7th Dec 2020 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=155 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

Business Insider Health officials in China have begun giving atrisk citizens emergency access to vaccine doses according to a report. More than a million healthcare workers and others in atrisk groups have already received vaccines The Associated Press reported Sunday. It detailed millions of orders from the countrys provinces. Health officials in worlds most populous country which is home to almost 1.4 billion people havent yet released a comprehensive plan. Chinese government researchers are testing several vaccines from about a dozen countries with a domestic vaccine from China Pharmaceutical Group or Sinopharm nearing final approval https://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-started-rollout-covid-19-vaccines-emergency-access-2020-12 6th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

BBC In Wales there are calls for an alternative to school contact groups isolating for 14 days after a classmate tests positive. Some parents say their children have isolated three times in the past three months and that it is detrimental to their wellbeing. A petition to the Senedd also says working parents are suffering with employers not always sympathetic if they have to stay home with children. The Welsh Government said it was working hard on testing developments. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55147677 6th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

Sky News Christmas shoppers flooded Englands high streets for the first weekend since lockdown was lifted and nonessential stores were allowed to reopen. Despite the difficulties of the pandemic retail experts predicted 1.5bn would be spent in shops nationwide on Saturday. Taking advantage of the first nonworking day to do their Christmas shopping people flooded Londons Regent Street and city centres in Manchester and York. Shoppers visiting Westfield east London and stores in central Birmingham had to contend with hundreds of antilockdown protesters staging demonstrations against more potential restrictions next year. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-christmas-shoppers-flood-high-streets-in-return-after-lockdown-12152120 6th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

Voice of America China is gearing up to roll out a huge coronavirus vaccine initiative. The Associated Press reports provincial governments across the country are placing orders for experimental domestically made coronavirus vaccines though health officials have yet to say how well they work or how they may reach the countrys 1.4 billion people. The AP says more than a million Chinese health care workers have already received experimental vaccines under emergency use permission but there have been no indications about possible side effects. https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/china-gearing-covid-vaccine-program 6th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

9News.com.au Hospitality venues in South Australia are bracing for a busy weekend after restrictions were eased allowing twice as many people to be seated in pubs bars and restaurants. The states top police officer Police Commissioner Grant Stevens overruled health advice to increase the capacity in venues to one patron per two square metres to help the states economy during the Christmas trading period. The easing of restrictions come as SA records another day of zero cases of locally acquired COVID19. https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-south-australia-easing-restrictions-no-new-covid19-cases-recorded/2086be2f-d1ee-4329-abb7-b9093ad36b59 6th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

Vox.com In July and August the Australian state of Victoria was going through a second Covid19 wave. Local leaders set an improbable goal in the face of that challenge. They didnt want to just get their Covid19 numbers down. They wanted to eliminate the virus entirely.By the end of November theyd done it. They have seen no active cases for a full four weeks. Melbourne the states capital and a city with about as many people as the greater Washington DC area is now completely coronavirusfree. Victorias Covid19 restrictions were controversial with some residents but Australia in general enjoys more political homogeny than the US does. That must make it easier to build solidarity for these extraordinary measures. https://www.vox.com/2020/12/4/22151242/melbourne-victoria-australia-covid-19-cases-lockdown 6th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

Reuters UK The first coronavirus vaccines could reach Poland in January the Polish prime ministers top aide said on Friday as emerging Europes biggest country prepares to roll out its COVID19 vaccination programme. Poland has ordered 45 million COVID19 vaccines and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said the country intended to start vaccinating health workers security forces and the elderly in February. Similarly to other countries it looks like the first batches of vaccine will reach Poland in January because the approval process will take place in late December and early January the prime ministers chief of staff Michal Dworczyk told public broadcaster Polskie Radio Program 1. Dworczyk added there may be around 8000 vaccination points in Poland. We want there to be a vaccination point in every community he said. As of Thursday Poland had reported 1028610 cases of the coronavirus and 18828 deaths. https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-poland/first-covid-19-vaccines-may-reach-poland-in-january-pms-top-aide-idUKKBN28E0TG 5th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

Reuters UK The U.S. governments first shipment of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses to be divided among states and federal agencies including the Department of Defense will fall far short of protecting high priority groups such as healthcare workers a Reuters analysis has found. Across the country state health departments are preparing local hospitals for the first shipments of Pfizer Incs COVID19 vaccine if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizes it possibly as early as midDecember. https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccine-distributi/analysis-first-us-delivery-of-covid-19-vaccine-will-leave-out-many-high-risk-workers-idUKKBN28E1JP 5th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

Dallas Morning News Residents at nursing homes and assisted living facilities will be among the first wave of Texans eligible to receive the COVID19 vaccine joining the ranks of healthcare workers already at the front of the line. State officials announced the addition Friday while also unveiling plans to send the states first 224250 doses to hospitals including nine in Dallas County. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2020/12/04/nursing-home-residents-added-to-first-wave-of-texans-eligible-for-covid-19-vaccine/ 4th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

AlJazeera Ginning up the courage to ask for a raise is tough in any labour market let alone one ravaged by the COVID19 pandemic. But men are exhibiting more moxie than women when it comes to bargaining for better pay during the pandemic. That is the finding of a study released this week by Moodys Analytics and Morning Consult that surveyed 5000 adult workers in midSeptember. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/12/4/fewer-women-than-men-feel-they-can-ask-for-a-raise-during-covid 4th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

Reuters The World Health Organization hopes to have half a billion doses of COVID19 vaccines available for distribution by the global COVAX initiative in the first quarter of 2021 its chief scientist said on Friday. To date 189 countries have joined the COVAX programme which is backed by the WHO and seeks to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines. The United States is not among them having secured bilateral deals. The initial COVAX plan is to vaccinate the 20 of populations at highest risk including health workers and people aged over 65. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-who-covax/who-hopes-to-have-500-million-vaccine-doses-via-covax-scheme-in-first-quarter-of-2021-chief-scientist-idUKKBN28E2Q0?il=0 4th Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

Sky News A cyber espionage campaign targeted at companies vital to the distribution of COVID19 vaccines has been detected. According to an alert issued by the US government and a research blog published by IBM the hacking campaign started in September. It targeted a range of organisations including in government and across the energy and IT sectors that are associated with the COVID19 cold supply chain. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-hackers-targeted-vaccine-distribution-network-12149871 3rd Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

Imperial College London Many lowincome countries lack the infrastructure to deliver vaccines effectively so how can we ensure COVID19 vaccines are accessible for all As COVID19 vaccine candidates begin to show promising trial results and as the Pfizer mRNA vaccine is approved for use in the UK many are cautiously optimistic that they could hold the key to lower infection rates fewer deaths and at least a partial return to normalcy. However many lower income countries lack the infrastructure and resources needed to distribute potential vaccines safely with extra logistical challenges for vaccines stored at extremely cold temperatures which could leave their populations just as vulnerable to COVID19 as before. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/209993/qa-cold-chains-covid-19-vaccines-reaching/ 3rd Dec 2020

