LIMA — Peru suspended trials for China’s Sinopharm coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine due to a “serious adverse event” that occurred with one of the volunteers for the study, the Peruvian government said in a statement on Saturday.
The health ministry said the event is “under investigation to determine if it is related to the vaccine or if there is another explanation.”
Sinopharm Group Co Ltd., which is conducting its trials in Peru with some 12,000 volunteers, was about to complete the first stage of the trials in the next few days. Some 36,544 people have died so far in Peru from the coronavirus pandemic.
“The decision to temporarily suspend clinical trials is a safety measure contemplated in the regulations for clinical trials and protocols established to protect the health of research subjects, the health ministry said in the statement.
German Malaga, chief researcher at the local Cayetano Heredia University, which is involved with the study, said one volunteer had experienced decreased strength in his legs among other symptoms. — Reuters
Sweden faces a shortage of health-care workers as the number of resignations ticks up after a relentless year of caring for COVID patients.
Sineva Ribeiro, the chairwoman of the Swedish Association of Health Professionals, says the situation is “terrible.”
Even before the first wave of the pandemic back in March, there was “a shortage of specialist nurses, including at ICUs,” she said in a phone interview.
The development shows that even countries with universal health-care systems are now struggling to keep up with the COVID crisis. This week, Stockholm’s intensive care capacity hit 99%, sending the city into a panic and prompting calls for outside help.
But even if more ICU beds are provided, the bigger concern now is whether Sweden has enough health-care workers with the skills needed to look after the country’s sickest patients.
Ms. Ribeiro says that already back in May, members of her union “warned of an untenable situation.” There are fewer qualified people available now than there were in the spring, “which makes it harder to expand ICU capacity,” she said.
Health-care professionals have emerged as the heroes of the COVID crisis, often drawing cheers from grateful onlookers as they emerge from hospitals after long and grueling shifts.
But increasingly, staff are so desperate for some real time off that they see resignation as the only way out, Ms. Ribeiro said. A survey by broadcaster TV4 showed that in 13 of Sweden’s 21 regions, resignations in the health-care profession are now up from a year ago, at as many as 500 a month.
THE ARMY Stockholm County Mayor Irene Svenonius says the situation is “extremely tense.” In an interview with Dagens Nyheter on Friday, she acknowledged that health-care workers are overworked, and that there’s a need to add staff. “There’s fatigue,” she said. “You can’t ignore that, so it’s extremely important to get more people.”
It’s uncertain where that extra capacity will come from. Stockholm has asked for additional health-care staff from Sweden’s armed forces, but it’s not clear the military has the resources to help. In the meantime, over 100 staff from a children’s hospital have reportedly been redeployed to intensive care units, meaning that children who had been due to receive non-emergency surgery will now be forced to wait.
Sweden, which has avoided a lockdown since the pandemic started, is also turning to other Nordic countries for help. On Saturday, neighboring Finland said it’s ready to assist by freeing up space for Swedish ICU patients.
The worry is that, despite scientific strides that allow medics to better understand and treat COVID-19, there aren’t enough professionals left to put that knowledge into practice.
“We don’t have the staff to do it,” Ms. Ribeiro said. She described the current health-care crisis facing the country as “unprecedented.”
NURSE’S PAY Part of the problem is that nurses in particular are increasingly unwilling to subject themselves to the hours and conditions facing them during the COVID crisis, given the average pay level. Sara Nordin, once an assistant nurse at an intensive care unit, told Bloomberg in October that she quit because she couldn’t make ends meet on the $33,600 basic pay she got a year.
“I talked to members in August who said they would resign because it was the only way to get some time off and recover,” Ms. Ribeiro said. “We see high rates of sickness, symptoms of exhaustion, and members who have been infected.”
For Sweden, the danger now is that more people will die because there aren’t enough qualified health-care professionals left to look after them.
“In a work environment where you are so tired, the risk of mistakes increases,” Ms. Ribeiro said. “And those mistakes can lead to patients dying.” — Niclas Rolander/Bloomberg
The United States on Friday evening granted an emergency use authorization for the vaccine for people aged 16 and older. The immunization was 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 in a late-stage trial.
