Month: February 2021

UNICEF has announced a deal with the Serum Institute of India to produce 1.1 billion doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford and Novavax vaccines at a cost of $3 per dose.   “This is, of course, just an initial tranche of COVAX vaccines. More will follow. We will continue to work on the supply agreements to meet the needs of the COVAX vaccine requirements for the first half of 2021,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement Wednesday.   COVAX is a coordinated partnership of the World Health Organization (WHO); GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; the Center for Epidemics Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and others to ensure vaccines are distributed to the world’s poorest countries.   “For countries which have already initiated vaccination drives, and those yet to begin, this information is a…

Israel has announced it is opening its coronavirus vaccination campaign to anyone over the age of 16, as one-third of the population has already received the first dose. But in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority has received just 2,000 doses from Israel that went to front-line health care workers. Palestinians hope to start receiving larger quantities of the vaccine later this month.Israel continues to move forward with its vaccination drive, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he hopes that 90% of Israelis over the age of 50 will be inoculated in the next two weeks. The campaign includes Arab citizens of Israel, and Palestinians in east Jerusalem who are covered by the Israeli health care system. But close to 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank…

The top U.S. infectious disease expert has another warning for Americans: Don’t attend Super Bowl parties amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci says such parties could spread coronavirus. "You don't want parties with people that you haven't had much contact with," he told NBC's "Today" show. "You just don't know if they're infected, so, as difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it." Despite the warning, some 22,000 fans will be allowed to attend Sunday's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa. They will all be required to wear face coverings. Fans were not permitted to attend most games in the National Football League this season. Recently, Fauci warned against Thanksgiving get-togethers, especially in the case of people traveling to see relatives. …

The test launch and landing of a SpaceX Starship prototype Tuesday ended in a crash for the second time since December.   The bullet-shaped 50-meter-tall SN-9 Starship rocket, a product of entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private space company, lifted off as planned from the southern Texas launch site and traveled 10 kilometers into the sky before making its descent for a planned soft landing back on the launch pad.  Spacex's 2nd Starship Test Flight Ends with Another Kaboom Elon Musk is developing Starship to carry people to Mars, perhaps in as little as several yearsThe spacecraft failed to return to a vertical position before reaching the ground and exploded on impact. The December test flight ended the same way. The next SpaceX prototype, the SN-10, stood on a launch pad near the…

The recent pledge by General Motors to produce all electric vehicles by 2035, except for heavy duty trucks, is expected to give a huge boost to the move away from gasoline-fueled cars.  Mike O’Sullivan reports on what analysts say is a global trend. ...

A coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds, according to a study released by the university Wednesday.   The study has not been peer-reviewed, but Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the findings are “good news.”   "It does show the world that the Oxford jab works, it works well,” Hancock said.   The vaccine has come under criticism from other nations in Europe in recent days with officials expressing concerns about the lack of data regarding its effectiveness in older people.   France’s top health advisory body recommended the vaccine only be used in those under the age of 65.   In Belgium, the government said it would only give the vaccine to those under the age of 55.…

Mexico’s regulatory agency approved emergency use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, shortly after Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell announced Tuesday the country’s plan to combat the novel coronavirus would involve use of the vaccine. The Associated Press reports Mexico is launching its vaccination program as its capital, Mexico City, is struggling to accommodate a growing number of coronavirus patients and provide adequate oxygen to hospitals.  Meantime, Lopez-Gattel said the first batches of the 7.4 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine will arrive this month through April.    The Sputnik V vaccine’s credibility was elevated Tuesday after late-stage clinical trial results published in The Lancet international medical journal revealed it was 91.6% effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19.    Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has spoken to Russian President  Vladimir Putin about purchasing 24 million doses of the vaccine.  Argentina joins Mexico in ramping up its efforts to secure an ample supply of the Sputnik V vaccine.     Lopez Gatell said on Monday Mexico would receive between 1.6 million to 2.75 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX global vaccine sharing program this month.  Mexico has one of the highest coronavirus…

China put 38.4 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity into operation in 2020, according to new international research, more than three times the amount built elsewhere around the world and potentially undermining its short-term climate goals.   The country won praise last year after President Xi Jinping pledged to make the country "carbon neutral" by 2060. But regulators have since come under fire for failing to properly control the coal power sector, a major source of climate-warming greenhouse gas. Including decommissions, China's coal-fired fleet capacity rose by a net 29.8 GW in 2020, even as the rest of the world made cuts of 17.2 GW, according to research released on Wednesday by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a U.S. think tank, and the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).   "The runaway…

