GENEVA, The World Health Organization insisted
\nthat the AstraZeneca vaccine was still a vital tool in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, after South Africa delayed the start
\nof its inoculation program over concerns about the drug\u2019s efficacy against a
\nvirus variant.
\nAs concerns rose over the AstraZeneca shot, the United States said it had
\nlost its first sitting member of Congress to the virus, 67-year-old Texas
\nRepublic Ron Wright, who had also been battling cancer.
\nPresident Joe Biden called Wright a \u201cfighter who battled bravely against
\nboth cancer and COVID-19.\u201d His death came after a 41-year-old Republican
\nHouse member-elect lost his life to the disease in December, just days before he was to be sworn in.
\nIn South Africa, alarm was raised when a trial at Johannesburg\u2019s University
\nof Witwatersrand concluded the AstraZeneca vaccine provided only \u201cminimal\u201d protection against mild to moderate Covid-19 caused by the variant first detected in South Africa.
\nThat was bad news for many poorer nations counting on the logistical
\nadvantages offered by the AstraZeneca shot.
\nBut Richard Hatchett, head of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness
\nInnovations (CEPI), said it was \u201cvastly too early to be dismissing this
\nvaccine.\u201d
\n\u201cIt is absolutely crucial to use the tools that we have as effectively as
\nwe possibly can,\u201d he said, speaking at the WHO\u2019s regular bi-weekly press
\nbriefing on the pandemic.
\nThe AstraZeneca vaccine is currently a vital part of Covax, the system set
\nup to procure Covid-19 vaccines and ensure their equitable distribution
\naround the world.
\nIt accounts for almost all of the 337.2 million vaccine doses Covax is
\npreparing to begin shipping to some 145 countries during the first half of
\nthe year, once it receives WHO authorization, expected next week.
\nSouth Africa, the continent\u2019s hardest-hit nation, had been due to start its
\ncampaign in the coming days with a million AstraZeneca doses.
\nHowever, the government decided to hold off because of the results from the trial.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a temporary issue that we have to hold on AstraZeneca until we figure
\nout these issues,\u201d Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said Sunday.
\nSouth Africa has 1.5 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses, which will expire
\nin April.
\nAstraZeneca also stood by its product.
\n\u201cWe do believe our vaccine will still protect against severe disease,\u201d it
\nsaid.
\nA company spokesperson said researchers were already working to update the vaccine to deal with the South African variant spreading rapidly around the world.
\nWorldwide, the coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 2.3 million lives out of 106 million known infections.
\nRussia recorded a dramatic increase in mortality in 2020 fuelled by the
\ncoronavirus pandemic, according to new data published by the Rosstat agency.
\nThe figures showed that between April \u2014 when the pandemic hit Russia \u2014
\nand December, the country saw 162,429 coronavirus-related fatalities.
\nHowever, as of Monday, the official total released by Russia\u2019s health
\nofficials stood at only 77,068 virus deaths.
\nAs inoculation programs are rolled out around the world, Facebook announced Monday it would ban groups that repeatedly spread false claims about the virus and vaccines in general.
\nThe social media giant has updated a list of debunked claims about the
\nvirus and existing vaccines with the help of the WHO.
\nFacebook\u2019s critics, however, were unimpressed.
\n\u201cFacebook has been promising to crack down on Covid and anti-vaxx
\nmisinformation for the past year,\u201d the nonprofit Center for Countering
\nDigital Hate wrote on Twitter.
\n\u201cEvery time, it fails to meet these headline announcements with action.\u201d
\nEfforts are underway in the United States, the hardest-hit nation, to
\naccelerate its mass vaccination program, which has been plagued by supply and logistics issues.
\nThe more contagious and possibly more dangerous British variant of the
\nvirus is spreading rapidly across the country, according to one new study.
\nAlthough yet to be peer-reviewed, the study does offer the most
\ncomprehensive look at the rise of the variant, known as B.1.1.7. Scientists
\nled by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute analyzed half a million
\ntest samples collected across the country since last summer.
\nBiden, who took office last month, said his predecessor Donald Trump\u2019s
\nhandling of the pandemic \u201cwas even more dire than we thought,\u201d in an
\ninterview Sunday.
\nThere was less vaccine available than they had initially been led to
\nbelieve, he said.
\nThe United States is the country that has suffered most from the virus,
\nrecording more than 463,000 deaths.
\nSchools reopened Monday in Romania, Denmark and Austria. Museums and shops were also due to reopen in Austria.
\nBut the Netherlands decided to extend its overnight curfew to March 2,
\nbecause of the more contagious coronavirus variants circulating. The measure has already provoked riots there.
\nOn Tuesday, an international team of experts in China investigating how the
\noutbreak started were due to speak to the media in Wuhan, the WHO announced.
\nThe briefing, at 4:00pm local time (0800 GMT) at a hotel in the city, will
\nbe live-streamed in English on the UN health agency\u2019s digital and social
\nmedia platforms.
\nThe first Covid-19 cases were detected in Wuhan in December 2019.
\nScientists think the disease originated in bats and could have been
\ntransmitted to humans via another mammal.
\nBut there are no definitive answers so far, and top WHO officials have
\nplayed down the chances of the sensitive investigation mission finding them on the first attempt.<\/p>\n
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"