US authorizes second vaccine as Italy tightens restrictions
Published: 12:12 PM,Dec 19,2020 | EDITED : 11:05 PM,May 06,2024
The United States on Friday authorized Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, paving the way for millions of doses of a second vaccine to be shipped across the hardest-hit country in the world.
The latest breakthrough came as many governments clamp down on socializing over Christmas and New Year, which is expected to fuel a jump in virus deaths in early 2021.
Italy on Friday announced harsh new restrictions over the holidays with many shops and all bars and restaurants closed, travel between regions banned, and only one daily outside trip per household permitted.
But Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte conceded that authorities would be largely unable to monitor compliance, instead asking Italians to respect a new limit of only hosting two adult guests at home.
With the US now registering over 2,500 deaths a day from Covid-19, senior US officials including Vice President Mike Pence got early vaccinations on Friday.
Pence's public inoculation was the most high-profile attempt yet at persuading vaccine-skeptic Americans to join a national effort to halt a pandemic that has killed at least 1.66 million people and infected more than 74 million worldwide.
President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office on January 20, announced he would take the vaccine, also in public, on Monday.
- Macron 'slowed down' -
- Two billion doses -