Boost in vaccine doses planned for poor as virus rages on

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GENEVA, Sept 30, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Up to 100 million additional doses of any
eventual Covid-19 vaccines will be secured for delivery to poorer countries
in 2021, health groups announced Tuesday, as the virus showed no sign of
receding after claiming more than one million lives around the world.

The announcement doubles the number of doses already secured from the Serum
Institute of India by the Gavi vaccine alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, following an initial agreement last month. The public-private
health partnership stressed that the eventual total is “potentially several
times” greater, and said the price would be capped at $3 per dose.

“No country, rich or poor, should be left at the back of the queue when it
comes to Covid-19 vaccines; this collaboration brings us another step closer
to achieving this goal,” Gavi chief Seth Berkley said.

As nine vaccine candidates are in last-stage trials, the World Bank said
Tuesday it had asked its board of directors to approve $12 billion to help
poor countries purchase and distribute vaccines.

A World Bank spokesman said that “the global economy will not recover fully
until people feel they can live, socialize, work and travel with confidence.”

As humanity struggles against Covid-19, the World Health Organization said
this week that some 120 million rapid tests will soon be made available to
low- and middle-income countries if funding can be secured.

The kits — faster, cheaper and easier to administer than standard
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab tests, but also less reliable — will be
rolled out across 133 countries in the next six months.

– European wave –

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said that “responsible
leadership matters” in steering the world through the pandemic.

“Science matters. Cooperation matters — and misinformation kills,” he
warned, urging people to respect familiar infection control measures like
hand-washing, distancing and mask-wearing. Case numbers are climbing rapidly
in Europe, where governments are clamping down on movement in an attempt to
curb the surge.

Germany introduced new limits on the number of people who can attend
private events, after Spain, France, Britain and Northern Ireland all imposed
fresh restrictions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “a reaction is necessary” after recent
outbreaks were frequently traced to weddings and other gatherings.

In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to share general
confusion about his government’s measures, apologising after wrongly saying
that rules limiting gatherings in northeast England to no more than six
people did not apply outdoors.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia said they were preparing to declare a state
of emergency.

In Israel, which has the world’s highest infection rate per capita, Health
Minister Yuli Edelstein said Tuesday that there was “no way” the country’s
second nationwide coronavirus lockdown would be lifted after three weeks as
originally planned.

– New York worries again-

Across the Atlantic, former coronavirus hotspot New York’s rate of positive
tests surged to more than three percent from below two in just 24 hours,
authorities said, adding that Orthodox Jewish communities have faced a
particularly sharp increase.

The figures were a “real cause for concern,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told
reporters as he introduced fines for those not wearing masks in public.

More than one in ten of the 203,107 people who have so far died of
coronavirus in the US were New Yorkers.

US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden were gearing
up for their first televised election debate, with the country’s troubled
response to the virus likely to be a battleground.

Hours before the debate, the economic impact of the virus was highlighted
by Disney saying it will cut 28,000 jobs from its US theme parks division.

Worldwide the virus has now infected almost 33.5 million people and killed
over a million, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources.

Mid-September saw a record rise in cases in most regions and the WHO has
warned that virus deaths could even double to two million.

On Monday, the number of cases in India surpassed six million, with the
country on course to overtake the US in the coming weeks as the nation with
the most infections.

The country’s lead pandemic agency said Tuesday that as many as 60 million
of India’s 1.3 billion population could already have been infected, based on
a study of blood antibodies.