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 Moderna withholds 1.63 mln vaccine doses in Japan due to
contamination
Moderna Inc said on Wednesday it has withheld supply of about 1.63
million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in Japan after a report of
contamination of vials with particulate matter.
The company said the contamination could be due to a manufacturing
issue in one of the production lines at its contract manufacturing
site in Spain. The vaccine lot with complaints had 565,400 doses and
Moderna said that "out of an abundance of caution" it had put the
lot on hold and two adjacent ones.
Sydney hospitals erect emergency tents
Australia's new daily cases of COVID-19 topped 1,000 on Thursday for
the first time since the global pandemic began, as two major
hospitals in Sydney set up emergency outdoor tents to help deal with
a rise in patients. The makeshift unit in the emergency department
for COVID-19 patients will help "to offload delays", a Western
Sydney Local Health District spokesperson told Reuters.
State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said authorities had quadrupled the
number of the state's intensive care ventilators to 2,000 early last
year. Although the system is "under pressure", it can withstand the
current crisis once vaccination rates rise, she said.
U.S. plans COVID-19 booster shots at six months - WSJ
U.S. health regulators could approve a third COVID-19 shot for
adults beginning at least six months after full vaccination, instead
of the previously announced eight-month gap, the Wall Street Journal
reported on Wednesday.
Approval of boosters for three COVID-19 shots being administered in
the United States — those manufactured by Pfizer Inc and partner
BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson — is expected in
mid-September, the report said, citing a person familiar with the
plans.
[to top of second column] |
 Delta Air Lines to add $200
monthly health insurance charge for unvaccinated
staff
Delta Air Lines on Wednesday said employees will
have to pay $200 more every month for their
company-sponsored healthcare plan if they choose
to not be vaccinated against COVID-19. The move
to add a surcharge to health insurance
contributions is the latest tactic by corporate
America to push employees to get the shots to
fight the pandemic.
In a staff memo, Delta Air Chief Executive Ed
Bastian said the monthly surcharge would take
effect on Nov. 1. He said the surcharge is
necessary to address the financial risk the
Atlanta-based airline faces from the decision to
not vaccinate. Any employee in the United States
who is not fully vaccinated will be required to
take a COVID-19 test every week. The mandatory
testing will start on Sept. 12.
One in four vaccinated LA residents got COVID
From May through July 2021, as the Delta variant
spread, 43,127 residents of Los Angeles County
in California were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2
infections. One in four had been fully
vaccinated, though these patients had lower
rates of hospitalization, intensive care and
need for machines to help with breathing than
unvaccinated patients, public health officials
reported on Tuesday in the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report.
During the study period, the prevalence of the
Delta variant rose from less than 9% to at least
87%, the authors note. As of July 25,
hospitalization rates were 29 times higher for
unvaccinated patients, they estimated,
"indicating that COVID-19 vaccination protects
against severe COVID-19 in areas with increasing
prevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant."
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Stephen
Coates)
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