The first shots in a massive US COVID-19 vaccine campaign will be administered as early as Monday, with Pfizer Inc. and partners aiming to start shipments across the hard-hit country on Sunday, an Army general organizing the rollout said.
Healthcare workers and elderly people in long-term care facilities are expected to be the main recipients of the first wave of 2.9 million shots this month, with healthcare worker inoculations as soon as Monday and nursing home residents by the end of next week, US Army General Gustave Perna said on a Saturday press call.
Despite months of preparation, distributing and administering the vaccine to as many as 330 million recipients poses a major logistical challenge, he said. The vaccine has complex shipping requirements and must be stored at -70 degrees Celsius.
“We have a lot of work to do. We are not taking a victory lap. We know the road ahead of us will be tough,” Mr. Perna said.
Pfizer’s vaccine was authorized for use by US regulators on Friday. Cases are surging in the United States, with thousands of deaths per day, while hospital intensive care units across the country are nearing capacity. More than 295,000 Americans have died of COVID-19.
Doses of the vaccine from US-based Pfizer and German partner BioNTech will be delivered to 145 locations around the country on Monday, Mr. Perna said.
The remainder of the 636 delivery locations selected by US states and territories will receive doses on Tuesday and Wednesday, he said, adding that every week going forward Pfizer will have more doses ready for distribution and administration.
Within three weeks, the vaccine program known as Operation Warp Speed should be able to get Pfizer’s shots to any healthcare facility in the country, Mr. Perna said.
Pfizer is working with logistics companies United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. to distribute the vaccines. They must coordinate deliveries of doses with shipments of other products needed to store and administer vaccines, such as syringes, dry ice, and protective equipment for healthcare workers.
“The final mile is going to be the most difficult. Once it hits the hospital or nursing homes, they also have to keep the vaccine under temperature control,” said Cathy Morrow Roberson, a logistics consultant and former UPS analyst.
“This massive clock is ticking, there is no room for error,” she added.
More US residents will be eligible in January, when those in the highest priority populations are expected to have had an opportunity to receive a vaccine.
With distribution imminent, top regulators sought to reassure Americans that the record fast pace was warranted and had not sacrificed safety.
“We worked quickly based on the urgency of this pandemic, not because of any other external pressure,” US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said during a press conference earlier in the day.
The United States on Friday evening granted an emergency use authorization for the vaccine for people aged 16 and older. The immunization was 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 in a late-stage trial.
It is the first COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the United States. Britain, Canada, and three other countries have already authorized the vaccine.
The Trump administration has poured billions of dollars into developing vaccines and will manage the distribution and allocation to states. Authorities have said general availability of the vaccine is expected by April.
An advisory group to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Saturday to recommend the vaccine for patients 16 and over.
The FDA said the vaccine is safe for most Americans with allergies despite reports of severe adverse reactions in the UK in two patients who had a history of serious allergies. — Michael Erman and Carl O’Donnell/Reuters
With the impacts of climate change increasingly stark since the Paris deal was struck—ranging from wildfires in Australia (pictured) and California to collapsing ice sheets—popular pressure has grown on leaders to listen to warnings from scientists. Image via GLEN MOREY/VIA REUTERS
LONDON/BRUSSELS — United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on every country to declare a “climate emergency” on Saturday, as world leaders marking the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate accord made mostly incremental pledges relative to the scale of the crisis.
Mr. Guterres made his call at a summit aimed at building on momentum behind the Paris deal, buoyed in recent months by renewed commitment from China and the prospect of US President-elect Joseph R. Biden bringing the United States back into the pact.
Nevertheless, the dozens of leaders who spoke mostly offered tweaks to existing commitments or promises of bolder moves before crucial talks in Glasgow in late 2021, rather than breakthrough new policies to hasten the end of fossil fuels.
“Can anybody still deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency?” Mr. Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who has made climate change his signature issue, said via video.
