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Biden sees faster US vaccine timeline as pharma giants join forces
New York (AFP) - President Joe Biden said Tuesday the United States would have enough vaccine for its entire adult population by the end of May, as he announced a deal for pharma giant Merck to produce the shot developed by rival Johnson & Johnson. "This is the type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War," said Biden in announcing the pharmaceutical accord. "We're now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May," said the US leader -- who previously targeted late July to amass sufficient doses to inoculate all Americans. "That's progress...
AFP
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US will have enough vaccine supply for all adults by end May: Biden
Washington (AFP) - President Joe Biden said Tuesday the United States would have sufficient vaccine supply by the end of May to inoculate the entire US adult population. "We're now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May," said Biden -- who had previously forecast it would take until the end of July to amass that many doses. "That's progress. Important progress. But it is not enough to have the vaccine supply," Biden said, stressing the work still ahead to administer the vaccines once acquired. "We need vaccinators, people who put the shots in people...
AFP
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Texas governor lifts mask mandate, opening state '100 percent'
Washington (AFP) - Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday lifted a state mask mandate and said he was authorizing businesses restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic to open "100 percent." "For nearly half a year, most businesses have been open either 75 percent or 50 percent and during that time, too many Texans have been sidelined from employment opportunities," Abbott said. "Too many small business owners have struggled to pay their bills," the Republican governor said in a speech to the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce. "This must end. It is now time to open Texas 100 percent," he said to ...
AFP
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White House says Merck will help make J&J vaccine to boost supply
New York (AFP) - US President Joe Biden plans to announce a "historic" deal Tuesday for pharma giant Merck to produce rival Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Covid-19 vaccine to boost supply nationwide, the White House said. Biden "will announce an unprecedented historic step" later Tuesday afternoon, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, as part of the administration efforts to contain a virus that has claimed more than 500,000 US lives. "The two largest healthcare and pharmaceutical companies Merck and Johnson and Johnson, usually competitors, are coming together to expand production of the ...
AFP
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World's first Covax jab injected as US eyes J&J rollout
Accra (AFP) - Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday became the first recipient of a coronavirus vaccine under the global Covax scheme, as US health workers prepared to distribute nearly four million doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson jab. Covax, a scheme designed to ensure poorer countries do not miss out on vaccinations, is aiming to deliver at least two billion jabs by the end of the year. Akufo-Addo received his AstraZeneca shot live on television along with his wife, while in neighbouring Ivory Coast a presidential spokesman got the country's first jab, also part of a Covax d...
AFP
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Novavax hopes to file for US vaccine approval in 2nd quarter of 2021
Washington (AFP) - US biotech company Novavax said Monday it hopes to file for British approval of its Covid-19 vaccine at the start of the second quarter of 2021, and to do the same soon after in the United States. The company has no assurance that US authorities will agree to consider the request, which currently is based on results from Phase 3 clinical trials led in the Britain. Similar trials are still ongoing in the United States. The data will hopefully be presented to the British health regulator (MHRA) "by early second quarter 2021," Novavax said in a statement, on the occasion of the...
AFP
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Trumps vaccinated against Covid-19 before leaving WHouse: advisor
Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, were vaccinated against the coronavirus in January before leaving the White House, an advisor to the former president said on Monday. "President Trump and the first lady were vaccinated at the White House in January," the advisor said without providing any further details. Joe Biden, who took over as president on January 20, was vaccinated publicly against the coronavirus on December 21 but the Trumps' vaccinations had not been revealed previously. Trump, in a speech on Sunday, his first since leaving the White House, said everyone should ...
AFP
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'Nomadland' makes Globes history, as virtual gala honors late Boseman
Los Angeles (AFP) - "Nomadland" made Golden Globes history Sunday as Chloe Zhao became the first female director to win the awards' top prize for best drama, putting her film about marginalized Americans roaming the West in vans into Oscars pole position. Zhao also bagged the best director Globe, making her only the second woman to do so in the history of Hollywood's traditional awards season opener, which was a mainly virtual ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic. The late Chadwick Boseman won best actor for 1920s blues drama "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," six months after his death from canc...
AFP
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Covid vaccine acceptance rises in some countries: study
Paris (AFP) - Willingness to get a Covid-19 vaccine is on the rise compared to last year, a survey of six industrialised countries published on Monday showed. More people in the United Kingdom, the United States and even vaccine-sceptical France now accept the idea of getting a coronavirus jab, KekstCNC, an international consultancy, said in the survey conducted in February. The survey also covered Germany, Japan and Sweden where a similar trend was clear, it said. "As vaccine rollouts commence, higher numbers of people in all countries say they would take the vaccine," the study said. The hig...
AFP
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US children could receive vaccine by year-end: Fauci
Washington (AFP) - The United States could start vaccinating older children against Covid-19 by the fall and younger ones by year-end or early 2022, the White House's top pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci said Sunday. The mass vaccination of school-age children will allow millions of children to return sooner to in-person learning and ease the burden on millions of parents now caring for their offspring at home. School reopenings, an intensely debated matter, have varied sharply across the country, with some private and religious schools opening before public schools and teachers in some areas pr...
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