The Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in 2.64 million deaths worldwide according to the latest AFP toll based on official sources. In the United States the victims are 534,275, in Brazil 277,102, in Mexico 193,851, in India 158,446 and in the United Kingdom 125,343.
France is grappling with a possible new variant of the Covid-19 virus detected in Brittany. Health authorities are evaluating the degree of transmission and the effects on those affected.
The new strain was sequenced from an outbreak that appeared in the hospital in Lannion, in the north-west of the country, where 79 cases were recorded, including 8 with the new variant, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. According to the authorities, several patients with covid symptoms have given negative results in the molecular tests carried out.
The analyzes conducted on this new variant “do not allow to conclude either a seriousness or a greater contagiousness” compared to the traditional strain. It will also try to determine if current vaccines are effective with this new strain.
Astrazeneca: suspending is not an option for Latin America
Growing doubts about AstraZeneca’s vaccine threaten the immunization of millions of people in Latin America, especially in countries with a small vaccine portfolio and who are totally dependent on doses from the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company. Germany, France, Italy and Spain yesterday decided to suspend vaccination with the preparation of the company, leaving the final decision in the hands of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which will take a specific decision on the 18th on the 18th. Meanwhile, Honduras started the second day of vaccination with a batch of 48,000 doses of AstraZeneca. Together with the Central American country, Mexico, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Nicaragua and some territories of the Caribbean islands continue to administer the pharmaceutical company’s doses or hope to receive them, such as Panama. There are many countries where there is no “option to suspend vaccination as European countries can,” said Johnatan Garcia Ruiz, professor at the Colombian University of the Andes and a public health expert. Especially in those that depend on the Covax mechanism, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Gavi Alliance for Vaccines (Gavi). Almost all of the 337 million doses they plan to deliver to low- and middle-income countries around the world in a first phase come from AstraZeneca. Only in Central America, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras have already received the first remittances from AstraZeneca through Covax. In the case of El Salvador, all of its vaccines so far come from the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company, from which it received 33,600 more doses last week thanks to the WHO mechanism.
Nicaragua expects to receive 135,000 doses of AstraZeneca from the same initiative this Tuesday. And Honduras has inoculated today’s doses also thanks to Covax. The dependence of these countries on the WHO initiative and not having the privilege of having a wide range of doses from other companies turns suspicions about AstraZeneca into a threat to the immunization of their citizens. Garci’a warns of the danger of generating a situation of “anxiety” that amplifies the fear of the effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with “the risk that the movements of distrust in the face of vaccination increase and that even when the vaccine arrives, citizens prefer not to to do it”. Latin American leaders have launched appeals for calm, such as the Panamanian Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, who asked to wait for “the evaluation of scientists from each country” and for the pharmaceutical company to explain “if there is any kind of problem with your vaccine. ” The Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has assured for his part that Mexican specialists are already investigating the matter. In the Dominican Republic, far from rethinking the use of the vaccine, the president, Luis Abinader, last Friday asked his American counterpart, Joe Biden, not to block shipments and to send them “urgently”. In any case, many of the Latin American countries have signed contracts with the pharmaceutical company. Brazil has already confirmed the purchase of 224.4 million doses, Colombia has acquired 10 million and Mexico 79.4 million with the commitment to produce the vaccine in the country. A long list where there are also Peru (14 million), Dominican Republic (10 million, plus 110,000 produced by India), Nicaragua (200,000), Ecuador (5 million), Costa Rica (1 million), Argentina (23 , 5 million) but from which Cuba remains out, as it is developing its own serum.
Venezuela will not authorize that of AstraZeneca
The government of Venezuela will not authorize the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to combat the coronavirus pandemic, given the complications reported by people who have used it in various European countries. In statements on state TV Vtv, Venezuelan executive vice president Delcy Rodríguez, who also chairs the special committee set up for the control and prevention of Covid-19, confirmed that the decision was made by President Nicolás Maduro on the basis of a report drawn up by the experts who guide the government in the choices for the immunization program of Venezuelans. Venezuela began a campaign to vaccinate healthcare workers and people most at risk in February using Russian Sputnik V and Chinese Sinopharm vaccine supplies. Not having large amounts of currency due to the economic crisis it is going through and the stringent unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States, Venezuela has staked everything on the possibility of receiving a mix of vaccines (including 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca ), as part of the Covax mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO). To pay for this supply, President Maduro sought an agreement with the Venezuelan opposition to release $ 300 million through the sale of part of Venezuela’s 31 tons of gold blocked in the Bank of England. But for now the UK government has not responded positively to this request.
AstraZeneca: Canada approves use for over 65s
Canada will update its AstraZeneca vaccine guidelines to recommend its administration to people over the age of 65. CBC News reported this after the National Advisory Committee for Immunization (NACI) had advised against giving the vaccine to people in that age group in early March. To change Naci’s mind would have been data from countries that have tested the effectiveness of the vaccine in the elderly.
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