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Canada’s health regulator on Wednesday approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, making it the third country to authorize the use of the shot – as the green-lighting of the vaccine in the US is still at least another day away.

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U.K. Says Those With Severe Allergy Should Avoid Pfizer Shot

Wed, 2020-12-09 09:51 — mike kraft

U.K. Says Those With Severe Allergy Should Avoid Pfizer Shot People with a significant history of allergies should not currently receive the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, the U.K.’s National Health Service said, after two people experienced reactions from the shots. Emily Ashton,Naomi Kresge Bloomberg.com

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Years of research laid groundwork for speedy COVID-19 shots

Tue, 2020-12-08 10:26 — mike kraft

Years of research laid groundwork for speedy COVID-19 shots How could scientists race out COVID-19 vaccines so fast without cutting corners? A head start helped -- over a decade of behind-the-scenes research that had new vaccine technology poised for a... AP NEWS

How could scientists race out COVID-19 vaccines so fast without cutting corners? A head start helped -- over a decade of behind-the-scenes research that had new vaccine technology poised for a challenge just as the coronavirus erupted.

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Covid-19 vaccine: First person receives Pfizer jab in UK

Tue, 2020-12-08 09:17 — mike kraft

A UK grandmother has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme.

Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said it was the "best early birthday present".

She was given the injection at 06:31 GMT - the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be dispensed in the coming weeks.

Up to four million more are expected by the end of the month.

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New data: Pfizer’s Vaccine Offers Strong Protection After First Dose

Tue, 2020-12-08 09:06 — mike kraft

WASHINGTON — The coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech provides strong protection against Covid-19 within about 10 days of the first dose, according to documents published on Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration before a meeting of its vaccine advisory group.

The finding is one of several significant new results featured in the briefing materials, which include more than 100 pages of data analyses from the agency and from Pfizer. Last month, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their two-dose vaccine had an efficacy rate of 95 percent after two doses administered three weeks apart. The new analyses show that the protection starts kicking in far earlier.

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Opinion: What South Korea Can Teach Us About Vaccine Hesitancy

Mon, 2020-12-07 18:25 — mike kraft

In early September, officials in South Korea announced an ambitious plan to vaccinate 30 million people against the flu — 10 million more than last year, an increase aimed at keeping down rates of the flu while the country battled the coronavirus.

But as The Times reported last week, the internet soon got in the way. As the vaccine was distributed, a few logistical problems popped up, and South Koreans began circulating grave stories online — pictures of vaccine boxes that looked like they had been stored unsafely, reports of vaccine contaminated with mysterious white particles.

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Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. more vaccine doses.

Mon, 2020-12-07 18:08 — mike kraft

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/07/world/covid-19-coronavirus#trump-covid-vaccine-pfizer

Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. government additional doses of its Covid-19 vaccine, according to people familiar with the matter. Now Pfizer may not be able provide more of its vaccine to the United States until next June because of its commitments to other countries, they said.

As the administration scrambles to try to purchase more doses of the vaccine, President Trump plans on Tuesday to sign an executive order “to ensure that United States government prioritizes getting the vaccine to American citizens before sending it to other nations,” according to a draft statement and a White House official, though it was not immediately clear what force the president’s executive order would carry.

That included whether it would expand the U.S. supply of doses beyond what is spelled out in existing federal contracts.

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