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 UK first to roll out AstraZeneca shots
Britain began vaccinating its population with Oxford University and
AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot on Monday in a world first, as a new
surge of cases threatened to overwhelm hospitals.
Britain touted a scientific "triumph" that puts it at the vanguard
of the West as dialysis patient Brian Pinker, 82, became the first
person to get the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot outside of a trial.
As major powers eye the benefits of being first out of the pandemic,
Britain is rushing to vaccinate its population faster than the
United States and the rest of Europe, though Russia and China have
been inoculating their citizens for months.
France tries to speed up vaccinations
France sought to accelerate inoculations on Monday after an initial
roll-out slowed by bureaucracy and government wariness in one of the
most vaccine-sceptical countries in the world.
It began vaccinating medical staff over the age of 50 after
delivering just 516 COVID shots developed by Pfizer and Germany's
BioNTech during the first week of a campaign that focused on the
elderly in nursing homes.
U.S. may cut some Moderna vaccine doses in half
The U.S. government is considering giving some people half the dose
of Moderna's vaccine in order to speed vaccinations, a federal
official said on Sunday.
Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed, the federal vaccine
program, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that officials were in talks
with Moderna and the Food and Drug Administration about the idea.
Moderna's vaccine requires two injections.
"We know that for the Moderna vaccine, giving half of the dose to
people between the ages of 18 and 55, two doses, half the dose,
which means exactly achieving the objective of immunizing double the
number of people with the doses we have," Slaoui said.
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Singapore may relax curbs for vaccinated travellers
Singapore said on Monday it will consider relaxing travel
restrictions for people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19,
including for those planning to visit the city-state for the World
Economic Forum in May.
The Southeast Asian business and tourism hub has largely banned
leisure travel because of the pandemic, and has limited business and
official travel agreements with certain countries. Most returning
residents have to isolate in designated hotels or at home for up to
two weeks. 'Just stay home'
Thailand's prime minister on Monday urged the public to stay at home
to help contain its biggest coronavirus outbreak yet and avoid a
strict lockdown, as authorities confirmed a daily record of 745 new
infections.
The government has declared 28 provinces, including Bangkok, as
high-risk zones and asked people to work from home and avoid
gathering or travelling beyond provincial borders, as infection
numbers climb after an outbreak was detected last month at a seafood
market near the capital.
"This is up to everyone," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said. "If
we don't want to get infected, just stay home for 14 to 15 days.”
(Compiled by Linda Noakes; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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