Lockdown Exit

AlJazeera India may not need to vaccinate all of its 1.3 billion people if it manages to inoculate a critical mass and break the transmission of the coronavirus senior government officials said on Tuesday. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who toured the facilities of three vaccine makers over the weekend has emphasised the importance of a vaccine to rein in COVID19. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/2/india-says-may-not-need-to-vaccinate-entire-population-to-control 2nd Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

MSN.com Public health messaging that people can have faith in the safety of coronavirus vaccines is vitally important the leader of the body that has approved the Pfizer jab has said. Dr June Raine the chief executive of the UKs Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency MHRA said of the Pfizer treatment that there should be no doubt whatever that this is a very safe and highly effective vaccine. Asked on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show about how important the public health message is to make sure that people actually take the vaccine she said Its vitally important. And I would really like to emphasise that the highest standards of scrutiny of safety and of effectiveness and quality have been met international standards. https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/covid-19-vaccine-safety-message-vitally-important-uk-health-chief-says/ar-BB1bG5cn 6th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

The Edinburgh Reporter The Scottish Government has announced that the first Covid19 vaccine arrived in Scotland on Saturday. Health Secretary Jeane Freeman welcomed the news. Ms Freeman saidI am pleased to announce that the vaccine is now in Scotland and being stored safely in order for vaccinations to begin on Tuesday. Science has given us hope and we are starting on a journey which will eventually allow us to escape this terrible virus. Following clinical advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation JCVI we will begin with those groups which have been prioritised to address 99 per cent of preventable deaths associated with Covid19. These include the elderly care home residents and staff and frontline health and social care workers. https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2020/12/the-first-covid-19-vaccine-arrives-in-scotland/ 6th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

BBC The mass use of rapid Covid tests has been defended by a senior NHS adviser amid concerns over their accuracy. Dr Susan Hopkins chief medical adviser to NHS Test and Trace said the lateral flow tests could identify many cases of infection in people without symptoms. Speaking to the BBC she accepted there had been false negatives but stressed the policy was a gamechanger. A study found the tests missed 50 of cases and some scientists fear people could start to ignore health advice. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55198298 6th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

Daily Mail Military planes could flyin the Covid19 Pfizer vaccine amid fears of postBrexit delays at Britains ports. The majority of doses for Pfizers vaccine which offers up to six months of immunity to the coronavirus are being produced in the town of Puurs Belgium. But as the Government tries to rollout its vaccination scheme the Department for Health and Social Care has had talks with the Ministry of Justice to ensure the doses can arrive on time. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9023071/Military-planes-fly-Covid-19-vaccine-amid-fears-post-Brexit-delays.html 6th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

BBC In Wales it could take months before some people receive a vaccine against Covid19 according to the health minister. Vaughan Gething called on people to avoid going back to the old normal before the vaccine has given us the protection we need. The first people to get the coronavirus vaccine in Wales will get the jab on Tuesday. Frontline NHS staff and the over 80s are at the top of the list for the vaccine. It will take months with more than one vaccine needed to come on board before we can protect everybody Mr Gething told BBC Radio Wales https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-55206307 6th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

BBC The coronavirus vaccine is the beginning of the end of the epidemic in the UK Prof Stephen Powis has said as vaccinations begin on Tuesday. But the NHS England medical director warned the distribution of the PfizerBioNTech vaccine would be a marathon not a sprint. It will take many months to vaccinate everybody who needs it he said. Frontline health staff those over 80 and care home workers will be first to get the Covid19 vaccine. In England 50 hospitals have been initially chosen to serve as hubs for administering the vaccine. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55202093 6th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

Sky News Joe Biden has said he will not force Americans to take any vaccine but did warn the country faces a bleak future unless swift action is taken to agree on a coronavirus aid bill. His comments come as the country in engulfed in a nationwide spike in the virus that is hampering its economic recovery. The presidentelect also expressed concern that so far he has seen no detailed plan from the Trump administration on how to distribute an approved coronavirus vaccine. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-us-faces-bleak-future-unless-swift-action-is-taken-on-aid-bill-biden-warns-12151645 6th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

Associated Press Several communities in the Austrian Alps put mass coronavirus testing on hold Sunday and others were urged to do the same after a storm dumped huge amounts of snow sending some avalanche warnings to their highest level. Some parts of the province of Tyrol saw 70 centimeters of snow fall overnight Friday into Saturday and another 110 centimeters were expected on Sunday Austrias APA news agency reported. Austria on Friday started a voluntary mass testing program that officials hope will prevent long hard lockdowns in the future. Over the first two days some 300000 people were tested out of Austrias nearly 9 million. The government is hoping that several million will have been tested by mid December. https://apnews.com/article/italy-avalanches-storms-coronavirus-pandemic-austria-9add0e7cc8f0a7c6a4719ab0d8455e62 6th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

Bloomberg Australian state police were to blame for two German nationals avoiding mandatory hotel quarantine upon arrival in Sydney before they took a flight to Melbourne. New South Wales Police reviewed the circumstances of the incident and identified they had incorrectly allowed the two travelers to proceed to Melbourne the force said in a statement Sunday. Police practices and systems at the airport have also been reviewed and strengthened as a result of this incident. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-06/australia-probes-how-2-international-travelers-dodged-quarantine 6th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

BBC The first doses of the PfizerBioNTech Covid19 vaccine have arrived in Northern Ireland. Nearly 25000 doses arrived in Belfast on Friday it is hoped it will be the first of several deliveries this month. Health Minister Robin Swann said confirmation of which groups will get the vaccine first is due next week. There will be dummy runs at various locations and the first administration of the vaccine could happen early next week BBC News NI understands. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55190426 5th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

The Financial Times When the UK government issued a desperate plea for British manufacturers to tackle a shortfall of urgently needed personal protective equipment for health staff as Covid19 hit James Eden answered the call. His clothing company Private White VC borrowed money for a new factory to make face masks and switched its lines to make hospital gowns hiring dozens of staff as the government announced it was aiming to source 70 per cent of its PPE domestically. But at the same time ministers were awarding companies or middlemen with no prior experience in the field lucrative contracts to import the much needed equipment often at inflated prices creating a stockpile that has left nascent domestic producers without a market. https://www.ft.com/content/59c96a88-222c-495f-b414-9b2b70d7f102 5th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

BBC Argentina has passed a new tax on its wealthiest people to pay for medical supplies and relief measures amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Senators passed the oneoff levy dubbed the millionaires tax by 42 votes to 26 on Friday. Those with assets worth more than 200 million pesos 2.5m 1.8m some 12000 people will have to pay. Argentina has recorded close to 1.5 million infections and almost 40000 deaths from the coronavirus. It has been hit hard by the pandemic becoming the fifth country worldwide to report one million confirmed cases in October despite only having a population of about 45 million people making it the smallest nation at the time to surpass that figure. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-55199058 5th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