The White House announced Tuesday new measures to increase the rate of vaccinations against COVID-19, including distributing vaccines to select pharmacies across the country. “Building on last week’s announcement, the Biden-Harris Administration will increase overall, weekly vaccine supply to states, Tribes, and territories to 10.5-million doses nationwide beginning this week,” a statement from the White House said, noting that this constitutes a 22% increase in vaccine supply since President Joe Biden took office January 20. The statement also said the federal government would reimburse states and territories for supplies like masks and gloves as the U.S. continues to battle record numbers of virus infections and deaths. People wait in their vehicles after receiving a shot at the Dodger Stadium COVID-19 vaccination site, in Los Angeles, California, Feb. 1, 2021.The statement included a list…

Nigerian authorities are pledging to provide more protection for health care workers following an increase in COVID-19 cases among the group.   Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, said Monday the positive coronavirus test of 75 health care workers in the past week is worrisome.   Ihkekweazu is urging health care personnel to exercise caution and suspect COVID-19 in every case until it is ruled out.  He warned that even then the risk of infection still exists.      Ihekweazu also said the NCDC will soon make available rapid diagnostic test kits in more health facilities as an additional form of protection.   Anadolu Agency said more than 800 health care workers in Nigeria have been infected with the virus since June, Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said.…

Britain launched an emergency program of door-to-door testing in several areas Tuesday following the discovery of hundreds of cases of the coronavirus variant, first identified in South Africa, which scientists say could be more resistant to vaccines.  Mobile testing units were deployed to several regions, including parts of central and suburban London, while firefighter units and volunteers helped to deliver home testing kits and administer door-to-door testing. Local authorities aimed to conduct 80,000 coronavirus tests. By Tuesday morning, 105 cases of the mutation first seen in South Africa were identified in eight districts across Britain. Eleven of those cases did not have any direct link to international travel, suggesting the variant is being transmitted within the community. Volunteers hand out the COVID-19 home test kit to a resident, in Goldsworth and St.…

South Africa’s president delivered a rare shot of good news to people in the continent’s coronavirus hotspot: the nation’s second wave appears to be abating, and the government will soon launch a vaccination campaign for health workers. The Monday address, delivered live on national television, was a departure from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s usual tone. For nearly a year, Ramaphosa has the been the bearer of grim news, talking of deaths, rising caseloads and burdened hospitals, of lockdowns and restrictions and of endless reminders, like a chiding father, reminding people to wear your mask, wash your hands.South Africa is the continent’s viral hotspot, with 1.4 million confirmed cases and more than 44,000  COVID-19 deaths since the virus arrived in March. The nation experienced the start of a second wave of the virus,…

Nigerian authorities are pledging to provide more protection for healthcare workers following an increase in COVID-19 cases among the group.   Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control  Ihekweazu, said Monday the positive coronavirus test of 75 healthcare workers in the past week is worrisome.   Ihkekweazu is urging healthcare personnel to exercise caution and suspect COVID-19 in every case until it is ruled out.  He warned even then, the risk of infection still exits.      Ihekweazu also said the NCDC will soon make available rapid diagnostic test kits in more health facilities as an additional form of protection.   Anadolu Agency said more than 800 healthcare workers in Nigeria have been infected with the virus since June, according to Health Minister Osagie Ehanire.   The…

The head of the Tokyo Olympics expressed confidence Tuesday the event will go forward this year despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori said discussions should be about how and not whether the Olympics will happen. "We will hold the Olympics, regardless of how the coronavirus [situation] looks," Mori said. The Summer Games were originally scheduled to begin in July 2020, but organizers postponed the event for one year.  The new start date is July 23. FILE - A man wearing a protective mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks near a banner of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at an underpass in Tokyo, Jan. 19, 2021.Adding to doubts about whether it would be possible to stage the games are recent lockdowns initiated in a number of countries.  Large parts…

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said medical regulators will begin testing the integrity of the country's first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 before vaccinating front line healthcare workers. He made the comment during a national address late Monday, hours after he and other dignitaries accepted 1.2 million doses of vaccine that arrived at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport Monday afternoon. President Ramaphosa said after healthcare workers get their shots the country aims to vaccinate essential workers, people over 60 years of age, people with co-morbidities and those living in places such as nursing homes. The remainder of the adult population will get their shots in the third phase of the vaccination program. South Africa is the African nation hardest hit by the novel coronavirus, with more than 1.4 million confirmed cases since the virus turned up in the country in March. The nation’s second wave of the virus fueled by a new variant that surfaced in late December appears to be subsiding.  The head of South Africa’s coronavirus task force, Dr. Salim Abdool…

