UK approves COVID-19 vaccine; Putin orders mass vaccination

LONDON: Britain approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history with a shot tested in wide-scale clinical trials.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson touted the green light from Britain’s medicine authority as a global win and a ray of hope amid the pandemic, though he recognised the logistical challenges of vaccinating an entire country of 67 million.

Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted emergency use approval to the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German biotechnology partner Biontech, which they say is 95% effective in preventing illness, just 23 days ater Pfizer published the first data from its final stage clinical trial.

“Fantastic news,” Johnson told parliament, though he cautioned that people should not get carried away.

Both the US and EU regulators are siting through the same Pfizer vaccine trial data, but have yet to give their approval.

Britain’s speed drew criticism from Brussels where, in an unusually blunt statement, the EU regulator said its longer procedure was more appropriate as it was based on more evidence.

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, (MOHAP) on Wednesday announced that it has conducted 136,483 additional COVID-19 tests, which detected 1,285 new cases.

MOHAP also announced 713 new recoveries and 4 deaths due to COVID-19 complications.

Just hours ater the British announcement, President Vladimir Putin ordered a large-scale voluntary vaccination programme against COVID-19 to begin next week across Russia, saying teachers and doctors should be first in line to get the country’s flagship Sputnik V vaccine.

Russia will have produced 2 million does of its own vaccine within the next few days, Putin said.

Putin gave the order during an online meeting with ministers on Wednesday, a day when Russia, which has the fourth highest number of recorded infections in the world, registered 589 new daily deaths from the coronavirus.

Russia has already vaccinated more than 100,000 high-risk people, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said during a separate presentation to the United Nations about Sputnik V.

According to the presentation, more than 45,000 people are currently participating in Sputnik V trials worldwide.

The speed of the rollout depends on how fast Pfizer can manufacture and deliver the vaccine - and the extreme temperature of -70C (-94F) at which the vaccine must be stored. It can be kept for five days in a regular fridge.

Britain has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine - enough for just under a third of the population as two shots are needed per person to gain immunity.

US Health Secretary Alex Azar said that the British move should inspire confidence.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will make a decision on emergency use authorization on the Pfizer/biontech vaccine in days or weeks ater a panel of outside advisers meets on Dec.10.

US health officials on Wednesday recommended a shortened quarantine period for people exposed to Covid-19, from 14 to 10 days if they haven’t taken a test and have not developed symptoms.

This can be further reduced to just seven days if the exposed person receives a negative test, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientist Henry Walke said.

“Reducing the length of quarantine may make it easier for people to take this critical public health action, reducing the economic hardship associated with a longer period, especially if they cannot work during that time,” he said.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it could give emergency approval for the shot by Dec.29, while the World Health Organisation said it was reviewing it for “possible listing for emergency use.” Japan will give free coronavirus vaccines to all of its residents under a bill passed on Wednesday, as the nation batles record numbers of daily cases.

The bill, which says the government will cover all vaccine costs for Japan’s 126 million residents, was approved by the upper house of parliament, having cleared the powerful lower house.

The country has secured COVID-19 vaccines for 60 million people from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and for a further 25 million people from biotech firm Moderna.

It has also confirmed it will receive 120 million doses of Astrazeneca’s vaccine.

With 36,604 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, India’s overall tally increased to 94,99,413 on Wednesday, as 501 more fatalities took the COVID-19 death toll to 1,38,122, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Currently, there are 4,28,644 active cases, whereas 89,32,647 patients have been discharged so far, including 43,062 discharged in the last 24 hours.

The recovery rate stands at 94.03 per cent and fatality rate at 1.45 as per cent, the Ministry said.