Reuters UK More than half of Spaniards are not willing to get COVID19 vaccine shots as soon as they are available a survey showed on Friday as the government announced a target of 1520 million vaccinations by mid2021. Now several vaccines are in the works one of the challenges for governments will be to convince a big enough share of their population to get vaccinated. Even in Spain where vaccination rates are usually high this will be an issue as shown by the official poll by the Centre for Sociological Studies CIS. About a third of the population would be ready to take the COVID19 vaccine immediately while 55.2 of them would rather wait to see any effects on others the poll carried out on Nov. 2326 amid 2130 people showed. https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-spain-vaccine/more-than-half-of-spaniards-unwilling-to-take-covid-19-vaccine-immediately-survey-shows-idUKKBN28E1BL 4th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

WWBT NBC12 News The state of Virginia is now set to receive 480000 COVID19 vaccines by the end of December as more specifics for the phase one rollout were released Friday. The number of doses is up significantly since Governor Northams announcement earlier in the week that the state would receive 70000 from Pfizer. On Friday the states health department announced that Moderna will also send vaccines to Virginia as part of the federal governments Operation Warp Speed plan for distribution. https://www.nbc12.com/2020/12/04/virginia-now-expected-receive-covid-vaccine-doses-by-end-december/ 4th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

Los Angeles Times The roughly 3 million Americans who reside in nursing homes assisted living facilities and other groupcare communities are an almost invisible population. This week however they were singled out for highpriority access to a most precious resource some of the first doses of COVID19 vaccine available in the United States. Its a distinction theyll share with the nations 21 million healthcare workers thanks to a vote by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices an expert panel that advises the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-12-04/nursing-home-patients-get-priority-for-covid-19-vaccines-even-though-they-may-not-work 4th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

RTE.ie Specialist freezers to store Covid19 vaccines have started to arrive in Ireland the Health Service Executive chief Paul Reid revealed. He posted a photo on Twitter and explained Were preparing for the COVID19 vaccine rollout in Ireland. At the HSE National Cold Chain Centre we have received and are currently commissioning validating a consignment of 9 x Ultra Low Temperature Freezers for storage of the vaccines at 75 degrees. It follows a press briefing yesterday during which Mr Reid said Ireland has the capacity to acquire 16 million doses of a Covid19 vaccine. Although there will be no shortage of the vaccine he said they will arrive at different stages which will require sequencing or prioritisation process which is currently being finalised. https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1204/1182350-hse-covid-vaccine/ 4th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

Daily Mail People severely disabled by the Covid19 vaccine will get a 120k payment The government added the jab to the 1979 Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme People suffering at least 60 per cent disability will receive a taxfree lump sum Prof Jonathan VanTam said he was confident about the safety of the vaccine https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9016851/British-Government-compensate-people-suffer-extreme-Covid-19-vaccine-effects.html 4th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

Irish Independent Stocks of coronavirus vaccine have arrived in Northern Ireland ahead of the rollout of the jabs next week. The initial batch of the PfizerBioNTech vaccine was transported overnight from England. It has been taken to a central storage facility https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2020/12/04/news/pfizer-vaccine-arrives-in-northern-ireland-2151442/ 4th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

Sky News Warner Bros will release all of its 2021 films including Dune and The Matrix 4 online on the same day they hit cinemas. The move to put such major blockbusters straight on streaming service HBO Max is another blow to the struggling cinema industry which has largely closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Warner Bros said the oneyear plan was in response to the unprecedented times of the outbreak but the multiplexes will no doubt still be concerned about what it could mean for their future. They have been stung by a raft of delays to highprofile films in 2020 including the latest instalments in popular franchises such as Marvel and James Bond. https://news.sky.com/story/warner-bros-to-release-all-2021-films-on-hbo-max-and-in-cinemas-on-same-day-12150586 4th Dec 2020

Exit Strategies

The Guardian Colorado public health experts planning for an imminent Covid19 vaccine recommended a vulnerable population living in crowded housing for early vaccination the states prison and jail inmates. It is a population living in tight quarters where its almost impossible to social distance and these institutions have seen some of the largest outbreaks of Covid19 in the nation. For all those reasons they were part of an early phase of the states vaccination plan. But inmates are not as a rule a politically popular constituency. Theres no way its going to go to prisoners before it goes to people who havent committed any crime said Colorados Democratic governor Jared Polis this week in contradiction to the states plan for how to distribute potential Covid19 vaccines. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/03/us-states-struggle-covid-19-vaccine-planning 3rd Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

The Australian Antilockdown and vaccine protests have been held across Australia with hundreds gathering in Sydney to hear from COVID19 sceptics at a selfdescribed freedom rally. The Sydney protest was observed by police but appeared to remain peaceful with a NSW Police spokesperson confirming to NCA NewsWire there were no arrests. The rallies took place despite more significant easing of restrictions in NSW and Victoria following weeks of extremely low or zero case numbers. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt told Sky News on Sunday morning he had complete confidence in the Therapeutic Goods Administration and medical experts who had kept Australia safer than most countries in the world. He urged against complacency about COVID19 and said it remained a contagious and deadly virus. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/antilockdown-and-vaccine-protest-in-sydney-proceeds-peacefully-despite-restrictions-easing/news-story/0e339e51d670e4dd5a3cbea77100f7a7 6th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

Reuters Germanys highest court upheld on Saturday a ban on a demonstration in the northern city of Bremen planned by opponents of lockdown measures aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus. Lower courts had already denied permission for the protest planned for Saturday afternoon at which 20000 demonstrators were due to convene in the city centre of Bremen. Last month German police unleashed water cannon and pepper spray in an effort to scatter thousands of protesters in Berlin angry about coronavirus restrictions. https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-germany-protests/german-court-upholds-ban-on-coronavirus-demonstration-idUSL1N2IL06H 6th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

Reuters India German police intervened on Saturday to break up a demonstration by opponents of coronavirus lockdown measures in the northern city of Bremen after the protest was banned by the countrys highest court. Germanys constitutional court upheld earlier rulings by lower courts that had already denied permission for 20000 demonstrators to convene in the city centre of Bremen. However hundreds of people still gathered some of them opponents of the governments coronavirus measures and others part of a counterdemonstration. https://in.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-germany-protests/german-police-break-up-banned-coronavirus-demonstration-idINKBN28F0F1 6th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

