There is one new COVID-19 related death in Oregon, raising the states death toll to 2,509, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority reported 808 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 188,417.
Vaccinations in Oregon
Today, OHA reported that 30,994 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 21,621 doses were administered on May 4 and 9,373 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on May 4.
The 7-day running average is now 31,644 doses per day.
Oregon has now administered a total of 1,687,447 first and second doses of Pfizer, 1,334,561 first and second doses of Moderna and 99,793 single doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of today, 1,331,526 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 1,885,466 who have had at least one dose.
Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. OHA has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the states ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).
To date, 2,062,125 doses of Pfizer, 1,680,800 doses of Moderna and 241,900 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to sites across Oregon.
These data are preliminary and subject to change.
OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data, and Oregons dashboard has been updated today.
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 330, which is 15 fewer than yesterday. There are 83 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is four more than yesterday.
The total number of COVID-19 positive patient bed-days in the most recent seven days is 2,371, which is a 12.1% increase from the previous seven days. The peak daily number of beds occupied by COVID-19 positive patients in the most recent seven days is 351.
The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.
Cases and deaths
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (4), Benton (17), Clackamas (119), Clatsop (2), Columbia (6), Crook (16), Curry (1), Deschutes (81), Douglas (12), Grant (2), Hood River (5), Jackson (40), Jefferson (3), Josephine (18), KIamath (37), Lake (3), Lane (43), Lincoln (1), Linn (36), Malheur (7), Marion (59), Morrow (2), Multnomah (164), Polk (15), Tillamook (2), Umatilla (8), Union (1), Wallowa (2), Wasco (1), Washington (84) and Yamhill (17).
Oregons 2,509th COVID-19 death is a 41-year-old man from Lane County who tested positive on Nov. 18, 2020 and died on Jan. 1, 2021 at his residence. He had underlying conditions.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Ninety-nine new total COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths were announced by theSouth Dakota Department of Healthon Wednesday.
According to the latest update, there are 102 current hospitalizations, compared to Tuesday (103). Total hospitalizations are at 7,417.
Active cases are now at 1,385, down from Tuesday (1,445).
The states total case count is now at 123,073, up from Tuesday (122,974).
Total recovered cases are now at 119,712 compared to 119,556 on Tuesday.
Three new deaths were reported by the Department of Health on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 1,976. The new deaths were two women and one man in the following age ranges: 60-69 (1) and 80+ (2) in Kingsbury, Lake and Todd counties.
As of Wednesday, there have been 97 cases of B.1.1.7 variant found in South Dakota. There are two cases of the B.1.351 variant and 13 cases of B.1.429. One case of B.1.427 and two cases of P.1 have been reported.
Total persons who tested negative is now at 345,925, up from Tuesday (345,347).
There were 677 new persons tested in the data reported Wednesday for a new persons-tested positivity rate of 14.6%.
The latest seven-day PCR test positivity rate reported by the DOH is 6.2%. The latest one-day PCR test positivity rate is 5.9%.
According to the DOH, 319,609 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered with 17,387 doses of the Janssen vaccine and 267,907 of the Moderna vaccine given out to a total number of 331,863 persons.
There have been 123,149 persons who have completed two doses of Moderna and 149,869 who have received two doses of Pfizer, according to the DOH.
As of Wednesday, 55.23% of the population eligible for the vaccine in South Dakota has received at least one dose while 47.96% have completed the vaccination series.
Vaccines are currently being given to anyone 16-year-old and above in South Dakota.
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To the relief of cash-strapped restaurants and residents desperate for a return to normalcy despite a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday announced that by the end of the week shell lift a set of extreme risk restrictions that have stifled businesses in 15 counties across Oregon.
Whats more, Brown said she doesnt expect to restore those restrictions again during the pandemic.
The extreme risk restrictions have been in place in the 15 counties only since last Friday, but the governor said Tuesday they will be removed this Friday because one of her pre-set metrics had not been met: The seven-day average of hospitalized COVID-19 patients statewide grew by only 14.9% -- not the necessary 15%. The state wont implement extreme risk conditions on new counties because of this missed metric, either.
If the number of hospitalized patients had increased by just two more people over the past week, the 15% requirement would have been met and all 15 counties -- plus at least two new ones -- would have fallen under extended extreme risk public safety measures by the end of the week.
Based on todays numbers, I am keeping my commitment to Oregonians, Brown said in a statement Tuesday. ... I know this will bring relief to many across the state.
Brown and public health officials linked the strictest business restrictions to three metrics: high coronavirus case rates at the county level; statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations above 300; and COVID-19 hospitalizations increasing weekly by at least 15%.
