The United States has started to administer the newly-approved coronavirus vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.New York State began inoculating heath care workers Monday, with critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay the first to receive an injection.“First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations World!” President Donald Trump said on Twitter.Super-cooled shipments of the vaccine had rolled out of a Pfizer manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Sunday for rapid air freight distribution to regional hubs across the United States.Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told CNN more than 184,000 vials were on the first trucks leaving the Pfizer vaccine production facility.Health care workers and elderly people in long-term care facilities will be first in line to receive the first round of 2.9 million doses at a time when cases are surging in the United States.Meanwhile, President Trump reversed a directive that senior government officials including some White House …

Daily records continue to tumble for COVID-19 cases and deaths in many parts of the world, forcing governments to impose restrictions or consider lockdowns to halt the spread of the coronavirus.    In Europe, Germany is heading for a second lockdown starting on Wednesday amid rising coronavirus infections. The government in urging citizens to avoid Christmas shopping in the two days before most stores close and social distancing rules tighten. A person wearing protective mask lights a candle on a vigil organised by activist-group #wirgebendenToteneinGesicht (We give a face to the dead) to commemorate the people who died due to COVID-19 in Berlin, Germany, Dec. 13, 2020.According to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center (JHU), as of Monday morning, Germany had recorded over 1,350,800 confirmed cases and more than 22,080 deaths.   Italy has overtaken Britain as the European country with the most COVID-19 deaths, according to data collected by JHU. Monday morning Italy had …

Daily records continue to tumble for COVID-19 cases and deaths in many parts of the world, forcing governments to impose restrictions or consider lockdowns to halt the spread of the coronavirus.In Europe, Germany is heading for a second lockdown starting on Wednesday amid rising coronavirus infections. According to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center (JHU), as of Monday morning, Germany had recorded over 1,350,800 confirmed cases and more than 22,080 deaths.Italy has overtaken Britain as the European country with the most COVID-19 deaths, according to data collected by JHU. Monday morning Italy had 64,520 deaths, while Britain 64,267. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can Pharmacy supervisor Kevin Weissman wears a thick glove as he opens the door of a special freezer that will hold the Pfizer vaccine at LAC USC Medical Center, during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Los Angeles, California, Dec. …

As more countries approve a coronavirus vaccine, the urgent need for inoculation continues to grow with COVID-19 cases and deaths spiking to record highs in several countries. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Sunday that South Korea recorded a record daily increase in coronavirus cases for a second straight day with 1,030 new infections. In the U.S. last week, California recorded more than 25,000 new infections in one day.  “Lives will be lost unless we do more than we’ve ever done,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.    Overall, more than 16 million people in the U.S. have contracted the disease, while nearly 300,000 have died.    A New York Times investigation found that coronavirus deaths have risen faster than the rest of the country in U.S. college town communities where students make up at least 10% of the population. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can …

As more countries approve a coronavirus vaccine, the urgent need for inoculation continues to grow with COVID-19 cases and deaths spiking to record highs in several countries.The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Sunday that South Korea recorded a record daily increase in coronavirus cases for a second straight day with 1,030 new infections.In the U.S. last week, California recorded more than 25,000 new infections in one day.  “Lives will be lost unless we do more than we’ve ever done,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said.Overall, more than 16 million people in the U.S. have contracted the disease, while nearly 300,000 have died.A New York Times investigation found that coronavirus deaths have risen faster than the rest of the country in U.S. college town communities where students make up at least 10% of the population.Italy is poised to overtake Britian as the European country with the most COVID-19 deaths, according to …

A Chinese space capsule bringing back the first moon rocks in more than four decades started its three-day return to Earth on Sunday.The Chang’e 5 lunar probe, which had been orbiting the moon for about a week, fired up four engines for about 22 minutes to move out of the moon’s orbit, the China National Space Administration said in a social media post.The craft’s lander touched down on the moon earlier this month close to a formation called the Mons Rumker, an area believed to have been the site of ancient volcanic activity. It collected about 2 kilograms of samples.The return capsule is expected to land in northern China in the Inner Mongolia region after separating from the rest of the spacecraft and floating down on parachutes. The material would be the first brought back since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 probe in 1976.The rocks and other debris were obtained …

