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November
UNICEF says to ship two billion COVID vaccines to poor nations in 2021
Written by Nur YasminNearly 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be shipped and flown to developing countries next year in a “mammoth operation”, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said on Monday, as world leaders vowed to ensure the fair distribution of vaccines.
UNICEF said it was working with over 350 airlines and freight companies to deliver vaccines and 1 billion syringes to poor countries such as Burundi, Afghanistan and Yemen as part of COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan with the World Health Organization (WHO).
“This invaluable collaboration will go a long way to ensure that enough transport capacity is in place for this historic and mammoth operation,” said Etleva Kadilli, director of UNICEF’s Supply Division, in a statement.
COVAX - co-led by GAVI vaccine group, the WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations - aims to discourage governments from hoarding COVID-19 vaccines and to focus on first vaccinating the most at risk in every country.
At a G20 summit this weekend, leaders of the biggest 20 world economies pledged to ensure the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, drugs and tests so that poorer countries are not left out.
Even before the pandemic hit, access to vaccines was unequal with around 20 million babies not receiving vaccines that could save them from serious diseases, death, disability and ill health, according to the WHO.
“We need all hands on deck as we get ready to deliver COVID-19 vaccine doses, syringes and more personal protective equipment to protect frontline workers around the globe,” said UNICEF’S Kadilli, who is working with the Pan American Health Organization and the International Air Transport Association.
UNICEF’s role with COVAX stems from its status as the largest single vaccine buyer in the world.
It said it procures more than 2 billion doses of vaccines annually for routine immunisation and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries.
Drugmakers and research centres worldwide are racing to develop COVID-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants well underway.
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech could secure emergency U.S. and European authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccine next month after final trial results showed a 95% success rate and no serious side effects.
Moderna Inc last week released preliminary data for its vaccine showing 94.5% effectiveness.
The better-than-expected results from the two vaccines, both developed with new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, have raised hopes for an end to a pandemic that has killed more than 1.3 million people and wreaked havoc upon economies and daily life. (Reuters)
November
WHO advises against Gilead's remdesivir for all hospitalised COVID-19 patients
Written by Nur YasminGilead’s drug remdesivir is not recommended for patients hospitalised with COVID-19, regardless of how ill they are, as there is no evidence it improves survival or reduces the need for ventilation, a World Health Organization panel said on Friday.
“The ... panel found a lack of evidence that remdesivir improved outcomes that matter to patients such as reduced mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, time to clinical improvement, and others,” the guideline said.
The advice is another setback for the drug, which grabbed worldwide attention as a potentially effective treatment for COVID-19 in the summer after early trials showed some promise.
At the end of October, Gilead cut its 2020 revenue forecast, citing lower-than-expected demand and difficulty in predicting sales of remdesivir.
The antiviral is one of only two medicines currently authorised to treat COVID-19 patients across the world, but a large WHO-led trial known as the Solidarity Trial showed last month that it had little or no effect on 28-day mortality or length of hospital stays for COVID-19 patients.
The medication was one of the drugs used to treat U.S. President Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection, and had been shown in previous studies to have cut time to recovery. It is authorised or approved for use as a COVID-19 treatment in more than 50 countries.
Gilead has questioned the Solidarity Trial’s results.
“Veklury is recognised as a standard of care for the treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 in guidelines from numerous credible national organisations,” Gilead said in a statement, referring to the drug’s brand name.
“We are disappointed the WHO guidelines appear to ignore this evidence at a time when cases are dramatically increasing around the world and doctors are relying on Veklury as the first and only approved antiviral treatment for patients with COVID-19.”
The WHO’s Guideline Development Group (GDG) panel said its recommendation was based on an evidence review that included data from four international randomised trials involving more than 7,000 patients hospitalised with COVID-19.
After reviewing the evidence, the panel said, it concluded that remdesivir, which has to be given intravenously and is therefore costly and complex to administer, has no meaningful effect on death rates or other important outcomes for patients.
“Especially given the costs and resource implications associated with remdesivir ...the panel felt the responsibility should be on demonstrating evidence of efficacy, which is not established by the currently available data,” it added.
The latest WHO advice comes after one of the world’s top bodies representing intensive care doctors said the antiviral should not be used for COVID-19 patients in critical care wards.