“That is why today, I call on all leaders worldwide to declare a State of Climate Emergency in their countries until carbon neutrality is reached.”
With the impacts of climate change increasingly stark since the Paris deal was struck—ranging from wildfires in Australia and California to collapsing ice sheets—popular pressure has grown on leaders to listen to warnings from scientists.
Britain, co-hosting the summit, made one of the clearest new commitments, announcing late on Friday it would stop direct government support for overseas fossil fuel projects.
Campaigners hailed the move for putting pressure on other G7 economies to restrict support for oil and gas companies.
Renewed pledges to back Paris from countries such as India, Germany and France were welcomed less in terms of substance and more for keeping alive hopes of faster action to meet the monumental challenge of halving global emissions by 2030 in line with the Paris deal.
DISAPPOINTMENT ON COAL Chinese President Xi Jinping, who surprised many in September when he announced the world’s biggest producer of climate-warming emissions would become carbon neutral by 2060, and unveiled targets to speed the expansion of wind and solar power.
“China always honors its commitments,” Xi said.
But China showed no signs of bowing to calls from Guterres and campaigners to wind down finance for new coal-fired power plants, a major source of emissions.
Japan and South Korea, which both pledged in October to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, likewise made no commitments on coal finance—though they did pledge to submit more ambitious emissions targets under the Paris accord.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, by contrast, drew praise for saying the country “will not have any more power based on coal.” It was not immediately clear what the pledge would mean for Pakistan’s existing plans to build coal plants under a deal with China.
Argentina, Barbados, Canada, Colombia, Iceland, and Peru were among 15 countries who shifted from “incremental” to “major” increases in their emissions pledges, the UN, British and French co-hosts said in a statement.
Climate negotiators say that the Paris process has begun to look far stronger than it did even six few months ago, with countries representing around 65% of global carbon emissions now expected to have committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions or carbon neutrality by early next year.
But campaigners pointed to the gulf that still yawns between the pace of action and the Paris goals of capping rising global temperatures quickly enough to avoid catastrophic impacts.
“It is the melting of permafrost; forest fires that hit closer to the home of the climate crisis deniers; droughts that ransack living beings of their resources; floods that reminded many of us that we have no escape,” Selina Neirok Leem, a campaigner from the Marshall Islands, told the summit.
Major emitters Australia and Brazil did not make ambitious enough pledges to qualify to speak, diplomats said.
‘TURN THE CORNER’ Mr. Guterres said economic recovery packages in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic were an opportunity to act on climate—but said G20 countries had so far spent 50% more of their stimulus on sectors linked to fossil fuels than on cleaner energy.
“This is unacceptable,” Mr. Guterres said. “The trillions of dollars needed for COVID recovery is money that we are borrowing from future generations.”
The European Union, which plans to spend 30% of its 1.8-trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) budget and COVID-19 recovery fund on climate action, boosted its own 2030 climate pledge on Friday, aiming to cut emissions at least 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the world to cooperate to tackle the “toxic tea cosy” of greenhouse gases now quilting the planet, while investors and businesses underscored their support for action.
“We call on companies and governments around the world to do all we can to make 2021 the year we turn the corner for good,” said Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook. — Matthew Green and Kate Abnett/Reuters
China is pushing face-to-face consultations in continuing negotiations on the South China Sea Code of Conduct in time for its target completion in 2021, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian said.
Negotiations on the code, which seeks to ease tensions in the disputed water, were delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, but Mr. Huang said an online meeting was recently held to discuss the code.
“Not long ago, a working level online meeting was held successfully,” he said in an e-am. Under the current situation, China hopes that all parties will work harder to speed up the negotiation in a flexible and pragmatic way,” Mr. Huang said in a Viber group message.
“China has proposed to hold face-to-face consultations in China once conditions permit to push forward the second reading of the CoC.”
The first reading of the single draft negotiating text of the code was completed in July 2019.
