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Vaccine probes, COVID-19 surges shuffle vaccine rollout in some nations
Filed Under:
COVID-19
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Apr 13, 2021
Vaccine safety signals and case surges continue to impact country COVID-19 policies, with Australia signaling that it will sidestep the adenovirus vector vaccines and India fast-tracking some foreign vaccines to boost immunization amid climbing illness totals.
Meanwhile, spikes continue in hot spots such as Iran and Japan, as the global death totals nears 3 million.
Adenovirus vaccine questions upend Australia's plans
Following reports of rare blood clot events in people who have received the AstraZeneca-Oxford and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, an Australian government spokesperson told Reuters that the government had decided not to buy any more adenovirus vector vaccines for now. The government had already recommended limiting that vaccine's use in people younger than 50 last week after reports of safety signals with the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine arose.
The news comes following a weekend announcement that Australia has abandoned its goal of vaccinating all 26 million by the end of the year. Australian officials have doubled an earlier Pfizer-BioNTech order, which now consists of 40 million doses by the end of the year.
US health officials today recommended pausing Johnson & Johnson vaccination to allow experts to investigate six cases?all involving women younger than 50?of a rare blood clot. About 6.8 million people have received the vaccine.
Today, Johnson & Johnson announced that it has delayed the rollout of the vaccine in Europe, which it says is a proactive step as it reviews reports of rare blood clotting disorders with European health officials.
India to fast-track imported vaccine approvals
Elsewhere, India's government said today that it will fast-track the emergency approvals of COVID-19 vaccines that have been greenlighted in Western countries, setting the stage for the country to import doses of vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna, according to Reuters.
The move comes amid a string of record daily highs for cases, with the western state Maharashtra as the hardest hit. Today the country reported a single-day high of 185,104 cases.
India is the world's biggest vaccine producer, and up until a few weeks ago the country's Serum Institute was producing millions of AstraZeneca-Oxford doses for the COVAX, a program led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure equitable access. However, the country recently announced that given its surge, it would prioritize its domestic need for vaccine. Earlier this week, it approved Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
More global headlines
Vaccine probes, COVID-19 surges shuffle vaccine rollout in some nations
Filed Under:
COVID-19
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Apr 13, 2021
Vaccine safety signals and case surges continue to impact country COVID-19 policies, with Australia signaling that it will sidestep the adenovirus vector vaccines and India fast-tracking some foreign vaccines to boost immunization amid climbing illness totals.
Meanwhile, spikes continue in hot spots such as Iran and Japan, as the global death totals nears 3 million.
Adenovirus vaccine questions upend Australia's plans
Following reports of rare blood clot events in people who have received the AstraZeneca-Oxford and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, an Australian government spokesperson told Reuters that the government had decided not to buy any more adenovirus vector vaccines for now. The government had already recommended limiting that vaccine's use in people younger than 50 last week after reports of safety signals with the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine arose.
The news comes following a weekend announcement that Australia has abandoned its goal of vaccinating all 26 million by the end of the year. Australian officials have doubled an earlier Pfizer-BioNTech order, which now consists of 40 million doses by the end of the year.
US health officials today recommended pausing Johnson & Johnson vaccination to allow experts to investigate six cases?all involving women younger than 50?of a rare blood clot. About 6.8 million people have received the vaccine.
Today, Johnson & Johnson announced that it has delayed the rollout of the vaccine in Europe, which it says is a proactive step as it reviews reports of rare blood clotting disorders with European health officials.
India to fast-track imported vaccine approvals
Elsewhere, India's government said today that it will fast-track the emergency approvals of COVID-19 vaccines that have been greenlighted in Western countries, setting the stage for the country to import doses of vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna, according to Reuters.
The move comes amid a string of record daily highs for cases, with the western state Maharashtra as the hardest hit. Today the country reported a single-day high of 185,104 cases.
India is the world's biggest vaccine producer, and up until a few weeks ago the country's Serum Institute was producing millions of AstraZeneca-Oxford doses for the COVAX, a program led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure equitable access. However, the country recently announced that given its surge, it would prioritize its domestic need for vaccine. Earlier this week, it approved Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
More global headlines
- Iran today, battling its fourth surge, reported another record daily high for cases, with 24,760 new infections. Over the weekend, the government ordered a 10-day lockdown for 23 of the country's 31 provinces to slow its COVID activity.
- Japan's Osaka prefecture today reported a record high total, with an outbreak fueled by the B117 SARS-CoV-2 variant.
- Germany's cabinet today approved a measure that would give the federal government more power to impose nationwide measures to curb the country's rising cases, which would replace a patchwork system based on state laws, Deutsche Welle reported. The measure now goes to parliament for a vote.
- The global today topped 137 million and is at 137,034,845, and deaths are approaching 3 million at 2,951,331, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.