Home NEWS WHO authorizes China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use

WHO authorizes China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use

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3 min ago

WHO authorizes China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use

From CNN’s Naomi Thomas

Syringes filled with doses of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination campaign in Skopje, Macedonia on May 6.
Syringes filled with doses of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination campaign in Skopje, Macedonia on May 6. Robert Atanasovski/AFP/Getty Images

The World Health Organization on Friday authorized China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use.

“This afternoon, WHO gave emergency use listing to Sinopharm Beijing’s Covid-19 vaccine, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy and quality,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a news briefing in Geneva Friday. 

Tedros said this is another vaccine that can be purchased by COVAX, the initiative to provide equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines, and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approvals and imports.

WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) reviewed the available data and recommended the vaccine for adults age 18 and older with a two-dose schedule, Tedros said. 

WHO has also given emergency use authorization to vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio, Serum Institute of India, Janssen and Moderna.

32 min ago

NOW: Biden delivers remarks on US economy and pandemic recovery after disappointing jobs report

From CNN’s Anneken Tappe

US President Joe Biden pauses as he speaks about the April jobs report in the East Room of the White House on May 7.
US President Joe Biden pauses as he speaks about the April jobs report in the East Room of the White House on May 7. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

President Biden is delivering remarks on the US economy and pandemic recovery following the release of this morning’s April jobs report which showed far less jobs were added last month than expected.

“I want to put today’s jobs report in perspective, and, look, we came to office, we knew we were facing a once in a century pandemic and a once in a generation economic crisis, and we knew this wouldn’t be a sprint, it would be a marathon,” Biden said from the White House. “Quite frankly we’re moving more rapidly than I thought we would.”

“Today, there’s more evidence that our economy is moving in the right direction but it’s clear we have a long way to go,” Biden continued.

The President said the jobs report “underscores” how important the American Rescue Plan that passed in March is to the country’s recovery.

The US economy added only 266,000 jobs in April on the anniversary of the worst job loss for any month on record. That was way less than forecasts of economists, who had predicted America would add 1 million jobs last month.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in April, up from 6% a month earlier, as more people returned to the labor force to look actively for work, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. The March jobs numbers were also revised down to 770,000 from 916,000 reported initially.

It was the slowest improvement for jobs since January. Experts predicted that the vaccine rollout and the reopening of the economy would jolt hiring.

1 hr 50 min ago

New pandemic US air travel record suggests summer travel boom

From CNN’s Pete Muntean and Greg Wallace 

The number of people traveling by air just hit a new peak of the pandemic, suggesting an early start to a summer travel rebound.

The Transportation Security Administration says it screened 1.64 million people at airport security checkpoints on Thursday, ousting the previous pandemic record set on Sunday.

The new number is a more than 7% jump over the previous Thursday and more than seven times greater than the same day a year ago, TSA data show.

This weekend could see even larger numbers: TSA typically records its busiest day of the week on Sundays.  

The US Travel Association says 72% of Americans will make at least one trip this summer, a number close to projections from before the pandemic struck.

“We find going into summer, 75% to 80% of Americans say they’re planning on taking a trip away from home,” Roger Dow of the US Travel Association, told CNN. “This summer is going be the comeback for travel.” 

1 hr 53 min ago

Here’s a look at US states’ progress on Biden’s new Covid-19 vaccination goal 

From CNN’s Deidre McPhillips

Students wait for 15 minutes in an observation area after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine inside Boston Colleges Conte Forum in Boston on April 26.
Students wait for 15 minutes in an observation area after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine inside Boston Colleges Conte Forum in Boston on April 26. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Some states have already reached the Biden administration’s new goal to reach 70% of adults with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4, while others aren’t much more than halfway there, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

So far, three states – all in New England – have already vaccinated more than 70% of adult residents with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine:

  • New Hampshire (74.5%)
  • Massachusetts (71.5%)
  • Vermont (71.2%)

Four others are close, with at least two-thirds of adults with at least one dose:

  • Connecticut (69.4%)
  • Maine (68.4%)
  • Hawaii (67.5%)
  • New Jersey (66.9%)

However, 12 states – largely concentrated in the South – have vaccinated less than half of adult residents with at least one dose, half of which have vaccinated less than 45% of adults:

  • Mississippi (41%)
  • Alabama (42.2%)
  • Louisiana (42.7%)
  • Wyoming (44.3%)
  • West Virginia (44.6%)
  • Tennessee (44.7%)
  • Georgia (46%)
  • Idaho (46.3%)
  • Arkansas (46.6%)
  • South Carolina (47%)
  • Indiana (47.8%)
  • Missouri (49%)

Nationwide, about 57% of adults have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and about 42% are fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.

