December 21 coronavirus news

The European Commission has granted a conditional marketing authorization (CMA) for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, making it the first Covid-19 vaccine authorized in the European Union.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, called it “an important chapter” in the EU’s fight against Covid-19.

The authorization comes after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine a conditional marketing authorization, greenlighting the drug for distribution, earlier on Monday.

Von der Leyen said at a press briefing on Monday: “The European medicines agency assessed this vaccine thoroughly, and it concluded that it is safe and effective against Covid-19.”

“This is our first vaccine, more will be approved soon if they prove to be safe and effective. EMA will issue its opinion on the second vaccine, that of Moderna on the 6th of January," she said.

Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of staff at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, said that receiving a box of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine signaled a “light at the end of the tunnel.” 

“It is hopefully the beginning of: number one, making sure the people that work here don't get sick any more, and number two, the start of the end of the pandemic,” Varon told CNN’s Miguel Marquez before he opened the box.

Varon, who has been working for 277 consecutive days, said the box contained 300 doses. They will likely all be used to vaccinate frontline health care workers today, he said. 

“I don't cry, but I am very close to,” Varon said. “…Do you know how many lives we can save with this? Not only the lives that you’re giving it to, but the prevention of the virus being spread to anyone else. I mean, it’s exponential.” 

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Approximately 198,000 doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine have been allocated for state health care workers, and that distribution will begin sometime this week, Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday.  

Additionally, 17,700 health care workers received the Pfizer vaccine last week, and the state anticipates that an additional 30,225 Pfizer vaccines will be distributed this week, Levine said.

What the numbers look like: While the news of vaccination is promising, the state reported 7,745 new cases and 57 additional deaths on Monday and 7,355 new cases and 99 deaths on Sunday, Levine said.

Hospitals continued to be strained with 6,074 patients currently hospitalized, 1,230 in intensive care and 720 people currently on ventilators, she continued. 

Vaccination rollout for nursing homes will start next Monday, Levine said, but said there are no new updates on specific strategies for this grouping. More information is likely to come throughout the week as the state has more conversations with Operation Warp Speed and the distributing pharmacies. Levine emphasized that it will be "some months" until the vaccine is available to the public.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he believes that a temporary travel ban on travelers from Europe should be instituted in light of a new Covid-19 variant having been discovered in southeast England, echoing sentiments expressed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over the weekend. 

"Here you have a new strain, apparently even more infectious…I think the best solution is at least a temporary travel ban from all incoming flights from Europe and the UK to protect us against an exacerbation of a second wave," De Blasio said Monday, adding that at the very least, a requirement for a negative Covid-19 test before boarding a plane should be established.

De Blasio said the authority to institute travel restrictions lies with the federal government.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there is "no reason to think that this new variant of the virus is any more dangerous than the existing strain."

During a Downing Street press conference Monday, the UK government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Patrick Vallance, said there are three questions surrounding the new variant: does it transmit more readily? Does it alter the disease’s course? And does it alter the immune system’s ability to tackle it in in people who’ve already been exposed to Covid-19 or vaccinated?

Vallance said evidence shows transmission is "substantially" increased, although it is not yet clear exactly by how much. 

However, he said there is no evidence that it alters the disease’s course and there is nothing to suggest the variant won’t have the same susceptibly to antibody attack from a vaccine or pre-existing infection exposure.

"The vaccine looks as though it should be as effective and that’s obviously being looked at," Vallance added. 

The Federal Aviation Administration says it is “monitoring closely” the new coronavirus variant in the United Kingdom.

“This is a developing situation that we are monitoring closely,” the FAA said in a statement to CNN. “We will continue to work with our government partners as the situation evolves.”

On Sunday, Canadian aviation officials posted a bulletin prohibiting flights from the UK.

It is not yet clear if airlines will act in the absence of guidance from the federal government. United Airlines told CNN that it is issuing travel waivers “for customers ticketed with travel between the US and (Heathrow airport in London),” but that it is not making additional changes and continuing “to monitor the situation.”

In December, United is operating four daily flights to London Heathrow. That number will be scaled back to two flights next month, United said. 

American Airlines operates a once-daily flight from Dallas to London Heathrow.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to allay fears of food and medicine shortages after the announcement of a new coronavirus variant prompted a chaotic border shutdown for the island nation.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference on Monday, Johnson said it was vital to stress that border restrictions imposed by the French government on UK freight crossings to France "only affect human handled freight and that’s only 20 per cent of the freight arriving too and from the European continent."

He said the "vast majority of food and medicine supplies are coming and going as normal" to the UK. 

Johnson said he has spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron and the UK is "working with our friends across the Channel to unblock the flow of trade."

He added that the risk of transmission of a solitary driver sitting in a cab alone is "very low" and called British supermarket supply chains "strong and robust."

On the Pfizer vaccine, Johnson said half a million people have now received their first dose in the UK. 

He gave the press briefing after chairing an emergency COBRA meeting at Downing Street to address the fallout of the new international travel restrictions. 

Speaking alongside the PM, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said there were around 500 lorries queuing on a motorway near the port of Dover last night but that’s now down to about 170.

The first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine will arrive in Chile this week, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced Monday.  

The Ministry of Health confirmed 587,488 cases of coronavirus and 16,197 deaths as of Monday. 

The coronavirus variant reported in South Africa is different than the variant causing so much concern in the United Kingdom, the World Health Organization’s technical lead for Covid-19, Maria van Kerkhove, said Monday.

She said that preliminary results by South African researchers have been shared with the WHO’s virus evolution working group. 

"They're currently growing the virus in South Africa so that more studies can be done similar to the studies that I just mentioned about the UK, so it does sound confusing that they're the same virus, but these are actual different variants," she said. 

Remember: There is no evidence the new coronavirus variants are any more virulent, meaning they do not cause more severe disease. They do not appear to impact the effects of treatments or the protection offered by vaccines

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