Adar Poonawalla made big promises. The 40-year-old chief of the world’s largest vaccine maker pledged to take a leading role in the global effort to inoculate the poor against Covid-19. His India-based empire signed deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars to make and export doses to suffering countries. Those promises have fallen apart. India, engulfed in a coronavirus second wave, is laying claim to his vaccines. Other countries and aid groups are now racing to find scarce doses elsewhere. At home, politicians and the public have castigated Mr. Poonawalla and his company, the Serum Institute of India, for raising prices mid-pandemic. Serum has suffered production problems that have kept it from expanding output at a time when India needs every dose. He has come under criticism for departing to London amid the crisis, though he said it was only a quick trip. He told a British newspaper he had received threats from politicians and some of India’s “most powerful men,”
Christy Zahrt receiving the Pfizer vaccine at California State University, Northridge, in Los Angeles on Tuesday.Credit.Allison Zaucha for The New York Times
The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is extraordinarily effective at protecting against severe disease caused by two dangerous variants, according to two studies published Wednesday.
The studies, which are based on the real-world use of the vaccine in Qatar and Israel, suggest that the vaccine can prevent the worst outcomes including severe pneumonia and death caused by B.1.1.7, the variant first identified in the U.K., and B.1.351, the variant first identified in South Africa.
“This is really good news,” said Dr. Annelies Wilder-Smith, an infectious disease researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “At this point in time, we can confidently say that we can use this vaccine, even in the presence of circulating variants of concern.”
Covid-19: Delhi Court Rebukes Indian Government Over Oxygen Crisis
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May 3, 2021, 7:04 a.m. ETMay 3, 2021, 7:04 a.m. ET
In voting shadowed by a catastrophic surge in coronavirus cases, the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi lost a key state election. International aid has begun flowing into the country.
Oxygen cylinders outside a shop in South Delhi. A court said it would start punishing government officials for failing to deliver oxygen.Credit.Atul Loke for The New York Times
A severe shortage of medical oxygen in New Delhi, the center of power in India, has left people gasping for their final breaths in their hospital beds, a sign of government futility in its fight against a crushing Covid wave.
Oxygen cylinders outside a shop in South Delhi. A court said it would start punishing government officials for failing to deliver oxygen.Credit.Atul Loke for The New York Times
A severe shortage of medical oxygen in New Delhi, the center of power in India, has left people gasping for their final breaths in their hospital beds, a sign of government futility in its fight against a crushing Covid wave.
On Sunday, the New Delhi High Court said that it would start punishing government officials for failing to deliver oxygen after hospitals in the capital successfully sought an injunction, The Associated Press reported.
April 22, 2021, 10:22 p.m. ETApril 22, 2021, 10:22 p.m. ET
Covid-19 Live Updates: Another Green Light for Johnson & Johnson as South Africa, Like E.U., Moves Forward With Vaccine
India has set a global record for daily infections, with more than 312,000 new cases recorded in 24 hours. As weather warms, some U.S. states look to ease restrictions.
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South African health care workers were given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at a hospital in Johannesburg in March.Credit.Joao Silva/The New York Times
South Africa will resume the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to inoculate health care workers next week, offering some relief to the country that has suffered a series of blows to its vaccination efforts in recent months, according to South African authorities.