Over 200m COVID-19 vaccine doses administered worldwide
Even as countries move forward with vaccinations, the death toll is ticking upwards, with a tally reaching more than 2.45 million worldwide on Saturday, with almost 111 million cases
The number of coronavirus vaccine doses administered worldwide passed 200 million on Saturday, an AFP count showed, as wealthy G7 countries pledged to more than double aid to support access for the less well-off.
With 45 per cent of injections so far among the rich club — which accounts for just 10 per cent of the global population — the G7 on Friday said its aid to projects like the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Covax now amount to $7.5 billion.
The increased pledges from the US, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan and Canada came as permanent UN Security Council member Britain showed a drat resolution to other countries on the global body, calling for wealthy nations to share doses with poor and war-torn states.
The text “emphasises the need for solidarity, equity, and efficacy and invites donation of vaccine doses from developed economies to low- and middle-income countries and other countries in need.”
Meanwhile, Russia pressed ahead with its home-grown vaccination programme, saying 120,000 doses of its third authorised coronavirus vaccine, Covivac, will reach people by March, following in the footsteps of the Sputnik V and Epivaccorona shots.
The new vaccine, still in final stage clinical trials, was produced by the state-run Chumakov Centre based in Moscow and employed a different method of development from Sputnik and Epivaccorona, using an inactive virus.
“Today Russia is the only country in which there are already three vaccines for the prevention of COVID-19 infection,” Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said.
And New Zealand began what directorgeneral of health Ashley Bloomfield called a “small but important step in a long journey” by launching jabs for high risk citizens and those returning from overseas, along with border and quarantine workers.
Neighbouring Australia is set to start its own scheme on Monday.
In Argentina, health minister Gines Gonzalez Garci resigned late on Friday ater it emerged that he had been helping friends skip the line for vaccine shots.
President Alberto Fernandez called on him to quit ater a 71-year-old journalist, Horacio Verbitsky, announced on the radio that his longstanding friendship with the minister helped him get vaccinated in his office ahead of the general population.
Local media reported that other people close to the government were also vaccinated at the health ministry.
In Romania, the government pushed the country’s thousands of homeless people up the priority list for vaccines, placing them on a par with the elderly and the chronically ill and reaching 300 in the first days of the drive.
“These people are among the most exposed to infection risk. It’s hard for most of them to follow infection control measures,” junior health minister Andrei Baciu said.
Even as countries move forward with vaccinations, the death toll is ticking upwards, with a tally reaching more than 2.45 million worldwide by 1100 GMT Saturday, with almost 111 million cases.
The British government has announced a small step out of lockdown — allowing nursing home residents to have a single friend or family member visit them indoors.
Residents and their visitors will be able to hold hands, but not hug. The change takes effect on March 8. For months, nursing home residents have only been able to see loved ones outdoors or through screens.
In US, two women who dressed up to make themselves appear as older adults to get coronavirus vaccinations were turned away and issued trespass warnings in Orlando, officials said.
Dr Raul Pino, state health officer in Orange County — where Orlando is located — said the women disguised themselves on Wednesday with bonnets, gloves and glasses.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michelle Guido told the Orlando Sentinel that the women altered their birth years on their vaccination registrations to bypass the state system, which prioritises people age 65 and older. It appeared that the women had goten the first shot, but it was unclear where.
“Their names matched their registration but not their dates of birth,” she told the newspaper.
Health Department officials asked deputies to issue trespass warnings.