The WHO’s recommendation, which is not binding, is part of its so-called “living guidelines” project, designed to offer guidance for doctors to help them make clinical decisions about patients in fast-moving situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidelines can be updated and reviewed as new evidence and information emerges.
The panel said, however, that it supported continued enrolment into clinical trials evaluating remdesivir in patients with COVID-19, which it said should “provide higher certainty of evidence for specific groups of patients”.
The recommendation may raise further questions about whether the European Union will need the 500,000 courses of the antiviral worth 1 billion euros it ordered last month. (Reuters)
November
Xi touts China's huge economy as base of free trade in APEC speech
Written by Nur YasminPresident Xi Jinping hailed China as the pivot point for global free trade Thursday, vowing to keep its "super-sized" economy open for business and warning against protectionism as the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buoyed by the signing of the world’s largest trade pact over the weekend, Xi said the Asia-Pacific is the "forerunner driving global growth" in a world hit by "multiple challenges."
He vowed "openness" to trade and rejected any possibility of the "decoupling" of China's economy, in his only nod to the hostile trade policy of US President Donald Trump's administration, which has battered China with tariffs and tech restrictions.
Xi was speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, held online this year because of the pandemic, which brings together 21 Pacific Rim countries, accounting for about 60 percent of global GDP.
In a speech that veered into triumphalism over China's economic "resilience and vitality" in bouncing back from the virus, which first emerged in the central city of Wuhan, Xi warned countries who insist on trade barriers would suffer self-inflicted wounds. (AFP_
November
New Zealand Police Introduces Hijab For Its uniform
Written by Nur YasminNew Zealand Police have introduced a hijab into their official uniform to encourage more Muslim women to join.
As quoted by BBC.com (18/11), new recruit Constable Zeena Ali will become the first officer to wear the official hijab.
A spokesperson said that this aimed to create an "inclusive" service reflecting the country's "diverse community."
Other forces such as the Metropolitan Police in London and Police Scotland offer the option of a uniform hijab.
In the UK, the Metropolitan Police in London approved a uniform hijab in 2006 with Police Scotland following in 2016.
In Australia, Maha Sukkar of Victoria Police wore a hijab in 2004. (BBC.com)
November
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine deliveries could start 'before Christmas'
Written by Nur YasminPfizer Inc PFE.N and BioNTech 22UAy.DE could secure emergency U.S. and European authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine next month after final trial results showed it had a 95% success rate and no serious side effects, the drugmakers said on Wednesday.
The vaccine’s efficacy was found to be consistent across different ages and ethnicities - a promising sign given the disease has disproportionately hurt the elderly and certain groups including Black people.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration could grant emergency-use by the middle of December, BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin told Reuters TV. Conditional approval in the European Union could be secured in the second half of December, he added.
“If all goes well I could imagine that we gain approval in the second half of December and start deliveries before Christmas, but really only if all goes positively,” he said.
The success rate of the vaccine developed by the U.S. drugmaker and German partner BioNTech was far higher than what regulators had said would have been acceptable. Experts said it was a significant achievement in the race to end the pandemic.
Of the 170 volunteers who contracted COVID-19 in Pfizer’s trial involving over 43,000 people, 162 had received a placebo and not the vaccine, meaning the vaccine was 95% effective. Of the 10 people who had severe COVID-19, one had received the vaccine.
“A first in the history of mankind: less than a year from the sequence of the virus to the large-scale clinical trial of a vaccine, moreover based on a whole new technique,” said Enrico Bucci, a biologist at Temple University in Philadelphia. “Today is a special day.”
BioNTech’s Sahin said U.S. emergency use authorization (EUA) would be applied for on Friday.
An FDA advisory committee tentatively plans to meet on Dec. 8-10 to discuss the vaccine, a source familiar with the situation said, though the dates could change. The FDA did not respond to requests for comment. (Reuters)
November
Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine induces quick immune response: study
Written by Nur YasminSinovac Biotech’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac triggered a quick immune response but the level of antibodies produced was lower than in people who had recovered from the disease, preliminary trial results showed on Wednesday.
While the early to mid-stage trials were not designed to assess the efficacy of CoronaVac, researchers said it could provide sufficient protection, based on their experience with other vaccines and data from preclinical studies with macaques.
The study comes hot on the heels of upbeat news this month from U.S. drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna as well as Russia that showed their experimental vaccines were over 90% effective based on interim data from large, late-stage trials.
