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Moncef Slaoui, the chief science adviser for the US government’s COVID-19 vaccine effort, says scientists are still working to confirm whether the virus strain in the United Kingdom spreads more easily.
Although that could be why it has become more prevalent in the UK, Slaoui says in a briefing with reporters Monday that another possible explanation is that “seeding happened in the shadows,” before scientists started looking for it.
Animal studies are needed to confirm that the strain spreads more easily. Slaoui says that process takes several weeks.
In the meantime, he says there is no evidence the variant causes more severe disease or is more deadly. He also says the expectation is that vaccines would still be effective against the virus strain, and that scientists are working to confirm that.
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Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Aviv Kohavi warns Iran against attacking Israel, saying the Jewish state will retaliate forcefully.
“Recently, we have heard increased threats from Iran against the State of Israel. If Iran and its partners, members of the radical axis [Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Palestinian terror groups], whether in the first circle of states or the second, carry out actions against Israel they will discover their partnership to be very costly,” says Kohavi.
“The IDF will forcefully attack anyone who takes part, from near or far, in activities against the State of Israel or Israeli targets. I am saying this plainly and am describing the situation as it is the response and all the plans have been prepared and practiced,” he adds.
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The European Medicines Agency says that it had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for inoculations to start across the EU within days.
“I am delighted to announce that the EMA scientific committee met today and recommended a conditional marketing authorization in the EU for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech,” EMA chief Emer Cooke tells an online press conference. I m proud to work at The Times of Israel
I’ll tell you the truth: Life here in Israel isn’t always easy. But it s full of beauty and meaning.
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The Knesset House Committee approves a bill to briefly delay the upcoming state budget deadline and avoid going to new elections.
The bill which requires three votes will go up for its first vote in the plenum later this evening, according to Hebrew media reports.
It would delay the deadline to pass a budget for this year from December 23 to December 31. The deadline for approving a budget covering 2021 would be January 5. I m proud to work at The Times of Israel
I’ll tell you the truth: Life here in Israel isn’t always easy. But it s full of beauty and meaning.
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The Knesset will still vote tonight on whether to delay the budget deadline despite the total breakdown of talks between Blue and White and Likud.
The bill is up for its first vote. I m proud to work at The Times of Israel
I’ll tell you the truth: Life here in Israel isn’t always easy. But it s full of beauty and meaning.
I m proud to work at The Times of Israel alongside colleagues who pour their hearts into their work day in, day out, to capture the complexity of this extraordinary place.
I believe our reporting sets an important tone of honesty and decency that s essential to understand what s really happening in Israel. It takes a lot of time, commitment and hard work from our team to get this right.