Canada joined a growing list of countries to have authorized a vaccine on Wednesday, with the United States following closely behind.
Health Canada announced that after a “thorough, independent review of the evidence,” vaccine experts determined that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine “meets the Department’s stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements for use in Canada.”
U.K. health officials authorized the same vaccine just one week ago. The government has already begun its massive vaccine rollout, beginning with people over 80, with the first shots administered on Tuesday.
In the U.S., meanwhile, the same vaccine could be authorized within the next few days. The vaccine advisory committee within the Food and Drug Administration will meet Thursday, where it is expected to support authorization of the Pfizer shots.
China has also begun inoculating high-risk individuals, such as healthcare workers and others deemed to be at high risk of serious illness, even though the late-stage trials to determine the safety and efficacy of the state-manufactured vaccine have not concluded. The United Arab Emirates granted approval to China’s vaccine Wednesday.
Russia, like China, has begun a mass vaccination campaign with the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute, part of Russia’s Ministry of Health, even though it has not completed the vetting process.
Last Friday, Bahrain became the second country after the United Kingdom to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for distribution. Health officials did not say how many doses the government had secured or when vaccinations would begin.
To date, nearly 69 million cases and over 1.5 million global deaths due to COVID-19 have been confirmed. More than 15.3 million cases and about 288,000 deaths have been confirmed in the U.S. Current case totals are undercounts, given the fact that many infections go undetected and undiagnosed.
The U.K.’s Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is warning against vaccination for those with a history of significant allergic reactions after two people had an adverse reaction to the coronavirus vaccine.
Two National Health Service workers had anaphylactoid reactions shortly after receiving the vaccine. Both workers had adrenaline auto-injectors for their allergies. The NHS reports that the workers are recovering.
The MHRA is initiating an investigation and will issue further advice when the investigation is completed. Pfizer and BioNTech, the makers of the vaccine, are supporting the investigation. BioNTech stated that people with a history of severe adverse reactions associated with a vaccine were excluded from the clinical trials.
Lawmakers negotiating a bipartisan economic stimulus package will pitch a proposal to extend supplemental unemployment insurance for 16 weeks and allocate at least $160 billion in state and local aid. The framework sticks to a $908 billion price tag that a bipartisan group of lawmakers announced last week, which is less than the package that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin offered top Democrats on Tuesday worth $916 billion.
The package also includes $300 billion for the Small Business Administration to provide loans to small businesses hurt by the economic consequences of the coronavirus, $82 billion for schools, $35 billion for healthcare workers, $7 billion for vaccine development and distribution, and $7 billion for testing and tracing.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, in his first full day on the job, imposed tough new restrictions in response to rising COVID-19 cases, such as business closures and a ban on indoor dining. The restrictions will go into effect on Friday at 5 p.m., and Scott did not say how long they will remain in place.
“This is about saving lives, nothing more and nothing less,” Scott said. “COVID doesn’t get tired, COVID doesn’t take days off, and COVID doesn’t care how you want to go back to normal.”
Within 48 hours of emergency authorization, the Department of Defense aims to have shots in the arms of some 44,000 mostly healthcare military personnel across 16 global locations, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Members of the military safeguarding critical national security capabilities will not be part of the first tranche of vaccine doses administered.
“They most definitely come in,” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Thomas McCaffery said. “The 44,000 that we expect to get initially, that we will be testing through those 16 sites, those won’t even cover the very first section of Phase 1A, which is going to be healthcare workers.”
Idaho protesters surrounded the homes of state health officials on Tuesday night, prompting Boise police and Mayor Lauren McLean to postpone a meeting that would discuss health measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. At least three Central District Health board members were met with protesters outside of their homes. Other demonstrators gathered outside of the Central District Health offices.
“I am deeply disturbed by what I saw. People at that meeting cheered. They were glad that I shut it down,” McLean said during a council meeting, according to Idaho News 6.
In a speech Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged people to meet with fewer people and stay home during the holidays. The speech came as Germany experienced a record 568 COVID-19-related deaths on Tuesday. Officials in Germany’s 16 states are responsible for health policy, and Merkel has previously expressed frustration that they have only imposed partial restrictions.
“I’m sorry, from the bottom of my heart, I am really sorry,” Merkel said Wednesday. “But if the price we pay is 590 deaths a day, then I have to say this is not acceptable.”
