(Reuters) – Two major pharmaceutical corporations will provide the U.S. government with one hundred million doses of an experimental coronavirus vaccine, Trump’s management said Friday, as the country’s most sensible fitness company predicted that the death toll in the coming weeks.
The agreement calls on the U.S. government to pay French drug manufacturer Sanofi (SASY.PA) and British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline GSK. L. up to $2.1 billion to supply enough vaccines for 50 million people, with the option of buying an additional 500 million doses.
The acquisition is from the Trump administration’s so-called Warp Speed operation, which is designed to have a COVID-19 vaccine on the market until the end of 2020.
“Today’s investment supports our newest candidate vaccine, an adjuvant product developed through Sanofi and GSK, clinical trials and manufacturing, with the prospect of bringing millions of safe and effective doses to the American people,” Alex Azar, U.S. Department Secretary. Health and Human Services, he said when the agreement was delivered.
The coronavirus, which made the first impression in China, ignited another 4.5 million people in the United States and killed more than 152,000 Americans, according to a Reuters count.
On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control forecasts a total of 168,000 to 182,000 deaths through August 22, and predicts that deaths will accumulate more quickly in Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and Washington state.
The CDC also published a study that found that COVID-19 had spread to nearly a portion of campers at a night camp in Georgia more than a week and a part ago.
The survey found that “children of all ages are vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection and, contrary to initial reports, would possibly play a role in transmission.”
New infections increased to nearly 2,000 in Illinois on Friday, according to the state’s fitness department, the largest buildup in a day since May. Neighboring Indiana in the Midwest experienced a peak of 901 new cases.
A senior White House pandemic adviser, Dr. Deborah Birx, said the virus gave the impression of moving away from the states of Sunbelt, adding Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, and heading toward the Midwest.
Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Group, said Thursday that Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska were at risk.
On Friday, 4 U.S. states reported a record increase in deaths, adding Florida, which in recent weeks has been a hot spot for COVID-19 cases.
Florida also reported 9,007 new cases, bringing the total number of infections to more than 470,000, the time in the country after California. Florida is one of at least 18 states that saw more than double cases in July, when nearly 25,000 others in the United States died from COVID-19.
“I don’t feel safe. I feel like I’m fighting an invisible enemy,” said Zinnia Santiago, 50, an executive assistant who lives in Coral Springs, Florida.
The state, already recovering from the pandemic and the resulting economic damage, was forced to close control sites on Friday as Hurricane Isaiah approached, bringing strong winds and heavy rains, and citizens were stocking up on essentials.
Coronavirus deaths in the United States are expanding at their fastest pace since early June. Approximately one American died every minute of COVID-19 on Wednesday.
In the nation’s capital, Infectious Diseases Expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, testifying before a U.S. House subcommittee, has rejected the efforts of Republicans and Democrats to drag him into the fierce political debate about the handling of a pandemic.
A notice took effect in Chicago on Friday, forcing residents of neighboring Wisconsin to be quarantined for 14 days. Wisconsin joined 21 other states that saw an increase in the number of new cases.
The COVID-19 outbreak is “well controlled” in Wisconsin, said Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Reporting through Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, Maria Caspani in New York, David Morgan in Washington, DC and Deena Beasley and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Written through Alistair Bell and Dan Whitcomb; Editing through Aurora Ellis, Daniel Wallis and Bill Tarrant
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