Mr. Huang maintained China’s position, rejecting the 2016 Hague ruling that invalidated its historic nine-dash line claims over the South China Sea. But China is willing to participate in dialogues with the Philippines to settle the dispute, he added.
“We should avoid misjudgment caused by unilateral actions that would complicate the situation in the disputed waters,” he added.
He also recommended that a bilateral maritime and air liaison mechanism be established for a more effective and immediate response to maritime emergencies.
China has been building artificial islands in dispute areas of the South China Sea. It has set up two new districts in Paracel and Spratly islands, prompting the Philippine government to file diplomatic protests.
Mr. Huang reiterated its stand that US actions create chaos in the region, adding that it is the “biggest driver of militarization” of the South China Sea. “All regional countries should be vigilant, and prevent the region’s hard-won peace and development from being sabotaged.” — Charmaine A. Tadalan
British drugmaker AstraZeneca has withdrawn its application for clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine in the country, according to the chief of the local Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The vaccine developer was withdrawing because “they have enough data already,” FDA Director-General Rolando Enrique D. Domingo said in a text message.
AstraZeneca was among the three clinical trial applicants approved by the ethics review board of the Science and Technology department.
The private sector, government and AstraZeneca have signed a deal for the purchase of 2.6 million doses of vaccines.
Joey A. Concepcion, presidential adviser for entrepreneurship, told an online briefing last month that half of the vaccines would be given to the private sector and the other half will be donated to the government.
The vaccines are expected to arrive in May or June next year, he said.
Four other vaccine makers are applying for clinical trials in the country.
Meanwhile, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and Chinese drug company Clover Biopharmaceuticals have been approved by both the expert panel and ethics committee and would now go through the FDA process, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire told an online news briefing on Friday.
China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd., the first to get approval from the expert panel, and Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology are also applying for clinical trials in the country.
The Department of Health (DoH) reported 1,504 coronavirus infections on Friday, bringing the total to 447,039.
The death toll rose to 8,709 after eight more patients died, while recoveries increased by 273 to 409,329, it said in a bulletin.
There were 29,001 active cases, 85.8% of which were mild, 6.7% did not show symptoms, 4.8% were critical, 2.4% were severe and 0.25% were moderate.
Davao City reported the highest number of new cases at 122, followed by Rizal at 85, Quezon City at 80, Santiago City at 67 and Bulacan at 64.
DoH said five duplicates had been removed from the tally, while one recovered patient was reclassified as death. Twelve laboratories failed to submit their data on Dec. 10, it said. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
A senator on Friday asked the Executive branch to veto overlapping and double appropriations in the reconciled version of the P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.
“It is clear that questionable items such as double and overlapping appropriations should be vetoed, along with at least 793 line items for multi-purpose buildings with a uniform P1-million appropriation each,” Senator Panfilo M. Lacson told DzRH radio on Thursday night.
Mr. Lacson, vice chairman of the Senate finance committee and a member of the bicameral conference committee, objected to the ratification of the national budget on Wednesday.
The senator had flagged the provisions during the period of interpellations. He questioned the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways that increased by P28.35 billion in the reconciled version of the budget bill.
The bicameral conference committee allotted P694.822 billion to the DPWH, higher than P667.3 billion originally.
The questionable provisions had been included as a concession to congressmen and to avoid delays in the budget ratification, Mr. Lacson told an online news briefing on Friday.
He said he plans to write to the Executive branch, identifying the items that he thinks should be vetoed. The senator was among those who questioned a total of P95.3 billion “unconstitutional” items in the 2019 spending plan, which was later vetoed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Mr. Lacson raised some P83.87 billion worth of infrastructure projects that were “migrated” while P55.52 billion “disappeared.” He said the P83.87 billion was used to create new DPWH items or augment other items, while the other P55.52 billion consisted of items that had been completely removed.
“Since there is a difference of P28.35 billion, they had to extract from the programs, activities and projects of other departments or agencies to make up for the shortage,” he said in a separate statement. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
The P19-billion budget for anti-surgency activities would help rehabilitate more than 1,400 villages nationwide, according to a Senate leader.
