China okays its second domestic Covid-19 vaccine for public use

BEIJING/WASHINGTON: A Chinese pharma company on Saturday said its Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for public use by China’s top regulator. Sinovac Biotech’s announcement marked it as the second locallymade coronavirus cleared for mass inoculations.

The first vaccine was developed by a Beijing institute affiliated to state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), and approved in December. In June 2020, the Sinovac vaccine was the first to be approved for emergency use in China, and since July, emergency use was launched in China for specific groups of people.

Since then - and before prior approvals - both vaccines have already been used in China’s vaccination programme.

Indonesia, Turkey,

Brazil,

Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, and Laos have granted emergency use okay for the CoronaVac vaccine developed by Sinovac Life Sciences, Sinovac said. The vaccine comprises two doses with an interval of 14 to 28 days.

White House to speed up production of J&J vaccine

The White House is exploring options for increasing manufacturing of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, which is under regulatory review, and said on Friday that currently expected levels of early doses were less than hoped.

The government has invoked the Defence Production Act to help Pfizer ramp up Covid-19 vaccine production and that “every option” was on the table to produce more Johnson & Johnson vaccine should it be authorised.

The US government has also said it will also use wartime powers to increase at-home Covid-19 tests.

Trump-era executions a super-spreader event

As the Trump administration was nearing the end of a string of executions, 70% of death row inmates had Covid-19, possibly sparking a super-spreader event.

Records obtained by AP show employees at the Indiana prison complex where 13 executions were carried out in six months had contact with inmates and other infected people.

Too early to talk about reopening, says UK PM

The Guardian has reported that British PM Boris has warned that it’s “still early days” to begin discussing opening up British society. His message came amid reports that pubs across the UK are likely to reopen in May.