The U.S. has approved emergency use of the Pfizer–BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for Americans to start getting vaccinated within days. But public skepticism about the safety of the vaccine remains, with polls showing many adults say they won’t get the shot or are unsure about getting it. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the latest. …

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced Saturday that his country would have no new coal-fired power generation as part of its contribution in global efforts against climate change.Khan gave details of the substantial undertaking while addressing the international Climate Ambition Summit 2020, held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic.The United Nations, United Kingdom, France, Chile and Italy hosted the event, bringing world leaders together to press for greater efforts in curbing global warming.“We have decided we will not have any more power based on coal,” Khan told the summit. “We have already scrapped two coal power projects, which were supposed to produce 2,600 megawatts of energy, and replaced it by hydroelectricity.”By 2030, Khan said, 60% of all energy produced in Pakistan will be clean and obtained through renewable resources, while 30% of all vehicles will run on electricity.The prime minister said that while Pakistan accounts for less than 1% of …

Mexico approved the emergency use of a coronavirus vaccine late Friday, bringing to six the number of countries that are inoculating or plan to inoculate with shots produced by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United States have also approved the vaccine.Mexican Assistant Health Secretary and epidemiologist Hugo Lopez-Gatell called the vaccine approval “a reason for hope.” Reuters reports Mexico signed an agreement with Pfizer to acquire 34 million doses of the vaccine, with the first batch expected later this month.Mexico has recorded 1.2 million COVID-19 cases and 113,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.The vaccine’s approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday came as the United States topped 295,000 fatalities from COVID-19, the world’s highest death toll, according to Johns Hopkins University, which calculates the United States has had 15.8 million of the world’s more than 71 million COVID infections.Hospitalizations are …

U.S. President Donald Trump late Friday hailed what he termed “a medical miracle” – the immediate but extremely limited availability of a coronavirus vaccine less than a year after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the United States.In a video message posted on Twitter, Trump said the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for emergency use will be administered “within 24 hours” and will be “free [of charge] for all Americans.”The president said the vaccine “will save millions of lives and soon end the pandemic once and for all.” The assertion contradicted health officials who note that it will be months before many Americans can be inoculated and that eradication of COVID-19 is far from assured.There was no immediate reaction from President-elect Joe Biden, who earlier this week promised that 100 million vaccine doses would be administered in the first 100 …

Brazil, which is second to the U.S. in deaths from COVID-19 and third in the world in positive cases, is approaching 180,000 deaths as it suffers through its second wave of the disease caused by the coronavirus.In the past day, more than 53,000 cases and 770 deaths have been reported, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Since the start of the pandemic, Brazil has recorded more than 6.7 million cases.Brazil, with a population of 212 million, is entering its summer, when beaches fill with weekend crowds.”The situation is likely to worsen with the summer, because people will move around more, without any control, most of the restriction measures having already been lifted,” Christovam Barcellos, a researcher at the Fiocruz institute, told AFP.The coronavirus crisis in the U.S. continued to intensify Friday, as more than 2,700 people died of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins data, down from the record …

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Friday pressed Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Hahn to grant an emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day or face possible firing, two administration officials said.The vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech won a critical endorsement Thursday from an FDA panel of outside advisers, and signoff from the agency — which is expected within days — is the next step needed to get the shots to the public.The FDA is not required to follow the guidance of its advisory committees, but often does.Meadows spoke to Hahn by telephone on Friday, according to a senior administration official who was familiar with the conversation but was not authorized to discuss private conversations.Hahn disputed characterizations of his conversation with Meadows.US On Verge of Launching COVID VaccinationsFDA advisory panel voted to recommend approval of vaccine late Thursday The chief of staff also told Hahn …

