'Extraordinary': Early data shows Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90 per cent effective
This morning's big headline is the news from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which says its experimental vaccine is more than 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19 based on initial data from a large study.
The Australian government has secured 50 million more potential coronavirus vaccine doses through two new agreements – one with Novavax and a second with Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE.
Pfizer and BioNTech SE are the first drug makers to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. The companies said they have so far found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek US emergency use authorisation later this month.
If authorised, the number of vaccine doses will initially be limited. Many questions also remain including how long the vaccine will provide protection. However, the news provides hope that other vaccines in development against the novel coronavirus may also prove effective.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government's top-infectious disease expert, said the results suggesting 90 per cent effectiveness were "just extraordinary", adding: "Not very many people expected it would be as high as that."
Outgoing US President Donald Trump drew attention to Pfizer's announcement and the positive reaction in financial markets via his favourite social media medium.
"STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!" he tweeted.
An interim analysis of the Pfizer vaccine, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the US and five other countries.
The World Health Organisation's senior adviser said the vaccine development could "fundamentally change the direction of this crisis" by March.
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What do you love about Melbourne?
My colleague Greg Baum, who like many of us is relishing our newfound freedoms in Victoria, likened exercising during Melbourne's tough stage four lockdown to walking around a prison yard.
Now, the streets are buzzing again and Victorians are celebrating the 11th day in a row of no new coronavirus cases and no further deaths. Seeing people back in coffee shops – a long black in hand while ordering poached eggs and avocado sourdough – certainly brings a smile to my face. What do you love about our town?
Victorians are spending big post-lockdown
By Shane Wright
The ending of Victoria's coronavirus restrictions has been welcomed by a surge in spending across the state.
Data collected by the Commonwealth Bank from its network of debit and credit cards and released this morning showed spending in Victoria up 16 percentage points between late October and the first week of November.
Victorians are spending again on food services and buying household furnishings and equipment and clothing.
Spending across Victoria is now 15 per cent up on the same time last year, stronger than NSW (13 per cent) and in line with Queensland.
"The easing of restrictions in Victoria and the prospect of more open internal borders saw card spending surge," senior CBA economist Belinda Allen said.
"The lift in spending highlights the importance of confidence in the health outcome and the level of income support in the Australian economy at present."
In Victoria, there was a huge lift in spending on household furnishings and equipment, clothing and food services.
Personal care services, such as hairdressers, surged on the opening of restrictions. In late October, spending in this sector was 50 per cent down on a year ago. Last week, it was more than 30 per cent above.
Alcohol services (such as pubs and clubs) is still down on a year ago but also posted a big weekly increase.
Overall spending nationally was up 13 per cent on a year ago last week compared to 6 per cent in the final week of October.
Goods spending is up 21 per cent, a 5 percentage point lift from its previous reading.
But spending on services lifted 10 percentage points to now sit in positive territory.
Spending on food goods, mostly through supermarkets and grocery stores, is 19 per cent up on a year ago.
Food services spending, which includes cafes and restaurants, is up 15 per cent on the same week in 2019.
Victoria's run of zero-case days
This calendar tracks Victoria's run of zero-case and zero-death days ..
Watch live: NSW Transport Minister to make announcement about COVID-safe travel
Transport Minister Andrew Constance and Transport for NSW Chief Operations Officer Howard Collins are making an announcement about COVID-safe travel:
'We may need multiple COVID vaccines,' says doctor who created Rubella vaccine
By Ashleigh McMillan
"Early efficacy of 90 per cent is great, but for example, we don’t know whether the vaccine protects against infection so that individuals who are vaccinated won’t be able to excrete the virus and infect other people," he told Radio National this morning.
"We don’t know how long the efficacy will last, we don’t know whether it protects the elderly as well as the young.
"Although it’s very positive … as a scientist, I would have to wait for those other data before I could decide whether this is as promising as it sounds."
Dr Plotkin said there were around 10 different vaccines in deep stages of development across the world.
He said if any vaccines stop the virus multiplying in the nose, nasal passage and pharynx, it would mean COVID-19 wouldn’t be transferred to others.
"If they do, I would be very optimistic the epidemic could be stopped. If they don’t, there will still be circulation of the virus, and unvaccinated people would still be at risk.
"It may be a disease for which we use multiple vaccines … when all is said and done, we may need to vaccinate eight billion people, and that’s never been done before."
On Monday, the Morrison government announced Australia had secured 50 million more potential coronavirus vaccine doses through two new agreements – one with Novavax and a second with Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE.
Qld records one new case in hotel quarantine, 55 days of no community transmission
By Jocelyn Garcia
A young woman who returned from Turkey has tested positive for COVID-19 in hotel quarantine in Queensland.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannatte Young told ABC radio in Brisbane the new case was not surprising as COVID-19 cases around the world surpass 50 million.
"[COVID-19 is] here to stay. We’re going to have to learn to live with it but we’re starting to get those early results from the vaccine trials and that’s very encouraging," she said.
Queensland state has had no community transmission for 55 days.
