• China’s Livzon Pharmaceutical Group announced that the Philippines FDA approved the phase III trial of V-01, its experimental protein-based coronavirus vaccine. Source
• The EU has vaccinated 70 percent of its adult population – or 55 percent of its entire population. Vaccination rates remain uneven across the bloc; while over 80 percent of adults in Belgium, Denmark and Portugal, and more than 75 percent of adults in in the Netherlands and Spain have been fully vaccinated, rates are lower in Eastern Europe: 45 percent in Latvia, 31 percent in Romania and 20 percent in Bulgaria. Source
• A pair of senior vaccine leaders at the US FDA have resigned amidst speculation that they are frustrated about the involvement of the CDC and its advisory committee in decisions that should be up to the FDA, and the Biden Administration’s meddling on booster shots before their approval. The departure of Marion Gruber, Director of the Office of Vaccines Research & Review and Phil Krause, Deputy Director, has been described as “…A huge global loss..” by Rick Bright, Former BARDA director, adding “Dr. Gruber is much more than the Director. She is a global leader. Visionary mastermind behind global clinical regulatory science for flu, Ebola, MERS, Zika, SARS-CoV-2, many others.” Source