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Monday said 105 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa have been found in the nation, with 11 of those cases having no links to international travel.Speaking at a Downing Street news briefing, Hancock said health authorities plan to test 80,000 people from areas around the country to isolate and stop the spread of the new variant."There's currently no evidence to suggest this variant is any more severe, but we need to come down on it hard, and we will," he said.A man takes a swab at a test center in Goldsworth Park, as the South African variant of the novel coronavirus is reported in parts of Surrey, in Woking, Britain, Feb. 1, 2021.Hancock said the surge of new testing is…

Cameroon is seeing a resurgence of leprosy, the bacterial infectious disease that causes severe, disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage.  Cameroon health authorities, on Sunday's World Leprosy Day, said infections have jumped by about 50% since 2018.  Leprosy patients say,  just as in ancient times, they are shunned and neglected. Cameroon two decades ago announced that it had eliminated leprosy, but around 200 cases continued to be reported each year. In 2019, cases of the bacterial disease, which damages skin and nerves, increased to 270 and last year jumped to over 300.   Ernest Nji Tabah, the permanent secretary of Cameroon’s National Committee for Leprosy, says a number of Cameroon’s health districts have been reporting outbreaks of the chronic but curable condition. "About 70 new cases have been reported in the southwest.  We have hot spots…

The World Health Organization (WHO) noted Monday that globally, the number of new coronavirus cases fell for the third consecutive week. At the agency’s regular news briefing conducted virtually from its headquarters in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that while many nations are still seeing infections increasing, it is nonetheless encouraging news. Tedros said it shows the virus can be controlled, even with the new variants in circulation, and that with proven public health measures such as social distancing, the wearing of masks and good hygiene, infections can be prevented.   FILE - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, Jan. 21, 2021.He warned, however, that the world has been at this point before, and it is no time to relax.“Over the past year, there have been moments…

German pharmaceutical giant Bayer announced Monday it will help a smaller German biomedical company, CureVac, produce its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the latest drug maker to offer up manufacturing capacity as supplies fall behind demand worldwide. At a virtual news conference hosted in Berlin Monday by Health Minister Jens Spahn, Bayer’s pharmaceutical chief, Stefan Oelrich, said the company expects to produce 160 million doses of CureVac's experimental vaccine, which is currently in late-stage testing, in 2022. Bayer and CureVac reached an agreement last month to work together on a vaccine. Oelrich said Bayer has experience and capacity to expand CureVac's production capacity.   CureVac's vaccine is still in the testing phase, and the company’s CEO, Franz-Werner Haas, said the vaccine his likely to be considered for approval "to produce up to…

Lucenia Dunn spent the early days of the coronavirus pandemic encouraging people to wear masks and keep a safe distance from each other in Tuskegee, a mostly Black city where the government once used unsuspecting African American men as guinea pigs in a study of a sexually transmitted disease.   Now, the onetime mayor of the town immortalized as the home of the infamous “Tuskegee syphilis study” is wary of getting inoculated against COVID-19. Among other things, she’s suspicious of the government promoting a vaccine that was developed in record time when it can’t seem to conduct adequate virus testing or consistently provide quality rural health care.   “I’m not doing this vaccine right now. That doesn’t mean I’m never going to do it. But I know enough to withhold…

A team of World Health Organization scientists investigating the source of the coronavirus, that first emerged in China’s Hubei province in late 2019, visited a provincial disease control center Monday that was key in the early management of the COVID outbreak.   China did not release any details about the team’s visit to the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control.  Team member Peter Daszak, however, told reporters it had been a “really good meeting, really important.” Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team, investigating the origins of the Covid-19 coronavirus, visit the closed Huanan Seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, China's central Hubei province, Jan. 31, 2021.Since the WHO team’s arrival last month, the scientists have also visited the Huanan Seafood Market that was linked to a cluster of COVID cases and…

U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to bring what he calls a Clean Energy Revolution to tackle climate change. The diesel industry, which had gone through its own revolution a decade ago to meet stricter environmental standards, has seen payoffs in adopting “green” fuel initiatives. Genia Dulot has the story.  ...

Since taking office in January, President Joe Biden has reaffirmed a national commitment to integrity in scholarship and research, appointing scientists to numerous leadership roles.  Educators and experts applaud these appointments and say elevating intellectual integrity in research and science will take the combined effort of universities, industry and the public, too.    Biden appointed Eric Lander -- who in 2001 was the first author on a paper published in the science journal Nature that heralded human genome sequencing -- to be the head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Biden elevated the post to Cabinet-level status for the first time.     “How can we address stresses on academic research labs and promote creative models for federal research support?” the president asked in his January 15 letter announcing Lander’s appointment. Some experts say that with the change in the presidential administration in…