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 on the U.S. or the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941. A health care worker at LAC USC Medical Center swabs a person at a drive-through testing center during the coronavirus outbreak, in Los Angeles, California, Dec. 10, 2020.The daily U.S. death toll passed the 3,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday.Elsewhere, Australia has abandoned a massive order for a locally produced COVID-19 vaccine after it was discovered that the vaccine was producing false positive HIV results during a trial.
And Germany’s interior minister says his country needs to go into a lockdown now to stop the spread of COVID-19. Horst Seehofer told Der Spiegel magazine, “The only chance to regain control of the situation is a lockdown, but this must happen immediately. If we wait until Christmas, we’ll have to struggle with high numbers for months.”
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Month: December 2020
Time magazine has jointly named President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris its 2020 “Person of the Year.”
Time’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal says Biden and Harris won the honor for “changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world.”
Felsenthal notes, “Every elected President since FDR has at some point during his term been a Person of the Year, nearly a dozen of those in a presidential election year. This is the first time we have included a Vice President.”
Time’s other Person of the Year candidates were President Donald Trump; frontline health care workers and Dr. Anthony Fauci; and the movement for racial justice.
Time named Trump Person of the Year for 2016, the year he won the presidency, writing that Trump had “upended the leadership of both major political parties and effectively shifted the political direction of the international order.”
Also Thursday, Time named the Korean boy band BTS its Entertainer of the Year and named Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James its Athlete of the Year.
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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
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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 harmless and do not expose patients to the risk of disease.Biotech giant CSL, which has worked alongside the university team in Queensland, has insisted the vaccine had a “strong safety profile.”Phase one clinical trials involving 216 people began in July. Phases two and three have been canceled.The University of Queensland vaccine was one of four potential coronavirus treatments secured by the Australian government for potential use next year, including the Oxford University-AstraZeneca drug.“At no stage we believed all four of those vaccines would likely get through that process,” said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. “If that had occurred that would have been truly extraordinary based on the process of vaccine development not only in this country but anywhere else. So, that is why we spread our risk. The advice we have received is that the University of Queensland vaccine will not be able to proceed based on the scientific advice and that will no longer feature as part of Australia’s vaccine plan.”Morrison said the decision to end the trial should give “Australians great assurance that we are proceeding carefully” toward a COVID-19 vaccine.But some experts fear it could damage public confidence in the inoculation program.The government has said Australia’s vaccine agreements will be enough to cover the entire population of 25 million people, even if one or two candidates proved unsuccessful.Australia has recorded 28,000 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, and 908 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
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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
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Getting a COVID test can mean long lines and delayed results. Matt Dibble looks into recent breakthroughs that may have more of us performing a test at home.
Camera: Matt Dibble Producer: Matt Dibble
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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
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After nine hours of deliberation Thursday, a special panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for emergency use a coronavirus vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. The decision was made as the U.S. continues to confirm record numbers of coronavirus cases. As of Thursday evening, the U.S. had recorded 15.5 million cases and more than 291,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Of the 22 people on the special panel of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 17 voted yes, four voted no and one abstained on the question: “Based on the totality of scientific evidence available, do the benefits of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outweigh its risks for use in individuals 16 years of age and older?” With the recommendation of the emergency use authorization by the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the FDA will likely give its final consent as early as Friday or Saturday. The U.S. government will immediately ship 6.4 million doses of the vaccine across the country, with front-line health care workers receiving top priority for the first inoculations. The U.S. military will also prioritize its health care workers for its initial allocation of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which will be just less than 44,000 doses. A Pentagon spokesman told reporters Wednesday that the military will start inoculations “within a day or two” after the FDA approves the emergency use authorization. The vaccinations will be voluntary at first but could become mandatory once the vaccine is fully licensed. Thursday’s meeting was held a day after the United States recorded more than 3,000 COVID-19 deaths in a single day for the first time in the nearly yearlong pandemic. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has jumped to the front of the line in the global effort to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Britain became the first Western nation to begin mass inoculations of the drug on Tuesday, just days after the government’s medical regulatory agency approved the drug. VOA’s Richard Green and Esha Sarai contributed to this report.
