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Post by Admin on Jan 5, 2021 5:18:03 GMT
NBC Nightly News Broadcast (Full) - January 4th, 2021
Long lines and frustration over slow vaccine rollout, England to enter new lockdown as Covid variant spreads, and Electoral College challenge leaves Republican Party divided.
Watch “NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt” at 6:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. CT (or check your local listings).
00:00 Intro
1:48 Long Lines & Frustration Over Slow Vaccine Rollout
3:31 Pharmacist Accused Of Destroying 500 Doses Appears In Court
3:46 U.S. May Authorize Twi More Vaccines In Coming Months
4:20 U.K. Orders New Lockdown As Covid Variant Spreads
5:02 First Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Shots Given In U.K.
5:23 U.K. Orders New Lockdown As Covid Variant Spreads
6:15 U.S. Braces For Post-Holiday Covid Surge
8:28 Trump Caught On Tape Pressuring Georgia Election Chief
10:22 Trump & Biden In Georgia Ahead Of Senate Runoffs
10:42 Did Trump's Controversial Phone Call Break The Law?
11:38 Electoral College Challenge Divides Republican Party
13:24 10 Ex-Defense Secretaries Issue Stark Election Warning
14:54 Gas Prices Spike For First Time Since Pandemic Hit
16:22 Best 2021 Diets To Keep Your New Year's Resolution
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Post by Admin on Jan 9, 2021 4:05:46 GMT
'Prince William Speaks With Frontline NHS Workers Battling Coronavirus Pandemic' Prince William spoke to staff from Homerton University Hospital via video call to hear more about their experiences responding to the coronavirus pandemic. In the past week, the hospital staff have seen their highest number of admissions since the outbreak began, with over 200 patients. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge became joint Patrons of NHS Charities Together in December 2020.  Prince William is starting the New Year just as he finished the last one — by reaching out to healthcare workers who are coping with the coronavirus pandemic and thanking them for their continued efforts as hospitals are under strain yet again. William called Homerton University hospital in London on Thursday to talk with health workers about how they are facing the challenges of the new wave of COVID-19 cases that have swept the country. On Friday, the U.K. announced its highest daily number of COVID-related deaths of the pandemic, with 1,325 fatalities. He also spoke with them about the mental health support they are receiving as they face severe strain amid the pandemic. In the past week, Homerton Hospital has seen its highest number of admissions since the pandemic began, with over 200 COVID patients currently being cared for. Staffers have moved to new roles within the hospital to cope with the ongoing pressure on frontline workers. Those staffers told William, 38, about the difficulties they are currently facing, and how this time compares to their experiences during previous spikes in transmission rates. |
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Post by Admin on Jan 28, 2021 22:09:52 GMT
The EU has urged pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to supply it with more doses of its Covid-19 vaccine from UK plants, amid a row over shortages.
The company has infuriated the bloc by saying it can deliver only a fraction of the doses it promised for the first quarter of the year.
It blames production issues at European plants, but the EU says doses made elsewhere should make up the shortfall.
The EU has been criticised for the slow rollout of its vaccinations.
The contract between the EU and AstraZeneca contains a confidentiality clause but the EU has asked the company to release the details nevertheless.
Reports said last week that the EU would get 60% fewer doses of the vaccine than promised for January-March 2021.
The EU reiterated its position after the two sides met on Wednesday evening to try to resolve the issue.
Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides tweeted that the EU regretted the "continued lack of clarity on the delivery schedule".
"We will work with the company to find solutions and deliver vaccines rapidly for EU citizens," she said.
An AstraZeneca spokesman said the company had "committed to even closer co-ordination to jointly chart a path for the delivery of our vaccine over the coming months".
Pfizer/BioNTech, which has an even bigger vaccine-production deal with the EU, is also experiencing delays.
French drug maker Sanofi has announced that it will help produce 125 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab by the end of the year.
The company will allow Germany-based BioNTech to use its facilities in Frankfurt from July, Sanofi said in a statement, having delayed the development of its own vaccine.
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Post by Admin on Jan 30, 2021 6:27:04 GMT
The European Union on Friday placed temporary controls on the export of coronavirus vaccines made inside the bloc, following a spat with British pharma giant AstraZeneca and wider supply issues. It has been dealt two massive blows recently with Pfizer saying it would be temporarily lowering production while it upgraded its production capacity at its Belgian plant. Last week, AstraZeneca also said it would be delivering far fewer doses to the EU in the spring than initially expected, due to production issues at its plants in the Netherlands and Belgium. After pressuring AstraZeneca this week to honor its commitments, and then urging the firm to move vaccines made in the U.K. into the bloc, the EU confirmed on Friday it was implementing temporary controls.  “Protecting the health of our citizens remains our utmost priority, and we must put in place the necessary measures to ensure we achieve this,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday. “This transparency and authorization mechanism is temporary, and we will of course continue to uphold our commitments towards low- and middle-income countries.” The controls are expected to last until the end of March. The bloc also triggered article 16 of its Brexit agreement with the U.K., meaning exports cannot be sent to Northern Ireland which could potentially be used as a back door to the rest of the country. J&J’s Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels on vaccine candidate results “This time-limited and targeted system covers only those Covid-19 vaccines that were agreed by Advanced Purchase Agreements with the EU,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s executive vice president and commissioner for trade. |
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Post by Admin on Jan 30, 2021 19:34:59 GMT
 French President Emmanual Macron said Friday the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine appeared to be "quasi-ineffective" on people older than 65 — just hours before the EU's drugs regulator approved it for use on all adults. "The real problem on AstraZeneca is that it doesn’t work the way we were expecting it to," Macron told a group of reporters, including POLITICO, in Paris. "We’re waiting for the EMA [European Medicines Agency] results, but today everything points to thinking it is quasi-ineffective on people older than 65, some say those 60 years or older." Later in the day, the EMA gave the vaccine the green light. It said: "There are not yet enough results in older participants (over 55 years old) to provide a figure for how well the vaccine will work in this group. However, protection is expected, given that an immune response is seen in this age group and based on experience with other vaccines; as there is reliable information on safety in this population, EMA’s scientific experts considered that the vaccine can be used in older adults." German experts said Thursday that people aged 65 or older should not be given the AstraZeneca coronavirus jab, dealing another blow to European vaccination efforts. The draft recommendation from a committee that advises the country’s public health institute stated that more data is needed to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine in this age group. AstraZeneca rejected the German experts’ view, stating that the latest analysis of the clinical trial data in fact supports efficacy in those over 65 and that this information is expected to be published by the EMA in the coming days. A spokesperson added that reports of efficacy being low in adults over 65 is “not an accurate reflection of the totality of the data.” Macron said problems with the AstraZeneca jab will complicate the vaccination strategy in the EU, given that it is largely based on prioritizing vaccinating the senior population and healthcare workers. He said another unforeseen twist was that the vaccines that are more complicated to produce and store — those based on the mRNA technology that had never been used before to produce a vaccine — are the ones that appear to perform best. "What no one foresaw, which is both wonderful and one of the aspects of this crisis, is that the vaccines that worked best were the most complicated… meaning in this crisis we’re saying the Twingo is taking longer to produce than the Tesla that we had never produced before," he said, comparing the basic Renault model with Tesla's electric car. Although France is home to the Pasteur Institute which cracked the HIV virus and is named after the inventor of the rabies vaccine, and to other Big Pharma companies like Sanofi, no French lab has produced an approved COVID-19 vaccine yet. Macron questioned the strategy by some countries, including the U.K., to prioritize a first dose of a vaccine whose effectiveness is based on two doses taken within 28 days. |
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