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GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Covax global vaccine equity program has signed an advance purchase agreement with Moderna for 500 million doses of its Covid-19 jabs, the scheme’s co-leaders Gavi announced Monday. “We are very pleased to sign this new agreement with Moderna, giving Covax facility participants access to yet another highly efficacious vaccine,” Seth Berkley, chief executive of the Gavi vaccine alliance, said in a statement. © Agence France-Presse
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union’s executive on Monday proposed that travellers who are fully vaccinated with EU-approved jabs be able once again to enter the bloc, if they come from countries keeping Covid-19 at bay. “The Commission proposes to allow entry to the EU for non-essential reasons not only for all persons coming from countries with a good epidemiological situation but also all people who have received the last recommended dose of an […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa will on Sunday take delivery of the first batch of its 4.5 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccines as the country readies to start ramping up immunization. In a statement, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said 325,260 doses were scheduled to land at the country’s OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg late on Sunday. A similar number is expected weekly until the end of this month. “Thereafter the vaccine supply will […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong migrant worker groups on Saturday criticized plans to make coronavirus vaccines compulsory for all foreign domestic helpers, labelling the move “discriminatory and unjust”. Health officials said they were planning to roll out mandatory inoculations for the 370,000 domestic helpers in the city, mostly poorly-paid women from the Philippines and Indonesia. Those wanting to apply for work visas — or renew their current ones — would need to […]
DOLE says it “recognizes risk of those who courageously and willingly put their lives on the line” amid pandemic (Eagle News) — COVID-19 is now a “compensable work-related disease,” according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III. Because of this, “Filipino workers who had been infected with COVID-19 will receive appropriate compensation from the government through the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC),” according to the Department of Labor and Employment. Bello said that the ECC board […]
by Valeria PACHECO / with Andrea PALASCIANO in Moscow BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s health regulator said Thursday its decision to reject the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was based on the developer’s own data, after the latter threatened to sue for defamation. Brazilian regulators’ decision Monday to deny emergency use authorization for the vaccine has blown up into an all-out international row, with Sputnik V’s makers accusing them of “knowingly spreading false and inaccurate […]
FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — BioNTech said Thursday that it expected its Covid-19 vaccine, jointly developed with Pfizer, to be available to 12 to 15-year-olds in Europe from June. The German firm’s CEO Ugur Sahin told Der Spiegel weekly that it was “in the final stretches” of preparing its submission for European regulatory approval. The evaluation of the trial data “takes four to six weeks on average”, he added. Vaccinating children is seen as a crucial […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — US pharmaceutical firm Moderna said Thursday it expects to increase global production of its cutting-edge Covid vaccine to up to three billion doses in 2022. The company said in a statement that it would make new funding commitments to increase supply at its manufacturing facilities in Europe and the United States. The investments will double the manufacturing of drug substance at its Swiss partner Lonza and more than double output by […]
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey announced on Wednesday it has signed a deal for the delivery of 50 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the first deliveries will arrive in May as Turkey tries to speed up the innoculation effort. The nation of 84 million has delivered one shot to more than 13.5 million people and the full two doses to nearly nine million since launching its vaccination […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin on Wednesday voiced confidence that the vaccine that his company jointly developed with Pfizer works against the Indian variant of the coronavirus. “We are still testing the Indian variant, but the Indian variant has mutations that we have already tested for and which our vaccine works against, so I am confident,” said Sahin. © Agence France-Presse
Manila, Taguig, Makati, Parañaque and Muntinlupa to get 3k doses each of Sputnik V (Eagle News) — Five cities in Metro Manila are set to receive about 3,000 doses each of the Russian-made vaccine Sputnik V which are set to arrive before the month ends. National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 deputy chief implementer and testing czar Vince Dizon identified these cities: Manila, Taguig, Makati, Parañaque, and Muntinlupa. Dizon said that that 15,000 doses […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — One dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines reduces the chances of someone infected with coronavirus from spreading it to other household members by up to 50 percent, according to a English study published Wednesday. The Public Health England (PHE) research found that those who became infected three weeks after receiving their first jab were between 38 and 49 percent less likely to pass the virus on to their household […]
