Pope Francis in his Christmas message on Friday said political and business leaders must not allow market forces and patent laws to take priority over making Covid-19 vaccines available to all, condemning nationalism and ”the virus of radical individualism.”
All many people want for Christmas this year is a simple hug, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth said in her annual festive message, saying it would be hard for those who lost loved ones to COVID-19 pandemic or were separated by curbs on social mixing.
Argentina's health ministry said on Wednesday it has given the controversial Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine emergency authorization, making the country the first in Latin America to do so. The first shipment of the total 25 million doses of the vaccine bought by the Argentine government is due to arrive on Thursday.
Argentina established new requirements for entering and leaving the country, starting on Friday through January 8, the Interior Ministry said in a statement issued on Wednesday, in a bid to rein in the coronavirus.
Brazilian researchers said on Wednesday the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech is more than 50% effective based on trial data, but again withheld full results at the company's request, raising questions about transparency.
Brazil's southeast state of Sao Paulo, the epicenter of the country's COVID-19 outbreak, said this week it will double down on lockdown measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
The task of sniffing out passengers infected with COVID-19 at Chile's Santiago international airport is going to the dogs. A team of Golden Retrievers and Labradors sit when they smell the virus and get a treat. The canines sport green biodetector jackets with a red cross.
Canada approved Moderna Inc's coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, the second country to do so, paving the way for health authorities to step up an inoculation campaign against a worsening second wave.
Argentina's medicine and food regulator extended on Tuesday an emergency use for the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine in the country. These vaccines are expected to arrive in Argentina sometime between January and March.
Colombia plans to launch a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus in February, President Ivan Duque announced. In an interview with a local radio station, Duque said a trial vaccination run could begin between this week and the first week of January.