Joe Biden coronavirus vaccine target ‘achievable’ with 1.5m doses in 72 hours

 Dr Anthony Fauci said that President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to administer 100 million shots within his first 100 days in office is achievable
REUTERS
Matt Watts4 January 2021

China and the United States were ramping up their vaccination  programmes today while Japan was considering calling a state of emergency in the Tokyo region over its  worsening Covid crisis.

Thousands of people queued in  Beijing to receive a vaccine as China races to inoculate millions before the Chinese New Year mass travel season next month.

More than 73,000 people in the capital have received the first dose of a new vaccine over the last couple of days, state media reported, including community workers and bus drivers — as the government concentrates on protecting key groups considered to have a high risk of exposure to the virus.

The vaccine from Chinese pharma giant Sinopharm, which the company claims has a 79 per cent efficacy rate, was granted “conditional” approval on New Year’s Eve. 

Beijing has already administered around 4.5 million doses of largely unproven emergency  vaccines.

Meanwhile, the US continued to ramp up its Covid vaccination programme with Dr Anthony Fauci saying that President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to administer 100 million shots within his first 100 days in office is achievable.

Dr Fauci, one of America’s leading infectious disease experts, said he had seen “some little glimmer of hope” after 1.5 million doses were administered in the previous 72 hours, bringing the total given to about four million. 

Japan’s  Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said vaccine approval was being speeded up and border controls tightened to curb the spread of the virus as he promised to consider declaring a state of emergency. Non-essential businesses and schools could be asked to close and people encouraged to avoid non-essential outings. 

Cases have been growing in recent weeks, with more than 3,400 related deaths so far.

Worries have been growing about staging the Olympics in July, which will involve the arrival of tens of thousands of athletes, officials and media. Mr Suga stressed his determination to hold the Games, which he said will serve as “proof that people have overcome the coronavirus”, giving “hope and courage”.

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