Page 12 - aruba-today-20201117

A12 HEALTH
Tuesday 17 November 2020

2nd virus vaccine shows overwhelming success in U.S. tests

By LAURAN NEERGAARD the hope is that enough
AP Medical Writer doses are available by the
Moderna said Monday its end of January to vacci-
COVID-19 vaccine is prov- nate adults over 65, who
ing to be highly effective in are at the highest risk from
a major trial, a second dash the coronavirus, and health
of hope in the global race care workers. Fauci said
for a shot to tame a resur- it may take until spring or
gent virus that is now killing summer for enough for any-
more than 8,000 people a one who is not high risk and
day worldwide. wants a shot to get one.
The company said its vac- Another important mes-
cine appears to be 94.5% sage: Additional vaccines
effective, according to pre- that work in different ways
liminary data from Moder- are still in testing — and de-
na’s ongoing study. A week spite the promising news
ago, competitor Pfizer Inc. about Moderna’s and Pfiz-
announced its own CO- er’s shots, more volunteers
VID-19 vaccine appeared are needed for those stud-
similarly effective — news ies. Stocks opened higher
that puts both companies on the news on Wall Street.
on track to seek permission Moderna was likely to hit
within weeks for emergen- an all-time high. Markets in
cy use in the U.S. Asia and Europe were up
The results are “truly strik- In this July 27, 2020, file photo, nurse Kathe Olmstead prepares a shot that is part of a possible sharply as well.
ing,” said Dr. Anthony Fau- COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., in Moderna’s vaccine is be-
Binghamton, N.Y.
ci, the U.S. government’s Associated Press ing studied in 30,000 volun-
top infectious diseases ex- teers who received either
pert. Earlier this year, Fauci the “really important mile- vaccine Moderna is manu- gency use of Moderna’s the real thing or a dummy
said he would be happy stone” but said having simi- facturing, and NIH’s direc- or Pfizer’s candidate, there shot. On Sunday, an inde-
with a COVID-19 vaccine lar results from two different tor, Dr. Francis Collins, said will be limited, rationed pendent monitoring board
that was 60% effective. companies is what’s most the exciting news from two supplies before the end of examined 95 infections
A vaccine can’t come reassuring. companies “gives us a lot the year. that were recorded after
fast enough, as virus cases “That should give us all of confidence that we’re Both vaccines require peo- volunteers’ second dose,
topped 11 million in the U.S. hope that actually a vac- on the path towards hav- ple to get two shots, several and they discovered all
over the weekend — 1 mil- cine is going to be able ing effective vaccines.” weeks apart. U.S. officials but five illnesses occurred
lion of them recorded in to stop this pandemic and But “we’re also at this really said they hope to have in participants who got
just the past week — and hopefully get us back to our dark time,” he warned, say- about 20 million Moderna the placebo. The study is
governors and mayors are lives,” Hoge told The Asso- ing people can’t let down doses and another 20 mil- continuing, and Moderna
ratcheting up restrictions ciated Press. He added: “It their guard during the lion doses of the vaccine acknowledged the protec-
ahead of Thanksgiving. The won’t be Moderna alone months it will take for doses made by Pfizer and its Ger- tion rate might change as
pandemic has killed more that solves this problem. It’s of any vaccines cleared by man partner BioNTech to more COVID-19 infections
than 1.3 million people going to require many vac- the Food and Drug Admin- use in late December. are detected. Also, it’s too
worldwide, over 245,000 of cines” to meet the global istration to start reaching a Exactly who is first in line soon to know how long pro-
them in the U.S. demand. large share of the popula- is yet to be decided. But tection lasts. Both cautions
Dr. Stephen Hoge, Moder- The National Institutes of tion. Health and Human Servic- apply to Pfizer’s vaccine as
na’s president, welcomed Health helped create the If the FDA allows emer- es Secretary Alex Azar said well.q

U.N.: 870K measles cases in 2019, highest number in 23 years

LONDON (AP) — The number of children sickened by measles in 2019 was the highest in
23 years, according to new data published by the World Health Organization and the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a study published on Thursday, WHO and CDC said there were nearly 870,000 cases
of measles last year, and the number of deaths — about 207,500 — increased by al-
most 50% since 2016. Officials blamed the record number of cases on a significant drop
in vaccination; children must receive two doses of the measles vaccine to avoid being
sickened by the highly contagious disease.
“These data send a clear message that we are failing to protect children from measles
in every region of the world,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreye-
sus in a statement.
To prevent measles outbreaks, WHO estimates about 95% of the population must be
immunized. Vaccination coverage using two measles vaccines has stalled between
about 70% and 85% globally.
WHO and CDC warned that the global efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic have
also complicated measles vaccination campaigns, allowing the disease to spread
further. The agencies said that, as of this month, more than 94 million people in 26
In this March 27, 2019 file photo, a woman receives a measles, countries are at risk of missing their measles shots because of paused measles vaccina-
mumps and rubella vaccine at the Rockland County Health tion campaigns — and many of those countries are suffering ongoing epidemics. Of
Department in Pomona, N.Y., north of New York City. countries with delayed immunization services this year, only eight have restarted: Brazil,
Associated Press Central African Republic, Congo, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines and Somalia. q