December 14 coronavirus news

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has not taken the company's Covid-19 vaccine yet, he told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Monday morning.

Bourla gave a nod to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that the first vaccine doses should go to health care workers and long-term care facility residents.

"There are very strict allocation rules," he said. "We are very sensitive to not cut the queue."

1.3 billion doses next year: Bourla said there will be around 1.3 billion doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine manufactured globally next year.

"This year we will have around 50 million doses available, most of them have already been manufactured," Bourla told Gupta on Monday.

"Next year we will do 1.3 billion doses," Bourla said. "We are working very diligently to increase this number."

Japan will suspend its "Go To" travel subsidy as it battles a winter wave of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Monday.

Discounted travel to Tokyo and Nagoya provided by the Go To government campaign will be suspended immediately until January 11. Go To travel subsidies will be suspended nationwide from December 28 at least until January 11.

The Go To scheme offers travelers up to 50% discounts on transportation, hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions and shopping, in an effort to encourage domestic travel during the pandemic downturn.

Suga said discouraging travel would help curb a current spike in cases.

He also announced a $11,500 per month support payment for hospitality businesses, to help owners comply with a shortening of trading hours. Doctors and nurses treating serious Covid-19 patients will receive a bonus payment of $50 per hour.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that the newly authorized Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine “should not be withheld” from people who are pregnant and should be offered to those who are breastfeeding.

The physicians' group recommended that pregnant people should be able to make their own decision in conjunction with their clinical care team, adding that they would "otherwise be considered a priority population for a vaccine approved for use under EUA [Emergency Use Authorization]."

ACOG recommended that Covid-19 vaccines be offered to lactating individuals "when they meet criteria for receipt of the vaccine" based on the priority order outlined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

ACOG also recommended vaccination among people who actively trying to become pregnant or are thinking about pregnancy.

"Additionally, it is not necessary to delay pregnancy after completing both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine," said the statement.

UK regulators have said that until more evidence is available, people who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning to get pregnant within three months should delay their vaccination.

Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Monday that tougher lockdown restrictions in Germany are vital to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country, calling the situation “dead serious.” 

In a rare speech, the German president addressed the nation a day after Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that the country would return to tighter lockdown restrictions from Wednesday over the festive period. Non-essential retail and services as well schools and kindergartens will close down until January 10, 2021. 

He said he understood that people are beginning to show coronavirus fatigue but reiterated how vital it is that everyone sticks to the measures announced on Sunday and contributes to bringing down the high infection numbers. 

Germany recorded 16,362 new coronavirus infections on Monday -- 4,000 more than a week ago -- according to data from the Robert Koch Institute, the country's agency for disease control. The overall number of infected people stands at 1,337,078. The death toll rose by 188 to 21,975, data showed.

On Friday, Germany recorded nearly 30,000 new coronavirus infections and nearly 600 deaths within 24 hours in a record day for both daily infections and fatalities.

The Prime Minister of the tiny African nation of Eswatini died while being treated for Covid-19 at a hospital in South Africa on Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday.

The death appears to make Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini the first head of government confirmed to have died after a Covid-19 diagnosis. He was 52 years old. 

In a statement, Ramaphosa offered his condolences to the family and friends of the late Prime Minister, the Swazi Royal Family, the government of the Kingdom, and the nation at large.

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center expects the first doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to be delivered between 9:15 and 9:30 a.m. ET this morning, hospital spokesperson Alexis Shaw told CNN in a statement.  

Once the vaccine arrives, Shaw said, they plan to begin vaccinating about 20 to 30 of the hospital’s “prioritized, high risk frontline healthcare workers” within 1-1.5 hours.

The University of Michigan Hospital is expecting to receive its first doses of the shot at 8:45 a.m., a hospital spokesperson told CNN.

Distribution begins: Thousands of vials of the vaccine were collected for distribution across the country Sunday after it passed its last regulatory hurdle. Los Angeles International Airport tweeted just before 10 p.m. local time that it had received its first batch.

Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, said on Saturday that 145 administration sites across all the states were expected to receive the vaccine on Monday, another 425 sites on Tuesday, and the final 66 sites on Wednesday.

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US readies for first Covid-19 vaccinations as country nears 300,000 deaths

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has criticized the UK government’s current Covid-19 restrictions and asked for tighter measures, such as school closures.

"With significant outbreaks among 10 to 19-year-olds, the Government must consider asking schools and colleges to close early and re-open later in January," Khan said.

In London, 17 local authorities have registered a 7-day case rate higher than 200 cases per 100,000 people. Khan told the government it should consider moving London from Tier 2 to Tier 3 of restriction levels, putting the city on "very high alert." This would also allow authorities to introduce more restrictions.

On Sunday, local authorities in the London borough of Greenwich announced the closure of all its schools from Monday until the end of the term.

That decision challenges the central government's policy to keep schools open.

Sharma said 99% of schools across the UK have remained open since the beginning of the school year, and the government will talk to local authorities to discuss changes in restrictions "on a case by case basis."

Singapore has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and is expecting the first shipments to arrive by the end of December, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Friday.

“We also expect other vaccines to arrive in Singapore in the coming months; if all goes according to plan, we will have enough vaccines for everyone in Singapore by the third quarter of 2021,” Lee said. 

Shots will first be administered to those at “greatest risk,” including healthcare workers, frontline personnel, and the elderly population, according to the Prime Minister. 

Vaccines will be free of charge to all Singaporeans and permanent residents, but will not be compulsory, Lee said.

Lee also announced that Singapore will start "Phase 3" of reopening and a further relaxation of coronavirus restrictions starting on December 28. 

Under the relaxed restrictions:

As of December 13, Singapore has reported 58,325 cases of coronavirus and 29 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

German biotech company CureVac announced Monday that it had taken a step forward in the development of its coronavirus vaccine. 

The Tübingen-based company said it has started a Phase 3 clinical trial with an expected enrolment of more than 35,000 participants at sites in Europe and Latin America. 

The vaccine candidate uses mRNA technology, like the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna shots.

Following completion of the trial, subjects will continue to be monitored in a one-year extension study, which will collect additional data to evaluate long-term safety, persistence of antibodies and the duration of efficacy.