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For thousands of years, humans have been using traditional modification methods like selective breeding and cross-breeding to breed plants and animals with more desirable traits. For example, early farmers developed cross-breeding methods to grow corn with a range of colors, sizes, and uses. Today’s strawberries are a cross between a strawberry species native to North America and a strawberry species native to South America.

Most of the foods we eat today were created through traditional breeding methods. But changing plants and animals through traditional breeding can take a long time, and it is difficult to make very specific changes. After scientists developed genetic engineering in the 1970s, they were able to make similar changes in a more specific way and in a shorter amount of time.

During an event hosted by the National Urban League on Tuesday, Dr. Fauci, the nation’s leading Infectious diseases expert, emphasized the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. He also took the time to spotlight 34-year-old Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett as a lead scientist behind one of the vaccines’ development.

“The very vaccine that’s one of the two that has absolutely exquisite levels — 94 to 95% efficacy against clinical disease and almost 100% efficacy against serious disease that are shown to be clearly safe — that vaccine was actually developed in my institute’s vaccine research center by a team of scientists led by Dr. Barney Graham and his close colleague, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, or Kizzy Corbett,” Dr. Fauci said.

Corbett received a B.S. in Biological Sciences, with a secondary major in Sociology, in 2008 from the University of Maryland – Baltimore County, then got her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in 2014 at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. According to a report by CNN, Corbett is lead scientist for coronavirus vaccine research at the National Institute of Health, and part of a team that worked with the biotechnology company Moderna to develop one of the two vaccines expected to receive emergency authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month — the other being from Pfizer. (The FDA may grant emergency authorization to Pfizer by Friday evening.)

Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of the pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened 71 million worldwide.

Initially, about 3 million doses were expected to be sent out, and the priority is health care workers and nursing home residents as infections, hospitalizations and deaths soar in the U.S. With numbers likely to get worse over the holidays, the vaccine is offering a bright spot in the fight against the pandemic that’s killed nearly 300,000 Americans.

Federal officials say the first shipments of Pfizer’s vaccine will be staggered, arriving in 145 distribution centers Monday, with an additional 425 sites getting shipments Tuesday, and the remaining 66 on Wednesday. The vaccine, co-developed by German partner BioNTech, is being doled out based on each state’s adult population.

Pennsylvania health care giant UPMC has chosen staff who are critical to operating its facilities as among those getting the first round of vaccinations, said Dr. Graham Snyder, who led the center’s vaccine task force.

The vaccine is heading to hospitals and other sites that can store it at extremely low temperatures — about 94 degrees below zero. Pfizer is using containers with dry ice and GPS-enabled sensors to ensure each shipment stays colder than the weather in Antarctica.

The rollout will ensure there is enough vaccine to give people the two doses needed for full protection against COVID-19. That means the government is holding back 3 million doses to give those vaccinated in the first round a second shot a few weeks later.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the vaccine Friday, saying it is highly protective and presents no major safety issues. While U.S. regulators worked for months to emphasize the rigor and independence of their review, they faced political pressure until the final stages.

Concerns that a shot was rushed out could undermine vaccination efforts in a country with deeply ingrained skepticism about vaccines. The head of the FDA said the agency’s decision was based on science, not politics, despite a White House threat to fire him if the vaccine wasn’t approved before Saturday.

While the vaccine was determined to be safe, regulators in the U.K. are investigating several severe allergic reactions. The FDA’s instructions tell providers not give it to those with a known history of severe allergic reactions to any of its ingredients.

Another vaccine by Moderna will be reviewed by an expert panel this week and soon afterward could be allowed for public use.

路透社报道，巴西卫生部在提交给最高法院的一份文件中表示，将有1.08亿剂疫苗让弱势群体优先接种，其中包括卫生工作者、老年人和原住民社群。巴西最高法院此前给巴西政府制定了公布计划的最后期限。

根据巴西政府的计划，巴西七成人口，即1.48亿人需要接种疫苗，才能阻止病毒传播。

计划指出，每个人将需要接种两剂疫苗，但没有提及开始接种疫苗的日期，也没有详细说明所需疫苗的供应情况。

巴西是全球冠病疫情第二严重的国家

As India gears up for vaccination drive, the government said that a total of 100 people is expected to get the anti-Covid-19 shots at each site per day.

In a draft SOP issued by health ministry to all states and union territoties, it stated that 100 people should be vaccinated per day at a site and if sufficient resources are available then up to 200 people can be vaccinated.

“If in any case, more than 200 people are being vaccinated within a session then a whole team of 5 people will have to be deployed separately (one vaccine officer and four vaccination officers),” it said.

A vaccination site should have three rooms or areas including waiting room, vaccination room and observation room, the SOP stated.

According to the health ministry’s plan, the coronavirus vaccine will be first given to health care workers (1 crore), frontline workers (2 crore) and people above 50 years (26 crore). After this, vaccines will be given to those below 50 years of age who are suffering from a chronic critical illness (1 crore) (for a total of 30 crore people in phase-1 planning). Based on the voter list prepared in the Lok Sabha elections and assembly elections, people above 50 years of age will be identified.

After this, the rest of the population will be given Covid-19 vaccine, whenever it is ready for public use, based on the spread and availability of this disease.

“The beneficiaries will be tracked through a digital platform called Co-WIN. All information on this platform will be updated in real time,” the draft SOP stated.

Earlier, VK Paul, who heads the group of experts on vaccine administration for Covid-19 that advises India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India will deploy its vast election machinery to deliver 600 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to the most vulnerable people in the next 6-8 months through conventional cold chain systems.