3 hr 47 min ago

Norway will introduce vaccine passports starting in early June

From CNN’s Samantha Tapfumaneyi and Duarte Mendonca in London

A nurse prepares a syringe with the Covid-19 vaccine as residents are vaccinated in Drammen, Norway, on January 21.
A nurse prepares a syringe with the Covid-19 vaccine as residents are vaccinated in Drammen, Norway, on January 21. Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB/AFP/Getty Images

Norway will introduce vaccine certificates in early June which will be suitable for domestic use, while the final version – scheduled for the end of June – will allow international travel, the Norwegian health authority has said.

“The certificate will be a secure document with name and date of birth, whether you have been vaccinated, whether you have recently had a negative test and whether you are immune after having had coronavirus,” a press officer told CNN.

The Norway health authorities have confirmed that people already vaccinated are currently labelled as “protected” and are “no longer advised against making unnecessary travels in Norway.”

People who are considered “protected” are allowed to gather among themselves indoors without social distancing, the Norway health authorities confirmed. Socializing with unprotected people is also allowed, as long as good distance of at least one meter is respected.

“In public, such as when using public transport, the advice and rules regarding distance, number of people that can meet at public events, hygiene and the use of face masks are unchanged for protected persons,” the press office added. 

Over 26% of Norway’s population have received a first dose and more than 7% have received two doses, according to Norwegian Institute of Public Health data. 

4 hr 28 min ago

The US added way fewer jobs than expected in April as it continues to battle pandemic

From CNN’s Anneken Tappe

The US economy added only 266,000 jobs in April at the anniversary of the worst job loss for any month on record.

This was far less than forecasts of economists, who had predicted America would add 1 million jobs last month.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in April, up from 6% a month earlier.

It was the slowest improvement for jobs since January. Experts predicted that the vaccine rollout and the reopening of the economy would jolt hiring. But the April jobs number show that the road to recovery from the pandemic remains bumpy. 

The job market isn’t just snapping back to what it was before Covid-19. The dislocations across different industries and worker demographics has been too big to recover from while Covid-19 continues to infect tens of thousands of people every day.

Lower-income earners, women, Hispanic and Black workers bore the brunt of the pandemic layoffs and millions remain out of work. Yet some industries can’t find workers. That may seem contradictory, but the job market is changing, leaving many workers permanently out of a job.

The hospitality, leisure and travel industries are still rebuilding after shuttering completely last year. Meanwhile, factories and manufacturers have trouble finding specialized and even entry-level workers as employees worry that those jobs could be sent overseas or replaced by robots.

3 hr 51 min ago

Germany will relax restrictions for the fully vaccinated as the end of its third wave comes in sight

From Nadine Schmidt, Colin Ivory Meyer and Stephanie Halasz

Empty tables and chairs are cordoned off outside a downtown restaurant during the lockdown in Chemnitz, Germany on May 6.
Empty tables and chairs are cordoned off outside a downtown restaurant during the lockdown in Chemnitz, Germany on May 6. Bodo Schackow/dpa/AP

Germany’s third wave of the coronavirus pandemic appears to be coming to an end, the German health minister said Friday.

”The trend of recent weeks has shown that the third wave appears to be over,” Jens Spahn said at a weekly health briefing, while adding a warning that while the infection numbers are increasing, they are “still at a very high level.”

The country’s social distancing measures as well as the accelerating vaccination campaign were contributing factors for this trend, Spahn added.

Germany’s infection rate has fallen to under 126 cases per 100,000 residents in seven days, he said.

