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EU Declares Astra Shot Safe; N.Y. Clears Baseball: Virus Update
(Bloomberg) — The European Union’s drug regulator said AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine is safe to use, but warned it can’t completely rule out a link between the shot and blood clotting side effects. Italy, one of several European nations to suspend use of the vaccine, said it would restart on Friday. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said concert venues and baseball games will resume this spring, ushering in what he called a rebirth of the state as Covid-19 rates drop and vaccinations increase across the state.President Joe Biden’s administration plans to send about 4 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine to neighboring Mexico and Canada, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.Key Developments:Global Tracker: Cases pass 121.4 million; deaths top 2.68 millionU.S. to reach 100 million vaccinations goal five weeks earlyElderly face higher risk of reinfection after Covid, study showsSupply of Covid swabs depends on two cousins who hate each otherVaccine populism is a game Europe can’t afford: Lionel LaurentSubscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data on cases and deaths.Biden to Share Astra Doses (1:46 p.m. NY)President Joe Biden’s administration plans to send about 4 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine to neighboring Mexico and Canada, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.The deal emerged alongside an announcement by Mexico that it will crack down on the flow of migrants across the U.S. border.The vaccine export plan is under assessment, Psaki said, and would see the U.S. send Mexico 2.5 million doses and Canada 1.5 million doses. It would represent the U.S.’s first known exports of domestically produced vaccines.EU Declares Astra Shot Safe (1:33 p.m. NY)The European Union’s drug regulator said AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine is safe to use, but warned it can’t completely rule out a link between the shot and blood clotting side effects.At a briefing on Thursday, officials at the European Medicines Agency emphasized repeatedly that the vaccine is “safe and effective,” and the benefits outweigh the risks. The comments followed a review after several European countries suspended Astra shots after a number of cases emerged.The EMA said there were seven cases of blood clots in multiple vessels, and 18 cases of a type of cerebral vein clotting that’s hard to treat, out of about 20 million inoculations. While describing the cases as “rare,” it’s recommending that a warning is added to the shot to make sure the public is better informed.Italy, one of several European nations to suspend use of the vaccine, said it would resume on Friday.Utah, Illinois Drop Vaccine Age to 16 (1:24 p.m. NY)Utah said it would open eligibility for vaccines to people 16 years and older. Illinois said it would do so for all of the state except Chicago, which will make its own rules. Utah Governor Spencer Cox said in a news briefing that expanded eligibility will start March 24.Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said in an emailed statement that the change would take effect on April 12. Chicago estimates that it will open up vaccines to adults with underlying medical conditions on March 29 and all adults on May 31. Italy Cases Slow (12:57 p.m. NY)Italy reported 24,935 cases Thursday, down 3% from a week earlier. That marks the first decline in a month and suggests the latest resurgence in infections in the country may have peaked. The country had 423 fatalities linked to Covid-19, down from 431 Wednesday, while the number of patients in intensive care units climbed again, to 3,333. In some regions such as Lombardy ICU occupancy rates are above 50%.Denmark Reports 10 Clotting Cases (12:32 p.m. NY)The Danish Medicines Agency said it’s gotten 10 reports of blood clots occurring after vaccination with the AstraZeneca shot, one ending in death, in a statement on Thursday.“It cannot be concluded whether there may be a connection with the vaccine, as studies have not been completed,” the agency said in statement. More than 140,000 Danes have received the AstraZeneca vaccination.N.Y. Concerts, Baseball to Reopen (12:15 p.m. NY)New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said concert venues and baseball games will resume this spring, ushering in what he called a rebirth of the state as Covid-19 rates drop and vaccinations increase across the state.Cuomo, facing growing calls for his resignation by members of his own party and a legislative impeachment investigation over sexual-harassment claims and accusations of covering up Covid nursing home deaths, has held a series of briefings in recent days focused on vaccine distribution and overturning Covid restrictions.“It’s Spring. The weather changes. It’s a whole new look at life for New York,” Cuomo said during the Thursday briefing.Mexico Seizes Smuggled Vials (11:26 a.m. NY)Mexican authorities have seized 1,155 vials that they claim contained Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines, inside a small plane at a Campeche airport.The private plane was scheduled to fly to Honduras. The Mexican government said the vials were concealed inside two coolers filled with soft drinks and candies. They estimated vials contained 5,775 vaccine doses.NYC Not Consulted on Gym Rules (11:10 a.m. NY)New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio accused Governor Andrew Cuomo of making decisions around lifting the state’s Covid-19 restrictions based on political reasons, rather than on underlying data. He said the governor rescinded a ban on group fitness this week without consulting the city or its health officials.