The 2021 budget, provided to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict would sustain government efforts to cut communist influence in rural communities, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III said in a statement on Friday.
The Senate earlier kept the agency’s budget intact after some senators proposed channel the fund to the government’s coronavirus vaccine program.
The P4.5-trillion national budget allotted P2.5 billion for vaccines under the Health department budget and P70 billion more in unprogrammed funds.
“We want to sustain rural development programs that the government has already started to carry out in these barangays,” Mr. Sotto said.
Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana told a separate online news briefing on Friday the budget would be used to build roads, provide water and for street lighting projects, among other things. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
Consumer sentiment for the last quarter of the year turned less pessimistic, while business confidence improved as lockdowns were eased and companies expected better job and sales prospects, according to the Philippine central bank.
The consumer outlook turned positive for the next quarter and more people and businesses remained optimistic for the next 12 months, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement on Friday, citing the results of its latest survey.
The consumer confidence index improved slightly to -47.9% in the fourth quarter from -54.5% in the past quarter, signaling Filipinos’ hope for more available jobs and higher income for some family members, Some Filipinos also expected an end to the coronavirus pandemic as vaccines become available.
Business sentiment turned positive this quarter to 10.5% from -5.3% in the third quarter, the BSP said. “The positive reading indicates that respondents with optimistic views increased and outnumbered those with pessimistic views.”
But the reading was still lower than levels before the pandemic, when the business confidence index hit 40.2% in the last quarter of 2019.
The respondents also traced the improved consumer outlook to expectations that state relief programs for affected sectors would continue.
The consumer outlook for the next quarter turned positive at 4.3%, and the optimistic outlook was expected to persist in the next 12 months. The index is seen to settle at 23.6% in the next 12 months compared with the earlier 25.5% expectation.
The outlook on household spending for the next quarter was unchanged at 26.4%, the lowest since the nationwide survey started in 2017, the central bank said.
Meanwhile, the improved confidence among companies was traced to the reopening of more businesses during the so-called new normal, easing restrictions and increased demand during the holiday season.
Companies remained positive for the first quarter of next year, with the confidence index jumping to 37.4% from 16.8% in the previous survey.
“Respondents’ more buoyant outlook for Q1 2021 was associated mainly with expectations of reopening of firms and adapting to the ‘new normal,’” the BSP said. They also expected a pickup in sales as coronavirus vaccines become available, it added.
Business sentiment turned more optimistic for the next 12 months as the confidence index rose to 57.7% from 37.5% in the previous survey.
The employment outlook index for both next quarter and in the coming year also turned positive, indicating that companies were likely to hire more workers.
The central bank interviewed 5,612 households for the consumer expectation survey on Oct. 1-13, while 1,513 companies responded for the survey on Oct. 6 to Nov. 24.
The Philippine central bank on Friday raised its balance of payment projections for this year and 2021 amid a prolonged coronavirus pandemic, as the country’s current account reverted to a $4.1-billion surplus in the third quarter.
The surplus came as the trade in goods deficit fell and net receipts of secondary income rose, making up for the lower net receipts of primary income and trade in services, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement.
Last quarter’s current account surplus was a turnaround from the $456-million deficit in the third quarter of last year, but smaller than the $4.4-billion surplus in the second quarter.
“The latest BoP assessment for 2020 reflects the apparent bottoming out of the COVID-19 impact in Q2 2020,” the BSP said in a statement. “While recent external account figures remain below pre-pandemic trend and still in the negative territory, these are expected to improve from the first half of the year,” it added.
The payment position is expected to post a surplus of $12.8 billion in 2020, equivalent to 3.4% of economic output and higher than its previous estimate of P8.1 billion.
This reflects largely the $10.3 billion overall BOP position in the 10 months through October, supported by higher foreign borrowings by the National Government and lower merchandise trade deficit, the central bank said.
