Argentina has introduced the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, produced in-country as part of their national vaccination campaign, Santiago Cafiero, the chief of the cabinet of ministers, said on Thursday.
"I am very pleased that [Argentine pharmaceutical company] Richmond Lab ... sent the vaccines produced in Argentina to the Health Ministry [for distribition] ... And today their distribution begins," Cafiero told reporters.
The vaccine batches sent to the ministry include 995,125 doses of the first component and 152,500 of the second component of Sputnik V, he specified on Twitter. Their quality was previously approved by the vaccine’s developer, Moscow-based Gamaleya Research Center.
The Sputnik V vaccine has been approved in 69 countries with a total population reach of more than 3.7 billion people.
The first 200 million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, to be donated worldwide, are set to be shipped by the end of this year, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients said on Thursday.
"The 500 million Pfizer doses that were announced in June, to be donated to the world, those shipments do begin this month, and we will ship a total of 200 million by the end of this year, this calendar year," Zients said. "So, everything is on schedule there and shipments are beginning in the next several days."
Zients added that the remaining 300 million Pfizer vaccine doses will be shipped no later than in the first half of 2022.
In May, the Biden administration announced its plans to donate at least 80 million Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to the countries which needed it most to fight the novel coronavirus followed soon by another commitment to donate 500 million Pfizer doses to nearly 100 countries starting in August.
Most employees, contractors and volunteers will need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus to continue working for the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in a policy that takes effect Friday, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said on Thursday.
“Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough will expand his previous COVID-19 vaccine mandate Friday, Aug. 13, to apply to most Veterans Health Administration employees and volunteers and contractors who work in VHA facilities, visit VHA facilities or otherwise come into contact with VA patients and healthcare workers as part of their duties,” a VA press release said.
Affected employees will have eight weeks to provide proof of vaccination to their local VHA Occupational Health Office, the release added.
“We’re now including most VHA employees and volunteers and contractors in the vaccine mandate because it remains the best way to keep Veterans safe, especially as the Delta variant spreads across the country,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in the release.
COVID-19-related vaccine mandates have rapidly expanded in the US, with the highly contagious delta variant now accounting for a majority of new infections, which have soared to more than 100,000 daily this month.
Earlier in the week, the Defense Department mandated vaccinations for nearly all active duty service members. Similar rules have been imposed in schools, state and local government offices and by many private employers in recent weeks.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will require more than 25,000 of its healthcare workers to get vaccinated for COVID-19, HHS said in a statement on Thursday.
“To increase vaccination coverage and protect more people from COVID-19, including the more transmissible Delta variant, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will require more than 25,000 members of its health care workforce to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” HHS said.
Those who will be required to receive the vaccine include staff at the Indian Health Service, National Institutes of Health, and others who work in federally-operated facilities where they have the potential to come into contact with patients.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will also be immediately requiring members of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to get vaccinated to prepare for possible deployment as emergency responders.
“Our number one goal is the health and safety of the American public, including our federal workforce. And vaccines are the best tool we have to protect people from COVID-19, prevent the spread of the Delta variant, and save lives,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “Instructing our HHS health care workforce to get vaccinated will protect our federal workers and the patients and people they serve.”
HHS’s decision comes amid similar decisions by other federal entities, including the Defense Department, to require their employees to get vaccinated or risk workplace restrictions and possible consequences. The move was largely prompted by a recent rise in cases caused by the emergent delta variant of the novel coronavirus.
Belarusian health authorities estimate that a domestic COVID-19 vaccine will enter civil circulation in the first half of 2023, Health Minister Dmitry Pinevich said on Thursday.
"We believe that in the first half of 2023 the vaccine will be released into civil circulation," Pinevich said, as quoted by the Health Ministry in its Telegram channel.
The Spanish-made PHH-1V coronavirus vaccine developed by the Hipra pharmaceutical company is expected to enter the market in early 2022, the country's minister of science and innovation, Diana Morant, said on Thursday.