The Independent Care homes are set to receive deliveries of coronavirus vaccine within the next fortnight after the UKs medicines regulator gave approval for packs received by the NHS to be broken down into smaller batches for distribution. Residents and staff at care homes have been placed top of the priority list for the PfizerBioNTech jab but prime minister Boris Johnson said that logistical difficulties were likely to delay the delivery of the lifesaving vaccine. But now the chief executive of the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency MHRA June Raine has said that doses will definitely arrive at homes within the next two weeks. The problem arose because the vaccine shots arrive from manufacturers in Belgium in pizza boxstyle cases each containing 975 vials which must be kept below 70 degrees celsius before use https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-vaccine-pfizer-care-homes-mhra-b1766777.html 5th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

BBC Presidentelect Joe Biden says Americans wont be forced to take a coronavirus vaccine when one becomes available in the US. It comes as the Centers for Disease Control CDC for the first time urged universal mask use indoors unless when Americans are at their own home. The CDC said the US had entered a phase of highlevel transmission of the virus. On Friday the US recorded over 2500 deaths and nearly 225000 new cases. It has confirmed 14.3 million cases and more than 278000 deaths. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55193939 4th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

Leeds Live The testing of the Covid19 vaccine on animals has caused controversy among some Leeds vegans. Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust is one of 50 trusts ready to roll out the PfizerBioNTech vaccine from next week with the most vulnerable first in the queue alongside frontline medical and care staff. The massvaccination of the public in Leeds is then expected to follow starting early in the new year. https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/leeds-vegans-shun-covid-19-19399480 4th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

New Statesman Thats the question being asked after Matt Hancock and Jacob ReesMogg falsely claimed Britain was only able to expedite the use of the vaccine thanks to Brexit we are still in the operation of our laws institutions and businesses EU members until the transition period ends on 31 January and we have temporarily approved the vaccine under measures available to all EU states. Its a claim that neither Boris Johnson last night nor Gavin Williamson this morning were willing to support with each finding different ways to avoid the question. Nonetheless it has fuelled concerns about the speed of the process including among Morning Callers who sent more emails about this subject than I have ever received on a single topic so I wanted to use todays email to explain in more detail why the British government has done this and what the consequences are while hopefully reassuring readers. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/12/claim-brexit-helped-secure-covid-19-vaccine-dangerous-public-health 4th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

Reuters UK Mexico is seeing the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic with the first doses of Pfizers COVID19 vaccine which should start arriving in the next few weeks and could continue coming for a year the foreign ministry said. https://uk.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-vaccines-mexico/mexico-says-covid-19-vaccine-deliveries-could-run-through-dec-2021-idUKS0N2FS029 4th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

Daily Mail The British actress was slammed by her Marvel costar Don Cheadle on Thursday She had posted YouTube clip that questioned the efficacy of the coronavirus jab She posted link to UK Youtuber and selfdeclared prophet Tomi Arayomis post Cheadle and hundreds of others called her out online for the hot garbage claim Wright doubled down today saying she wanted to raise her fears about vaccines https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9017455/Letitia-Wright-slammed-posting-video-questioned-efficacy-COVID-19-vaccine.html 4th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

Reuters UK Britain hopes that millions of doses of the PfizerBioNTech COVID19 vaccine will be delivered by the end of the year but the total will depend on how quickly it can be manufactured Britains business minister Alok Sharma said on Friday. Britain approved Pfizer Incs COVID19 vaccine on Wednesday jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history. Last month Britain said it expected 10 million doses of the shot in 2020 but the government has said the pace of rollout will be dependence on delivery. It has ordered 40 million doses in all enough to vaccinate 20 million people. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britain/uk-hopes-for-millions-of-pfizer-biontech-vaccine-doses-this-year-minister-idUKKBN28E0TW 4th Dec 2020

Partisan Exits

NPR Health care workers first along with residents and staff of nursing homes. Those people should receive the COVID19 vaccine before anyone else the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. That recommendation applies to the U.S. But what about health care workers in other countries Or the elderly with health conditions Should a nurse in Peru whos at high risk of catching the virus be immunized before a person with low risk in the U.S. receives the vaccine Niko Lusiani a senior advisor with the global aid organization Oxfam thinks that strategy makes sense both scientifically and morally. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/03/942303736/how-rich-countries-are-hoarding-the-worlds-vaccines-in-charts 3rd Dec 2020

Continued Lockdown

The Independent The proportion of people applying for fit notes from their GP for mental health reasons jumped 6 per cent during lockdown in England according to new research. It adds to growing concern the UK will see a surge in mental health problems as a result of the pandemic and the impact on society and the economy. The latest data on the number of statements of fitness to work signed by GPs published by NHS Digital shows mental health problems now account for almost four in 10 of all sick notes signed by GPs. The Centre for Mental Health think tank has warned the government needs to prepare for the aftermath of Covid19. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-mental-health-gp-fit-notes-b1766400.html 6th Dec 2020

Continued Lockdown

The Guardian Victoria has announced a significant easing of its Covid19 restrictions in time for summer allowing households to receive 30 visitors a day relaxing maskwearing rules and increasing public gatherings to 100. Victoria once the worst hit state in the country has now had 37 straight days free of Covid19. The result praised by premier Daniel Andrews as amazing on Sunday has allowed a further easing of restrictions. Victorians will as of midnight local time be allowed to have 30 visitors daily to their home from any number of other households a doubling of the previous limit of 15. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/06/victoria-eases-covid-restrictions-again-as-it-reaches-37-days-without-a-case 6th Dec 2020

Continued Lockdown

Derry Journal A total of seven largescale venues across the north are expected to be announced over the coming days which will deliver the PfizerBioNTech coronavirus vaccine over the coming weeks. The first batch of 25000 vaccines which have to be stored before use at 80 degrees Celsius is expected to arrive next week following the approval for use earlier this week. It has been confirmed that those administering the vaccine and other health and social care workers care home residents and people aged over 80 will be prioritised first. https://www.derryjournal.com/health/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-we-need-think-vaccination-long-trek-freedom-swann-3057536 4th Dec 2020

Continued Lockdown

Chicago Tribune Illinois plans to distribute its initial allocation of roughly 109000 doses of a new COVID19 vaccine to the 50 counties across the state with the highest death rates from the virus the states top public health official said Friday. In the Chicago area that includes Cook DuPage Kane Lake and Will counties. It also includes Kankakee County but not McHenry. First though the Pfizer vaccine needs emergency use authorization from the federal Food and Drug Administration which could come as soon as Thursday. If that happens Illinois expects to receive its first shipment sometime during the week of Dec. 13. https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-illinois-vaccine-update-20201204-7grdhuh7gzf5bif5tpmx5vdbj4-story.html 4th Dec 2020

Continued Lockdown

Reuters British food banks are seeing more families needing their support as the impact of the COVID19 pandemic forces struggling people to seek help charities and volunteers say. Lockdowns and other measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus have forced businesses to close or lay off staff. The rise in those out of work has resulted in more people turning to food banks which provide emergency food supplies to families in need. I was working parttime as a cleaner for evenings and then when COVID started we had to quit because everything was closed and our offices theyre not opening until 2021 because people can work from home said Vilma Tunylaite 40 queuing at a food bank in southwest London. And me they dont need me now. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-foodbanks/they-dont-need-me-now-covid-impact-forcing-britons-to-food-banks-idUKKBN28E0NN 4th Dec 2020

