US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said on Wednesday that documents related to the development of their Covid-19 vaccine had been “unlawfully accessed” in a cyberattack on Europe’s medicines regulator. The European Medicines Agency, EMA, which assesses medicines and vaccines for the EU said hours earlier it had been targeted in a cyber attack.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday that “vaccine nationalism” is moving “at full speed,” leaving poor people around the globe watching preparations for inoculations against the coronavirus in some rich nations and wondering if and when they will be vaccinated.
Britain's medicine regulator has advised that people with a history of significant allergic reactions do not get Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine after two people reported adverse effects on the first day of rollout.
Governments should stop blocking a temporary waiver of some global intellectual property rules that will help boost global access to COVID-19 vaccines, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday ahead of a key World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Geneva on December 10, 2020.
Brazil has signed a letter of intent with Pfizer Inc for the delivery of more than 70 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, its health minister said on Tuesday, the day the country’s death toll from the virus surged to its highest in almost a month
India has bought 1.6 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, which is more than any other country, according to a global analysis. Using its massive manufacturing clout, the country purchased 500 million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, one billion from the American company Novavax and 100 million doses of the Sputnik V candidate from Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute, said the USA-based Duke University Global Health Innovation Centre.
Two more positive Covid-19 test results have been confirmed, it was announced at the Falkland Islands Government’s press conference, held last Wednesday afternoon. The total number of positive test results since April 3, 2020 is now 17.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within weeks, after UK regulators granted emergency approval and the world’s first roll-out begins next week, reports late Saturday said.
Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa said on Wednesday it was open to approving COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use and outlined the requirements for companies looking to do so.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it had received data from Pfizer and BioNTech on the Covid-19 vaccine and was reviewing it for “possible listing for emergency use”, a benchmark for countries to authorize national use.