• Globally, over three billion doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered, although distribution remains unequal. Source
• Brazil has suspended a $324 million deal with India’s Bharat Biotech for 20 million doses of Covaxin, after whistleblowers disclosed irregularities with the agreement – including discrepancies in payment, the number of doses and intermediary companies, and that the vaccine has not been approved by Brazil’s regulatory agency – and that the price was higher than one offered multiple times by Pfizer. Source
• Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube announced that the government has purchased two million doses of Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine (adding to the two million doses that the country has already purchased), and 1.5 million doses of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine to be delivered during Q3 of 2021. To date, Zimbabwe, which is home to 15 million people, has given a first dose to 770,709 of them, while 544,888 people have received both shots. Source
• Development of Altimune’s AdCOVID, an intranasal formulation of an experimental coronavirus vaccine, is halted after it fails to generate adequate immune responses in a phase I trial. Source
• GSK Singapore and Vir announce an Advance Purchase Agreement with Singapore’s Government for the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab, pending interim authorization by the country’s Health Sciences Authority. Sotrovimab is given as a single dose to people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at risk of progressing to severe disease. Source
• During his annual televised call-in show, Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, urges people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Source