U.S. pushes for broader COVID-19 vaccination while pills emerge as alternative therapy

The U.S. federal government has released its biggest push to encourage widespread vaccination against COVID-19, while Pfizer and Merck have introduced in tandem their pills as an alternative therapy for coronavirus patients.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated that 222,591,394 people had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, making up 67 percent of the whole U.S. population. Fully vaccinated people stood at 193,227,813, accounting for 58.2 percent of the total. A total of 21,483,519 people, or 11.1 percent of fully vaccinated group, received booster shots.

Photo taken on Aug. 26, 2021 shows the building of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

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STRONG PUSH

The federal government on Thursday unveiled its new COVID-19 standards for businesses, "its biggest push yet to encourage widespread vaccination," reported CBS. However, the new rule has raised questions about the process for implementing, costs and timing of the requirements for workers and their bosses.

Under the plan, employers with more than 100 employees must choose whether their workers be fully vaccinated or undergo weekly testing within 30 days of the plan's publication in the Federal Register on Nov. 5.

By Jan. 4, those businesses must implement the rule. The so-called "emergency temporary standard" was requested by U.S. President Joe Biden as part of his September COVID-19 action plan, and will be overseen by the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Reactions from businesses ranged from support to alarm, with the trade group Truckload Carriers Association warning that the rule will prove to be "disastrous" as it could lead to an "exodus" of truck drivers during the ongoing supply-chain crisis.

Jim Frederick, deputy assistant secretary of labor at OSHA, said that the agency believes the "vast majority" of workplaces will comply with the new requirement.

"OSHA estimates that this rule will save thousands of lives and prevent more than 250,000 hospitalizations" after it goes into effect, Frederick said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday. "We know that many, many workplaces will be looking at this and starting up as early as today."

Photo taken on Aug. 23, 2021 shows Pfizer signage at Pfizer\'s World Headquarters in New York, United States. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

CURING PILLS

Pfizer Inc. said on Friday that its experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 cuts hospitalization and death rates by nearly 90 percent in high-risk adults, as the drugmaker joined the race for an easy-to-use medication to treat the coronavirus.

Pfizer said it will ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and international regulators to authorize its pill as soon as possible. If authorized by the FDA, the company would sell the drug under the brand name Paxlovid.

Currently most COVID-19 treatments require an IV (intravenous therapy) or injection. Competitor Merck's COVID-19 pill is already under review at the FDA after showing strong initial results, and on Thursday Britain became the first country to approve it.

The Merck pill, known as molnupiravir, was shown in a key clinical trial to reduce by half the risk of hospitalization and death in high-risk COVID-19 patients who were treated early in their infections.

Dispensed from a pharmacy and taken at home, the drug is expected to reach many more people than treatments like monoclonal antibodies, which are typically administered intravenously at a hospital or clinic.

Britain has already ordered enough supplies of the pill for 480,000 people. Merck said last week it had reached deals to sell the pills to the governments of the United States, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Serbia and Singapore.