Vishnu Narayanan
10th November 2020
Promising results from a coronavirus vaccine trial sparked hopes worldwide on Tuesday as tighter restrictions were imposed in the Middle East and Europe to try and control the worst pandemic in a century. The news of the vaccine brought some relief apart from the devastating news, including the death of veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat at the age of 65, after getting infected by Covid-19.
A vaccine is seen as the best chance to break the deadly virus cycle and the severe restrictions implemented worldwide since Covid-19 first emerged in China late last year and unleashed devastation on the global economy. Despite the encouraging news on the medical front, rising infection and death rates have left many governments struggling to cope. Bamlanivimab, a drug that was shown to reduce the effects of Covid-19, is the first major drug to be approved that was designed specifically for the Coronavirus.
Pfizer's vaccine claims to be 90% effective according to the various scientists (Source- commons.wikimedia)
The news of the vaccine is a huge relief to people in Europe, where the situation is much grim at the moment. Hungary was and still is now one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe regarding deaths proportionate to its population. The government announced new restrictions to come into force on Wednesday. Russia had surpassed the record of daily infections again earlier this Monday, which makes the situation even more concerning.
The US remains the hardest-hit nation at more than 10 million cases and nearly 240,000 deaths. The pandemic was also one of the issues with the topmost priorities given to the election campaign this year. Joe Biden announced a COVID-19 taskforce earlier this week after being declared the president-elect of the United States. Experts had previously suggested a vaccine that prevented more than 50% of cases would likely be approved. On the other hand, Trump often argued with his own government experts regarding the precautionary measures needed for the current pandemic and claimed without evidence that news of the vaccine was delayed until after the election to damage and alter the elections.
Top scientists highly praise Pfizer and biotech firm BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine. Hailed as a breakthrough in the search for a coronavirus vaccine, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has been found to be more than 90% effective. "We are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis," Pfizer chairman Albert Bourla said as reported by The News. Many scientists claim that these results would prevent people from developing the Coronavirus. The UK has secured 40 million doses in a total of the vaccine, and by next year, they will take a total of 1.3 billion doses produced if they are approved.
The Coronavirus, till now, has infected nearly 50 million people worldwide, with a devastating 1.2 million deaths. This has correlated with an expected increase in daily confirmed cases; however, deaths have remained incredibly low, with the case fatality rate at just 0.36% as of 10 November.
(Sources- The News, Times of Travel, Live Mint, Business Standard)
Edited by- Nivedita Dutta