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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says “vaccine nationalism” is on the rise as wealthier nations line up to buy millions of doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines at the expense of much poorer nations.During a virtual meeting Wednesday with African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, Guterres called for contributions of $4.2 billion over the next two months for the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, the joint project between the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries. FILE – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Dec. 7, 2020.Canada approves vaccine
Canada’s national health agency, Health Canada, announced Wednesday it has approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, and Canadians will start receiving it as early as next week. Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Nears Approval for Emergency Use in USFDA publishes documents online confirming vaccine’s effectivenessIn a statement, Health Canada said that it completed a full independent review of the data on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, after receiving the company’s submission October 9. In its statement, the agency said, “Canadians can feel confident that the review process was rigorous and that we have strong monitoring systems in place.” On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine will arrive at 14 Canadian distribution centers next week, with more than 200,000 doses due before the end of the year. Canada has ordered a total of 6 million doses from Pfizer. Canada becomes the third nation, after Britain and Bahrain, to approve the drug for use.The push to approve and purchase the new vaccines comes as many nations are experiencing a mounting toll of new COVID-19 infections and fatalities on a daily basis. The United States, which leads the world with nearly 290,000 deaths out of more than 15.3 million total cases, set a grim milestone Wednesday with more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest single-day total in the nearly yearlong pandemic. US sets new record
The U.S. has also averaged well over 200,000 new cases a day over the past seven days, another record-setting figure. Japan’s health ministry posted 2,810 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, it’s highest one-day record since the start of the outbreak, including 555 people across the country diagnosed with serious coronavirus symptoms. Germany’s national disease control and prevention agency, the Robert Koch Institute, posted 23,679 new coronavirus cases over a 24 hour period on Thursday, it’s highest one-day total. Thursday’s figure includes 440 deaths, one day after posting 590 fatalities, its highest number of COVID-19 deaths in a single day.The worldwide coronavirus death toll remains at more than 1.5 million people out of more than 68.9 million total infections, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
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As a way to wrap up 2020, Washington’s Artechouse – the first US museum of digital and experiential art – transformed its space into a unique exhibition designed to help people combat COVID-19 anxiety. Maxim Moskalkov has the story.Camera: Artyom Kokhan, Sergey Sokolov
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NASA on Wednesday formally introduced 18 astronauts who will take part in the U.S. space agency’s new manned lunar program.Nine men and nine women are the first group of astronauts assigned to the Artemis program, half of whom have already flown into space. Two of the Artemis astronauts, Victor Glover and Kate Rubins, are currently serving on the International Space Station as part of the first full-fledged crew to fly aboard the privately owned SpaceX Crew Dragon.The Artemis astronauts also include Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, who conducted the world’s first all-female spacewalk last year at the ISS.Vice President Mike Pence, who led the introduction ceremony at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, hailed the Artemis astronauts as “the future of American space exploration – and that future is bright.”The first Artemis mission, tentatively scheduled for next year, will be an unmanned test flight of NASA’s powerful new Space Launch System and its deep space Orion capsule, which is designed to transport humans to the Moon and Mars. If NASA achieves its goal of landing the first Artemis crew on the moon in 2024, it will be the first manned lunar mission since the end of the legendary Apollo program in 1972.
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After more than 15.3 million total infections, the United States is on the verge of obtaining a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine.A special panel of the Food and Drug Administration will meet Thursday morning to consider whether to grant emergency use authorization to the new vaccine developed by U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.If the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee recommends the emergency authorization as expected, the FDA will likely give its final consent as early as Friday or Saturday. The federal government will immediately ship 6.4 million doses of the vaccine across the United States, with front-line health care workers receiving top priority for the first inoculations.The U.S. military will also prioritize its health care workers for its initial allocation of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which will be just under 44,000 doses. A Pentagon spokesperson told reporters Wednesday that the military will start inoculations “within a day or two” after the FDA approves the emergency use authorization. The vaccinations will be voluntary at first, but could become mandatory once the vaccine is fully licensed.Thursday’s meeting is being held a day after the United States recorded more than 3,000 COVID-19 deaths in a single day for the first time in the nearly yearlong pandemic.The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has jumped to the front of the line in the global effort to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Britain became the first Western nation to begin mass inoculations of the drug on Tuesday, just days after the government’s medical regulatory agency approved the drug.