The incidence rate of coronavirus infections was falling across all age groups, Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany’s infectious disease agency Robert Koch Institute.

“The current development with decreasing infection numbers, slowly decreasing numbers of Covid patients in the intensive care units and the accelerating vaccination campaign is very positive and it gives hope that we will control the pandemic soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, a new legislation in Germany will come into force this weekend, allowing more freedoms for the fully vaccinated and those who have recovered from Covid-19.

These groups will no longer need a negative test if they want to go shopping, to the hairdresser or visit a botanical garden. Vaccinated people will also be allowed to meet in private without restrictions. Quarantining after traveling abroad will not be mandatory if fully inoculated, with a few regional exceptions.

The government said it is not about granting privileges but reinstating constitutional rights, however, the regulation’s opponents fear that it may create a two-class society.

Following a shaky start, Germany has sped up its vaccination program. Nearly 31% people have received a first dose of coronavirus vaccine and nearly 9% are fully vaccinated, the Robert Koch Institute said.

Earlier this week, Spahn said that the government is working to provide a digital vaccination card to those who have been inoculated by the end of June at the latest.   

4 hr 51 min ago

There are so many funeral pyres in India, some workers are reporting wood shortages

From CNN’s Adrienne Vogt

Wood is brought in for the cremation of Covid-19 victims at Sector 94 crematorium, on May 4 in Noida, India.
Wood is brought in for the cremation of Covid-19 victims at Sector 94 crematorium, on May 4 in Noida, India. Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

Crematoriums in India are reporting wood shortages for funeral pyres as they struggle to deal with the deluge of bodies. 

Cremations start before dawn as workers clear out the embers from the night before, CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward reports from Varanasi, one of the holiest cities in the country.

There are 100 to 150 bodies per day coming to the crematorium in Varanasi, a worker, whose family has worked there for generations, tells Ward.

The government has been criticized for its response to the crisis and for undercounting death numbers.

The city’s main crematorium has been so overwhelmed that it has set up a makeshift one on the banks of the Ganges river. In the two hours that Ward and the CNN team spent there, seven bodies were brought in. 

A wood merchant says demand is four times higher than usual and that their three main suppliers ran out of wood. 

Ward told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta that the lockdowns in India’s cities are not comparable to those seen in New York or London. 

“In Varanasi, for example, markets can be open every day until about 11:00 a.m. and the streets are busy during those hours. There was also a wedding in our hotel last night,” she said. 

“And on the streets of Delhi…it’s just not realistic. If you can’t get oxygen for your loved ones and you have to go wait in a line for 10 hours sometimes, then you’re not in the position to have the luxury of social distancing. This is a fight for survival, and terms like lockdown and social distancing just don’t really apply when you’re in that kind of situation and you’re desperately trying to source things to save the lives of your loved ones,” Ward added. 

Watch Ward’s reporting:

5 hr 9 min ago

Pfizer/BioNTech initiates full FDA approval for their Covid-19 vaccine

Lauren Mascarenhas and Jessica Firger

Pfizer/BioNTech has initiated its application to the US Food and Drug Administration for full FDA approval of its Covid-19 vaccine for people ages 16 and older, the companies said Friday.

This is the first Covid-19 vaccine in the United States to be assessed for full approval from the FDA. 

Pfizer’s mRNA two-shot vaccine is currently being used in the US under emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA. The companies say 170 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed across the US to date.

“We are proud of the tremendous progress we’ve made since December in delivering vaccines to millions of Americans, in collaboration with the U.S. Government,” Albert Bourla, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the FDA to complete this rolling submission and support their review, with the goal of securing full regulatory approval of the vaccine in the coming months.”

To apply, the FDA requires vaccine manufacturers submit data on manufacturing processes, facilities, and additional information that demonstrates that the vaccine can be produced reliably and consistently. They are also required to submit all pre-clinical and clinical trial data. 

Pfizer/BioNTech will submit that information to the FDA over the next few weeks on a rolling basis. Once all the required information is submitted, a goal date will be set for a decision by the FDA. Pfizer/BioNTech has requested priority review, which asks the FDA to take action within 6 months, compared to the 10 months designated under standard review.

Read the full story here.

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