Budget 2018-19

  The terms of the deals were renegotiated after Phase 3 clinical trial data showed vaccines from the two companies are more effective than some rivals Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have raised the prices of their Covid-19 vaccines in their latest European Union supply contracts, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The new price for the Pfizer shot was 19.50 euros ($23.15) against 15.50 euros previously, the newspaper said, citing portions of the contracts seen. The price of a  Moderna vaccine  was $25.50 a dose, the contracts showed, up from about 19 euros in the first procurement deal but lower than the previously agreed $28.50 because the order had grown, the report said, citing one official close to the matter. The terms of the deals —struck this year and covering up to 2.1 billion shots until 2023 —were renegotiated after Phase 3 clinical trial data showed vaccines from the two companies are more effective than some rivals, it said. The European Commission said on T...

Ramaphosa said the vaccine would boost the fight against the pandemic South Africa has received the country’s first consignment of 1 million Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccines which arrived from the Serum Institute of India (SII). President Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President David Mabuza and Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, among other officials, lined up on the tarmac of OR Tambo airport to welcome the vaccine cargo, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. Ramaphosa said the vaccine would boost the fight against the pandemic. “Today marks a major milestone in our fight against the coronavirus pandemic as we receive our first consignment of the   Coronavirus vaccine . This batch will benefit our healthcare workers who have been at the forefront of keeping us all safe,” Ramaphosa said. “We thank all South Africans and all the researchers who have contributed toward ensuring the successful development of the vaccine,” he added. The vaccination program was said to be organised and coo...

  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to be the first person in Israel to be vaccinated against Covid-19 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to be the first person in Israel to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In a video address from quarantine, where he has been since Monday after coming in contact with a person who later tested positive for COVID-19, Netanyahu said he asked to be the first to receive the vaccine so as to demonstrate its effectiveness. “On Friday, I will leave quarantine and on Saturday evening I will go get vaccinated. I have asked to be the first person to get vaccinated in order to serve as an example and to persuade you that you can and should be vaccinated,” Netanyahu said, according to a translation posted on the Israeli government website. The Prime Minister added that millions of doses will be available to Israelis by the end of January and called on citizens not to avoid getting inoculated.  Netanyahu  explained that aft...

  Otherwise, there won’t be enough shots to go around, even in rich countries As some reports would have it, this is the beginning of the end. Three coronavirus vaccines have posted excellent results, with more expected to come. But this is not the beginning of the end; it is only the beginning of an endless wait: There aren’t enough vaccines to go around in the richest countries on earth, let alone the poorest ones. That’s why it makes little sense that the United States, Britain and the European Union, among others, are blocking a proposal at the World Trade Organization that would allow them, and the rest of the world, to get more of the  Coronavirus vaccines  and treatments we all need. The proposal, put forward by India and South Africa in October, calls on the WTO to exempt member countries from enforcing some patents, trade secrets or pharmaceutical monopolies under the organisation’s agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights, known as TRIPs. It cites...

  The primary analysis, which included 196 cases, found the vaccine was 94.1 per cent effective, in line with preliminary findings released earlier this month. Moderna Inc plans to request clearance for its coronavirus vaccine in the United States and Europe on Monday, after a new analysis showed the vaccine was highly effective in preventing Covid-19, with no serious safety problems. The primary analysis, which included 196 cases, found the vaccine was 94.1 per cent effective, in line with preliminary findings released earlier this month. None of the participants in the trial who’d received the vaccine developed severe Covid-19. All 30 severe cases observed in the study occurred in participants who received placebo shots, according to a company statement. The shares extended their gains to as much as 12 per cent before US markets opened, hitting a record of $142.85. They have risen more than sixfold since the year began. The new results put the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biote...