Continued Lockdown

The Independent People in Wales will be given ID cards by the NHS after getting the coronavirus vaccine so they can prove they have had the jab the Welsh government has announced. Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething said vaccinated people will receive a creditcard sized token after the UK became the first nation to approve the jab developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. While plans for socalled immunity passports remain unclear in other parts of the UK Welsh ministers believe new cards will help remind people to get the second part of the twodose Pfizer vaccine. In a written statement Mr Gething said Those receiving a Covid19 vaccination will be given a credit cardsized NHS Wales immunisation card which will have the vaccine name date of immunisation and batch number of each of the doses given handwritten on them. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-vaccine-wales-id-cards-immunity-passports-b1766172.html 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

MSN.com Dogs could be used in the fight against Covid19 by being trained to sniff out infected people. Researchers in Australia have begun to train 14 dogs in a feasibility study and the animals could become part of the screening process for incoming visitors if successful. Studies have previously shown dogs can detect particular odours known as volatile organic compounds VOCs which are produced by humans when they are suffering with a viral infection. Dr AnneLise Chaber of the University of Adelaides School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences said the current training in Adelaide and at the Australian Border Forces National Detector Dog Programme Facility will test the accuracy of dogs detecting VOCs in sweat samples from people infected with coronavirus. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/research-into-covid-19-dog-detectors-begins/ar-BB1bFVfv 6th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

The Guardian In the early afternoon of 3 January this year a small metal box was delivered to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre addressed to virus expert Prof Zhang Yongzhen. Inside packed in dry ice were swabs from a patient who was suffering from a novel occasionally fatal respiratory illness that was sweeping the city of Wuhan. Exactly what was causing terrifying rises in case numbers medical authorities wanted to know And how was the disease being spread Zhang and his colleagues set to work. For the next 48 hours virtually nonstop he and his team used advanced sequencing machines to unravel the RNA the genetic building blocks of the virus which they believed was responsible for the outbreak. Decoding the 28000 letters of this RNA which acts as letters of DNA do in a human would give a precise indication of the new pathogens nature and behaviour. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/06/the-vaccine-miracle-how-scientists-waged-the-battle-against-covid-19 6th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

BBC Contact tracing is about detective work and there are different ways to do it. If a person tests positive forward contact tracing means finding all the people they could have passed the virus on to and asking them to selfisolate. For backwards contact tracing the aim is to find who gave the virus to the person who tested positive. The theory is that if they have already passed on the virus theyre more likely to have infected other people as well because of how superspreading works. Then their contacts are found and asked to selfisolate too. If the effort is just on going forward then potentially a lot of cases wont have infected people said Dr Adam Kucharski of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The result is a big part of the outbreak will be missed he says. But because cases are often linked to superspreading events going backwards could pick up infections that might otherwise be missed https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54648734 6th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

The Guardian on MSN.com New Zealands Covid19 minister has called for patience in the countrys vaccine rollout programme saying he was unlikely to follow the UK in using emergency provisions to fasttrack approval. Covid19 minister Chris Hipkins said We are in a slightly different position to other countries who are using emergency provisions to approve the vaccine and in many cases those countries are doing that because they are suffering hugely from Covid with thousands of people dying every day. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/new-zealand-covid-minister-urges-patience-in-wait-for-vaccine-approval/ar-BB1bCC4A?pfr=1 6th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

The Hill The World Health Organization WHO confirmed that new data suggest individuals who were once infected with COVID19 can be susceptible to secondary infections as antibodies die off. We have seen the number of people infected continue to grow but were also seeing data emerge that protection may not be lifelong and therefore we may see reinfections begin to occur Mike Ryan executive director of the WHOs health emergencies program said per CNBC. So the question is What are the levels of protection in society Researchers at the WHO are now working to determine how long antibodies in response to COVID19 last in the human system. https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/medical-advances/528828-covid-19-reinfections-likely-as-antibody-counts 6th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

The Hindu The firm in its application submitted to the drug regulator has sought permission to import the vaccine for sale and distribution in the country. Pfizer India has become the first pharmaceutical firm to seek from the Drugs Controller General of India DCGI an emergency use authorisation for its COVID19 vaccine in the country after its parent company secured such clearance in the UK and Bahrain. The firm in its application submitted to the drug regulator has sought permission to import the vaccine for sale and distribution in the country besides waiver of clinical trials on Indian population in accordance with the special provisions under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules 2019 official sources said. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pfizer-seeks-emergency-use-authorisation-for-its-covid-19-vaccine-in-india/article33262315.ece 6th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

CNA Indonesia received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine from China on Sunday Dec 6 President Joko Widodo said as the government prepares a mass inoculation programme. Jokowi as the president is widely known said in an online briefing that the country received 1.2 million doses from Chinas Sinovac Biotech a vaccine Indonesia has been testing since August. He added that the government plans to receive another 1.8 million doses in early January. Latestage trials of the Sinovac vaccine are also under way in Brazil and Turkey with interim results on efficiency from Brazil expected by midDecember. Indonesia is also expected this month to receive shipments of raw materials to produce 15 million doses and materials for 30 million doses next month the president said. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-first-covid-19-vaccine-china-sinovac-jokowi-13713098 6th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

AlJazeera Bahrain said it had approved the emergency use of a COVID19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech. The approval on Friday makes Bahrain the second country in the world to grant an emergency use authorisation for the vaccine the Bahraini national news agency BNA reported. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/4/bahrain-becomes-second-country-to-approve-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine 5th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

Financial Times Chinese novelist Fang Fang was in a funk when she decided to become the unofficial chronicler of life under coronavirusinduced lockdown in Wuhan the city in central China where the virus was first discovered in December 2019. At 10am on January 23 the government largely cut off the citys 11 million inhabitants from the rest of the world. Fang Fang the pen name of Wang Fang one of Chinas most celebrated writers has lived in Wuhan since early childhood. The travel restrictions looked at the time like a drastic step. Across China a population haunted by the Sars epidemic of 2003 cancelled Lunar New Year plans and began to obsess over this new public health crisis. https://www.ft.com/content/a8995095-7379-4e01-8070-2a54d4b47180 5th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

Los Angeles Times The first minutes of the experiential COVID19 documentary 76 Days are claustrophobic and disorienting a feeling not unlike your first trip to the grocery store while wearing a mask. But it gets better. In the controlled chaos of a hospitals corridors everyone is sheathed head to toe in PPE. We see a woman screaming to say goodbye to her father and having to be restrained. A crowd bangs on a door pleading to be let in as the hospital staff reassures them that they will all be admitted if they only remain patient. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-12-05/review-76-days-documentary-coronavirus-wuhan 5th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