For 2021, the major BoP accounts are expected to show continued improvements but could still remain below pre-pandemic levels, the central bank said. “The overall BoP position is projected at $3.3 billion in 2021, attributed mainly to the expected moderation of the current account surplus next year.”
The central bank said it had raised its projected current account surplus to $8.4 billion, or equivalent to 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year from the $6-billion estimate in October.
This is expected to narrow to $6.1 billion or 1.5% of the economic output next year, higher the previous estimate of $3.1 billion or 0.8% of output.
The BSP expects a “sustained surplus in the current account over the medium term but one that is moderating as the economy recovers and imports also recover,” Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila, Jr. told an online news briefing.
Keeping more outflows than inflows might bode well for economic growth when imports were strong before the pandemic since the Philippines is a net importing country and has been posting a current account deficit in the past, said Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc.
“This means that a surplus may not actually be good in a crisis and that the challenge is to get the economy moving again to a point when the current account settles in a healthy deficit,” he said in a Viber message.
BSP data showed the trade in goods deficit narrowed to $4.227 billion from $8.605 billion. Primary income fell by 15.7% from a year earlier to $1.061 billion, while secondary income rose by 4.1% to $7.28 billion.
In the nine months to September, the current account balance posted an $8.7-billion surplus from a $3-billion deficit a year ago, it said in a separate statement.
The central bank traced the surplus to a fall in the trade in goods deficit, offsetting the lower net receipts of trade in services, primary and secondary income.
The current account shows the country’s economic interaction with the rest of the world. It includes trade in goods and services, remittances from migrant Filipino workers, profits from Philippine investments overseas, interest payments to foreign creditors and gifts, grants and donations to and from abroad.
THE PHILIPPINES’ balance of payments (BoP) — a measure of the country’s transactions with the rest of the world — continued to post a surplus last quarter at $2.8 billion, more than three times the past year’s amount.
“The increase in the BoP position was underpinned by the reversal to a surplus of the current account, attributed mainly to the narrowing of the trade in goods deficit as imports of goods recorded a higher decline than exports of goods,” the BSP said.
The central bank traced the slowdown in merchandise trade to sustained risks and uncertainties during the pandemic.
This brought the nine-month BoP surplus to $6.9 billion, 24% higher than a year earlier. A surplus means more funds entered the economy.
The central bank kept its forecasts for cash remittances at a 2% decline this year and 4% growth next year as it expects improving global conditions, further reopening of sectors and the arrival of vaccines to benefit overseas Filipino workers’ employment prospects.
Foreign direct investments are projected to rebound with inflows of $7.5 billion, while foreign portfolio investments are expected to reach $3.5 billion in 2021 “in line with the consensus view of a recovery in investment sentiment given better global and domestic economic prospects next year,” the BSp said.
The outlook for the gross international reserves was raised to $105 billion by year-end from $100 billion estimated earlier. It also expects reserves to continue rising next year to $106 billion, up from the previous forecast of $102 billion. — Beatrice M. Laforga
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BDP) fully awarded the short-term securities it offered on Friday on ample liquidity during the holiday season.
The central bank raised P80 million in 28-day debt paper as planned. The auction was more than 1.5 times oversubscribed as bids reached P141.25 billion.
This marked the 13th straight week that the central bank made a full award since it started selling its own securities in September.
“The sustained strong demand for the BSP deposit facilities amid the coming holidays supports the view that financial liquidity remains ample,” BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila, Jr. said in a statement. “Looking ahead, the BSP’s monetary operations will continue to be guided by its assessment of market developments and liquidity conditions.”
Rates sought ranged from 1.68% to 1.7%, lower than 1.69-1.71% at last week’s auction. The one-month bills fetched an average rate of 1.6921%, down 0.64 basis point from 1.6985%.
Total tenders were also bigger than P117.1 billion last week.
“Demand seems to be sustained as liquidity in the financial system remained at ample levels, and the facility continues to complement the term deposit facility to mop up the excess and investors looking for less interest rate risk,” Security Bank Chief Economist Robert Dan J. Roces said in a Viber message. — Beatrice M. Laforga