Until Tuesday, it appeared restrictions would remain in counties identified last week as well as a few others based on their increasing local case rates.
But a slight dip in reported hospitalizations Tuesday -- to 345 COVID-19 patients -- slowed Oregons overall growth rate, meaning one of Browns criteria had no longer been met.
Browns decision to initially place counties in extreme risk last week drew intense criticism from many Oregonians, even though hospitalizations at the time had climbed by 37% in a week. Tuesday, she appeared to struggle with her decision to remove the designation starting this Friday.
She didnt announce her decision until after 5 p.m. Tuesday -- several hours later than she typically has announced changes to county risk levels and restrictions in the past. Officials had declined throughout the afternoon to address what changes would be made.
Asked if Brown considered keeping restrictions in place or extending them, Charles Boyle, a spokesman for the governor, would not directly answer.
I think its fair to say there were internal discussions to review the data and discuss what that would mean for county risk level changes, he said in a text message.
Multnomah and Clackamas counties now will be among the 15 counties allowed to reopen indoor dining rooms at 25% capacity come Friday, among other loosening restrictions, as the counties drop into a high risk designation. Washington County, which would have moved into extreme risk because of its rising cases of COVID-19 over the past two weeks, will remain at high risk.
Brown said she doesnt expect any counties to be designated as extreme risk again because of the growing number of Oregonians getting vaccinated. Tuesday, that stood at about 32% fully vaccinated and 46% at least partially vaccinated, roughly in line with the national averages.
Let me be clear: Across the state, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are still high, and Oregon is not out of the woods yet, the governor said. ... Vaccinations are still our best path to protecting our loved ones, and staying on track to fully reopen our economy by the end of June.
Oregons fourth surge in coronavirus cases began in March, like much the rest of the nation. But Oregon is among a minority of states bucking a national trend of declining coronavirus cases in the past few weeks.
Last week, new known cases grew faster in Oregon than anywhere else in the country. And while Oregon has had the third lowest number of known infections per capita since the beginning of the pandemic, it ranks 12th highest over the past two weeks. New infections have increased 16% over that time period.
But over the past four days, the seven-day rolling average of new infections has dropped and officials are hopeful the tide is turning in the state.
Under the extreme risk designation, restaurants and bars in counties representing nearly 70% of Oregonians were prohibited from offering indoor dining. Gyms, movie theaters, concert halls, bowling alleys and indoor swimming pools were allowed up to six patrons at a time. But businesses could service up to 100 customers outdoors at a time, a number some businesses such as restaurants said didnt help because they dont have the outdoor space.
The affected counties are: Baker, Clackamas, Columbia, Crook, Deschutes, Grant, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk and Wasco. At least two other counties -- Washington and Benton -- would have moved to extreme risk if hospitalizations had grown by 15%.
Under the more lenient high risk restrictions, businesses -- including restaurants, bars, gyms, bowling alleys, movie theaters, concert halls and indoor pools -- are allowed to operate at a maximum of 25% capacity or 50 people indoors, whichever is smaller. (See the full list of restrictions here.)
Jason Brandt, president of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, said Browns loosening grip on the dining industry is a huge relief to thousands of business owners and tens of thousands of workers in our industry. Some owners, he said, had been tracking the number of hospitalizations and percentage increases daily.
Brandt added that with the busiest day of the year in the restaurant industry falling on Sunday, May 9, the changes will come in the nick of time.
Just in time, he said, for Mothers Day.
Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter
-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
People wait in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Mumbai, India, on 29 April.
By Priyanka PullaMay. 4, 2021 , 12:10 PM
Reporting for this story was supported by a journalism grant from the Thakur Family Foundation, which has not influenced the contents of this report.
Indian researchers say they urgently need better access to data collected by government agencies to help them understand and fight the countrys devastating second pandemic wave. An open letter published on 29 April that has 740 signatories so far asks the government for access to databases on COVID-19 testing and genomic sequencing and urges it to remove other obstacles to research.
There are currently so many hurdles and so much paperwork around accessing these data, says Partha Pratim Majumder, a genetic epidemiologist at the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in West Bengal and one of letters signers.
The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, K. VijayRaghavan, released a note the next day acknowledging the problems and promising to increase access. Our broader research community needs to be much more facilitated by our research agencies, the letter said. But some scientists are skeptical that the situation will improve quickly; the note was low on details and previous requests for data from government agencies have often gone unanswered, they say. Why the Indian government is so reticent to share data is unclear.
