Health News Roundup: Air freight prices 'outrageous' as COVID-19 shots rolled out, says WHO expert; Mexico says could order 22 million more vaccine doses from J&J and more

Mexico says could order 22 million more vaccine doses from J&J Mexico could order an additional 22 million doses of coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit under a memorandum of understanding signed this week, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday.

Companies and industry groups lobbying to get their U.S. workers to the front of the line for COVID vaccination are running into a patchwork of state plans and confusion over who is essential, and who is not. Inoculation against the disease caused by the novel coronavirus is key to safely reopening large parts of the economy and reducing the risks of illness at crowded meatpacking plants, factories and warehouses.

Air freight prices 'outrageous' as COVID-19 shots rolled out, says WHO expert

Some carriers are seeking "outrageous" prices to fly dry ice and other medical equipment in the pre-holiday rush, but a capacity squeeze should ease in 2021 when the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines is expected, the World Health Organization's logistics chief said on Tuesday. Distribution of vaccines to low- and middle-income countries will be tricky, due to grounded passenger air services in some places, and may rely on charters, Paul Molinaro, WHO chief of operations support and logistics, told Reuters.

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine data wins backing of U.S. FDA staff, authorization nears

Pfizer Inc cleared the next hurdle in the race to get its COVID-19 vaccine approved for emergency use on Tuesday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released documents that raised no new issues about its safety or efficacy. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE said last month their coronavirus vaccine's two-dose regimen was 95% effective against COVID-19 and had no major safety issues and asked the FDA for emergency use authorization.

Mexico says could order 22 million more vaccine doses from J&J

Mexico could order an additional 22 million doses of coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit under a memorandum of understanding signed this week, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday. Janssen has begun its coronavirus clinical trials in Mexico, and Lopez-Gatell said the memorandum his government signed on Monday gave it the option of ordering additional doses.

With vaccine drawing closer, U.S. tops 15 million coronavirus cases

U.S. coronavirus cases crossed the 15 million mark on Tuesday as regulators moved a step closer to approving a COVID-19 vaccine and Britain started inoculating people, offering hope of slowing a pandemic that killed 15,000 Americans in the last week alone. Record cases in at least three states - Arizona, Alabama and Ohio - pushed the cumulative case load to over 15 million, according to a Reuters tally of state and county data. With the virus showing no sign of abating, leading health officials are once again sounding the alarm of further spread when people gather for the year-end holidays.