The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center released a report this Friday (Jan. 1) at the start of the new year that said there are now a total of 83.5 million cases of new coronavirus infections worldwide, with 1.8 million deaths.
According to the Hopkins report, the United States continues to have the highest number of infections during the New Coronavirus pandemic, with nearly 20 million cases and more than 345,000 deaths.
The Hopkins report also noted that India had 10.2 million cases with more than 148,000 deaths, while Brazil had 7.6 million infections and nearly 195,000 deaths.
42 people were wrongly vaccinated in the U.S. state of West Virginia
Forty-two people in the U.S. state of West Virginia thought they were being vaccinated against the coronavirus, but according to the New York Times, they were actually receiving injections of the so-called “experimental monoclonal antibody treatment.
The West Virginia National Guard said Thursday, “We have contacted or are in the process of contacting all of the subjects who received the injection.”
The National Guard said they do not believe those who received the experimental injections are “at risk of any harm.
Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, deputy commander of the West Virginia National Guard, said in a statement, “When we learned of the situation, we immediately corrected it by re-examining and strengthening vaccine dispensing operational protocols to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.”
The 42 individuals reportedly received the Regeneron antibody product, not the Moderna vaccine.
“The product is the same as the one administered to President Trump when he was infected,” Dr. Clay Marsh, West Virginia’s top New Coronavirus outbreak control officer, said in a statement.
The West Virginia National Guard said people who received the wrong treatment “will be given priority for vaccination.”
Thailand shuts down entertainment venues and flea markets in 7 provinces
Flea markets and entertainment venues in a total of seven provinces have been closed and restaurants are only allowed to prepare take-out for guests after Thailand reported 279 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, according to the Associated Press.
WHO Helps Developing Countries Get Vaccine
The World health Organization on Thursday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, a move aimed at helping developing countries gain access to the vaccine as soon as possible.
The WHO’s emergency-use review process was established to help countries that do not have regulatory protocols in place to approve the vaccine, thereby clearing the way for those countries to administer it.
“This is a very positive step in ensuring that vaccines are available in countries around the world,” said Mariangela Simao, head of WHO’s Access to Medicines Programme.
However, the need to keep vaccines at ultra-low temperatures of -70 degrees Celsius during transport poses a challenge for transport and storage facilities in developing countries.
The WHO-sponsored COVAX program, which aims to purchase and distribute vaccines to poorer countries, has so far pledged to provide 2 billion doses of vaccines. WHO is also currently in discussions with Pfizer-BioNTech to purchase the vaccine, whose two-dose vaccine achieves a 95 percent efficacy rate after two rounds of injections.
China Approves Emergency Use of New Crown Vaccine
Another new crown vaccine developed by a Chinese drugmaker received its first official approval from the Chinese government on Thursday.
China’s State Drug Administration announced conditional approval of the vaccine developed by China Biobank, a subsidiary of Sinopharm Holdings Corp. Sinopharm said the vaccine was 79.3 percent effective against coronavirus in a final phase of a large-scale clinical trial. China’s State Drug Administration approved the vaccine a day later.
However, outside experts questioned the vaccine’s declared effectiveness, as Sinopharm did not provide the necessary data that could be independently verified.
The newly approved vaccine is one of five vaccines developed by various Chinese manufacturers. These vaccines are still in Phase 3 trials but have been approved for use under an “emergency use plan”. Since July, China has administered 4.5 million doses of the vaccine to basic workers and people considered at high risk of infection, including 3 million since mid-December.
The Chinese vaccine is on the verge of being approved by governments around the world, along with other new coronavirus vaccines.
AstraZeneca-Oxford New Coronavirus Vaccine May Receive Urgent Approval
The U.K. health care regulator announced Wednesday that it has given urgent approval to a new coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by U.K. and Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
Late phase clinical trials of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine have shown it to be 70 percent effective against the new coronavirus. A 62% efficacy rate was measured in subjects administered a double dose of the vaccine, but tests on a smaller subgroup showed that the vaccine was 90% effective after a half dose was administered again several weeks after the full dose.
Mutated New Coronaviruses Are Spreading Globally
As these new vaccines continue to be approved, new mutant strains of a more infectious form of the neo-coronavirus, first identified in the United Kingdom a few days ago, are being discovered around the world.
A Brazilian laboratory said on Thursday that two cases of a mutated British strain of the new coronavirus were discovered in Brazil recently, prompting researchers at its Institute of Tropical Medicine to urge increased quarantine measures. Brazil has notified more than 55,000 new cases and nearly 1,200 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins University.
California officials announced Wednesday (Dec. 30) that the mutated virus has emerged in the state’s southern city of San Diego. The western U.S. state of Colorado, for its part, reported earlier last week that it had found the new mutant strain of the virus. Colorado is the first state in the U.S. to detect the new variant of the virus.
Another variant of coronavirus was found in South Africa.
Recent Comments