Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UAE Reports Chinese Vaccine Has 86% Efficacy, No Serious Safety Issues
With an 86% efficacy rate, the vaccine would almost meet the high bar set by Western front-runners, but those companies have disclosed more detail. It鈥檚 part of President Xi Jinping鈥檚 promise to make any Chinese shot a 鈥済lobal public good鈥 as part of the effort to rehabilitate the Asian country鈥檚 image after the pandemic emerged from its city of Wuhan. (12/9)
Morocco is gearing up for an ambitious COVID-19 vaccination program, aiming to vaccinate 80% of its adults in an operation starting this month that鈥檚 relying initially on a Chinese vaccine that has not yet completed advanced trials to prove it is safe and effective. On Tuesday, King Mohammed VI instructed the government to make the vaccine free, according to a Royal Palace statement. (El Barakah, 12/8)
In other vaccine developments around the globe 鈥
Israel received its first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in front of the just-landed DHL plane, pledging to be the first inoculated as soon as the drug is approved by American regulators. The initial shipment from Brussels included thousands of doses of the vaccine expected to get a final greenlight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in coming days. Up to 4 million doses are expected in Israel by the end of the month, according to media reports. (Hendrix and Rubin, 12/9)
India鈥檚 Health Ministry has announced that some COVID-19 vaccines are likely to receive licenses in the next few weeks and outlined an initial plan to immunize 300 million people. Health officials said Tuesday that three vaccine companies have applied for early approval for emergency use in India: Serum Institute of India, which has been licensed to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine, Pfizer Inc., and Indian manufacturer Bharat Biotech. (Ghosal, 12/9)
Iran鈥檚 President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that U.S. sanctions are making it difficult for Iran to purchase medicine and health supplies from abroad, including COVID-19 vaccines needed to contain the worst outbreak in the Middle East. President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran鈥檚 banking sector and its vital oil and gas industry since unilaterally withdrawing the U.S. from Iran鈥檚 nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. (12/9)