Daily Mail The CDC suggested the universal use of face masks in a new report on Friday. The agency said proper face masks should be worn anywhere outside of an individuals home. Report said the US has reached a phase of highlevel transmission amid the winter weather holiday seasons and flu season. Presidentelect Joe Biden announced he will ask Americans to wear face masks for up to 100 days when inaugurated. Covid19 deaths and hospitalizations have increased across the country. CDC said national forecasts predicted between 9500 and 19500 new Covid19 deaths will be counted during the week ending December 26 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9020475/CDC-urges-universal-mask-use-indoors-time-U-S.html 5th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

The Financial Times Italys response to the Covid19 pandemic was improvised and chaotic according to a World Health Organisation report that was taken down from the bodys website just hours after publication in May. The assessment titled An unprecedented challenge Italys first response to Covid19 was completed by a group of panEuropean WHO scientists led by Venicebased Francesco Zambon. It was published on the WHOs website on May 13 including an introduction written by Europes WHO director Hans Kluge but was removed the next day. The WHO issued no public statement at the time to indicate that it had withdrawn the report or explain why. According to the 102page document seen by the Financial Times Italys decentralised approach to public health policy as well as delays in testing and tracing potential Covid19 infections contributed to worsening the outcome of the first phase of the pandemic. https://www.ft.com/content/7c8633ea-87b3-4aa1-90b6-a15a089bc1c2 5th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

The Hill A Washington state wedding last month that hosted more than 300 people may now be linked to deadly coronavirus outbreaks at two longterm care facilities officials said Friday. The Nov. 7 wedding at a private location near Ritzville Wash. first gained attention when nearly 40 attendees from the neighboring Grant County had tested positive for COVID19 within 10 days of the event. Washington state health guidelines at the time limited wedding ceremonies to 30 people. The Grant County Health District is now saying that staff at two longterm care facilities who attended the wedding which has been labeled by officials as a superspreader event contracted the virus. According to ABC News health officials said that the staff members worked while they were contagious before they were aware that they were carrying the infection. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/528913-deadly-covid-19-outbreaks-in-two-long-term-care-facilities-could-be 5th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters Britain is preparing to become the first country to roll out the PfizerBioNTech COVID19 vaccine this week initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors clinics the government said on Sunday. The first doses are set to be administered on Tuesday with the National Health Service NHS giving top priority to vaccinating the over80s frontline healthcare workers and care home staff and residents. Britain gave emergency use approval for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech last week jumping ahead in the global race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history. In total Britain has ordered 40 million doses enough to vaccinate 20 million people in the country of 67 million. https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-britain-vaccine/britain-gets-ready-for-roll-out-of-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-this-week-idUSKBN28G005 5th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

STAT Dear CEOs of Pfizer Moderna and AstraZeneca Thank you for rapidly mobilizing your scientific resources and your vaccine clinical trial networks. We also thank Operation Warp Speed and others for organizing and underwriting your efforts to tame Covid19. Your vaccines are on the brink of crossing the finish line of approval but the confusion surrounding the presidential transition has brought great uncertainty to the distribution plan. https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/03/covid-19-vaccine-rollout-vaccinate-everyone-regional-hot-zones/ 5th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

BBC The coronavirus vaccine will definitely be ready to go into care homes in the next two weeks the medicines regulator has said. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency MHRA said it has approved the way doses will be distributed to homes. But it means care home residents and staff may not be the first to receive jabs despite being the top priority. Vaccinations are expected to begin at 50 hospital hubs in England on Tuesday. NHS England also says GPrun vaccination centres will be up and running from 14 December and are expected to start inviting in patients aged over 80. Because of how the vaccine doses are packed the regulator needs to approve the way in which they are broken down into smaller consignments for distribution to care homes while ensuring that the vaccine stays at very cold temperatures. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55194988 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

Sky News People who receive a COVID19 vaccination may have immunity for 90 days the governments scientific advisers have said. In a paper considered by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies SAGE which also looked into the muchdiscussed concept of immunity certificates the experts say that the length of immunity from natural infection or vaccination is currently not known. However they say that waning immunity is believed to partly cause other coronaviruses to reinfect after one to two years. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-immunity-certificates-to-exempt-people-from-restrictions-likely-to-be-possible-12151178 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

NPR News today from Harvards Center for Virology and Vaccine Research may help solve a problem that future COVID19 manufacturers are sure to face how to make sure that new and potentially better vaccines actually work without doing extremely large and expensive studies. Writing in the journal Nature the researchers show that a certain class of antibodies in a monkeys blood predicted protection from COVID19. If that hold true for humans a relative simple blood test may show whether an experimental vaccine is working. Heres the dilemma Once a vaccine is approved its unethical to test it against a placebo. Approving new vaccine would require researchers to compare two vaccines against each other instead of having a vaccine and a placebowhich would take a lot more people than the 30000 for the initial trials. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/12/04/942939137/immune-response-in-animals-good-news-for-covid-19-vaccine-development 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

The Verge When the COVID19 vaccine becomes available in the United States officials first challenge is getting the people in the door for their shots. Then theyll have a second problem making sure they come back again to get a second dose of the same vaccine. With two twodose vaccines headed for authorization the logistical challenges of a vaccination program are only magnified. You dont want to have someone get the first dose of one brand of vaccine and a second dose of another says Ben Moscovitch project director of health information technology at The Pew Charitable Trusts. Assuming the Food and Drug Administration authorizes the vaccines after they review the data later this month states will start to receive shipments of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine on December 15th and the Moderna vaccine on December 22nd. From there its up to states to distribute the vaccines. Both take two doses given a few weeks apart and both could be circulating at the same time. And thats just the two frontrunners. Other multidose vaccines are still in the development pipeline. https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/4/22153908/covid-vaccine-dose-tracking-digital-registry-fda 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

