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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he would volunteer for trials of Russia's Covid-19 vaccine
From CNN’s Alex Stambaugh
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he has confidence in the Russian coronavirus vaccine and is willing to volunteer in trials.
“I will volunteer to receive it in public. I will be the first to be experimented on,” Duterte said during his address to the nation late Monday broadcast by state-run RTVM.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced the approval of a coronavirus vaccine for use, claiming it as a "world first.”
Several US health leaders and vaccine experts have expressed skepticism about whether the vaccine has been proven to be safe and effective. No data from human trials of the vaccine has been released, and it has not yet gone through large Phase 3 trials.
"I believe that the vaccine that (Russia has) produced is really good for humanity,” Duterte said, “By December... we will hopefully have a Covid-free December."
Duterte went on to say that his country would get priority access to the vaccine because of its relationship with Russia.
US reports more than 46,000 new Covid-19 cases
The United States recorded 46,808 new Covid-19 infections and 1,074 additional deaths on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.
As of Tuesday, a total of 5,141,208 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the US, and at least 164,537 people have died from the virus, according to JHU.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
CNN is tracking US coronavirus cases here:
America is not in a Covid-19 vaccine race with Russia, US health chief says
From CNN’s Jen Christensen
US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday that coronavirus vaccine development is “not a race to be first,” responding to Russia's approval of what it claims to be the "world's first" Covid-19 vaccine.
Azar noted that two of the six Covid-19 vaccines that the US government has invested in entered Phase 3 clinical trials weeks ago, while the Russian vaccine is now only beginning that step of the process. The data from the initial trials in Russia has also not been disclosed, he said.
“We will require any vaccine in the United States be safe and effective and meet the FDA's gold standard,” Azar said at a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan during his three-day trip to the self-ruled island, the highest-level visit by a US cabinet official in four decades.
Comparing Operation Warp Speed, the US government’s Covid-19 vaccine effort, to the Apollo mission to land humans on the moon, Azar said this “once in a generation type initiative” should produce a safe Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year.
Under Operation Warp Speed, the US government has six vaccines under contract.
“As a result of this just unprecedented action and historic speed, never before has a vaccine in the developed world gone from Phase 1 to Phase 3 as quickly as the Moderna vaccine,” Azar said.
“The United States is committed that any vaccine that we would distribute would be safe and effective and meet the Food and Drug Administration's gold standard for authorization or approval.”
China reports 25 new coronavirus cases
China recorded 25 new Covid-19 cases Tuesday -- 19 fewer than the previous day, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement Wednesday.
The new infections include nine locally transmitted cases and 16 imported cases.
All of the local cases were reported in the far western region of Xinjiang, according to the NHC.
The country also detected 20 new asymptomatic cases on Tuesday, the health agency said. In China, asymptomatic cases are not included in the total tally of confirmed cases.
China has so far recorded 84,737 coronavirus cases, including 4,634 deaths, according to the NHC.
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