The developers of a COVID-19 vaccine in Britain yesterday claimed success after mass testing, as the US announced plans to give jabs to 20 million people before the end of the year to combat surging infections.
AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said their drug had proved on average 70 percent effective at stopping the virus after trying it on 23,000 people, days after tests of two other drugs suggested they had more than 90 percent effectiveness.
The bright news on vaccines comes as Europe and the Americas battle rising caseloads that are pushing health systems to the brink, forcing governments to issue stay-at-home orders and close businesses even as the crucial Christmas period approaches.
Canada’s biggest city, Toronto, shut down late yesterday, as officials banned private indoor gatherings and limited the size of weddings and funerals — similar to measures in place in France and other European nations.
At the other end of the confinement cycle, Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne, continued to emerge from a four-month lockdown, with authorities lifting a ban on travel across state borders.
“When I went across the border I beeped the horn, ‘Yahoo,’” Melbourne resident Margaret Forster said after being allowed to drive from Victoria into New South Wales for the first time since June.
The virus has killed almost 1.4 million people worldwide since emerging in China late last year.
The latest vaccine results are particularly important as the Oxford drug can be transported easily at normal refrigerator temperatures — unlike some of the other candidates, which need extremely cold storage.
AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said despite the vaccine’s lower effectiveness compared with the other candidate drugs, it would still be highly effective and would have an “immediate impact.”
The firm said it planned to develop up to 3 billion doses of the vaccine next year if it passes the remaining regulatory hurdles.
Two other leading candidates — one by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech and another by US firm Moderna — reported 95 percent effectiveness in trials.
The EU said it could approve vaccines for use by the end of the year, following a statement from US officials that a vaccination program could be started as soon as next month.
“Our plan is to be able to ship vaccines to the immunization sites within 24 hours of approval,” said Moncef Slaoui, head of the vaccine effort in the US, still the world’s worst-hit nation with more than 12 million infections and 255,000 deaths.
The US government’s vaccine advisers are to meet on Dec. 10 to discuss approval.
Slaoui estimated that 20 million people across the US could be vaccinated next month, with 30 million per month after that.
Other experts stressed that Americans must continue to take precautions as many headed to airports to travel for this week’s Thanksgiving holiday.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary