A report in The New York Times says that the manufacturers of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine which “appears to be the world’s best defense against COVID-19, has been supplying its shots almost exclusively to wealthy nations, keeping poorer countries waiting and earning billions in profit.”
The newspaper said their report is based on information from Airfinity, a data firm that tracks vaccine shipments.
According to the Times account, Moderna has shipped approximately a million shots of its vaccines to poor countries. In comparison, Pfizer has shipped 8.4 million shots and Johnson and Johnson has delivered about 25 million doses to low-income countries.
In addition, the Times said government officials in some middle-income countries have reported that their countries have had to pay more for Moderna’s shots than the U.S. and the European Union.
Protests in Rome
Meanwhile, thousands of protesters took the streets of Rome Saturday to protest Italy’s new “Green Pass” vaccine certification that becomes mandatory for public and private workplaces, beginning October 15.
Workers and employees will be fined if they do not comply with the certification requirements. Government workers face suspension, if they come to work five times without the pass that documents that the holder has been inoculated with at least one COVID vaccine or recovered from the coronavirus in the last six months or has tested negative in the last 48 hours.
The pass is already a requirement for many indoor venues, including restaurants, museums and theaters. It is also needed for long-distance train and bus rides and domestic flights.
The chief of Britain’s Health Security Agency says the U.K. is facing an “uncertain” winter with the circulation of the flu and the coronavirus which causes the COVID infection.
“We are likely to see flu, for the first time in any real numbers, co-circulating with COVID,” Dr. Jenny Harries said. “Early evidence suggests that you are twice as likely to die from having two together, than just having COVID alone.”
Texas politician has COVID
In the U.S., a politician who has not been vaccinated has announced that he has COVID and is being treated with monoclonal antibody injections. Allen West, a candidate for the Republican nomination for the governor of Texas, said on his Twitter account that while he was not inoculated with a COVID vaccine, his wife was, but she has also contracted COVID.
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday that there are more than 237 million global coronavirus infections and nearly 5 million global deaths. The center said 6.4 billion vaccines have been administered.
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