• Pfizer/BioNTech announce that they will supply COVAX with up to 40 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine, beginning in Q1 2021. Source
• The WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety says it does not see evidence that Pfizer/BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine contributed to deaths among elderly people, and that the risk-benefit balance of the vaccine “remains favorable in the elderly.” Source
• Uruguay’s President, President Luis Lacalle Pou, announced that the country will purchase two million vaccine doses from Pfizer/BioNTech and 1.75 million doses from Sinovac, with delivery expected in March. Source
• South Africa’s coronavirus death toll exceeds 40,000. Source
• South African cabinet minister and presidential advisor Jackson Mthembu, a leader in the coronavirus response – and the government’s public face for the fight against it – dies from complications of COVID-19. Source
• In France, coronavirus cases surpass three million. Source
• In Brazil, a new, potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant, called P.1., now accounts for over half of new infections in Manaus. – a surge which has caused its health care system to collapse. Source
• Chile grants approval for Sinovac’s CoronaVac for all ages; the country has ordered 60 million doses. Source
• Although no evidence has emerged to support changes in vaccine scheduling or interchangibility of products, the US CDC announces that in “exceptional circumstances” doctors may switch between the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine and that the interval between doses could be extended to six weeks if it is not feasible to administer the second dose sooner. Source
• France recommends extending the interval between coronavirus vaccine doses to six weeks, enabling it to stretch vaccine supplies. Source
• The CDC reports that one of every 400,000 people experienced a severe allergic reaction to the Moderna coronavirus vaccine. Source
• Researchers in Russia and the US are working on coronavirus vaccines for minks, which can become infected by, and transmit the virus back to people. Source