CoronaVac and four other experimental vaccines developed in China are currently undergoing late-stage trials to determine their effectiveness in preventing COVID-19.
The Sinovac findings, published in a peer-reviewed paper in medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, came from results in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in China involving more than 700 participants.
“Our findings show that CoronaVac is capable of inducing a quick antibody response within four weeks of immunisation by giving two doses of the vaccine at a 14-day interval,” Zhu Fengcai, one of the authors of the paper, said.
“We believe that this makes the vaccine suitable for emergency use during the pandemic,” Zhu said in a statement published alongside the paper.
Researchers said the findings from large, late-stage studies, or Phase III trials, would be crucial to determine if the immune response generated by CoronaVac was sufficient to protect people from the coronavirus infection.
Sinovac is currently running three Phase III trials in Indonesia, Brazil and Turkey.
The results must be interpreted with caution until Phase III results are published, Naor Bar-Zeev, a professor from Johns Hopkins University who was not involved in the study, said.
“But even then, after Phase III trial completion and after licensure, we should prudently remain cautious,” he said. (Reuters)
November
U.N. pulls $100 million from emergency fund in bid to avert famines
Written by Nur YasminUnited Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock said on Tuesday he would use $100 million from the world body’s emergency fund to help seven countries try to avert famine fueled by conflict, spiraling economies, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some $30 million will be spent in Yemen, $15 million each in Afghanistan and northeast Nigeria, $7 million each in South Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo and $6 million in Burkina Faso. Lowcock said $20 million had also been set aside in anticipation of a worsening situation in Ethiopia.
“The prospect of a return to a world in which famines are commonplace would be heart wrenching and obscene in a world where there is more than enough food for everyone. Famines result in agonizing and humiliating deaths,” Lowcock said.
“Their impact on a country is devastating and long lasting,” he said in a statement.
Nearly $500 million has been paid into the U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund in 2020. It is used to enable the world body to respond quickly to new humanitarian crises or underfunded emergencies without having to wait for earmarked donations. (Reuters)
November
World should not be complacent after COVID-19 vaccine news: WHO
Written by Nur YasminThe World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed Moderna reporting on Monday that its experimental vaccine showed 94.5% efficacy but said that “many questions” remained and it was no time for complacency.
Only very limited amounts of any vaccine will be available in the first half of 2021 for people other than priority health workers, WHO officials said.
“While we continue to receive encouraging news about COVID-19 vaccines and remain cautiously optimistic about the potential for new tools to start to arrive in coming months, right now we are extremely concerned by the surge in cases we are seeing in some countries, particularly in Europe and the Americas,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing.
It marked his return to the Geneva agency from quarantine after being exposed to coronavirus some 17 days ago. Tedros said he had no symptoms and had seen no need for a test.
Moderna Inc’s experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage trial, the company said on Monday, becoming the second U.S. drugmaker to report results that far exceed expectations.
Together with Pfizer Inc’s vaccine, which is also more than 90% effective, and pending more safety data and regulatory review, the United States could have two vaccines authorized for emergency use in December with as many as 60 million doses of vaccine available this year.
Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist, said that the Moderna results were “quite encouraging”. Its final efficacy and safety profile would still be needed, as well as follow-up on trial participants for two months for any side effects.
Pfizer and Moderna candidate vaccines both use mRNA technology and appear to achieve high efficacy, she added.
“But there are many, many questions still remaining about the duration of protection, the impact on severe disease, the impact on different sub-populations especially the elderly, as well as the adverse events beyond a certain period of time,” Swaminathan said.
Clinical trials must continue to collect more data, she said, adding that more results were expected in the coming weeks from the other vaccine trials.
“We are looking at at least the first half of the year as being a period with very very limited doses. Supplies are going to be limited, there are bilateral deals that many of the companies have done, so many of the doses have already been booked by some countries,” Swaminathan said.
Moderna is a two-dose vaccine and its delivery means, as well as storage, were also important considerations, said Kate O’Brien, director of WHO’s immunization department.
“We will be looking really carefully at the ease at which different vaccines can be delivered and certainly about the number of doses that are required,” she said. (Reuters)
November
APEC ministers focus on regional economic recovery to rebuild better
Written by Nur YasminMinisters from APEC’s 21 member economies convened to reiterate their commitment to pursue free and open trade and investment as well as revivify endeavors towards regional economic recovery and growth.