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SpaceX launched its shiny, bullet-shaped, straight-out-of-science fiction Starship several miles into the air from a remote corner of Texas on Wednesday, but the 6 1/2-minute test flight ended in an explosive fireball at touchdown.It was the highest and most elaborate flight yet for the rocket ship that Elon Musk says could carry people to Mars in as little as six years.This latest prototype — the first one equipped with a nose cone, body flaps and three engines — was shooting for an altitude of up to 12.5 kilometers. That’s almost 100 times higher than previous hops and skimming the stratosphere.Starship seemed to hit the mark or at least come close. There was no immediate word from SpaceX on how high it went.The full-scale, stainless steel model — 50 meters tall and 9 meters in diameter — soared out over the Gulf of Mexico. After about five minutes, it flipped sideways as planned and descended in a free-fall back to the southeastern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. The Raptor engines reignited for braking and the rocket tilted back upright. Upon touching down, however, the rocket ship became engulfed in flames and ruptured, parts scattering.The entire flight — as dramatic and flashy as it gets, even by SpaceX standards — lasted just over six minutes and 40 seconds. SpaceX broadcast the sunset demo live on its website; repeated delays over the past week and a last-second engine abort Tuesday heightened the excitement among space fans.”Awesome test. Congratulations Starship team!” read a scroll across the screen.Musk kept expectations low going into this first high-altitude attempt by Starship, cautioning earlier this week there was “probably” a 1-in-3 chance of complete success.Two lower, shorter test flights earlier this year from Boca Chica, Texas — a quiet coastal village before SpaceX moved in — used more rudimentary versions of Starship. Essentially cylindrical cans with cone tops and single Raptor engines, these early vehicles reached altitudes of 150 meters. An even earlier model, the short and squat Starhopper, made a tiny, tethered hop in 2019, followed by two increasingly higher climbs.
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New global health estimates find people are living six years longer now than 20 years ago, but many more people are living with disabilities that affect their quality of life. The World Health Organization reports life expectancy has gone up from 67 years to 73 years since 2000. Over this period, it notes progress has been made in reducing deaths from a number of communicable diseases.For example, the WHO says HIV/AIDS has dropped from the 8th leading cause of death in 2000 to the 19th in 2019. And tuberculosis, it says, no longer figures among the global top 10 ranked diseases, falling from 7th place to 13th position over the past two decades. Another big shift since 2000 is that non-communicable diseases have supplanted communicable diseases as the leading causes of death. FILE – Doctors perform open-heart surgery at a hospital in Bamako, Mali, Sept. 10, 2018.Heart disease remains the world’s number one killer. Samira Asma of WHO’s Division of Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact says deaths from heart disease have risen by more than two million since 2000, to nearly nine million last year.Neurodegenerative diseases are also taking a big toll. Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are ranking among the top 10 causes of death, with 65 percent of those deaths being women. The report finds death from diabetes has increased by 70 percent, with men most at risk. It says the Eastern Mediterranean is the region most affected, with deaths from diabetes having more than doubled over the past 20 years. The director of WHO’s department of noncommunicable diseases, Bente Mikkelsen, says NCDs remain a huge problem in high-income countries. People there run the risk of illness from tobacco, overuse of alcohol and obesity. However, she says 80 percent of premature death from NCDs now occur in low- and middle-income countries. “When we are unprotected, meaning that we have not been able to modify the risk factors and also the health system is not prepared to respond to heart diseases, diabetes, cancer and lung diseases, we see a very high toll of deaths,” she said. The report finds disabilities are on the rise, many due to diseases and health conditions. But it notes injuries are another major cause of disability and death. It reports road traffic injuries have increased by nearly 50% in the African region since 2000 and around 40% in the Eastern Mediterranean. Most of the victims are male. FILE – A policeman passes out leaflets with road accident statistics, in front of a destroyed car which is put on display, during a campaign to promote safe driving in Beirut, April 25, 2007.Drug use in the Americas has emerged as a significant contributor to both disability and death. Data show there has been a nearly threefold increase in deaths from drug use between 2000 and 2019 in that region. WHO plans to assess the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 on death and disability in its next edition of Global Health Estimates.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and nearly every U.S. state sued Facebook Inc. Wednesday, saying it broke antitrust law and should potentially be broken up.With the filing of the twin lawsuits, Facebook becomes the second big tech company to face a major legal challenge this fall.The FTC said in a statement that it would seek an injunction that “could, among other things: require divestitures of assets, including Instagram and WhatsApp.”In its complaint, the coalition of 46 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam also asked for Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp to be judged to be illegal.FILE – New York State Attorney General Letitia James listens to a question at a press conference in New York City, Aug. 6, 2020.”For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals, snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.James said the company used vast amounts of money to acquire such rivals before they could threaten the company’s dominance. Facebook said it is reviewing the FTC and state antitrust complaints.The company said the government “now wants a do-over with no regard for the impact that precedent would have on the broader business community or the people who choose our products every day.”The U.S. Justice Department sued Alphabet Inc.’s Google in October, accusing the $1 trillion company of using its market power to fend off rivals.The lawsuits are the biggest antitrust cases in a generation, comparable to the lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. in 1998. The federal government eventually settled that case, but the yearslong court fight and extended antitrust scrutiny prevented the company from thwarting competitors and is credited with clearing the way for the explosive growth of the internet.Facebook shares fell as much as 3% after the news before paring losses and were last down 1.7%.
