Health & Science

• Friday, February 19th 2021 - 08:58 UTC

  Brazilian police investigating “shots of air” instead of Covid-19 vaccines

  

  Rio de Janeiro's police launched an investigation into reports that doses of the coronavirus vaccine may have been diverted after images emerged of healthcare workers sticking needles into elderly people without injecting them.

• Friday, February 19th 2021 - 08:52 UTC

  Brazil surpasses 10 million Covid-19 cases, John Hopkins University

  

  Brazil surpassed 10 million confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday, according to a running tally by US-based Johns Hopkins University. With 10,030,626 confirmed cases to date, the country has the third-highest number of infections after the US and India. Brazil recorded more than 49,000 new cases on Thursday.

• Friday, February 19th 2021 - 08:33 UTC

  UK wants to coordinate the development of future pandemic vaccines to 100 days

  

  Britain which holds the presidency of the Group 7 will challenge fellow members to help speed up the development of future vaccines to 100-days. On Friday Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosts a virtual meeting of leaders including US President Joe Biden.

• Friday, February 19th 2021 - 07:45 UTC

  WHO urges nations producing vaccines to donate them to the Covax scheme

  

  The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday urged nations producing Covid-19 vaccines not to distribute them unilaterally but to donate them to the global Covax scheme to ensure fairness.

• Friday, February 19th 2021 - 07:38 UTC

  Biden will pledge US$ 4bn to the COVAX vaccination program at the G7 summit

  

  United States will pledge US$4 billion to a vaccination program for poorer countries at a global economic summit this Friday and hopes other countries will follow and contribute additional funds, the White House anticipated.

• Thursday, February 18th 2021 - 08:44 UTC

  PAHO still uncertain about the delivery date of vaccines for the COVAX initiative to benefit 37 countries

  

  With COVAX delivery of new vaccines expected soon in the Americas, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa F. Etienne called for overcoming barriers to ensure “fair and equitable access.”

• Thursday, February 18th 2021 - 08:38 UTC

  Latin America demand rich countries stop hoarding the Covid-19 vaccines

  

  Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard during a virtual meeting of the UN Security Council called on rich countries to stop hoarding vaccines against Covid-19 impeding the poor from being inoculated.

• Thursday, February 18th 2021 - 06:59 UTC

  UN Covid-19 summit: Guterres calls on G20 to implement a global immunization plan

  

  Addressing the equitable distribution of vaccines against the coronavirus in the Security Council, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres proposed the creation of an emergency task force by the G20 countries to prepare and help implement a global immunization plan.

• Wednesday, February 17th 2021 - 09:10 UTC

  Scandal and frustration in Peru: 487 officials secretly received early Covid-19 vaccines

  

  Peruvian interim president announced Monday night that 487 officials took part in the so-called “vacunagate” by taking advantage of their privileged positions to secretly receive early inoculations of a Chinese coronavirus vaccine that the government then bought for doctors and other health workers battling the pandemic. The list includes the former ministers of foreign affairs and health and the former president.

• Wednesday, February 17th 2021 - 09:01 UTC

  Argentina's death toll, 50,432; batch of AstraZeneca vaccine from India expected Wednesday

  

  Argentina on Tuesday reported 4,003 new COVID-19 cases and 106 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the total caseload to 2,033,060 and the death toll to 50,432, the health authorities said. Since the first case was detected on March 3, 2020, some 1,838,291 people infected with the virus have recovered, the health ministry added.