The 31st APEC Ministerial Meeting, held virtually on Monday (Nov 16), was chaired by Malaysia’s Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali, according to a written statement issued by the APEC Secretariat and received here on Tuesday.
The APEC ministers are working in unison to advance regional trade and investment amid the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic that has extensively disrupted supply chains and wreaked havoc on the global economic landscape.
"This year, we have pivoted, prioritized, and progressed work on several APEC initiatives despite the challenging circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic," Chair of this year’s APEC Ministerial Meeting, Mohamed Azmin Ali, remarked.
"Continue to resist the forces of protectionism and strengthen support to a well-functioning, rules-based multilateral trading system while remaining steadfast to advancing the development agenda of the World Trade Organization," Ali stated at the virtual meeting while urging member economies.
The APEC region recorded its first ever economic growth contraction in three decades, with gross domestic product plunging by 3.7 percent in the first six months of 2020.
This grim scenario followed a surge in unemployment rates among APEC economies, with over 74 million currently in search of work.
Ali commended member economies’ relentless efforts in slowly reopening economic activities, ensuring that workers return to work, and allowing cross-border movement of people through the introduction of travel bubbles.
"All while managing the collective concerns on the health, safety, and well-being of our people," he noted.
"The travel bubbles that are emerging within the region are a crucial development, as these could possibly redefine the future of travel and tourism," he stated.
"These bubbles are also central to revitalizing the essential movement of people within APEC," he remarked.
At the meeting themed “Optimizing Human Potential towards a Resilient Future of Shared Prosperity: Pivot, Prioritise, Progress,” Ali underscored the importance of improving the narrative of trade and investment, one of the key priorities for Malaysia as the host this year.
"It is imperative to translate the benefits of trade and investment into a more inclusive economic growth that brings palpable benefits and greater well-being to all our people," he expounded.
"In this regard, we have placed particular emphasis on shared prosperity to enable more effective and meaningful economic participation by all segments of our societies," he stated.
Ministers have also completed their work in formulating APEC’s new post-2020 vision, which will chart the long-term strategic direction for the region for the next two decades. The recommendations from this meeting will be presented to APEC leaders at the upcoming virtual meeting on Friday (November 20). (Antaranews)
November
Syria's veteran foreign minister Walid Moalem dies
Written by Nur YasminSyria's top diplomat and long-time foreign minister Walid al-Moalem, a staunch defender of Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters that sparked a decade-old conflict, died on Monday, the government said.
There were no details on the cause of death, but the 79-year old had for years been in poor health with heart problems. A source close to the Syrian government said it was widely expected his deputy, veteran diplomat Faisal Mekdad, would replace his as foreign minister.
Moalem, who was first appointed foreign minister in 2006 and was also a deputy prime minister, held a succession of top diplomatic posts, including envoy to the United States, and was involved in unsuccessful negotiations with Israel in the 1990s on a peace settlement.
“He was known for his honorable patriotic positions,” the government said in a statement, adding he died at dawn and would be buried later on Monday in Damascus.
The veteran diplomat saw his country’s tilt further towards Iran and Russia, which have helped shore up Assad’s rule and allowed the authoritarian leader to regain most of the territory he once lost to insurgents.
Moalem, from a Sunni family from Damascus, publicly defended Moscow and Shi’ite Iran’s growing military role, backed by its proxies in Syria, which many Syrian opponents of Assad labeled as an occupation and blamed for fuelling sectarian tension in a Sunni-majority country.
“I am ready to be one of Hassan Nasrallahʹs soldiers,” Moalem said in August 2006, referring to the leader of the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which has in recent years sent thousands of its members to fight alongside Assad’s forces.
Syria erupted into civil war nearly a decade ago after Assad in 2011 began a crackdown on protesters calling for an end to his family’s rule.
Moalem accused the United States and others in the West of fuelling his country’s unrest and labeled insurgents “terrorists” in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and led to the exodus of millions of refugees.
The veteran diplomat’s last statements attacked the Caesar Act - the toughest U.S. sanctions yet against Damascus which came into force last June, saying they were meant to starve Syrians. He vowed that his country would get economic help from Iran and Russia to soften its blow.
Washington says the goal of the new sanctions is to hold Damascus to account for war crimes and deter it from further pursuing the war. The sanctions exempt humanitarian aid. (Reuters)
