Moderna says jab works against new variants; California eases lockdown; WHO warns rich-poor vaccine divide is growing
- Biden warns deaths will pass 600,000 before US turns corner
- EU threatens to block vaccine exports amid AstraZeneca shortfall
- France bans certain homemade Covid masks for use in public
- Health secretary fires warning at MPs calling for England lockdown easing
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On Christmas morning, Siouxsie Wiles got a call from her father-in-law. He he had woken up feeling fluey after attending an event a few days before.
As he spoke, Wiles looked up his closest Covid-19 testing centre on her phone. “I recommend you give them a call,” she told him, “because you are not coming for Christmas dinner.”
Related: ‘No system is perfect’: Siouxsie Wiles on New Zealand’s fight against Covid complacency
The Covid-19 vaccine divide between rich and poor nations is worsening by the day, the World Health Organization warned Monday, insisting the failure to distribute doses fairly could cost the global economy trillions of dollars.
AFP reports that the WHO said it needed $26bn this year for its programme aimed at speeding up the development, procurement and equitable delivery of vaccines, treatments and tests to beat the coronavirus pandemic.