World Coronavirus Dispatch: The politicisation of the AstraZeneca vaccine

Kenya imposes restrictions as virus surges, EU approves more vaccination production sites and other pandemic-related news across the globe

EU approves more vaccination production sites

In order to make up for the botched up vaccination policy and for the severe shortfall of shots, the European Union has approved new vaccine production units where Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines will be developed. The bloc's vaccination roll out has been tepid compared to other Western nations such as UK or UK due to various reasons. For one, EU has been relatively slow to get off the blocks, that is delaying the approvals. Not making big deals with pharma giants hurt them badly too. Add to that the shaken confidence in AstraZeneca vaccine over concerns of blood clots. After all of this, one can say the approval of new production units is a boost to the bloc's vaccination programme. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 126,134,596

Global deaths: 2,767,547

Nations with most cases: US (30,159,997), Brazil (12,404,414), India (11,908,910), France (4,526,530), Russia (4,451,565).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Kenya imposes restrictions as virus surges

Kenya imposed stringent new restrictions in the capital, Nairobi, and in four other counties, fighting a deadly third wave of Covid-19 infections that has placed its fragile health system under devastating pressure. Several variants have been identified in Kenya, but some were found among travelers, and there is little data to suggest how prevalent they may be or what role they might be playing in the East African nation’s surge. As of Thursday, Kenya reported a total of 126,170 cases and 2,092 deaths. The positive test rate hit 22 percent this week, compared with 2 percent in January. Read here

Germany warns third coronavirus wave could be the worst so far

Germany’s third wave of the coronavirus could be the worst so far and 100,000 new daily infections is not out of the question, the head of the country's top infectious disease center said. The number of new confirmed infections in Germany has jumped in recent weeks, driven by a more transmissible variant. The number of new confirmed cases in Germany rose by 21,573 on Friday, while the death toll increased by 183. Frustration has grown over the sluggish vaccine roll-out. Around 10 per cent of Germans have received at least a first dose, but this is far lower than the United States, Britain or Israel. Read here

How the AstraZeneca vaccine became a political football

The vaccine against coronavirus developed by AstraZeneca in partnership with Oxford University was touted as the shot that will save the world from coronavirus because of the logistical ease compared to some other vaccines. However, it has been marred by several issues since the approval by various countries. Several European countries have freezed the shot over blood clot concerns and the WHO has allayed some of the fears. A US agency questioned the outdated trial data that AstraZeneca provided to determine efficacy. The pharma giant rushed to set that right and revised the data only to get a lesser efficacy. The politicisation of the AstraZeneca vaccine is particularly evident in Europe where the distribution of jabs has trailed well behind progress in the UK. Read here