Cuba first in the world to give jabs to toddlers
HAVANA: Cuba on Monday became the first country in the world to vaccinate children from the age of two against Covid-19, using home-grown jabs not recognized by the World Health Organization.
The communist island of 11.2 million people aims to inoculate all its children before reopening schools that have been closed for the most part since March 2020.
The new school year started on Monday, but from home via television programmes, as most Cuban homes do not have internet access. Having completed clinical trials on minors with its Abdala and Soberana vaccines, Cuba kicked off its inoculation campaign for children on Friday, starting with those 12 and older.
On Monday, it started distributing jabs in the 2-11 age group in the central province of Cienfuegos. Several other countries in the world are vaccinating children from the age of 12, and some are conducting trials in younger kids.
Japan’s health ministry said that a third person, a man in his 40s, has died after receiving the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from production lots that are being recalled due to possible contamination, public broadcaster NHK reported. The cause of death hasn’t been determined and experts will examine whether there’s any link between the administration and the death.
Moderna and its distributor in Japan, Takeda Pharma, said last week the recalled lots may be contaminated with stainless steel particles, but ruled out they were the cause of earlier death of two men. Japan’s health ministry is continuing investigation into the cause.
Anger in Australia over PM’s Father’s Day trip
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is facing a fierce backlash over a Father’s Day trip that he took on Sunday, the BBC has reported, even as more than half of the country’s 25 million residents are currently under a strict lockdown.
The report says Morrison, ostensibly in the capacity of an”essential worker”, had been granted permission by health authorities to fly from Canberra to Sydney on a private jet to join his children. Canberra and Sydney, alongside Melbourne, are under strict Covid-19 curbs.
Critics have slammed the prime minister for what they call double standards and irresponsible behaviour.
G20 min agree to vaccine confidence measures
The health ministers from the Group of 20 countries, including India, have united to pledge global action to improve future health security, increase vaccine confidence and tackle antimicrobial resistance as part of a health declaration agreed in Rome, Italy, on Monday.
The ministers also agreed to step up the provision of resources to help poor countries vaccinate their populations against Covid-19, though they did not appear to have made any new numerical commitment.