The EU’s medicines regulator on Tuesday dramatically advanced the decision day for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus jab under pressure from Germany, meaning vaccinations in the bloc could start by the year’s end.
The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency’s announcement that it will meet on December 21 instead of December 29 to decide whether to authorise the shot, followed a growing backlash from desperate EU countries.
Saudi Arabia’s health ministry has begun registering citizens and foreign residents for vaccination against COVID-19, the country’s state agency said.
The head of the United Nations children’s agency, Henrietta Fore, has said teachers should be “prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, once front-line health personnel and high-risk populations are vaccinated”.
Meanwhile, Canada has become the third nation to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after the United Kingdom and the United States kicked off their inoculation campaigns against COVID-19 by injecting front-line healthcare workers and elderly nursing home residents.
Globally, COVID-19 deaths have surpassed 1.6 million with more than 72 million infections.
Here are the latest updates:
Ireland aims for vaccination by mid-2021
Anyone in Ireland who wants a COVID-19 vaccine should be able to get one by the middle of next year, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.
Inoculations among the most vulnerable of Ireland’s 4.9 million population should start seven to 10 days after the European Union’s drug regulator approves the first shot, Coveney said after the government approved a rollout plan.
That raised the prospect of the programme beginning before the end of the year after the bloc’s regulator brought forward a decision on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to December 21.
Sweden failed to protect elderly, commission finds
Sweden failed to protect elderly people during the pandemic with the high level of community spread likely the biggest factor as the coronavirus ravaged ill-prepared nursing homes, an initial report by an official commission said.
In the commission’s first findings, it said the overall spread and previously known structural problems within the elderly care system, for which the current and previous governments were ultimately responsible, were to blame for the many deaths.
“These shortcomings meant that elderly care was unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with a pandemic,” the commission said in a statement. “The employees in elderly care were largely left alone to handle the crisis situation.”
US FDA staff raises no new concerns with Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine
The US’s FDA staff said a two-dose regimen of Moderna’s vaccine was highly effective in preventing confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The comments were made in documents prepared for Thursday’s meeting of outside experts, who will discuss whether to endorse a US emergency use authorsation (EUA) for the Moderna vaccine.
The FDA reviewers did not raise any specific safety issues with using the vaccine in adults over the age of 18.
Lebanon to get first batch of COVID-19 vaccines in two months
Lebanon is expected to sign a deal this week for supplies of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine and is set to receive the first batch eight weeks after that, the caretaker health minister said.
Despite the nation’s dire shortage of foreign exchange, the government expects to sign the $18m deal for supplies of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this week, Health Minister Hamad Hassan said.
The first payment of $4m “was secured” in a meeting with the central bank and outgoing prime minister.
“We removed this obstacle,” the minister said, adding that the first batch of vaccines was expected to arrive eight weeks after the signing.
New kinds of loans and bonds could fill $28bn COVID-19 funding gap: WHO
A senior World Health Organization official said the body was looking at new financial instruments to help fill a $28bn finance gap for COVID tools, saying financing was proving a “real challenge”.
“Its a real challenge in today’s fiscal environment despite the fact that this is the best deal in town,” WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward told Geneva-based journalists. “This will pay itself off in 36 hours once we get trade and travel moving again.”
London mayor backs tougher restrictions in UK capital
London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has criticised the United Kingdom’s government’s plan for a relaxation of coronavirus measures over Christmas, saying it could lead to a rise in infections.
The capital city will be under stricter restrictions from Wednesday, along with other surrounding areas, to tackle an increase in cases, but rules will be eased countrywide from December 23-27 to allow people to see family and friends over the festive period.
Speaking to UK broadcaster Sky, Khan said it was “nonsensical” for London to enter so-called Tier 3, the highest level of restrictions under England’s current system, for a matter of days before what he said amounted to ‘Tier 0’.
EU’s COVID-19 vaccine approval should come ‘before Christmas’: Germany
Germany said it wanted the European Union to approve the BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine “before Christmas”, as criticism grows of the EU health regulator’s plan to make a decision by December 29 at the latest.
“The goal is to get approval before Christmas,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters. “We want to start vaccinating in Germany before the end of the year.”
Britain and the United States have already approved the vaccine and started vaccinating their citizens.
Jordan approves Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine
Jordan has announced it has approved emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.
The Jordanian Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) did not specify when it would begin the rollout of the vaccine by US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
JFDA director general Nizar Mheidat told the official Petra news agency it had “concluded all stages of granting the licence, in order to approve and distribute the vaccine”.
Health Minister Nazir Obeidat said last month that the vaccine would be distributed free of charge to foreign residents as well as Jordanians.
Italy plans new coronavirus restrictions for the Christmas holidays
The Italian government is planning new coronavirus restrictions for the Christmas holidays, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.
“We now need some further restrictive measures,” Conte told La Stampa newspaper, without offering more details.
“We must at all cost forestall a third wave [of the virus], because it would be devastating also in terms of the loss of human lives,” Conte said.
Italy is one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. With a population of 60 million, it has recorded around 65,000 fatalities linked to COVID-19, Europe’s highest death toll.
Singapore to allow business travel arrivals from all countries
Singapore will allow business travellers and visiting officials from all countries to enter from next month, authorities said, as the financial hub seeks to recover from a coronavirus-induced downturn.
Under the new arrangements, a limited number of travellers can apply for stays of up to 14 days from mid-January, the trade ministry said.
Singapore already had arrangements allowing in selected visitors from countries including China and South Korea, but the new scheme marks a significant easing of travel curbs.
Travellers must undergo virus tests before leaving their home country, on arrival in Singapore and regularly during their stay, and must reside and conduct meetings at locations selected by the government.
Pakistan to complete research in immunoglobulin therapy to treat COVID-19
Pakistani scientists say the country is likely to be the first to complete the research needed to treat the coronavirus disease at a mass level, saying ‘severe’ patients who had received the product had a 100 percent recovery rate.
Scientists at Karachi’s Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) are conducting clinical trials by using intravenous immunoglobulin (C-IVIG) therapy, which is a blood product extracted from the plasma of people who have recovered from infection, and is rich in the antibodies that target the virus.
Teachers should receive vaccine priority: UNICEF
The head of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF has called for teachers to be among those given priority access to the COVID-19 vaccines.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on children’s education around the globe. Vaccinating teachers is a critical step towards putting it back on track,” UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore said in a statement.
Teachers should be “prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, once front-line health personnel and high-risk populations are vaccinated,” she said.
“This will help protect teachers from the virus, allow them to teach in person, and ultimately keep schools open.”
UNICEF must “do everything in our power to safeguard the future of the next generation,” Fore said. “This begins by safeguarding those responsible for opening that future up for them.”
Saudi Arabia starts registering people for COVID vaccination
Saudi Arabia’s health ministry has begun registering citizens and foreign residents for vaccination against COVID-19, the state news agency SPA reported, with the vaccination divided into three stages pertaining to a target groups.
The vaccine has passed all testing stages and contains a strong immune response against the virus, the health ministry said.
The treatment is free for all citizens and residents as was instructed by the Saudi leadership, the ministry added.
