Latest: South African company manufacturing Pfizer vaccines

Johannesburg — South African company begins manufacturing Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer announced Wednesday that the shot will be produced for the first time in Africa.

Based in Cape Town, the Biovac Institute manufactures vaccines for distribution throughout Africa. This should help address the continent’s urgent need for higher vaccine doses amid the recent surge in cases.

Biovac receives large batches of vaccine ingredients from Europe, blends the ingredients into vials and packages them for distribution. Production will begin in 2022 and the goal is to reach a final dose of more than 100 million doses per year. Production of Biovac doses will be distributed to 54 African countries.

This development is a “significant step” in increasing Africa’s access to effective COVID-19 vaccines, said Dr. Morena Mahoana, CEO of Biovac.

Pfizer’s goal is to provide people around the world with access to the vaccine, said CEO Albert Bourla. However, most of the vaccine doses were sold in bilateral transactions with developed countries, and very little was available for UN support efforts to share the COVID-19 vaccine.

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Pandemic Details:

— Tokyo virus incident occurred 6 months high, 2 days before the game starts

-France COVID path required Eiffel Tower, tourist destination

— What is the life expectancy of the United States in 2020? The biggest drop since World War II

— WHO leaders say virus risk is inevitable Tokyo Olympics

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For more information on AP coverage, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic And https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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What else is happening:

TOKYO — Tokyo’s coronavirus infection surged to a six-month high, with the Olympic host city recording 1,832 new cases just two days before the Games began.

Tokyo is currently the fourth state of emergency that lasts until August 22nd and will be held throughout the Olympic Games from Friday to August 8th. Fans are banned at all venues in the Tokyo area.

Toshio Nakagawa, chairman of the Japan Medical Association, said a surge is expected regardless of the Olympics. According to experts, cases of unvaccinated young people are skyrocketing as Japan’s vaccination drive loses momentum due to supply uncertainty. About 23% of the Japanese are completely vaccinated.

Health experts on Wednesday warned that infectious diseases in Tokyo would worsen in the coming weeks. Dr. Norio Omori, an expert advisor at Tokyo Metropolitan Government, said that if we continue at the current pace, the average daily number of cases in Tokyo could reach about 2,600 in two weeks.

Japan has recorded approximately 84,800 infections and more than 15,000 confirmed deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic, most of them since the latest wave in January.

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Tokyo — The head of the World Health Organization says the Tokyo Olympics should not be judged by aggregating COVID-19 cases that occur because zero risk is not possible.

WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the International Olympic Committee that how to treat infectious diseases is even more important.

Tedros hopes that Tokyo’s success will be judged in a way that “the incident is identified, quarantined, tracked, cared for as quickly as possible, and subsequent transmissions are interrupted.”

There are currently 79 cases of COVID-19 related to games in Japan this month. More international athletes are positive at home and unable to travel.

WHO leaders had a more critical message and challenges to leaders in richer countries regarding vaccine sharing. He called it “terrible injustice,” and 75% of vaccinations delivered worldwide took place in only 10 countries.

“The pandemic is a test and the world is failing,” said Tedros, who predicts more than 100,000 COVID-19 deaths worldwide before the torch goes out in Tokyo on August 8.

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Canberra, Australia — The Australian Prime Minister has requested that government advisers on vaccines change their advice for adults under the age of 60 who were shot by AstraZeneca.

With the increase of COVID-19 clusters, more than half of the country is blocked.

Last month, the Australian Immunization Technology Advisory Group raised the minimum recommended age for taking AstraZeneca from 50 to 60 due to the high risk of vaccine-related rare blood clots in young people.

This change followed the death of 52 in Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he is appealing to ATAGI to change his age advice because of the increased risk from the more contagious delta mutants. The only alternative to Australia’s AstraZeneca is the missing Pfizer.

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Paris — Visitors now need a special COVID-19 pass to board the Eiffel Tower and visit French museums and cinemas.

This is the first step in a new campaign against what the government calls the “stratosphere” rise in delta variant infections.

To pass, you need to prove that you are completely vaccinated, have a negative virus test, or have recently recovered from the infection. This requirement came into effect on Wednesday in cultural and tourist destinations.

Lawmakers are beginning to discuss legislation that extends pass requirements to restaurants and many other areas of public life and requires all health care workers to be vaccinated. It prompted a protest.

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Tokyo — The head of the World Health Organization says the Tokyo Olympics should not be judged by aggregating COVID-19 cases that occur because zero risk is not possible.

WHO Executive Secretary Tedros Adanom Gebreyes told the International Olympic Committee that how to treat infectious diseases is even more important.

Tedros hopes that Tokyo’s success will be judged in a way that “the incident is identified, quarantined, tracked, cared for as quickly as possible, and subsequent transmissions are interrupted.”

There are currently 79 cases of COVID-19 related to games in Japan this month. More international athletes are positive at home and unable to travel.

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New York — Life expectancy in the United States was cut in half by one year in 2020. This is the largest year-long decline since World War II.

The decline in both Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was exacerbated. The number is 3 years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released 2020 calculations early Wednesday.

This decline is primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Health officials say it is responsible for nearly 74% of the overall decline in life expectancy.

Killers other than COVID-19 played a role. Overdose of drugs pushed down life expectancy. And the increase in homicide was a small but important reason for the decline of African Americans.

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