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Sweden moves towards eliminating upper age limit on AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine
From CNN’s James Frater and Henrik Pettersson
Syringes are loaded with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine at the Skane University Hospital vaccination centre in Malmo, Sweden, on February 17. Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency/AFP/Getty Images
The Swedish Health Authority, Folkhälsomyndigheten, recommended eliminating the upper age limit for use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. This would allow it to be used on people over age 65.
“New data from the UK confirms that AstraZeneca s vaccine has a good protective effect even for people over 65 years of age,” the Health Authority said in a statement Thursday.
Cuba announces its vaccine candidate is authorized to begin Phase 3 trials
From CNN’s Patrick Oppmann
A technician works with the Soberana 02 Covid-19 vaccine at the Finlay Vaccine Institute in Havana, Cuba, on January 20. Yamil Lage/Pool/AP
Cuban scientists announced that the island’s Soberana vaccine candidate had received authorization to begin phase three trials immediately.
A second vaccine Abdala would also begin phase three trials soon, scientists said.
While many developing countries have struggled to import vaccines, Cuba has focused on making their own as a way to raise money and instill national pride in the island’s bio-medical industry.
Finland to enter a 3 week lockdown on March 8
From CNN s Sharon Braithwaite
Finland s Prime Minister Sanna Marin arrives at the European Union summit in Brussels, Belgium, in October 2020. Johanna Geron/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Finland will go into a three-week lockdown starting March 8 and is prepared to declare a state of emergency, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Thursday.
Marin was speaking during a news conference as the country faces a significant increase in the number of coronavirus cases and a rise in hospitalizations.
The strictest restrictions will be introduced Thursday in seven hospital districts, including the capital Helsinki. Such measures include distance working, the recommended use of face masks, protection of high-risk groups, distance schooling in higher education, lockdown of public areas, closure of adult leisure activities and a ban on gatherings.
Report calls for delaying second doses of vaccine, warns of surge fueled by coronavirus variant
From CNN’s Maggie Fox
A new report out Tuesday warns that a more transmissible variant of coronavirus threatens to start a renewed surge of infections in March, and suggests the US speed up vaccination by skipping second doses for now.
People over 65 should go to the front of the line, since they are by far the most vulnerable to severe disease and death, Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm and colleagues at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota recommended.
They call on the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to quickly assemble advisers to help change vaccination guidelines to get more vulnerable people vaccinated more quickly, before the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, first seen in the UK, causes more spread.