The World Health Organization (WHO) says action and money are needed to ensure coronavirus vaccines are available around the world as Western nations approve them. During Friday’s COVID-19 briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus applauded the fact Britain was already vaccinating its citizens and that Canada, the United states and others would not be far behind. He said to have safe and effective vaccines for a virus that was completely unknown a year ago is an “astounding scientific achievement.” The WHO chief noted it would be an even greater achievement to ensure all countries have equal access to those vaccines. Tedros said the U.N. agency has worked hard over the past year to secure political commitments from world leaders for equal access to vaccines and he said he wants to see those commitments translated into action.   He said the WHO needs $4.3 billion to procure …

The United States could be hours away from starting its COVID-19 vaccination program. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reportedly could authorize on Friday or Saturday the emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine produced by U.S. drug maker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. An FDA advisory panel voted to recommend approval of the vaccine late Thursday. With the U.S. on the verge of its inoculation program, human rights group Amnesty International’s director of economic and social justice issued a warning.  Steve Cockburn told The New York Times, “Rich countries have clear human rights obligations not only to refrain from actions that could harm access to vaccines elsewhere, but also to cooperate and provide assistance to countries that need it.”Food and Drug Administration building is shown Dec. 10, 2020 in Silver Spring, Md.The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center said early Friday there are 69.7 million worldwide COVID-19 infections, with 1.6 million deaths. The U.S. continues to lead the world in the number of cases with 15.6 million infections, followed by India with 9.7 million and Brazil with 6.7 million. Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said for the next two or three months, the virus in the U.S. could kill as many people every day who died during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack …

British health officials are warning that people with a “significant history” of allergic reactions should not receive the new coronavirus vaccine that was rolled out in a mass vaccination program Tuesday, pending investigation of two adverse reactions.  Britian is the first western country to begin the mass vaccinations, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell …

Clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Australia’s University of Queensland in partnership with biotech company CSL have been abandoned after participants returned false positive HIV test results. The treatment was a key part of Australia’s response to the pandemic, and the government had signed a deal to buy 51 million doses.Vaccines typically take years of painstaking research to develop, but COVID-19 has sent scientists around the world racing to find an effective treatment.The Australian government was no different, but it has announced the sudden termination of clinical trials of a vaccine being developed at the University of Queensland.A small component of the experimental drug was derived from the human immunodeficiency virus, also known as HIV. It is used to give the vaccine stability, helping it to recognize and then neutralize the coronavirus. Some participants recorded false positive HIV test results. Researchers have stressed that the treatments are …

A US government advisory panel on Thursday recommended emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, which meant Americans could begin being vaccinated as soon as this weekend. Earlier this week, the country recorded its highest death toll from COVID-19, with more than 3,100 deaths in a single day. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story. Producer: Kim Weeks …

Trial data from Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca Plc has shown their experimental vaccines are effective in preventing novel coronavirus infection.While regulatory processes are underway, few Asian countries expect to receive significant amounts of the vaccines initially. Here are estimated distribution time lines, supply deals announced and clinical trials being held in the region.AustraliaThe country has secured around 140 million doses: 53.8 million from AstraZeneca, 51 million from Novavax Inc, 10 million from Pfizer, and 25.5 million from distribution program COVAX.It expects delivery of 3.8 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in January and February next year and plans to begin inoculations in March.ChinaChina has not announced supply deals with Western drug makers, which instead have partnered with private companies in the country.AstraZeneca’s vaccine may be approved in China by mid-2021 and its Chinese partner Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co Ltd plans annual production capacity of …

The United Nations’ World Food Program was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize in a virtual ceremony Thursday. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the head of the organization warned that hundreds of millions of people are facing starvation around the world, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.  Camera: Henry Ridgwell   Produced by: Mary Cieslak    …