The government has collected detailed data on some aspects of the pandemic. For example, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the countrys top medical research agency, captures demographic details such as age, location, and health status of everyone who submits a sample for a COVID-19 test. The data could help answer key questions, such as whether people with certain concurrent illnesses are more likely to have worse outcomes and whether vaccines are working, says Gagandeep Kang, a public health microbiologist at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, who also signed the letter. Lots of people want to know, for instance, what mortality is by location, and whether it differs between rural and urban areas, she says. This speaks to the kind of care people are getting.
But so far, scientists say, ICMR and other government agencies have dragged their feet on responding to requests for access. That has forced several groups building computer models of the epidemic to rely on public domain data, which are aggregated by state but lack granular details such as breakdowns by district, age, or gender, says L. S. Shashidhara, a developmental biologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. Even modeling groups advising the Indian government on its COVID-19 response policy often dont have these data, Shashidhara says.
Scientists also want access to more viral genome sequences generated by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG). Established in December 2020, the consortiums stated goal is to sequence 5% of all new SARS-CoV-2 cases in the country, which is important to keep up with the spread of new virus variants. INSACOG has had a slow start, with just over 15,000 samples sequenced by late April, out of about 5.9 million new cases India has seen since January. And just 6200 sequencesfewer than halfhave been deposited in GISAID, an international database, during this period.
In February, INSACOG identified a variant, later christened B.1.617, which was growing in frequency in Maharashtra at a time when that state was experiencing a massive outbreak. B.1.617 has spread to several other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. But INSACOG has yet to share its analyses of whether the variant is more transmissible or more virulent. We need multiple pairs of eyes need to look at this data, instead of just one, Majumder says.
The authors also ask the government to remove obstacles that prevent INSACOG from stepping up the sequencing pace. INSACOG scientists currently have to jump through several bureaucratic hoops to import reagents, plastics, and other key materials. The measures, designed to protect Indian industry, are ill-advised during the coronavirus surge, says Rakesh Mishra, a genomicist at Hyderabads Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, one of 10 INSACOG labs. Its like taking a blanket away from a person in winter because the blanket is imported, he says.
The note released by VijayRaghavans office says government agencies will immediately highlight mechanisms of research access to already available datasets and put in place access to new datasets as they are formed. It also says the government will remove import bottlenecks and INSACOG will involve more teams in data analysis, bioinformatics, and decision-making.
Although some scientists welcomed the quick response, others say the letter is too little, too late. The note only says that government agencies will facilitate data access, Majumder says. The question is: when? Time is of the essence. And promises made in the past by important government functionaries have often not been fulfilled on time.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KTTC) -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is set to announce plans to dial back COVID-19 restrictions in the state.
According to an emailed statement from Walz's spokesperson, Teddy Tschann, the governor will announce a timeline to end COVID-19 restrictions in the state in a live address at noon on Thursday. The plan will also include "doubling down on vaccination efforts."
According to the state's COVID-19 Vaccine Data, as of Monday, 46.7% of all Minnesotans have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, including 36.1% of Minnesotans who have completed the vaccine series.
"The vaccine is here and it has proven to be our best tool to control the virus," the statement said. "Its time to roll up our sleeves, get vaccinated, and crush the virus.
KTTC will be carrying the announcement live on air and streaming it online.
As COVID-19 continues to spread, KOMU 8 will continue to update you about impacts in the community.
Layered bar/line charts with the daily change in newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in each county and a 14-day rolling average of the changes in new cases areavailable here.
Previous coverage:
5:15 p.m.: Callaway County reports zero new cases
Callaway County added zero newcases over the last week, marking a total of 20active cases. There have been a total of 3,993cases in Callaway County since the start of the pandemic.
According to the Callaway County COVID-19 dashboard, there are an additional 12 cases in the Callaway County Department of Corrections and 1 in the Fulton State Hospital.
There have been a total of 45 deaths in the county since the start of the pandemic.
According to the Missouri vaccine dashboard, an estimated 29.9% of Callaway County's 44,743 residents have received at least one vaccine dose.
According to New York Times data, which is on a two-day delay, the 14-day rolling case average in the county is 3.14.
5:42 p.m.:CPS 14-day case rate sits at 9.1
The Columbia Public Schools 14-day case rate per 10,000 people is at 9.1.
The updated CPS student tracker shows 326 students in the district currently in quarantine and 12 active student cases.
The district has seen 3,341quarantined student cases and 684positive student cases since June 2020.
The updated CPS staff tracker also shows 2 staff members currently in quarantine and 1 active staff cases. 1 staff members are out due to EFMLA laws.
The tracker also shows 61.6% of CPS staff members have been vaccinated.