The BMJ The Indian manufacturer of the OxfordAstraZeneca candidate vaccine against covid19 the Serum Institute of India has threatened to claim Rs1bn 10m 11.2m 13m in damages from a clinical trial volunteer who alleges he developed a neurological illness after receiving the vaccine and has claimed Rs50m compensation. The Serum Institute of India which is also conducting a clinical trial to assess the vaccines safety and immunogenicity in India has said that the volunteers claim is malicious and misconceived because he was specifically informed by the medical team that the complications he suffered were independent of the trial. Indian health officials said on 1 Decemberover six weeks after the volunteer reported the illnessthat probes by the institutional ethics committee the data safety monitoring board and Indias drug regulatory authority had found no correlation between the serious adverse event and the vaccine. Balram Bhargava Indias department of health research secretary and director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research said The initial causality assessment findings did not necessitate the stoppage of the trial. https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4734 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters UK Muscovites from highrisk groups such as healthcare workers began registering for jabs of a Russianmade COVID19 vaccine on Friday two days after President Vladimir Putin called for largescale vaccinations. Sputnik V one of two Russianmade vaccines to have received regulatory approval in Russia despite clinical trials being incomplete requires two injections. Interim trials showed it is 92 effective at protecting people from COVID19. Mass testing for the second Russian vaccine EpiVacCorona began on Monday. The online registration service allows Moscow residents in specified highrisk jobs and aged between 18 and 60 to book free vaccination appointments at 70 points around the city starting from Saturday the mayors website said. https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-russia-cases/moscow-key-workers-register-for-jabs-of-russian-made-covid-19-vaccine-idUKKBN28E0VN 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters UK Moderna Inc will be able to produce 500 million doses of its COVID19 vaccine in 2021 Chief Executive Officer Stphane Bancel said on Friday. The company has submitted applications seeking emergency use authorization in the United States and the European Union after full results from a latestage study showed the vaccine was 94.1 effective with no serious safety concerns. For 500 million I am very comfortable we are gonna get there 2021 Bancel said at the Nasdaq Investor Conference. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-moderna/moderna-ceo-confident-of-producing-500-million-covid-19-vaccine-doses-in-2021-idUKKBN28E2RD 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

ABC News As these vaccines near the finish line scientists will face a predicament Successful authorization of the first vaccines will make it difficult if not impossible to continue to study COVID19 vaccines of the future. Now a group of researchers say they are zeroing in on a possible solution. By studying monkeys they say theyve identified a clue in our immune systems a signature that could show if a vaccine is working. If their results pan out in humans the findings could help researchers sidestep the need for massive phase 3 placebocontrolled clinical trials like the ones that are being conducted today for the current COVID19 vaccines. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/researchers-hunt-clues-blood-discover-covid-19-vaccines/story?id=74531301 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

IT PRO Global health care software provider Eceptionist has launched a new webbased solution to help private and public organizations manage COVID19 vaccine distribution. Dubbed VaxManager the software as a service SAAS solution alleviates the administrative burden of managing COVID tests flu shots and other vaccines when they become available. VaxManager incorporates an organizations COVID guidelines into a testvaccine request workflow to automatically screen and prioritize vaccine and test requests the company said. The mobilefriendly platform also includes a selfregistration and selfrequest portal for patients to ensure quick and easy onboarding. Automated appointment reminders followup notifications and posttesting and postvaccine information make the software highly reliable and relevant for patients. https://www.itpro.co.uk/cloud/software-as-a-service-saas/358018/eceptionist-launches-self-service-covid-19-vaccine 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters Norway plans to use the three vaccines developed by Moderna AstraZeneca Pfizer and BioNTech in its first push to inoculate its population against COVID19 Norways health minister said on Friday. In the first quarter of 2021 Oslo expects to receive a total of 2.5 million doses covering 1.25 million people or 23 of the population pending approval of the vaccines from European regulators. The doses would roughly cover the 1.3 million people in Norway who are considered in risk groups Health Minister Bent Hoeie said while the 340000 health personnel in contact with patients would have to wait. https://lta.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-norway-vaccine-idINKBN28E1AU 4th Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters UK The discrepancy reported for the first time by Reuters centres on the regimen administered to a smaller group of volunteers in the latestage trials of half a dose followed by a full dose. This diverged from the original plan of two full doses given to the majority of participants. The halfdose pattern was found to be 90 effective versus the 62 success rate of the twofulldose main study based on interim data. AstraZenecas research chief told Reuters 10 days ago when interim trial data was released the halfdose was given inadvertently as a first shot to some trial participants and emerged as a stroke of fortune serendipity that scientists expertly harnessed. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca-insigh/fortune-or-foresight-astrazeneca-and-oxfords-stories-clash-on-covid-19-vaccine-idUKKBN28D2A3 3rd Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

China Briefing Chinas COVID19 vaccines expected to be rolled out soon bulk manufactured and exported in 2021. China could likely mass inoculate citizens in any outbreak that crosses a certain threshold country expected to develop herd immunity over longer term. Sinovac vaccine in limited rollout costs RMB 400. https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-covid-19-vaccine-development-and-availability/ 3rd Dec 2020

Scientific Viewpoint

The Hill Pfizer chairman Albert Bourla told Dateline host Lester Holt that the pharmaceutical company was not certain if the vaccine prevented the coronavirus from being transmitted saying This is something that needs to be examined. In a primetime special titled Race for a Vaccine set to air Thursday Holt questioned Bourla and other individuals involved in the development and distribution of the medicine. In November Pfizer announced that its vaccine candidate had been shown to be more than 90 percent effective at preventing COVID19 and has applied for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration FDA. https://thehill.com/news-by-subject/healthcare/528619-pfizer-chairman-were-not-sure-if-someone-can-transmit-virus-after 3rd Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Wall Street Journal After a late autumn surge in infections led to rising hospitalizations and deaths Sweden has abandoned its attempt to combat the pandemic through voluntary measures. https://www.wsj.com/articles/long-a-holdout-from-covid-19-restrictions-sweden-ends-its-pandemic-experiment-11607261658 6th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters Californias two most densely inhabited regions and its agricultural breadbasket will be under stayathome orders by Sunday night as the COVID19 pandemic strains hospitals in the most populous U.S. state officials said. Designed to kick in when intensive care units in any of five regions have little remaining capacity the order affecting Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley will close bars hair salons and barbershops and allows restaurants to remain open only for takeout and delivery service. The shutdowns which go into effect at 1159 pm Sunday are triggered by an order announced Wednesday by Governor Gavin Newsom a Democrat. https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-usa/most-of-california-to-be-under-stay-at-home-orders-as-covid-19-surges-idUSKBN28F0WC 6th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters South Korea on Sunday reported 631 new coronavirus cases the highest in nine months ahead of an expected government decision on whether to further tighten social distancing curbs as health authorities struggle to contain a third wave of outbreaks. After implementing tighter restrictions on Saturday the government is to decide on Sunday whether to impose new measures in a country that had seen initial success through aggressive contact tracing and other steps. The new cases bring the countrys tally to 37546 with 545 deaths the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported. https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-southkorea-idUKKBN28G016?taid=5fcc59a179194100014acbea&amputm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&amputm_medium=trueAnthem&amputm_source=twitter 6th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

Sky News More details have emerged about who will be first to get the PfizerBioNTech coronavirus vaccine when the UK rollout begins next week. First doses of the highly anticipated jab reached Britain on Thursday after being brought through the Eurotunnel on lorries from Belgium. It is just the start of the huge and complex logistical and technical operation that lies ahead to protect those most vulnerable across the UK. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-how-the-pfizer-biontech-vaccine-is-being-rolled-out-and-who-will-get-it-first-12150269 5th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

