What you need to know about coronavirus on Wednesday 28 January

What you need to know about coronavirus on Wednesday 28 January

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The European Union, which has long been proud of rejecting nationalism in favor of international cooperation, is fighting an ugly battle with British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca over delays in supply, and is threatening to impose export controls on vaccines.

AstraZeneca says the EU was too slow to place orders, while EU officials pushed back against what they call “the logic of the first time.” European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said: “It may work in the neighborhood butchers, but not in contracts, and not in our advanced purchase agreements.”

“We are losing people every day. It’s not numbers, it’s not statistics, it’s people … pharmaceutical companies, vaccine developers, have moral, social and contractual responsibilities that they have to uphold,” she added.

EU officials did not want to specify the extent of the vaccine shortage, but it is clear that it is large enough to cause problems. The German Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, warned today that the country will still have shortages for at least another ten weeks. Italy had to review its vaccination program and said that those older than 80 would be vaccinated four weeks later than previously planned. In Spain, the local government of Madrid stopped administering the first doses of the vaccine for the next two weeks to ensure that there were enough to offer second doses for those who had already received their first shots.

The EU is not the only one scrambling for vaccines. In the United States, many states – including New York, South Carolina, Hawaii and Florida – have had to cancel or delay thousands of vaccination appointments due to the shortage of supplies and the unpredictable size of cargo. One official described the current situation as the ‘Hunger Games’ approach.

The production and distribution of hundreds of millions of vaccines will always be difficult. But while the rich countries of the world are fighting over the stock, the developing world is being left behind.

U.S. President Joe Biden plans to vaccinate nearly the entire U.S. population by the end of the summer or early fall. The European Commission’s target is for 70% of adults to be vaccinated by June. The UK hopes to offer the vaccine to all adults by September.
Meanwhile, the People’s Vaccine Alliance has estimated that nine out of ten people in the world’s poorest countries will miss the vaccine this year.

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWER.

Q: Why can other companies not manufacture the approved vaccines?

A: Asked about US President Joe Biden’s use of the Defense Production Act, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, said that the aim is to facilitate the administration of vaccines and not make more doses.

“You just can not open another factory of a company that is not Modern, or is not Pfizer, and say that you are making mRNA vaccine. It’s just not going to happen because of the process. It’s one that difficult, in the sense of starting over, ‘Fauci told Anderson Cooper during a CNN Global Town Hall on Monday.

Some cooperation is possible. Sanofi has said it will fill and package millions of doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine from July in an effort to meet the huge demand for shots from the US drugmaker.

Send your questions here. Are you a health worker fighting Covid-19? Send us a message on WhatsApp about the challenges you face: +1 347-322-0415.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TODAY

Can life after vaccination mean that we are normal again? Not just yet

The UK was the first country to start vaccinating its citizens with a fully screened and authorized Covid-19 vaccine, and is one of the countries with the most shots per capita.

But how quickly can the UK – and perhaps the rest of the world – expect to return to some form of normality? The truth is, not very soon, Kara Fox explains.

Covid-19 numbers drop in the US, even as variants hang and the explosion of the vaccine

Make no mistake: the United States is still in one of the worst places in the coronavirus pandemic. Daily deaths are nearing a peak, and other daily statistics are incredibly high compared to where they were before the end of 2020.

Yet the Covid-19 cases and the number of hospitalizations have dropped. There are vaccines and warmer weather is approaching.

Manaus collapses again. Is the fault of a new coronavirus variant?

Manaus, the capital of Brazil’s Amazonas state and its current coronavirus epicenter, is often called the gateway to the Amazon, the main link by plane or by boat to the rest of the world.

If the city’s name sounds familiar, it could be because it was the scene of one of the world’s worst Covid-19 outbreaks in April and May. Yet the current situation there is worse than ever – and scientists tell CNN that evidence suggests that a new virus variant mixed with the government’s inaction has caused a tragic perfect storm.

Pulling down Tokyo 2020 will be a logistical nightmare … and ringing the bell

The UFC had ‘fighting island’. The NBA had ‘the bubble’. Tokyo 2020 may need a miracle.

After the pandemic forced the organizers to delay the Summer Olympics last year, the Games will now start on July 23, and there are still big questions about how Japan plans to host the most complicated sporting event ever to take place.
People with face masks walk past the Olympic Rings on January 22, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

ON OUR RADAR

  • Regeneron says its monoclonal antibody cocktail works against the new coronavirus variants.
  • The son of the creator of polio vaccine, Jonas Salk, got the Covid-19 vaccine. He wants you to do the same.
  • British people returning home from high-risk countries will have to undergo a ten-day hotel quarantine at their own expense. Non-UK residents will be denied entry.
  • Millions of U.S. vaccine research funds have instead gone to unrelated office expenses, the HHS inspector general said.
  • Washington State Hospital has apologized after inviting donors to sign up for a Covid-19 vaccine.
  • Oklahoma government officials are trying to return the state’s $ 2 million hydroxychloroquine supply.
  • Sekou Smith, an NBA reporter and analyst for more than two decades, has died at Covid-19. He was 48.

BO-WENK

Consider masks the latest fashion accessory that can save your life – and the lives of those you love. But instead of what pattern, logo or slogan you display, choose your mask based on its effectiveness against the deadly coronavirus in the area you are in.

Here’s an outline of respirators and masks based on current scientific knowledge, and what experts say about the best way to use them.

TODAY’S PODCAST

“When we think about the risk of seriousness, it is the fact that so many coloreds in our country live with multiple chronic diseases due to the chronic inability to access high quality healthcare.” – Dr Marcella Nunez Smith, Chair of the White House Health Equality Task Force

The Biden government is launching its Covid-19 strategy and plans to end this pandemic. Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper spoke to three key members of President Biden’s Covid response team: CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Biden’s chief medical adviser, dr. Anthony Fauci, and head of the White House’s new health equality task force, dr. Marcella Nunez. -Smith. Listen now.

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