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Washington: On Monday, the United States considered that it could issue a license for a vaccine against Covid-19 within a few weeks, after the company “Pfizer” announced that its experimental vaccine would reduce the risk of contagion with the emerging corona virus by 90%. , but that the rest of the world will have to wait months later.
Pfizer (USA) and “Biontech” (Germany) said their vaccine, taken in two doses three weeks apart, is “90% effective,” preliminary results from the third phase of the clinical trial showed. in progress. The two companies did not disclose details of these results.
For Americans who ordered 100 million doses in advance, this means that the first vaccines can begin before the end of the year, as long as their safety for human health is confirmed starting next week. Pfizer intends to apply for a license from the US Food and Drug Administration, which will determine the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
US Attorney General Alex Azar said distribution of the vaccine would only be “a matter of weeks.” The administration of United States President Donald Trump, the outgoing president, made vaccine development a foundation to address this health crisis.
In the European Union, which previously bought 200 million doses and is negotiating to order another 100 million, “the vaccine may not be available before early 2021,” according to a European source.
Other countries, such as Japan, Canada and Great Britain, have placed orders for the Pfizer vaccine and demand is expected to exceed the quantities available initially, as Pfizer expects to provide 50 million doses in 2020 and 1.3 billion next year.
For months, NGOs have worried about the purchase of doses of the vaccine by rich countries, as well as the possible price of the Pfizer vaccine. “The vaccine will be 0% effective for people who don’t have the money to get it,” said Robin Guitar, spokesperson for “Oxfam” in France.
It is not yet known whether the vaccine provides long-term immunity. However, the announcement immediately unleashed a wave of hope and a huge surge in global stock exchanges, just ten months after the genetic map of this emerging corona virus was drawn in what is seen as a scientific achievement.
The American company Moderna is developing another experimental vaccine, the results of which are expected to be published in the coming weeks, using the same technology.
The world is also waiting for the results of another vaccine, which is in advanced stages and which is being developed by the company “AstraZeneca” with the University of Oxford.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the announcement was “encouraging.”
Outgoing US President Donald Trump welcomed this announcement in a tweet, saying it was “wonderful news.”
The president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, confirmed that he saw a sign of “hope” in the announcement of the companies “Pfizer” and “Biontech”, warning that the “battle” is still long. He called on Americans to wear the muzzle, “which is not a political position.”
On the other hand, the Brazilian health authorities announced that they suspended clinical trials of the Chinese experimental vaccine Coronavac, after one of the volunteers was exposed to a “serious accident”, the nature of which was not specified.
The United States registered a record number of new infections for consecutive days that exceeded one hundred thousand per day, and on Monday it exceeded the threshold of ten million new infections with the Corona virus since the beginning of the outbreak of the epidemic in its soil, with a increase of one million new infections in ten days.
More than 238,000 people have died in the United States from Covid-19, according to official figures, but health authorities believe that the actual number of victims is well over 300,000.
More than 50.3 million cases have been recorded worldwide since the outbreak of the epidemic in China in December, according to an AFP census based on official sources.
In Europe, where more than 12.7 million injured were registered, Portugal, since Monday, imposed a state of health emergency accompanied by a curfew in most of the country.
“We cannot face the pandemic without sacrifice,” said Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, while the number of daily victims surpassed 60 for the first time.
And it imposed different levels of closures or curfews in most European countries.
On Monday, Romania imposed a night curfew, with the need to wear masks abroad and ban public and private celebrations, at a time when the country is close to registering 10,000 new injuries a day.
In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced a partial shutdown starting Wednesday. Meetings will be banned, restaurants will be closed, cultural events will be canceled, and a curfew will be applied from eight to five in the morning. These measures, which must be approved by Parliament, will be imposed for a minimum period of 30 days.
In France, the second wave continues to spread but slowed down, in the first encouraging sign ten days after the closure was reimposed, especially in the Paris region, but the pressure on hospitals remains very great, with the country outpacing the threshold of 40 thousand deaths from the virus.
In Italy, doctors see the epidemiological situation as “largely out of control” and are calling on the government to impose an immediate “closure”.
As for Russia, on Monday it registered a new record level in the number of injuries, with about 22,000 new cases, and Moscow for the first time surpassed the highest level recorded in May. However, the Russian authorities have so far ruled out a new generalized shutdown.
And it was announced that the president of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, was infected with the new Corona virus and is in good health, according to his media apparatus.
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