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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. Britain is the first western country to begin the mass vaccinations, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell Produced by: Henry Hernandez
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Players have taken a knee, unfurled slogans and demanded tougher action only to find soccer — their working environment — remains infected with racism.
The tipping point might just have come, with elite players in Paris taking the extraordinary step of refusing to continue playing.
At the end of a year of striking gestures against racial injustice and discrimination, the Champions League produced one of soccer’s most powerful shows of solidarity against racism on Tuesday when players from Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir left the field and didn’t return.
“The walk off by both Basaksehir and PSG together lays down a marker in Europe,” Piara Powar, executive director of the anti-discrimination Fare network, told The Associated Press. “Many players are fed up with half measures to tackle racism and are more prepared than ever to exercise their right to stop a match.”
The flashpoint came 14 minutes into the game when the fourth official — Sebastian Coltescu of Romania — was accused of using a racial term to identify Basaksehir assistant coach Pierre Webo before sending him off for his conduct on the sidelines. Webo is Black.
“You are racist,” Basaksehir coach Okan Buruk said to Coltescu.
An enraged Webo demanded an explanation from Coltescu, repeating at least six times: “Why you say negro?”
The exchanges were broadcast live around the world from soccer’s biggest club competition.
“Why when you mention a Black guy, you have to say ‘This Black guy?'” asked Basaksehir substitute Demba Ba, who is Black.
The Fare network helps UEFA prosecute discriminatory acts like Tuesday’s incident at the Parc des Princes.
“Our colleagues at the Romanian state anti-discrimination organization have confirmed it is racist in Romanian to refer to a player by using his race as an identifier,” Powar said. “There is no ambiguity. This incident shows the need for much better training of match officials. Unintentional racism is still racism.”
Racism at soccer games has typically come from the stands, but matches in countries such as France are being played without fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The high-profile incidents tend to highlight the inadequate responses, like in the Portuguese league in February.
Porto striker Moussa Marega tried to walk off the field after being the target of racist abuse from fans in a game against Guimarães and demanded to be substituted. But he faced attempts by his own teammates and opposing players to prevent him from leaving the field.
The referee then gave Marega a yellow card for refusing to continue in the game — the type of action that dissuades players from walking off.
The Romanian referee who was in charge of the game in Paris on Tuesday — Ovidiu Hategan — was in the same role for the 2013 Champions League game when Manchester City player Yaya Toure complained about the lack of action against monkey noises he heard from CSKA Moscow fans.
“If officials cannot set the standards by their own behavior,” Powar said, “they cannot be relied on to deal with racism on the pitch or in the stands.”
Referees have often been criticized for not leading players off the field, instead leaving them to take the decision themselves. England’s national team decided to continue playing a game in Montenegro last year after Callum Hudson-Odoi and Danny Rose were targeted with monkey chants.
The Champions League game in Paris will resume on Wednesday with a new refereeing team.
“The players walking off is a step in the right direction,” former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said on Britain’s BT Sport television. “But it can’t just be left to them.”
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Canada’s national health agency, Health Canada, announced Wednesday it has approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, and Canadians will start receiving it as early as next week. In a statement, Health Canada said that it completed a full independent review of the data on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, after receiving the company’s submission October 9. In its statement, the agency said, “Canadians can feel confident that the review process was rigorous and that we have strong monitoring systems in place.” On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine will arrive at 14 Canadian distribution centers next week, with more than 200,000 doses due before the end of the year. FILE – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Dec. 7, 2020.Canada has ordered a total of 6 million doses from Pfizer. Canada becomes the third nation, after Britain and Bahrain, to approve the drug for use. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will consider the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use Thursday. One day after Britain became the first Western nation to begin mass COVID-19 vaccinations, the United Arab Emirates said a Chinese-made vaccine has proven to be 86% effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of the disease. The Emirates’ health ministry announced the news Wednesday about the vaccine developed by China’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm. The Gulf Arab state participated in a late-stage clinical trial launched by Sinopharm in September involving 31,000 volunteers across 125 nations. The UAE had also granted emergency use approval for the Sinopharm vaccine back in September for health care workers deemed most at risk of infection. The ministry says the vaccine had no serious safety concerns, but the statement did not include any detailed data derived from the study, such as how many volunteers were given the vaccine or a placebo, or if it produced any kind of side effects. In spite of this omission, the health authority says the vaccine’s success paves the way for mass inoculations and a reopening of its economy. The Canadian, British and UAE announcements are the latest positive news about the global effort to develop and distribute a safe and effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus, which has killed 1.5 million people worldwide out of more than 68.2 million total infections.
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