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 Most U.S. vaccines unused
More than two-thirds of the 15 million coronavirus vaccines shipped
within the United States have yet to be used, health officials said
on Monday, as the governors of New York and Florida vowed to
penalize hospitals that fail to dispense shots quickly.
In New York, hospitals must administer vaccines within a week of
receiving them or face a fine and a reduction in future supplies,
Governor Andrew Cuomo said, hours before announcing the state's
first known case of a new, more infectious coronavirus variant
originally detected in Britain.
"I don't want the vaccine in a fridge or a freezer, I want it in
somebody's arm," the governor said.
Third national lockdown in Britain
Britain began its third COVID-19 lockdown on Tuesday with citizens
under orders to stay at home and the government calling for one last
major national effort to contain the virus before mass vaccinations
turn the tide.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the lockdown late on Monday
saying a highly contagious new coronavirus variant was spreading so
fast it risked overwhelming the National Health Service within 21
days.
In England alone, some 27,000 people are in hospital with COVID, a
number 40 percent higher than during the first peak of infections in
April.
Germany set to extend lockdown
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will agree with leaders of the 16
federal states on Tuesday to extend a strict lockdown until the end
of the month.
"We must remain tough and should not stop too soon," Markus Soeder,
premier of the southern state of Bavaria tweeted before the talks.
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Merkel and state premiers are largely agreed on
keeping shops and restaurants shut until the end
of January, sources involved in the talks have
said.
France cranks up vaccine rollout
France is stepping up its vaccine rollout by
widening its first target group to include more
health workers and simplifying a cumbersome
process to deliver shots, Health Minister
Olivier Veran said.
France's inoculation campaign got off to a slow
start, hampered in part by red tape and
President Emmanuel Macron's decision to tread
warily in one of the most vaccine-sceptical
countries in the world.
France
has fallen behind neighbours like Britain and Germany and Macron is
now demanding the vaccination programme speeds up.
Kimmel and Corden take shows back home
James Corden and Jimmy Kimmel are taking their late night talk shows
back home due to a surge in coronavirus cases in the Los Angeles
area that has brought calls for production on all films and TV shows
to be halted indefinitely.
Corden tweeted on Monday that he was headed back to his garage to
film "The Late Late Show".
The decisions follow appeals by the actors union SAG-AFTRA and
Hollywood producers for production to be suspended on all TV and
film sets until more hospital beds become available.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes)
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