"They [the company] expect to start producing doses in October so that by the end of the year they would be produced, entering the market at the beginning of 2022," Morant said on air the 24 Horas broadcaster.
While comparing PHH-1V to Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, the minister stressed that the Hipra company aims to present a more advanced product that has been designed taking into consideration the peculiarities of various coronavirus strains.
So far, PHH-1V is the most successful vaccine in Spain, Morant added.
On Wednesday, the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) authorized clinical trials for its first home-grown vaccine.
The Belarusian vaccine against COVID-19 is undergoing preliminary pre-clinical trials, and its production may start in a year at least, Vladimir Gorbunov, the head of the health ministry's centre for epidemiology and microbiology, said on Thursday.
"Preliminary pre-clinical trials are underway. In vitro tests have been carried out already, as well as tests on animals, on several groups of mice," Gorbunov said, as quoted by the health ministry.
The prototype of the vaccine is ready, the health official added.
"The pre-clinical trials will be followed by clinical trials and production facilities design, then production will start. All this will take a year or maybe more," Gorbunov continued.
Russia registered 21,932 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, up from 21,571 the day before, taking the overall tally to 6,534,791, the federal response centre said on Thursday.
"Over the past day, 21,932 COVID-19 cases were confirmed across 85 Russian regions, including 1,773 cases (8.1%) without clinical symptoms," the centre said, adding that the rate of increase grew to 0.34%.
Moscow has the highest number of new cases with 2,294 daily infections, up from 2,076 cases the day before. The Russian capital was followed by St. Petersburg with 1,801 new cases, down from 1,804, and the Moscow region with 1,143 cases, up from 1,054.
The response centre reported a new record of 808 new deaths linked to the coronavirus, up from 799 the day before, raising the country's total death toll to 168,049.
In the same 24 hours, 20,195 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals across the country, up from 20,067 the day before, bringing the total to 5,828,972.
Pour gagner ce combat face à l’épidémie, l’accès au vaccin doit être mondial et équitable. C’est pourquoi la France vient de partager 670 000 doses destinées au Vietnam, dans le cadre du programme de solidarité Covax.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 12, 2021
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the country had allocated 670,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam via the COVAX shot-sharing scheme.
"To win this fight in the face of the epidemic, access to vaccines must be global and equitable. This is why France has just shared 670,000 doses intended for Vietnam, as part of the COVAX solidarity program," Macron tweeted.
The government of Vietnam seeks to vaccinate 70% of the population by the end of 2021, a goal requiring at least 150 million shots.
The authorities have approved Russia's Sputnik V, the UK's AstraZeneca, and China's Sinopharm vaccines. To date, the country has confirmed more than 242,000 COVID-19 infections and 4,487 related fatalities.
The COVAX Facility is a global initiative responsible for the distribution of COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines worldwide. Its portfolio currently consists of 11 vaccines and vaccine candidates.
The Australian Capital Territory, with almost half a million population, declared a week-long lockdown on Thursday after detecting a single case of COVID-19 and finding the virus in wastewater.
"The ACT will enter a seven-day lockdown from 5.00 pm today, as a result of a COVID-19 case being identified in the community and positive wastewater detections reported overnight. The lockdown will remain in place until 5.00 pm Thursday 19 August 2021," the government said in a press release.
The infection is the first locally-acquired case since July of last year in the city.
Locals are now only allowed to leave their houses for care or caregiving reasons, to get vaccinated, to buy food, and for educational or professional reasons. All non-essential businesses are encouraged to close, according to the release.
Many communities in Australia have recently imposed lockdowns in an effort to curb the spread of the Delta virus variant.
The Mexican Secretariat of Health has published new statistics on COVID-19, according to which the number of confirmed cases has exceeded 3 million.
More than 246,000 people have died from coronavirus complications.
A total of 3,020,596 cases of coronavirus infection have been confirmed in Mexico. The death toll since the epidemic start stands at 246,203.
Fifty-seven percent of the adult population, or 51.4 million people, are vaccinated against COVID-19 with at least one dose, 27.5 million are fully vaccinated.
