• The USFDA cleared up to 15 million doses of the J & J coronavirus vaccine produced in the Emergent Biosolutions plant responsible for ruining 75 million doses – not enough for J & J to meet its promised deliveries to the EU and US. The batch that was cleared has not been bottled yet, making it likely that it will be exported. The Emergent plant remains closed, since the FDA has not yet certified it to as complaint with good manufacturing practices. Source
• Germany has recommended mixing a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine with a second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which the country’s health experts believe can offer better protection against the Delta variant. Source
• South Africa’s Health Products Regulatory Authority approves SinoVac’s coronavirus vaccine for people ages 18-59. It is also reviewing Sputnik V and Sinopharm’s vaccine. Source
• Anti-Bolsonaro protests spread across Brazil as the Attorney General’s office opens an investigation into Mr. Bolsonaro’s role in a vaccine corruption scandal, where 20 million doses of an unapproved vaccine which was still in clinical trials were purchased although the deal has been suspended. Bolsonaro says that he had no part in the deal, although a lawmaker and his brother, who works at the health ministry, testified that Bolsonaro warned about it. “I have no way of knowing what’s happening in the ministries,” he told supporters on Monday. Source
• Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez signed a decree allowing the country to purchase pediatric coronavirus vaccines and pave the way for it to receive donations by removing obstacles in existing legislation. The decree also creates a COVID-19 reparation fund for indemnity demands from by people able to prove they suffered damages from a coronavirus vaccine. Currently, 9 percent of the country’s population is fully vaccinated and 38 percent of them have been given one dose. Source
• Strive Masiyiwa, a telecommunications billionaire and philanthropist who is helping the African Union to secure coronavirus doses, says that “The U.S. government has really stepped up…” while “…not a single dose, not one vial has left a European factory for Africa,” he said. “Now is the time for Europe to open up its production facilities so that we can buy vaccines.” Currently, less than 1.1 percent of the continent’s 1.2 billion people are fully vaccinated, according to Africa’s CDC. Source