5:21 p.m.: Cole County reports zero new cases
The Cole County Health Department will now show positive case totals by day, which reflects the date the specimen was collected instead of the date the results were received by the Health Department.
This change will cause a delay in the daily totals being reported for the current day. The county is also no longer reporting active or isolated cases.
There have been 7,848cases in Cole County, an increase of zero cases over 24 hours. There have been 270 cases in long-term care facilities.
Zero new positive cases were reported Wednesday. In the updated graph below, you can see the number of cases added by specimen collection date for the month of March thus far.
There have been 65 deaths in Cole County and 54 deaths due to COVID-19 within long-term care facilities.
According to the Missouri vaccine dashboard, an estimated 35.8% of Cole County's 76,745 residents have received at least one vaccine dose.
According to New York Times data, which is on a two-day delay, the 14-day rolling case average in the county is 4.14.
5:13 p.m.:ices reported 12 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases to 59.
According to the Missouri vaccine dashboard, an estimated 44.5% of Boone County's 180,463 residents have received at least one vaccine dose.
The county also reported 20 hospitalizations, 2 of which are Boone County residents. There are currently 4 COVID-19 patients in the ICU and 1 on a ventilator.
The hospital status is currently at green.
Each hospital in Boone County will provide a daily report of either green status, yellow status or red status.
According to New York Times data, which is on a two-day delay, the 14-day rolling case average in the county is 12.
3:34 p.m.: Vaccination clinic to be hosted at Derby Ridge Elementary
The Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services will host a vaccination clinic on Saturday May 8 at Derby Ridge Elementary.
The clinic itself will be held in the school gymnasium where doses of the Moderna vaccine will be distributed.
All are encouraged to schedule an appointment for the clinic, but walk-ins are welcomed for anyone aged 18 and over.
Second does will be available June 5.
The clinic will begin at 9:00 a.m. and will last until noon.
8:40 a.m.: Boone County announces vaccinationclinics in Harrisburg, Hallsville
The Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services will host two vaccination clinics throughout the county this week.
The Pfizer vaccine will be given so anyone 16 years or older may receive a vaccine during the walk-in clinics.
No appointment is necessary, and vaccines are free with no health insurance required.
Harrisburg
Hallsville
7:25 a.m.: State surpasses 4 million doses
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services added 454 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in Missouri now stands at 504,069.
DHSS reported four new deaths in the last 24 hours. The total number of COVID-19 related deaths since the pandemic began is 8,818.
DHSS started reportingvaccination dataon Jan. 27. Numbers will update as providers report data to the state. According to the dashboard, differences between the states data and theCDC datais due to timing.
Hospitalizations and hospital bed capacity data is on a two-day delay. There are 667 total hospitalizations in the state with 34% remaining total hospital bed capacity.
In the last seven days, there have been 2,628 positive cases of the virus. The single-day case average now stands at 375.
As of Nov. 19, DHSS has moved to report only the CDC method positivity rate. As of April, over 4.9 million Missourians have already been tested by PCR at least once. As a result, if they test negatively again, they will not be counted in the latest 7-day state-method positivity rate.
Missouri currently has a 5% 7-day positivity rate with the CDC method.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends positivity rates in testing should remain at5% or lower for at least 14 days.
Mixing different kinds of COVID-19 vaccines might help boost immune responses, but the idea has been slow to catch on. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Mixing different kinds of COVID-19 vaccines might help boost immune responses, but the idea has been slow to catch on.
Typically, if you get a COVID-19 vaccine that requires two doses, you should get two of the same vaccine. Two Pfizer shots, or two Moderna shots. Not one and then the other.
But in the future, that could change, either by necessity or by design.
This idea of using two types of vaccines isn't a new concept. It's known as heterologous vaccination, although there's a more colloquial term.
"In the U.K. at the moment, we're sort of calling it 'mix and match,' " says Helen Fletcher, a professor of immunology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She says shortages of a vaccine or concerns about side effects may induce health officials to adopt a mix-and-match strategy.
Health agencies in France and Germany are already encouraging people who've gotten the AstraZeneca vaccine to consider getting one of the mRNA vaccines for their second shot.
"So there's a practical reason why you would want to mix two different types of vaccine. But there is also a scientific reason as well," Fletcher says.
Basically, all vaccines work by showing people's immune systems something that looks like an invading virus but really isn't. If the real virus ever comes along, their immune systems will recognize it and be prepared to fight it off.
Using two different vaccines is a bit like giving the immune system two pictures of the virus, maybe one face-on and one in profile.
