Japan Approves Pfizer Shot; Auckland Locked Down: Virus Update
Bloomberg 2/14/2021
The pace of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. continued to ease as the country’s week-to-week average fell to its lowest in almost four months. The White House issued its strongest criticism yet of the World Health Organization’s handling of the investigation into the origins of the virus and China’s involvement in the probe’s findings.
New Zealand imposed a three-day lockdown on Auckland with the discovery of several local cases, bringing an abrupt halt to the country’s summer of unrestricted movement. Melbourne recorded only one community infection, bringing hope that its lockdown can be lifted this week.
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A health worker prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be administered at a vaccination centre.
The University of Oxford has launched the first study to assess the safety and immune responses in children and young adults of its coronavirus vaccine.
The university said that previous trials of its ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 jabs, which are being produced by AstraZeneca and also have a tie-up with the Serum Institute of India, have shown that it is safe, produces strong immune system responses and has high efficacy in all adults.
From Friday, it would be extending its trials to assess if children and young adults aged 6-17 years also show a good immune response to coronavirus from it.