Brazil made a diplomatic push on Monday to guarantee an Indian-made shipment of British drugmaker AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, hoping to avoid export restrictions that could delay immunizations during the world's second-deadliest outbreak.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday ordered England into a new national lockdown to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases that threatens to overwhelm parts of the health system before a vaccine program reaches a critical mass.
Argentina's regulator on Wednesday approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University for emergency use, AstraZeneca said in a statement.
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by British drug maker AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University will likely be authorized for emergency use in the United States in April, the chief adviser for the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine program said on Wednesday.
Officials at the World Health Organization warned that the COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged every corner of the world “is not necessarily the big one” — and that the novel coronavirus may never truly go away.
The European Medicines Authority (EMA) will most likely not be able to approve the COVID-19 vaccine developed by drug maker AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in January, the watchdog’s Deputy Executive Director Noel Wathion said.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, one of the world's most prominent coronavirus skeptics, said over the weekend he was not worried about criticism over the speed of Brazil's vaccine rollout, saying he felt no pressure.
Pfizer has postponed the delivery of new batches of its coronavirus vaccine to eight European nations including Spain, the Spanish health ministry said on Monday, a day after the European Union began its immunization campaign.
Argentina will begin vaccinating its citizens against coronavirus on Tuesday using the recently delivered Russian Sputnik V vaccine, the government said on Saturday, following its approval by health authorities for emergency use.
Europe launched a mass Covid-19 vaccination drive on Sunday with pensioners and medics lining up to get the first shots to see off a pandemic that has crippled economies and claimed more than 1.7 million lives worldwide.