New York Daily News on MSN.com More than 20 million people across 23 Southern California counties will be under one of the countrys strictest COVID lockdowns beginning Monday morning. People in Los Angeles San Diego all surrounding counties and the states Central Valley will be legally prohibited from gathering with anyone outside their immediate household and nearly all businesses must close under the new stayathome order. The lockdown rules last at least three weeks meaning theyll be in effect through Christmas. People wait in line to be tested for COVID19 at a testing site in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles on Saturday. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/southern-california-headed-for-strict-covid-lockdown-due-to-lack-of-icu-beds/ar-BB1bFsAt?fdhead=newflex-views 5th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

Daily Mail Shawn Rider posted to Facebook on Tuesday pleading for information on another Pennsylvania hospital that had a free ICU bed and an EMCO machine. His mother Karen had been on a ventilator due to COVID19 since November 23 but her condition had deteriorated and she needed a transfer. A nurse at York hospital spotted his post and found the family an ICU bed. Karen was transferred the next day but is still in a serious condition. She has now been on an ventilator for 13 days Shawn has continued to share her story as the family hopes people will take more precautions so they dont end up in the position we are in. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9021459/Pennsylvania-man-begs-help-finding-new-ICU-bed-mom-COVID-19.html 5th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

WION After months of keeping the novel coronavirus spread under control a new outbreak has scared the authorities of a threat bigger than the starting of the grim year. Following a sudden surge in the COVID19 cases South Korea has raised its coronavirus alert to the highest level in the capital city Seoul as the authorities believe this outbreak may take longer to be controlled. South Korea had been following the trace test and treat approach for the past few months and had managed to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Following a drop in cases the country had reopened its economy letting people step out to meet friends and go to work and life was slowly returning back to normal. https://www.wionews.com/world/biggest-crisis-south-korea-tightens-covid-19-restrictions-amid-record-high-surge-347930 5th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters Britain reported 15539 new COVID19 cases on Saturday and 397 new deaths within 28 days of a positive test result both falls on the previous days figures. https://uk.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-britain-cases/uk-reports-13430-new-covid-19-cases-603-deaths-idUKS8N2E307N 5th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters Moscow wants to vaccinate up to seven million people its Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said as Russia on Sunday reported yet another record high number of new COVID19 cases. Moscow began distributing its Sputnik V COVID19 shot via 70 clinics on Saturday to the most exposed groups marking Russias first largescale vaccination against the disease. In prospect we have to vaccinate six to seven million people Sobyanin told state TV Rossiya1 in an interview published on Sunday. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-russia-cases-idUSKBN28G07M 5th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

Sky News Seventy COVID19 clinics opened in the Russian capital on Saturday three days after President Vladimir Putin ordered a largescale immunisation programme that he claims will begin with two million doses being made available this week. The Sputnik V has not yet completed Phase 3 of its trials unlike the vaccine produced by PfizerBioNTech and Moderna sparking widespread criticism it is not safe for use. The Moscowbased Gamaleya Institute which is producing the vaccine says an advanced study on 40000 volunteers showed 91.4 efficacy after two doses. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-vaccine-clinics-open-across-moscow-to-start-issuing-sputnik-v-jab-12151770 5th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

Sky News COVID19 will keep hospitals under continued strain in the coming months as new vaccines will only have a marginal impact on patient numbers over winter the UKs chief medical officers have warned. In a letter written to healthcare colleagues the group which includes Englands Professor Chris Whitty also said that festive gatherings were likely to put additional pressure on the NHS. Winter is always a challenging time for the NHS and wider health and social care service. This year will be especially hard due to COVID19 it said. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-vaccines-will-only-have-marginal-impact-on-nhs-winter-pressures-chief-medical-officers-warn-12151571 4th Dec 2020

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Wall Street Journal Back in February when the sports world was still wondering how severe an outbreak of something called Covid19 might be a Colombian cyclist named Fernando Gaviria was finding out for himself. Gaviria was doing his job racing bikes in the United Arab Emirates when he became one of the first international athletes to contract the coronavirus. The symptoms were harsh enough to land him in hospital for two weeks. Back then we knew very little about the virus he wrote in an email. By the time Gaviria was healthy enough to leave Abu Dhabi his world was a more uncertain place. The sports calendar had been scrubbed. Entire countries were shutting down. But Gavirias virus ordeal seemed to come with a personal silver lining. Prevailing wisdom suggested hed at least be immune for the foreseeable future. That future lasted barely seven months. In October Gaviria tested positive a second time. His reaction was sheer disbelief. I was completely asymptomatic and felt OK he wrote. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-pro-cyclist-who-caught-covid-twice-11606919308 2nd Dec 2020

New Lockdown

The Guardian As large parts of California went back into lockdown and healthcare systems in many states began to waver under the strain new cases of Covid19 in the US remained above 200000 on Saturday with more than 2000 deaths. Members of the Trump administrations coronavirus task force heralded the imminence and efficacy of vaccines but asked Americans to keep their guard up. Johns Hopkins University recorded 213875 new cases down from nearly 228000 on Friday in a week of surging figures after a Thanksgiving lull in recordkeeping. Amid figures worsened by holiday travel and gatherings whose full impact experts say is not yet apparent there were 2254 new deaths making the full death toll 280979 from nearly 14.6m cases. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/06/california-covid-lockdown-us-new-cases-hospitalisations-deaths-stay-at-home-order 6th Dec 2020

New Lockdown

Reuters The southern German region of Bavaria which has so far recorded the countrys highest coronavirus death toll announced on Sunday that it will impose a tougher lockdown from Wednesday until Jan. 5. People in Bavaria will only be able to leave their homes with good reason state premier Markus Soeder told a news conference adding that there would be some relaxation in the rules for Christmas but not for New Year celebrations. While Germany brought the pandemic under control in March and April it is now dealing with a more deadly second wave and imposed a lockdown light at the start of November closing restaurants and bars and limiting public gatherings. While daily infections are no longer rising as sharply as before case numbers have stagnated at a high level and Germany reported its highest singleday coronavirus death toll on Wednesday. https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-germany/germanys-bavaria-region-to-tighten-coronavirus-lockdown-idUSL1N2IM07N 5th Dec 2020

New Lockdown

Reuters UK Portugal will ease coronavirus rules over the Christmas period to allow people to visit loved ones but measures will be reimposed a few days later to crack down on New Years Eve parties the government said on Saturday. While a ban on domestic travel will not be imposed between Dec. 23 and Dec. 26 Prime Minister Antonio Costa urged people to avoid spending too long in large festive gatherings without wearing a face mask. Its essential that this Christmas is a time of sharing but that in this sharing there is no involuntary transmission of the virus Costa told reporters as he announced the measures. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-portugal/portugal-to-ease-covid-19-rules-for-christmas-but-not-new-year-idUKKBN28F0K5 5th Dec 2020