Health & Science

• Monday, December 14th 2020 - 09:30 UTC

  Bolsonaro's vaccination plan “a murderous stupidity” and a display of “lethal incompetence”

  

  President Jair Bolsonaro faced scathing criticism on Sunday over his government's plan – or lack thereof, opponents said – to vaccinate the population against Covid-19 in Brazil, the country with the second-highest death toll worldwide.

• Monday, December 14th 2020 - 08:59 UTC

  Peru suspends trials with China's Covid-19 vaccine due to a “serious adverse event”

  

  Peru suspended trials for China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine due to a “serious adverse event” that occurred with one of the volunteers for the study, the Peruvian government said in a statement on Saturday.

• Monday, December 14th 2020 - 07:50 UTC

  NASA to Provide Spanish-Language Coverage, Livestream of Solar Eclipse

  

  NASA will provide live coverage this Monday, Dec. 14, of a solar eclipse that will pass over South America, treating parts of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay to views of a total eclipse of the Sun. A Spanish-language program will air on NASA Television and the public channel on the agency’s website. A separate livestream of the eclipse without narration will air on the media channel.

• Saturday, December 12th 2020 - 09:54 UTC

  US launches mass-inoculation campaign as FDA approves the Pfizer vaccine

  

  United States health authorities, shipping services and hospitals stood ready on Friday to immediately launch a mass-inoculation campaign of unparalleled dimension, as federal regulators granted emergency approval to the first COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.

• Saturday, December 12th 2020 - 09:21 UTC

  China suspends meat imports from two Brazilian companies

  

  China has temporarily suspended meat imports from two Brazilian companies, Brazil's agriculture ministry said late on Friday.

• Friday, December 11th 2020 - 23:47 UTC

  Argentina will begin inoculation with the Russian vaccine; President Fernandez will receive first shot

  

  Argentina said it has secured doses to begin administering Russia’s Sputnik vaccine before year-end and President Alberto Fernandez will be the first to take it. The government is planning to give the shot to 10 million vulnerable Argentines before March, Fernandez said.

• Friday, December 11th 2020 - 09:54 UTC

  Panel of US FDA advisers votes to endorse emergency use of Pfizer vaccine

  

  A panel of outside advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday (Dec 10) voted overwhelmingly to endorse emergency use of Pfizer Inc's coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for the agency to authorize the shot for a nation that has lost more than 285,000 lives to Covid-19.

• Friday, December 11th 2020 - 09:00 UTC

  Bolsonaro certain Brazil is at the “tail end” of the pandemic

  

  President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday Brazil was at the “tail end” of the coronavirus pandemic, despite a surge in infections and deaths that many experts are calling a second wave.

• Friday, December 11th 2020 - 08:43 UTC

  Brazilian and Argentine beef exports to China suspended after Covid-19 in packaging

  

  Two beef producers from Brazil and one from Argentina have had their exports to China suspended for one week after packaging of their products tested positive for traces of COVID-19, customs said. China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) made the announcement.

• Friday, December 11th 2020 - 08:40 UTC

  Mexican median age of Covid-19 deaths is 55, compared to 75 in other countries

  

  Mexico’s coronavirus spokesman said on Thursday the country’s median age of death from COVID-19 was a shockingly young 55, as compared to an average of 75 in many European countries.