More than 600,000 deaths from Covid-19 have been officially recorded since the start of the pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, the second region to cross this threshold after Europe, where the Brussels Commission expressed its openness to use under conditions on Tuesday. Russian and Chinese vaccines.
Europe at large, which crossed the 600,000 dead mark a month ago, remains the most affected area in terms of deaths with 747,887 dead while 601,256 inhabitants of the Latin American subcontinent have perished from Covid- 19, according to a count made by AFP on Tuesday at 10 p.m. GMT from reports provided by the health authorities. The United States / Canada (464.204) and Asia (241.391) follow.
In the race against time to save lives, relieve health systems and achieve collective immunity through vaccination, the European Union on Tuesday expressed its openness to the use of Russian and Chinese vaccines, provided that they obtain authorization from the European Medicines Agency.
“If the Russian and Chinese producers open their files, show transparency, all their data (…), then they could have a conditional marketing authorization like the others”, declared the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, according to parliamentary sources.
– Effective Sputnik V –
In total, at least 101,317,005 vaccine injections have been carried out in at least 77 countries or territories, according to a count made Tuesday by AFP. High-income countries, which are home to only 16% of the world’s population, concentrate 65% of the doses administered.
Israel is by far the most advanced, with more than a third of its population (37%) having already received at least one dose. In absolute terms, it is the United States, the country most affected by the pandemic, which is leading the way, with 32.2 million doses administered to 7.9% of its population.
According to results published Tuesday in the medical journal The Lancet and validated by independent experts, the Sputnik V vaccine, about which Russia had been accused of lacking transparency, is 91.6% effective against symptomatic forms of Covid- 19.
“The results reported here are clear and the scientific principle of this vaccination has been demonstrated,” said two British specialists in a commentary attached to the Lancet study.
– Spiked deliveries –
The first 40,000 doses of Sputnik V arrived Tuesday in Hungary, the first EU country to have authorized it, without waiting for the European Medicines Agency to rule.
In addition to Russia, this vaccine has been approved in 16 countries: former Soviet republics which have remained close such as Belarus and Armenia, allies such as Venezuela and Iran, but also South Korea, Argentina, Algeria, Tunisia or Pakistan.
In the turmoil, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had to defend her vaccination strategy Tuesday in front of the main political groups in the European Parliament, during a series of closed hearings.
She had previously spoken in several European newspapers, recalling that “the Commission and the Member States agreed not to compromise with the requirements of safety and effectiveness which are linked to the authorization of a vaccine”.
In the EU, 12.7 million doses of vaccine were administered to 2.3% of the population. Malta leads (5.4% of the population), followed by Denmark (3.2%) and Poland (3.1%).
On the TF1 channel, French President Emmanuel Macron promised that “by the end of the summer, we will have offered a vaccine to all French people who want it”, and the start of vaccine production in French factories late February or early March.
The announcement by several laboratories of an increase in their deliveries should allow an acceleration of vaccination in the EU.
German BioNTech on Monday announced an acceleration of deliveries to the EU of the vaccine developed with the American Pfizer, promising up to 75 million additional doses in the second quarter. Pfizer estimates that sales of its product will reach $ 15 billion this year.
Britain’s AstraZeneca, which is under the wrath of European leaders because of delays, will finally increase by 30% in the first quarter of deliveries of its vaccine, authorized last Friday on the European market.
French and Swedish health authorities said on Tuesday that they were not recommending AstraZeneca for people over 65, for lack of available data on its effectiveness in this age group.
– Goodbye “Captain Tom” –
In Europe, Italy and Poland relaxed their anti-Covid system on Monday and reopened their museums, but their neighbors on the whole continue to toughen restrictive measures, especially in terms of travel, to fight a pandemic that has more than 2.2 million deaths to date and leaves again because of the variants of the coronavirus.
The Spanish government will thus strictly limit flights from South Africa and Brazil for two weeks, while Scotland will impose a “supervised quarantine” on travelers arriving from abroad.
In France, where the borders have been closed to countries outside the EU, the first results in the Paris region of the investigation into the presence of the more contagious variants of Covid-19 “are not good”, according to health authorities, which evoke “exponential growth”.
Portugal, the epicenter of the epidemic in recent days in Europe, has called for international aid to relieve its saturated hospitals.
The Netherlands extended most anti-Covid restrictions on Tuesday until March 2. Primary schools and daycares will nevertheless reopen on Monday.
Romania will also reopen on Monday most of its schools, closed since November 9.
The most affected country in Europe (more than 106,000 dead), the United Kingdom mourns the death on Tuesday, at the age of 100, of British World War II veteran Tom Moore, adulated for raising a record sum for caregivers (37 million euros!) during the first spring confinement. “Captain Tom” had tested positive for Covid-19 and hospitalized on Sunday.
burx-uh / ybl
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