'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.
Latest updates
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
Former AMA president backs mass testing, defends mandatory face masks
By Josh Dye
Former Australian Medical Association president Tony Bartone has backed the COVID-19 testing blitz of 500,000 asymptomatic people in Melbourne’s north and west.
"We have got to be very much on our guard and seek it out now. We can’t wait for cases to appear," he told Nine's Today show.
Dr Tony Bartone, former president of the Australian Medical Association.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
"Because now this is almost as dangerous a period as we have come out of, where we can potentially become complacent."
Dr Bartone defended face masks remaining mandatory in Melbourne, saying they are "a really important tool".
Wearing masks outdoors will remain mandatory in Victoria for the time being.Credit:Joe Armao
He said as the numbers of cases reduce "we can start to look forward to being able to dispense with masks" in outdoor areas.
Dr Bartone also said the news overnight about the 90 per cent success rate of Pfizer’s vaccine was "really positive".
"This is one of many vaccines in the final phase of that testing, of coming to the final point where we can really mass produce it and get it out into the population," he said.
Front pages of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald
Huge new COVID testing blitz to target Melbourne's north and west
By Sumeyya Ilanbey and Noel Towell
Victorian health officials will launch a mass testing blitz in Melbourne’s north and west in a bid to find any remaining COVID-19 cases among the 500,000 people who live in two of the city's most populous council areas.
Health Department officials met with Hume and Wyndham council officers at the weekend, sources close to the discussions have confirmed, to discuss the best way to roll out the testing program.
The blitz will be Victoria's first widespread asymptomatic testing for coronavirus – meaning anyone will be tested whether they have symptoms or not.
Until now regular testing of the general population has generally been of people with coronavirus symptoms, no matter how mild.
Wyndham and Hume, along with Brimbank in Melbourne's west, have been hardest hit in Victoria in terms of coronavirus infections. Wyndham has recorded 2265 cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while 1661 Hume residents have been diagnosed with the illness.
The testing drive is intended to pick up any undetected cases that might still exist in those former COVID hotspots. It would be the biggest single testing effort the state has attempted so far during the coronavirus pandemic.
It will dwarf the largest testing blitz the Andrews government undertook across Melbourne in late June, when coronavirus cases slowly began increasing. The aim then was to swab 100,000 people over 10 days in 10 “problem” suburbs, including Broadmeadows.
After Victoria's success, NSW now poses greater COVID risk
By Aisha Dow
Victoria has been the national pariah for months, its residents enduring lonely weeks of isolation as other states closed their borders when coronavirus cases soared during the state's second wave.
But that balance has shifted. Victoria, which has recorded no new cases for 10 consecutive days, is now considered more at risk from NSW when it comes to outbreaks, rather than the other way around, experts say.
Masks remain mandatory in Victoria despite the state boasting a lower number of active cases than NSW.Credit:Getty
One leading epidemiologist has even suggested there is an argument for Victoria to close the border to NSW, which is set to reopen on November 23 for the first time since July.
"You don’t want any more cases in Victoria after all that sacrifice, even though the risk is low," said Adrian Esterman, professor of biostatistics at the University of South Australia.
"It’s really a balance or a trade-off. Opening up the borders will allow people to see their relatives and friends and improve the economy with visitors, but there is that risk. It’s really up to [Victoria’s] modellers to work out if that risk is worth it."
Victoria has recorded just six cases of coronavirus in the past fortnight, with the drop in cases prompting a further easing of restrictions from Monday, removing limits on the distance people in Melbourne can travel and allowing them to visit regional Victoria.
In comparison, NSW has recorded 18 locally acquired cases and 38 cases remain active, compared with just four in Victoria.
A number of other states still accepting international travellers are also reporting more active cases than Victoria, including South Australia, where 18 of 19 active infections were acquired overseas. Queensland has eight active cases and Western Australia has 10.
A holiday for Victoria's CHO Brett Sutton
Following Victoria's run of 10 consecutive double "doughnut days" of no new COVID cases and no deaths, the state's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has announced he is taking a holiday.
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton is taking a holiday.Credit:Getty
Professor Sutton rapidly became a local cult figure during the state's second coronavirus wave, with people selling doona covers and pillowcases with his face on them.
He will be relieved by Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng.
Trump campaign adviser Bossie tests positive for COVID-19, sources say
Keeping with news from the US for a moment, where there's more bad news for outgoing President Donald Trump.
The lawyer charged with leading Trump's post-election legal challenges, David Bossie, has tested positive for COVID-19, a source familiar with the matter said.
David Bossie reportedly tested positive for COBVID-19 at the White House.
Bossie, a prominent conservative activist who leads advocacy group Citizens United, tested positive on Sunday, joining White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Housing Secretary Ben Carson as victims of the latest coronavirus outbreak to touch the White House. Bossie was picked to lead the legal challenges to Trump's election loss.
Bossie has been in the campaign headquarters in Virginia several times in the last week and has also travelled extensively, according to American news outlet CNN.
Reuters
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2020-11-09 21:39:00Z
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