Novel coronavirus has infected more than 182 million people and killed over 3.9 million. Here are the latest Covid-related developments for July 1:
Thursday, July 1:
Biden falls short on goal of sharing 80M vaccines
President Joe Biden came up well short on his goal of delivering 80 million doses of vaccines to the rest of the world by the end of June as a host of logistical and regulatory hurdles slowed the pace of US vaccine diplomacy.
Although the Biden administration has announced that about 50 countries and entities will receive a share of the excess vaccine doses, the US has shipped fewer than 24 million doses to 10 recipient countries.
The White House says more will be sent in the coming days and stresses that Biden has done everything in his power to meet the commitment.
It's not for lack of doses. All the American shots are ready to ship, the White House said. Rather, it's taking more time than anticipated to sort through a complex web of legal requirements, health codes, customs clearances, cold-storage chains, language barriers and delivery programs. Complicating matters even further is that no two shipments are alike.
One country requires an act of its Cabinet to approve the vaccine donation, others require inspectors to conduct their own safety checks on the US doses, and still others have yet to develop critical aspects of their vaccine distribution plans to ensure the doses can reach people's arms before they spoil.
Highly contagious Delta variant gaining ground in US
The highly transmissible Delta variant, first identified in India, has become the most prevalent variant among new cases in the United States, according to California-based genomics company Helix.
The company's computer models indicate that Delta now accounts for around 40 percent of new US cases, Dr. William Lee, vice president of science at Helix, said in a statement.
The models, based on 27,717 virus samples from 687 counties across the US, also indicated that the worrisome Gamma variant, first identified in Brazil, accounts for about 15 percent of new cases.
Helix researchers have noted occasional cases of an "offspring" variant of Delta called Delta-plus, but they "aren't seeing any evidence suggesting that these are driving the growth of Delta around the country yet," Lee said.
Earlier in June, the researchers reported on the medical website medRxiv ahead of peer review that the percentage of new cases due to the variant first identified in Britain, known as Alpha, had dropped from 70 percent in mid-April 2021 to 42 percent six weeks later.
Now, Lee said, Alpha "is down to around 20 percent."
He added that his team has submitted an update to the previous medRxiv preprint and is waiting for approval.
World Bank boosts vaccine funding for developing nations
The World Bank announced it has increased its vaccine fund for developing countries to $20 billion.
In addition, the bank's private financing arm secured a $710 million package for a South African vaccine manufacturer to ramp up production, the institution announced.
"Together the actions announced today on vaccine production, deployment and financing will save lives, boost economic recovery and help ensure the people in the developing countries have a chance to prosper," World Bank Group President David Malpass told reporters.
The $20 billion is available through 2022 to finance vaccine distribution as well as cold chains and training health workers, the bank said in a statement.
As of Wednesday the bank had distributed $4.4 billion to 51 developing nations, half of which in the form of grants or low-cost loans.
CureVac vaccine records only 48 percent efficacy in final trial
Germany's CureVac announced that final trial results showed its vaccine had an efficacy rate of just 48 percent, far lower than those developed by mRNA rivals BioNTech and Moderna.
The poor outcome had been expected after disappointing interim results were released earlier this month.
CureVac said its vaccine did slightly better among people aged 18 to 60 than among older age groups, with efficacy climbing to 53 percent.
The company said its trial was complicated by the prevalence of numerous variants.
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(With input from news agency language)
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