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Officials on Sunday sought to allay concerns in Europe over coronavirus vaccine shipments as countries around the world doubled their restrictions to tackle the rampant pandemic.
Contagion shows no signs of slowing down, with infections surpassing 94 million and more than two million deaths, and Europe among the hardest-hit parts of the world.
Concerns have grown that delays in the delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could hamper a European rollout that has already been heavily criticized for being slow.
US drugmaker Pfizer, which developed the jab in collaboration with Germany’s BioNTech, said it was working to “dramatically” increase output at its Belgian plant in the second quarter.
After a short delay, deliveries are expected to return to the original schedule to the EU from January 25.
“There is a plunge,” said French Minister for Europe, Clément Beaune. “But it is better if that happens now when we have stocks than when the larger vaccination campaign begins.”
He told Franceinfo that a limited timeframe shouldn’t be a huge problem.
‘Unacceptable’
However, several Nordic and Baltic countries have called the situation “unacceptable” and the Belgian vaccination strategy task force condemned Pfizer for not consulting them.
World map showing the number of deaths from Covid-19 by country, as of January 16 at 11:00 GMT. By Simon MALFATTO (AFP) France, which saw its death toll exceed 70,000 over the weekend, is set to launch a vaccination campaign against people over 75 from Monday. Russia plans to start mass vaccinations the same day.
The long process of vaccine deployment means countries still have few options but to rely on lockdowns, curfews and social distancing to control the spread of the virus.
Switzerland and Italy are tightening their restrictions from Monday and Britain will demand that all arrivals be quarantined and test negative.
Newspaper articles suggest the UK may try to emulate countries like Australia and New Zealand by requiring travelers to self-isolate in hotels at their own expense.
Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said such a system could be difficult to manage but “we need to look at it very carefully based on the experience of other countries”.
Austria, currently in its third nationwide lockdown, said current restrictions will be extended for another two weeks until February 8 amid the rise in infections and the spread of viral variants considered to be much more contagious.
Biden’s commitment
As Europe manages its vaccine rollout, the United States grapples with a contagion that has killed nearly 400,000 as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take the reins of power from Donald Trump.
US President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to step up efforts to end the pandemic and will sign executive orders on his inauguration day next week. By Angela Weiss (AFP / File) Biden says he will sign executive orders to fight the pandemic on the day it opens next week.
He pledged to set up thousands of vaccination sites, deploy mobile clinics and expand public health staff in a bid to revive the stuttering rollout of vaccines.
India, second behind the United States in the number of coronavirus cases, aims to vaccinate 300 million people by July in one of the largest vaccination campaigns in the world.
It will use two vaccines, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine made locally by the Serum Institute of India and a local vaccine called Covaxin.
Spain began administering second doses of the vaccine on Sunday to people who had already received the first at the end of December, mainly residents of nursing homes and healthcare workers.
In Norway, where 13 frail elderly people have died after a first injection of the vaccine, the Medical Medicines Agency, after assessing the cases, suggested last week that the deaths could be linked to side effects of the vaccine.
But the head of the agency Steinar Madsen told state broadcaster NRK that there was no need to be alarmed.
“It is clear that these vaccines pose very little risk, with the minimal exception of the most fragile patients,” he said.
“ Anti-mask madness ”
With people around the world tired of the lockdown measures, protests continue in many countries.
With people around the world tired of the lockdown measures, protests continue in many countries. By ALEX HALADA (AFP / File) About 10,000 people marched in Austria’s capital Vienna on Saturday against coronavirus restrictions, calling on the government to step down.
Most of them refused to wear masks or adhere to social distancing rules, and their rally was condemned as “anti-mask madness” by a much smaller counter-protest.
The pandemic also continues to wreak havoc on the global sporting calendar.
The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, was thrown into disarray on Saturday when three people tested positive on two of the 17 charter flights bringing tennis players and their families to the country.
A fourth person, a member of a broadcast crew on one of the same flights, tested positive on Sunday.
Quarantine rules mean 47 players will not be allowed to train, but organizers have said the tournament is still scheduled to start on February 8.
strawberries-spm / jxb
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