"If you give two different types of vaccine, then you tend to get a better immune response than if you give the same vaccine twice," Fletcher says.
Some vaccine manufacturers have embraced this approach and are making vaccines of two different types by design.
One is a company called Gritstone bio, based in Emeryville, Calif.
"The natural human response to a virus is to mobilize two distinct arms of the immune system," says Gritstone CEO Andrew Allen. One utilizes antibodies; the other relies on something called CD8 T cells. Unlike antibodies, CD8 T cells don't recognize a virus directly, but they do recognize a cell that has been infected by a virus and they can destroy the infected cell.
Gritstone has developed two different vaccines to activate each arm: a viral vector vaccine and an mRNA vaccine. The viral vector vaccine is very good at stimulating the production of CD8 T cells.
"The mRNA [vaccine] makes a really good antibody response. And so potentially by combining these, you kind of get the best of both worlds," Allen says.
Gritstone's approach is already being tested in human volunteers.
This mix-and-match approach has been tried with vaccines for a variety of diseases.
"Diseases such as HIV, malaria, TB, even influenza," says Bali Pulendran, Violetta L. Horton professor and professor of immunology and microbiology at Stanford University. "So there's ample evidence for the benefits of such strategies."
If it's such a good idea, why isn't it used routinely?
Pulendran speculates there are two main reasons. One has to do with the way new vaccines are approved.
"Regulatory authorities love simplicity," Pulendran says. "The simpler the vaccine regimen, the more palatable they find this to be."
The other reason is that while mix and match may make scientific sense, it doesn't always make business sense.
"For example, if Company A makes one vaccine and Company B makes another vaccine, unless there's some overarching incentive for the two companies to enter into some sort of a marriage, I think either company would in general prefer to go along with their own," Pulendran says.
Of course, if a small company like Gritstone shows that a mix-and-match strategy really leads to a dramatically better vaccine, you can bet other pharmaceutical companies will find a way to solve the business problem.
President Biden on Wednesday came out in favor of the World Trade Organization's proposed waiver of patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption
President Biden on Wednesday came out in favor of the World Trade Organization's proposed waiver of patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines.
President Biden threw his support behind a World Trade Organization proposal on Wednesday to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines, clearing a hurdle for vaccine-strapped countries to manufacture their own vaccines even though the patents are privately held.
"This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai said in a statement. "The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines."
The pace of vaccinating against COVID-19 in the U.S. is slowing down. In some places, there are more vaccine doses than people who want them.
Meanwhile, India is now the epicenter of the pandemic, and just 2% of its population is fully vaccinated.
The World Trade Organization is considering a proposal to address that inequity as India, South Africa and more than 100 other nations advocate to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and medications, which might let manufacturers in other countries make their own.
The consequences of not passing the waiver are "staggering," Mustaqeem de Gama, South Africa's World Trade Organization counselor, told NPR "not only on the level of the loss of human lives but also on the economic level."
"We believe that intellectual property rights constitute a very substantial barrier to ensure equitable access," he said. "We believe that if we could have a limited, targeted waiver to ensure that we can ramp up production in various parts of the world, we would go a long way to ensure that we address not only the prevention but also the treatment of COVID-19."
Previous to Wednesday's announcement, the U.S. was among several other wealthy nations including the U.K., Canada and Japan that resisted WTO negotiations about the proposal.
In response to the administration's support, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a drug industry trade group, expressed strong opposition and argued that the move represents a break in long-standing U.S. policy over medical patents amid global inequities.
"In the midst of a deadly pandemic, the Biden Administration has taken an unprecedented step that will undermine our global response to the pandemic and compromise safety," a statement from PhRMA reads. "This decision will sow confusion between public and private partners, further weaken already strained supply chains and foster the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines."
The trade group added that the decision will compromise U.S. job creation and the country's place as a leader in biomedical innovation.
The battle mirrors the one during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1990s, when drug companies warred with global health officials who sought to produce generic treatments. Drugmakers eventually retreated after former South African President Nelson Mandela accused the companies of using patents to profit from his country's health crisis.
The HIV crisis gave way to a precedent in relaxing patent restrictions: In 2001, the WTO added the Doha Declaration to its Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to allow low-income nations to import and develop generic versions of patented medicines.
The head of the World Health Organization praised the Biden administration's intent to lift the proprietary limits on COVID-19 vaccines.
"This is a monumental moment in the fight against #COVID19," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter. "The commitment by @POTUS Joe Biden & @USTradeRep @AmbassadorTai to support the waiver of IP protections on vaccines is a powerful example of leadership to address global health challenges."
Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 Variants | NEJM nejm.org
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