(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Things have taken a very serious turn in Switzerland since I last wrote about coronavirus six weeks ago. We are now well into the second wave of the pandemic with higher absolute numbers of positive cases, hospitalisations and deaths than were seen in the spring. Among the highest rates in Europe.
This content was published on November 21, 2020 - 08:00 November 21, 2020 - 08:00
Clare O'Dea Clare reports on scientific developments in Switzerland
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Some 1,600 lives were lost to Covid-19 here in the last four weeks alone bringing the total deaths for the nine months of the pandemic to around 3,500. As you can see from this Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) data, it appears that the worst is over – for now. This information is from the FHOP's dedicated coronavirus website which posts the latest numbers every morning from Monday to Thursday.
swissinfo.ch
More reason than ever to welcome the recent progress in vaccine development. First, we had Pfizer and BioNTech announcing on November 9 that their vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19.
Next came Moderna with its news of a 95% effective messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, also in clinical trials of tens of thousands of people. As mentioned before, Moderna has a production site in Visp, Switzerland through its Swiss partner Lonza. You can read our latest story about vaccine approvals and procurement in Switzerland here .
Sceptisicm
This week, we asked our readers whether they would get vaccinated for Covid-19, and responses varied widely. (Let us know what you think by joining the debate here! )
Some people I know have expressed scepticism about the safety or efficacy of vaccines developed so quickly, and these concerns are understandable. The issue is very well explained in this Twitter thread by Mark Toshner , a clinical trials doctor from Cambridge University who responds to the charge that vaccines 'normally take 10 years'. Apparently most of those 10 years are usually spent waiting around.
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