British grandma is first in world to get Pfizer vaccine outside trial
By Kate Holton LONDON: Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother, on Tuesday became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shot outside of a trial as Britain began vaccinating its population. An early riser, Keenan received the vaccine at her local hospital in Coventry, central England, on Tuesday morning at 0631 […]
Joe Biden’s health team offers glimpse of his COVID-19 strategy
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR WASHINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden’s choices for his health care team point to a stronger federal role in the nation’s COVID-19 strategy, restoration of a guiding stress on science and an emphasis on equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments. With Monday’s announcement of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as his health secretary and […]
AP sources: Joe Biden picks Lloyd Austin as secretary of defense
By ROBERT BURNS, MICHAEL BALSAMO, JONATHAN LEMIRE and ZEKE MILLER WASHINGTON:President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon. Biden selected Austin over the […]
Moscow starts mass COVID-19 vaccination with its Sputnik V shot
MOSCOW:Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V COVID-19 shot via 70 clinics on Saturday, marking Russia’s first mass vaccination against the disease, the city’s coronavirus task force said. The task force said the Russian-made vaccine would first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they ran the highest risk […]
Joe Biden officially secures enough electors to become president
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD and NICHOLAS RICCARDI California certified its presidential election Friday and appointed 55 electors pledged to vote for Democrat Joe Biden, officially handing him the Electoral College majority needed to win the White House. Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s formal approval of Biden’s win in the state brought his tally of pledged […]
UK government backs London Crossrail project with extra £825 million
LONDON: The British government said on Tuesday it would provide Transport for London, the capital’s public transport operator, with a grant worth 825 million pounds ($1.10 billion) to help it pay for the completion of the city’s Crossrail project. The opening of Crossrail, which runs east to west connecting London’s Canary Wharf financial district with […]
Pfizer-BioNTech seek EU emergency approval for COVID-19 vaccine, target December rollout
By Ludwig Burger FRANKFURT: Pfizer Inc and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine could be rolled out in Europe this month, the companies said on Tuesday after they applied for EU emergency approval for the shot. The application to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) comes days after the companies applied for emergency use of their vaccine in the […]
AstraZeneca sells former blockbuster cholesterol drug for $320 million
By Aakash B AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it would sell rights to its erstwhile blockbuster cholesterol drug, Crestor, to German pharmaceutical company Gruenenthal GmbH for an upfront payment of $320 million as the British drugmaker focuses on its cancer treatments portfolio. Crestor, which brought in revenue of over $5 billion for AstraZeneca in 2015, was […]
Donald Trump science adviser Scott Atlas leaving White House job
By ZEKE MILLER WASHINGTON: Dr. Scott Atlas, a science adviser to President Donald Trump who was skeptical of measures to control the coronavirus outbreak, is leaving his White House post. A White House official confirmed that the Stanford University neuroradiologist, who had no formal experience in public health or infectious diseases, resigned at the end […]
Joe Biden weighs Rahm Emanuel for transportation secretary
By AAMER MADHANI and ZEKE MILLER CHICAGO: President-elect Joe Biden is considering former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a substantial and somewhat divisive figure in Democratic Party politics, to serve as his transportation secretary. Biden’s selection of his nominee to lead the Transportation Department is not believed to be imminent and Emanuel is among multiple candidates […]
Top secret: Joe Biden gets access to President’s Daily Brief
By DEB RIECHMANN and ZEKE MILLER WILMINGTON: Joe Biden has had his first look as president-elect at the President’s Daily Brief, a top secret summary of U.S. intelligence and world events — a document former first lady Michelle Obama has called “The Death, Destruction, and Horrible Things Book.” Biden has already had eyes on different […]
Wisconsin, Arizona certify Joe Biden wins in presidential vote
By SCOTT BAUER, JONATHAN J. COOPER and TERRY TANG Two battleground states, Wisconsin and Arizona, certified their presidential election results Monday in favor of Joe Biden, even as President Donald Trump’s legal team continued to dispute the results. Biden’s victory in Wisconsin was certified following a partial recount that only added to his 20,600-vote margin […]
Q&A: Where are we in the COVID-19 vaccine race?
Large global trials of several COVID-19 vaccine candidates involving tens of thousands of participants are well underway with some having gathered sufficient data to seek emergency use authorisation. The following is what we know about the race to deliver vaccines to help end the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 1.45 million lives worldwide: […]
Moderna to seek U.S. and EU authorization for its vaccine
NEW DELHI: Moderna has announced that the primary efficacy analysis of the Phase 3 study of mRNA-1273 conducted on 196 cases confirms the high efficacy observed at the first interim analysis. The data analysis indicates a vaccine efficacy of 94.1%. Safety data continue to accrue and the study continues to be monitored by an independent, […]
Two coronavirus vaccines available in U.S. in coming weeks: Health secretary
WASHINGTON: The first two vaccines against the novel coronavirus could be available to Americans before Christmas, Health Secretary Alex Azar said on Monday, after Moderna Inc became the second vaccine maker likely to receive U.S. emergency authorization. The Food and Drug Administration’s outside advisers will meet on Dec. 10 to consider authorizing Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 […]
Britain bans new Huawei 5G kit installation from September 2021
LONDON: British telecommunications firms must not install new Huawei 5G kit after September 2021, the government said on Monday, as part of a plan to purge the Chinese firm’s equipment from high-speed mobile networks. Britain has already ordered all Huawei equipment to be removed from its 5G network by the end of 2027, falling in […]