vials with Covid-19 Vaccine stickers attached, with the logo of US
pharmaceutical company Pfizer, on November 17, 2020. JUSTIN TALLIS
/ AFP
US giant Pfizer and its German partner
BioNTech confirmed they would seek approval on Friday to roll out
their coronavirus vaccine early as surging infections forced New
York to shut schools and California braced for nighttime
curfews.
The world is looking to scientists for salvation from the global
pandemic but a second wave of infections is prompting a return to
the shutdowns and closures that traumatised nations and upturned
the global economy at the start of the year.
The first tangible signs of relief could come Friday
when Pfizer and BioNTech file an emergency use
authorisation request with the US Food and Drug Administration.
READ ALSO: Spain To Vaccinate Much Of Its
Population By Mid-2021
“Our work to deliver a safe and effective vaccine has never been
more urgent,” Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said.
“Filing in the US represents a critical milestone in our journey to
deliver a COVID-19 vaccine to the world.”
The scientific head of the US operation to develop a vaccine
said the final green light would probably come in December.
No quick fix
The BioNTech/Pfizer shot and another one being developed by
the US firm Moderna have taken the lead in the global chase for a
vaccine.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the European
bloc could also approve both before the end of the year.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Friday he hoped to get
“a very substantial part” of the nation of 47 million people
vaccinated by mid-2021.
studio in Paris on November 16, 2020, showing a syringe and a
vaccine vial with the reproduced logo of a US biotech firm Moderna.
(Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)
But no immediate reprieve is coming and the new wave of the
pandemic is hitting many regions harder than the first since the
virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Worldwide deaths are approaching 1.4 million and total
infections nearing 57 million — although the true numbers
are unknown since countries have different reporting methods and
many cases go undetected.
India’s infections have surpassed nine million — second only to
the United States — and some of its graveyards have been running
out of room since it lifted restrictions to save the economy after
the loss of millions of jobs.
“Initially when the virus broke (out), I thought I’ll bury
100-200 people and it’ll 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
breach 100,000.
“We’re at a point where we don’t see a clear phase of descent,”
former Mexican health ministry official Malaquias Lopez told AFP.
“We don’t know where it’s going.”
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Schools out in NYC
Current US numbers — more than quarter of a million deaths have
been reported with 2,200 registered just on Thursday — have alarmed
authorities enough to request that people stay at home for next
week’s Thanksgiving holiday, when Americans usually travel from
coast to coast to be with their families.
Not everyone is happy about the new rules.
More than 13,000 people have signed an online “Keep NYC Schools
Open” petition after the city closed schools for its 1.1 million
students but left open its bars and gyms.
Times Square announces “stocks soar on vaccine hopes” on November
9, 2020 in New York City. David Dee Delgado/Getty
Images/AFP
“Indoor dining remains open. Gyms remain open. Nail salons and
barbershops remain open. Only schools are threatened with closure.
This is nonsensical,” the petition says.
California will also impose a 10 pm to 5 am curfew from Saturday
— a measure that mirrors one that Istanbul will start imposing for
its 15 million residents on weekends starting Friday night.
The latest restrictions in Europe include decision by Northern
Ireland to shut its pubs and shops for an extra two weeks.
But health officials in France said three weeks of curfews and
shutdowns appear to have helped the country pass the worst of its
latest wave.
“Although indicators are still at high levels, they suggest that
the peak of the second wave is behind us,” the country’s health
agency said.
‘Extraordinary advances’
Governments are now pinning their hopes on a vaccine that can
save them from business closures and the stay-at-home orders that
put people’s mental health under severe strain.
A separate candidate vaccine being developed by the University
of Oxford and AstraZeneca has been shown to be safe and effective
in a smaller study of older adults.
The UK government hopes its production can be ramped up quickly
if it passes its final hurdle in a phase 3 trial and is
approved.
But the unprecedented speed at which the vaccines are being
developed has raised some alarm.
China’s Sinopharm revealed Friday that it has already given its
experimental vaccine to nearly a million people — including state
employees and students heading to study abroad.
Top US infectious disease official Anthony Fauci sought to
dispel concerns about the candidates from Pfizer and
Moderna.
“The process of the speed did not compromise at all safety nor
did it compromise scientific integrity,” he said. “It was a
reflection of the extraordinary scientific advances in these types
of vaccines.”
AFP
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/11/21/pfizer-seeks-covid-19-vaccine-approval-as-us-cases-soar/