
“Young working adults are generally more active, more social, and travel more, so this strategy should decrease community transmission faster than vaccinating older people,” he said.
The first batch of 31,000 doses of the SinoVac Covid-19 vaccine has arrived in Bali.
Mexico approves AstraZeneca / Oxford coronavirus vaccine
Mexico has authorized the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford for emergency use in the country, which has one of the highest Covid-19 mortality rates in the world.
Vice Minister of Health Hugo López-Gatell announced on Twitter that Mexican regulators had approved the vaccine, which has also been authorized by Great Britain, India and Argentina.
López-Gastell said the vaccine could be available in March. “It is up to the private entities that work on it to specify the production capacity,” he later explained during a press conference.
It is the second coronavirus vaccine authorized by Mexico, which began a mass immunization program on Christmas Eve using the Pfizer-BioNTech injection, giving priority to health workers.
Some 30,000 workers, about a quarter of what was expected in the first stage, had received the vaccine as of last Sunday, according to the government.
Mexico, which has reported more than 127,000 deaths from Covid-19 and around 1.4 million cases, has an agreement with AstraZeneca to purchase 77.4 million doses of its vaccine.
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