Urgent need for new vaccine
United States health advisers have endorsed a one-dose Covid19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, putting the nation on the cusp of adding an easier-touse option to fight the pandemic.
The acting head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the agency would move quickly to follow the recommendation, which would make J&J’s shot the third vaccine authorised for emergency use in the US.
Vaccinations are picking up speed, but new supplies are urgently needed to stay ahead of a mutating virus that has killed more than 500,000 Americans.
After a day of discussions yesterday, the FDA panellists voted unanimously that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks for adults. Once the FDA issues a final decision, shipments of several million doses could begin as early as tomorrow.
‘‘There’s an urgency to get this done,’’ said Dr Jay Portnoy of Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. ‘‘We’re in a race between the virus mutating – and new variants coming out that can cause further disease – and stopping it.’’
More than 47 million people in the US, or 14 per cent of the population, have received at least one shot of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which the FDA authorised in December. But the pace of vaccinations has been strained by limited supplies and delays due to winter storms.
While early J&J supplies will be small, the company has said it
can deliver 20 million doses by the end of March, and a total of 100 million by the end of June.
J&J’s vaccine protects against the worst effects of Covid-19, and can be stored for up to three months at refrigerator temperatures. The previous vaccines must be frozen.
Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations in the US have fallen dramatically since their January peak. But public health officials have warned that those gains may be stalling as more variants take root across the country.
■ The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution demanding that all warring parties immediately institute a ‘‘sustained humanitarian pause’’ to enable the unhindered delivery of Covid-19 vaccines and the vaccination of millions of people in conflict areas.
The British-drafted resolution yesterday, co-sponsored by 112 countries, reiterated the council’s demand made last July 1 for ‘‘a general and immediate cessation of hostilities’’ in major conflicts from Syria and Yemen
to Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan and Somalia.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward, the current council president, said the resolution would help to bring vaccines to 160 million people in conflict areas or displaced by conflict.
The council also called for donations of vaccines from richer developed nations to lowand middle-income countries and other countries in need, including through the COVAX Facility, the ambitious World Health Organisation (WHO) programme to buy and deliver coronavirus vaccines for the world’s poorest people.
Ivory Coast yesterday became the second country to receive a shipment of vaccines from Covax, with 504,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India.
The vaccines arrived in the commercial capital, Abidjan, as part of the first wave of vaccines sent by Covax. The first shipment was sent to Ghana on Thursday, marking the beginning of the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history, according to the WHO and Unicef.
Some 24 other countries are expected to start receiving vaccines via Covax next week.
■ The US has praised Tanzania for finally acknowledging the resurgence of Covid-19, after claiming for months that it had defeated the pandemic through prayer – and is urging the country to share infection data and accept vaccines.
High-profile deaths this month, including that of the vicepresident of the semiautonomous island region of Zanzibar, appeared to lead Tanzania’s populist President John Magufuli to acknowledge publicly this week that Covid-19 was back.
Magufuli has openly questioned Covid-19 vaccines, without providing evidence. Tanzania is one of the few countries in Africa that has not signed up for Covax.
Tanzania last updated its number of infections last April. That figure remains at 509. Unlike other African countries, it did not lock down during the pandemic, and it has promoted this to tourists.
THE Blues outmuscled then outpaced an error-ridden Hurricanes to get their Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign off to a flying start in Wellington last night.
A 65m dash to score by Rieko Ioane with three minutes left iced a 31-16 Blues win at Sky Stadium as the hosts were punished for illdiscipline, in a performance to worry coach Jason Holland.
The hosts were in touch when Asafo Aumua charged over for his second try in the 63rd minute, but in a scarcely believable touch judging blunder from Mike Fraser and James Doleman, Jordie Barrett was denied a good conversion and the Blues led 21-16 when it should have been a threepoint game.
Still, the Blues put it to bed, an Otere Black penalty on a perfect goalkicking night for the first-five, then Ioane’s sprint from a Barrett kick sealing it four tries to two for a bonus point.
Referee Paul Williams played a big part, blowing 25 penalties, 14 of them against the Hurricanes who also lost James Blackwell and Du’Plessis Kirifi to yellow cards.
Ardie Savea, in his 100th match and first as captain, lifted his troops in a big performance and they never gave it away with their bruising ball carriers despite being their own worst enemies at times.
The Hurricanes now face a daunting trip to Christchurch next weekend.
For visiting coach Leon MacDonald, it was job done, his forwards providing the platform and Black marshalling the backline with aplomb.
It was the Hurricanes’ first season opener in Wellington in eight years and somehow they led 11-7 at the break thanks to two monstrous Barrett penalties in the 38th and 41st minutes, with lock Blackwell in the sin bin for offside after repeated warnings from referee Williams.
The opening stanzas suggested something special as Blues flanker
Dalton Papalii scored the first try inside four minutes. Still it followed two errors; one from Williams missing a giant forward pass from Black and another from Vaea Fifita watching a Devan Flanders pass bounce in front of him, as Papalii pounced.
Hurricanes wrecking ball Aumua was his menacing self and replied in the sixth minute with a solo effort, steamrolling three attempted tackles then cribbing his way over.
Caleb Clarke and Aumua were the most dangerous with ball in hand, but neither team could get on an attacking roll and there was some aimless kicking, too. So the Blues began muscling it up with rolling mauls and their scrum asserted some superiority.
By the half-hour mark the Blues were well on top and hammering away at the Hurricanes’ line, even though the endless scrums were sleepinducing, and when Blackwell got marched a try looked certain.
A wonderful bootlace tackle on Rieko Ioane by Hurricanes halfback Jonathan Taumateine,
and a big turnover from Ardie Savea saved the day to set up Barrett’s monster right boot to do its best work.
Fifita was dragged at halftime for Kirifi then the Hurricanes lost lock Scott Scrafton to what looked a serious ankle injury.
Finally, the Blues finished something off as Akira Ioane stormed upfield before a Black crosskick found Clarke to put the visitors in front.
It became two tries in five minutes and another yellow, as the Blues kicked into gear. Kirifi was carded, and from a mammoth Blues scrum Stephen Perofeta strolled across for a 10-point lead.
Not so fast, as Captain Ardie hauled his boys up again. The skipper looked to have scored from an outrageous dummy but the try was disallowed, and Akira Ioane looked lucky to not be carded himself for a pro foul.
Then Aumua peeled off a lineout drive and stormed across for a double, Barrett’s conversion somehow disallowed and the
Blues still with their noses in front entering the final 15.