• Pfizer and BioNTech issue a press release with data from their 46,307-person phase III coronavirus vaccine trial (which included 800 people in South Africa). During the period which began a week after the second dose and ended six months later, there were 927 symptomatic cases of COVID-19; 850 of them occurred among people who got placebo, and 77 cases in among people who got the vaccine, corresponding to a vaccine efficacy rate of 91.3 percent. In South Africa, where 800 people participated in the trial, the vaccine was 100 percent effective at preventing infections with the B.1.351 variant. The vaccine was safe, and 95.3 percent to 100 percent effective (based on CDC or CDC criteria, respectively) at preventing severe COVID-19. Source
• Nature publishes research on responses to the Pfizer/BioNtech coronavirus vaccine among 1,090 healthcare workers, which reports that people with a history of COVID-19 developed r antibody responses after one dose of the vaccine that were similar to those among infection-naive people who got both vaccine doses. The authors suggested that additional research may confirm use of a single dose for people who have recovered from COVID-19. Source
• The Republic of Panama approves the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, joining Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda ,Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain Belarus, Bolivia, Cameroon, Djibouti,, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Philippines Republic of the Congo, Republic of Guinea, Republika Srpska (entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San-Marino, Serbia, Seychelles Sri Lanka, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, UAE, and Uzbekistan. Source
• COVAX delivers 811,200 of 4,176,000 doses of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine allocated to Viet Nam. Source
• The Netherlands will not administer AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine to people under age 60 years, noting five cases of blood clots among female vaccine recipients age 25 to 65. Source
• A four-week state of emergency was declared in Ontario, Canada due to a surge in coronavirus, mainly driven by the B.1.1.7 variant, which is “… killing faster and younger and spreading far more quickly,” according to Dr Adalsteinn Brown, co-chair of the Ontario Covid-19 Science Advisory Table. Source