British PM Boris Johnson says still too early to rely on COVID-19 vaccine
Back to some international news and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged Britons not to slacken their resolve in battling the coronavirus despite news of a vaccine on the horizon, warning that the country is now "heading towards the levels of the previous peak" in terms of COVID-19 patients in hospital.
Johnson told a televised news conference on Monday (UK time) that the number of those patients has increased to 13,000 as of November 5. Commenting on the Pfizer vaccine, he stressed that it was very early days and "we cannot let our enthusiasm tonight run away with us".
England's deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam echoed Johnson’s cautious tone, warning people not to relax and not to "get overexcited about where we are". He said he was hopeful that "we could begin to see some vaccine by Christmas," and added that when it gets to the stage when vaccines are authorised for distribution in the UK, age will be the main factor in deciding who gets priority.
A new round of tough national coronavirus restrictions in England came into effect last Thursday, forcing all restaurants, pubs and non-essential shops to shutter until December 2. Schools and universities remain open.
Victoria records 11th consecutive 'doughnut day': No new cases, no deaths
Victoria, we've done it!
The state has recorded its 11th consecutive double "doughnut day" with no new COVID cases or deaths reported, after nearly 13,000 tests were carried out yesterday.
There are four active cases remaining in the state and there is one remaining mystery case – down from one yesterday.
Utah makes faces masks mandatory as US records average of 109,000 cases per day
Deeply conservative Utah in America's west began a major shift in fighting the coronavirus pandemic this week, implementing a statewide mask mandate for the first time and planning a dramatic increase in testing.
The move came a couple of days after the presidential race was called for Democrat Joe Biden, but Republican Governor Gary Herbert said the mask mandate’s timing wasn’t political. He said it was an essential move to avoid disaster with a surge already threatening to overwhelm hospitals ahead of the holiday season.
Medical staff check on a patient at the COVID-19 intensive care unit of United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on Sunday.Credit:Bloomberg
He says politics has gotten in the way of addressing the crisis effectively.
Utah joins more than 30 other states that have implemented statewide mask orders since the pandemic began.
Governor Gary Herbert gives a thumbs up as he walks to a COVID-19 briefing Monday (US time).Credit:AP
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts announced new restrictions Monday (US time) requiring masks in certain circumstances to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but he continued to reject the idea of a statewide mask mandate.
Under the new restrictions that take effect on Wednesday, masks will be required at businesses where employees have close contact with customers for more than 15 minutes, such as salons and massage parlours. At bars, masks will be required when people aren’t drinking or eating.
"I think mask mandates just breed resistance from people," Ricketts said. "I think what we have to do is continue to educate people about when you use a mask."
Meanwhile, in the country's east, more than 700 people in Maryland were hospitalised with the coronavirus as of Monday morning (US time) - the highest since mid-June.
Of the 707 people in the hospital, the state reported 168 were in intensive care.
The US has confirmed more than 10 million coronavirus cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as infections continue to rise in nearly every state. The US hit the milestone on Monday.
New daily confirmed cases are up more than 60 per cent over the past two weeks, to an average of nearly 109,000 a day. Average daily cases are on the rise in 48 states.
The US accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s 50 million confirmed cases.
Coronavirus deaths are up 18 per cent over the past two weeks in the country, averaging 939 every day. The virus has now killed more than 237,000 Americans.
AP
'Please, I implore you, wear a mask': Biden pleads with Americans
President-elect Joe Biden, whose immediate priority in the White House will be fighting the raging coronavirus pandemic, has made a direct appeal to all Americans to wear masks.
It's a marked departure from Donald Trump, who has mocked Biden and others who make a point of always wearing protective face coverings when around others. In an official move, the President-elect formed a coronavirus advisory board dominated by scientists and doctors, while Trump has had a falling out with the medical experts on his own virus task force.
"We are still facing a dark winter," Biden said.
US President-elect Joe Biden.Credit:AP
He called on Americans to separate politics from the virus and embrace mask-wearing.
"We could save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask for the next few months. Not Democratic or Republican lives, American lives," Biden said. "Please, I implore you, wear a mask."
The advisory board that Biden announced on Monday (US time) includes doctors and scientists who have served in previous administrations, many of them experts in public health, vaccines and infectious disease.
It will be led by former Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Yale University public health care expert Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith.
Former Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy with former US president Barack Obama.Credit:Getty
Rick Bright, a vaccine expert and former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, is also on the board. He had filed a whistleblower complaint alleging he was reassigned to a lesser job because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug pushed by Trump as a COVID-19 treatment.
Other members include Dr Luciana Borio, who had senior leadership positions at the FDA and National Security Council during the Obama and Trump administrations; Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, who served as a special adviser for health policy in the Obama administration; Dr Atul Gawande, a senior adviser in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration and medical writer; and Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who served as an adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson during the George W. Bush administration.
Public health officials warn that the nation could be entering the worst stretch yet for COVID-19 as winter sets in and the holiday season approaches, increasing the risk of rapid transmission as Americans travel, shop and celebrate with loved ones.
AP
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2020-11-09 22:05:00Z
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