The head of the World Health Organisation has warned that the world is on the brink of a “catastrophic moral failure” if wealthier nations don’t ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Is Europe Getting Its COVID Vaccine Rollout Wrong?
On 1/19/21 at 12:51 PM EST
Just days after the Brexit transition period ended at the end of 2020, as the United Kingdom was plunged into an undetermined period of strict national lockdowns, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was keen to deliver some good news - he revealed the U.K. is beating Europe in the global vaccine race.
He said at the time that the nation s ambitious vaccine program had seen more people vaccinated in the U.K. than in the rest of Europe combined and that Britain was now in a sprint in a race against the virus to vaccinate people quicker than COVID is spreading. People around the world are now being vaccinated against COVID-19 thanks to the approval and rollout of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna jabs. But World Health Organization (WHO) statistics show more than 10,000 people are dying across the globe each day too.
Arizona, California and Rhode Island are among the hardest-hit places in the world at this stage of the pandemic, with the highest rates of Covid-19 infections per capita, according to a data analysis by NBC News.
EU regulators approve doctors drawing up to six doses from BioNTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine vials Samuel Petrequin and Mike Corder BRUSSELS Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account
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CIRO DE LUCA/Reuters
The European Union’s drug agency on Friday approved doctors drawing one more dose from each vial of the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech, in a move that – combined with the purchase of 300 million extra shots of the serum – could speed up the pace of vaccinations in the 27-nation bloc.
Jan 8, 2021
An employee of the Municipal Health Service GGD shows the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine prior to administering it to a health care worker today at a coronavirus vaccination facility in Houten, central Netherlands. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union’s drug agency today approved doctors drawing up to six doses from each vial of the coronavirus vaccine made by BioNTech-Pfizer, a move that could speed up the pace of vaccinations in the 27-nation bloc.
The European Medicines Agency said its human medicines committee recommended updating the product information for the vaccine to clarify that each vial contains six doses instead of the five that were advised when it originally greenlighted the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 21.