“Is this being done based on what the data and science is telling us, or is this being done for political reasons? Because it sure as hell looks like a lot of these decisions are being made by the governor for his political needs,” de Blasio said in a Thursday virus briefing.Maine Cases Accelerate (10:55 a.m. NY)Maine reported 246 new cases on Thursday, the most in more than a month amid an uptick of infections over the last few weeks. People in their 20s account for the most cases since early February, about 18%, state data show, followed by people in their 50s, who make up 15%. The most vulnerable, people in the 70s and 80s, account for less than 12%. The state has given more than half a million doses of vaccine, mostly to people between 60 and 80.U.K. Backs Astra Shot (10:05 a.m. NY)Benefits of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine continue to outweigh the risks, according to the U.K.’s drugs regulator, which issued renewed guidance as the European Union reviews the shot following reports of blood clots possibly linked to it.The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency issued its recommendation after five cases — all of them in men aged 19-59 — developed an unusual combination of sinus vein thrombosis and low platelets.Pandemic Shrank Middle Class (10:00 a.m. NY)The global middle class shrank for the first time in decades last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, with almost two-thirds of households in developing economies reporting they suffered a loss in income, according to two new estimates based on World Bank data.In a study published Thursday, researchers at the non-partisan Pew Research Center found that the ranks of the global middle class — those earning $10-$50 per day — fell by 90 million people to almost 2.5 billion last year. That helped swell the ranks of the poor, or those living on less than $2 a day, by 131 million, Pew estimated.U.K. Doses Delayed (8:46 a.m. NY)A delayed shipment of AstraZeneca Plc’s vaccine from India and a batch requiring re-testing are behind a cut in the U.K.’s available supplies, the first major interruption in Britain’s vaccine rollout.Vaccine doses made by one of Astra’s manufacturing partners, the Serum Institute of India Ltd., have been stalled, and another 1.7 million doses have been kept back in the last week for further checks on their stability, U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Parliament in a statement Thursday.Norway Makes Clots Finding (8:30 a.m. NY)An investigation at Rikshospitalet in Oslo has found that a immune response caused the blood clots in three health workers after they received the AstraZeneca vaccine, Pal Andre Holme, the hematologist leading the probe, said on Thursday.“The findings support our hypothesis that we launched quite early that these patients have had a powerful immune response which resulted in, among other things, the formation of antibodies, which can ignite the platelets and thus give a thrombus,” Holme told reporters.The investigation hasn’t yet been able to conclude why only some people have this response.CFOs Sees Big Travel Savings (8 a.m. NY)Chief financial officers at U.S. companies expect to make big savings on business travel compared with pre-pandemic levels, even as they see a recovering economy, according to Deloitte’s latest quarterly survey of finance chiefs.The CFOs cited the need for cost containment, amid ongoing concerns about the spread of Covid-19, as one of the key risks ahead — as well as the uncertain timetable for the economy’s reopening.One area where they plan to find savings is corporate travel. About six out of seven of the CFOs said their company’s travel costs would likely be 80% of pre-pandemic levels or less, and one-third said they expected to spend below 60% of past budgets.Europe Divided on Export Ban (7:55 a.m. NY)European Union governments are divided over a controversial proposal to withhold vaccine exports to the U.K., even as the bloc sits on about 20 million unused doses.The U.K. is the largest recipient of doses made in the EU, receiving 10 million of the 42 million exported shots. Any decision on the issue would ultimately be for EU leaders, who are set to meet next week.The EU is struggling to overcome a slow start to its inoculation campaign, with only 9.8% of adults receiving the first vaccine shot, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said Thursday. The U.K. is close to hitting the 50% mark, according to data released earlier this week.Vaccines Seen Protecting Against Brazil Strain (7:42 a.m. NY)AstraZeneca Plc’s and Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccines may help protect patients from the coronavirus variant that emerged in Brazil, scientists said in a study that may alleviate some concerns about their role in slowing the pandemic.Laboratory experiments indicate that the shots are about as effective against the Brazil variant as another that surfaced in the U.K., which has already been shown to be halted by existing vaccines, according to data released Thursday by the University of Oxford. Both inoculations fared a lot less well against another mutant that surfaced in South Africa.The U.K. and Brazil variants rendered the vaccines about three times less effective than against earlier strains, the scientists found. Against the South Africa variant, the researchers found a nine-fold reduction in the level of neutralization by the Astra vaccine and a 7.6-fold reduction for the Pfizer shot.WHO Warns Over Europe’s Spike (6:45 a.m. NY)Europe is experiencing a third straight week of rising coronavirus cases and needs a bigger range of vaccines to combat the pandemic, said Hans Kluge, regional director of the World Health Organization.“We need to increase the portfolio of vaccines, which is why the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is eagerly awaited,” Kluge said Thursday during an online briefing. Asked about an approval date for the Russian-developed Sputnik shot, he said the WHO is conducting a “rolling review” of that vaccine.The WHO won’t yet endorse the issuance of Covid passports. “We do not encourage at this stage that getting a vaccination is determining if you can travel or not. As with the global shortage of vaccines, it encourages inequities,” said Kluge.Hungary to Extend Lockdown (5:44 p.m. HK)Hungary can’t ease its lockdown because of “extraordinarily bad” virus data, Cabinet Minister Gergely Gulyassaid Thursday.The current two-week lockdown, which forced most stores to close, expires on Monday. Hungary reported a record 207 daily deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday as the country struggles to rein in a worsening pandemic despite the second-highest vaccination rate in the European Union.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
