An illustration picture shows vials with COVID-19 Vaccine stickers attached and syringes with the logo of British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on Nov 17, 2020. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
HAVANA / WASHINGTON – Britain will not introduce COVID-19 vaccine passports, but people will be able to seek proof from their doctor if needed for travel to other countries, vaccine deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Sunday.
“We are certainly not looking to introduce it as part of the vaccine deployment programme,” Zahawi told Sky News.
The UK said 29,326 people were being treated in hospitals with COVID-19 as of Feb. 4, the lowest since Jan. 3. The country reported 18,262 new cases on Saturday and 828 deaths, both below the previous 7-day average. The average number of deaths fell below 1,000 for the first time in about a month.
AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine has shown limited efficacy against mild disease caused by the variant first identified in South Africa, according to early data in a small phase trial.
Efficacy against severe COVID-19 cases, hospitalization and deaths was not yet determined, “given that subjects were predominantly young healthy adults,” a spokesperson for AstraZeneca said in a statement.
None of the participants in the study died or was hospitalized, according to the Financial Times, which first reported on findings of the study. The study, with a relatively small sample size of more than 2,000 individuals, hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed and is due to be published on Monday, the newspaper said. Patients in the randomized, double-blind study had a median age of 31.
“We do believe our vaccine could protect against severe disease, as neutralising antibody activity is equivalent to that of other COVID-19 vaccines that have demonstrated activity against more severe disease, particularly when the dosing interval is optimised to 8-12 weeks,” the AstraZeneca spokesperson said.
Initial data indicates other immune responses, such as T-cell responses, may remain intact in the South African variant, the spokesperson added.
The variant first identified in South Africa is emerging as a key threat to the world’s prospects for ending the pandemic as countries roll out initial vaccine doses. Although vaccine makers said their shots appear to maintain effectiveness against the U.K. variants, pharma companies are racing to develop booster shots against new variants as the virus evolves.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca have started adapting their vaccine against this variant, the spokesperson said. Should it be needed, they will advance through clinical development so that it is ready for autumn delivery.
Earlier this week, Astra’s executive vice president for biopharmaceutical research scaled back expectations for how the vaccine would work against the variant.
“We’re not going to be surprised to see reduced efficacy,” Mene Pangalos said. “It’s to be expected that there will be reduced activity.”
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Cuba
Cuban health authorities began on Saturday to apply restrictions on commercial flights and arriving passengers, who will have to submit to a period of isolation and testing to prevent further transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The facilities now present in all Cuban provinces where travelers will be quarantined are ready, the government reported at a meeting of the temporary working group for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus, headed by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
Starting Saturday, travelers arriving in Cuba will be kept in isolation centers until the results of their PCR tests arrive.
Additionally, on Saturday, the frequency of flights from the United States, Mexico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Colombia were reduced. The resumption of increased flights from Nicaragua, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname will also be suspended, and flights from Haiti will be suspended.
US
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had distributed 59,304,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States and that 39,037,964 doses had been administered as of Saturday morning.
The tallies are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 am ET on Saturday, the agency said.
According to its tally posted on Friday, the agency had administered 36,819,212 doses of the vaccines and distributed 58,380,300 doses.
The agency said 30,250,964 people had received 1 or more doses, while 8,317,180 people had gotten the second dose as of Saturday.
A total of 4,628,962 doses of vaccine have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.
More than 100,000 people in the United States have died of COVID-19 since Jan 1 this year as the country are ramping up vaccine rollout, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU) data.
Brazil
Brazil’s new cases dropped for a third consecutive week, with 50,630 infections reported on Saturday, Health Ministry data show. Though the reductions show a slowing of the nation’s second wave, cases remain as high as during the surge last summer. Total cases are almost 9.5 million, the highest after the US and India.
Deaths remain at about the same level as last summer, though the weekly number declined. Another 978 fatalities were reported Saturday, for a total of 231,012, the most after the US.
France
France on Saturday reported a fall in new COVID-19 infections and in the number of patients being treated in hospital, slightly easing pressure on the health system as the country rolled out shots with a third approved vaccine.
The country registered 20,586 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, down from 22,139 the previous day and marking the third straight daily fall.
Hospitals were treating 27,369 people for the disease, down 245 from the previous day in a fourth consecutive daily fall.
The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care eased to 3,225, down 20 from the previous day, data showed.
The government has resisted calls from health experts to impose a new national lockdown but the level of new cases per day has remained relatively steady above 20,000.
Ireland
Ireland reported the fewest new cases in six weeks, as the country received its first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine. There were 827 new virus cases recorded Saturday. That’s the lowest since Dec. 28. The first batch of 21,000 AstraZeneca vaccines was delivered earlier in the day, with the first doses to be administered on Monday, health minister Stephen Donnelly tweeted. Ireland also reported 55 more deaths.
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Italy
Italy reported 13,442 cases Saturday, down from 14,218 a day earlier, while deaths increased to 385 deaths from 377 on Friday. The positivity rate fell to 4.8 percent from 5.3 percent, and patients in intensive-care units decreased by 32 to 2,110.
Italy’s Health Minister Roberto Speranza said he signed the decree to authorize the emergency use of monoclonal antibodies, based on the indications of the country’s Aifa medicines agency and the public health institute, according to a Facebook post on Saturday. He added that thus Italy has, along with vaccines, “another way to fight COVID-19.”
Portugal
Portugal on Saturday reported 6,132 new cases, taking the total to 761,906. In each of the last seven days Portugal has reported less than 10,000 daily cases after a record 16,432 new infections on Jan. 28. The government reported 214 fatalities on Saturday, taking the total to 13,954 deaths.
The number of patients in intensive-care units fell by 13 to 891. The country’s national health service has a capacity of about 1,320 intensive-care beds, according to the health ministry.
