"Disappointment" for "global health" with China

A European declaration for the "Moderna" vaccine ... and England will start implementing new quarantine measures

Moderna vaccine is easy to store at minus 20 ° C.

Reuters

Yesterday, the European Regulatory Authority gave its approval to use the Moderna vaccine, which is expected to give impetus to the slow vaccination campaigns in the countries of the European Union, seeking to put an end to the high number of new infections with the Coronavirus, while England began implementing new stone measures, while the World Health Organization expressed "Disappointment" from China, where a team of 10 scientists selected by the organization would go to it to investigate the source of the virus, but it has not yet obtained the necessary permits from Beijing.

In detail, the European Medicines Agency announced yesterday that it had given the green light to use the American Moderna company vaccine, to be the second vaccine to obtain a European license.

The Amsterdam-based regulatory authority said in a statement, that “the European Medicines Agency recommended granting a license to conditionally market the (Moderna) vaccine against (Covid-19), to prevent people from 18 years of age from contracting the Coronavirus.”

In the face of the outbreak of the mutated Coronavirus, a third stone has started in Britain, and the government has promised that it will use it to vaccinate nearly 14 million people by mid-February.

"I don't know if people will be able to bear more," said Alex, a 65-year-old retired, who was interviewed by Agence France-Presse, in light of the consequences of the new stone, criticizing the management of the crisis.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, more than 1.12 million people were infected with the virus in England last week, or the equivalent of one in 50 citizens, and more than 60,000 cases were recorded, the day before yesterday, in the United Kingdom.

The high prevalence of the virus warns of an increase in the number of infected people who will be admitted to hospitals, during the next few weeks, while these health facilities are under tremendous pressure in this country where the death toll is increasing, which is considered the most affected in Europe, with more than 76 thousand deaths.

The health crisis resulting from the "Covid-19" epidemic is exacerbating as well, in the United States, which recorded, the day before yesterday, a new record number of deaths within 24 hours, amounting to more than 3,930, according to Johns Hopkins University reference figures, in addition to 250 thousand new infections.

The United States is the country most affected by the epidemic, and it recorded 357,067 deaths from the virus, which killed more than 1.85 million people worldwide.

The situation in the country worsened to the point where emergency services began rationing oxygen and beds in Los Angeles, while paramedics were asked to stop transporting some patients who had had a heart attack with almost no chances of survival to hospitals.

The increase in the number of infections has led to other countries to extend their restrictions, such as: Germany and Denmark, which will close their borders to the people of South Africa due to the spread of a mutated Corona virus in this country.

Meanwhile, the slow pace of vaccination campaigns in the European Union is facing increasing criticism.

The Netherlands started its campaign to vaccinate its population yesterday, and it is the last country in the European Union to do so.

Sana Al-Qadiri, a 39-year-old nurse, was given the first dose of the "Pfizer-Biontech" vaccine, in what the Minister of Health, Hugo de Young, described as "an amazing moment."

In France, officials promised to speed up and simplify the vaccination process, while the president of the Senate, Gérard Larache (right), denounced "lack of preparation for vaccination campaigns" and "flawed logistics."

It is hoped that approval of the Moderna vaccine will give a boost to vaccination campaigns in the European Union, which lags far behind the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel in this regard.

On December 21, the agency approved the "Pfizer - Biontech" vaccine for use in Europe, where the vaccination campaigns began on December 27.

On December 18, this vaccine received emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a week after the approval of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine.

Canada followed the example of the United States on December 23.

The Moderna vaccine is characterized by easy storage at minus 20 degrees Celsius, unlike the Pfizer - Biontech vaccine, which can only be stored in the long term at a very low temperature of minus 70 degrees, which forced the group to develop special containers for its transportation. .

A little more than a year after the first infections were discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan, prominent scientists selected by the World Health Organization were scheduled to travel to China, to try to trace the source of the virus.

But the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: "We learned that the Chinese officials have not yet completed the necessary permits for the team to arrive in China."

He expressed "great disappointment with this news, as two scientists started their journey, and others were unable to travel at the last minute."

And Beijing announced yesterday that the delay in giving the green light to the WHO experts mission "is not just a visa issue."

However, talks are continuing regarding “the specific date for the expert group’s visit, and the arrangements for it,” according to what the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hua Shunying, explained to the media about this very sensitive task of the Chinese regime, which is keen to avoid any responsibility for the spread of the epidemic.

Greek Christians violate the restrictions of "Corona" ... and hold the Epiphany Mass

Greek churches held an Epiphany Mass, yesterday, in defiance of government restrictions imposed to contain the Corona virus, which bans public gatherings, including religious celebrations, on one of the most important Christian holidays.

The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called on the ecclesiastical authorities to set an example for people during the pandemic that led to the death of more than 5,000 injured people in Greece, but worshipers attended the mass, even if restrictions were imposed on the number of people inside at one time.

"State orders are one thing, faith is another thing ... there is no law that governs what we do," said one of the worshipers, who mentioned her name is Stavrola, who is 38 years old, after attending a mass in a church on the outskirts of Athens.

The police patrolled outside some churches, but said that they would not interfere with the mass, and would use "simple" measures to persuade people not to crowd inside.

This approach confirms the reluctance of the conservative Mitsotakis government to resort to confrontation with the Orthodox Church, which plays an influential role in public life in Greece.

Athens - Reuters

Eminent scientists, chosen by the World Health Organization, were scheduled to travel to China to try to trace the source of the virus.

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