Israel has spent about 785 million dollars on Covid-19 vaccines, a Finance Ministry official told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. The country bought 15 million doses in total, according to ynet news site, though a Health Ministry spokesperson refused to confirm the figure, citing confidentiality agreements. Officials spent some 2.6 billion shekels on buying vaccines […]

Swedish health authorities said Tuesday they had suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, following the example of many other EU countries after reports of possible serious side effects. The Public Health Agency (FHM) said it was halting the use of the vaccine “as a precautionary measure” following reports of “suspected side effects”. Sweden’s state […]

The number of deaths from Covid-19 across Europe passed 900,000 on Tuesday, according to an AFP tally of official figures provided by health authorities. As of 0845 GMT, the 52 countries and territories of the region — which includes Russia and Turkey — had officially registered 900,185 coronavirus deaths since the outbreak emerged in China […]

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday defended the safety of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, after several European countries halted its rollout over blood clot fears. Germany, Italy and France on Monday joined others in suspending the vaccine, dealing a potential blow to the global immunisation campaign against a disease that has killed more than […]

The European Union has reached a deal on Tuesday to accelerate the delivery of 10 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to member states. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the doses would be moved forward from the bloc’s third-quarter order and arrive before July. “I know how critical quarter two is […]

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the agency is aware that a small fraction of people – around one person in every one million people vaccinated— may have severe allergic reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine, known as anaphylaxis. WHO, in a statement posted on its website on Tuesday, stated that just like the way people […]

Germany, France and Italy on Monday became the latest countries to temporarily suspend use of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca over blood clot concerns, joining others in Europe including Ireland, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. The German Health Ministry pointed to a recommendation from the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) for vaccines and biomedicines that further […]

Ukraine has no plans to halt the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine after reported blood clotting incidents elsewhere in Europe, the health minister said on Monday. European countries including Germany, France and Italy have suspended use of the shot, which was jointly developed with the University of Oxford. Both the British-Swedish company and Oxford have […]

Countries should continue using AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine, the World Health Organization said on Monday, after many governments halted rollouts because of blood clot fears. “We do not want people to panic and we would, for the time being, recommend that countries continue vaccinating with AstraZeneca,” WHO chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, told a press briefing. Her […]

Hailed as a cheap, easy to store not-for-profit vaccine, the AstraZeneca shot has suffered a growing number of setbacks. In the latest, around a dozen countries have suspended its use as a precaution after blood clots suffered by some of those vaccinated. – ‘Accidentally’ great – The British laboratory made headlines in November when it […]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday urged Canadians to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, in response to reports of hesitancy after several nations halted its rollout over fears of blood clots and other side effects. “Our experts and scientists have spent an awful lot of time making sure that every vaccine approved in Canada is both […]

A 29-year-old laboratory technician, Eiyonoria Godwin, on Monday appeared in a Chief Magistrates’ Court, in Gwagwalada, FCT, for allegedly issuing a forged COVID-19 test result. The police charged Godwin with two counts of cheating and forgery. The prosecution counsel, Dabo Yakubu, told the court that the defendant collected N25,000 from Mr Eric Ogona of no. […]

The director of the Oxford Vaccine Group on Monday said there was no link between the jab it developed with AstraZeneca and blood clotting, after several countries suspended its use. Andrew Pollard said there was “very reassuring evidence that there is no increase in a blood clot phenomenon here in the UK, where most of […]

The much-anticipated report from the international mission to Wuhan to investigate Covid-19’s origins is set to be published this week, following intense US and Chinese pressure over its contents. The coronavirus pandemic has engulfed the planet, killing more than 2.6 million people and shredding the global economy since the first cases emerged in the Chinese […]

The Kwara Government on Friday commenced the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination, which would be conducted across the 16 local government areas (LGAs) of the state. Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazak of Kwara said at the inauguration of the campaign that the vaccination would also be conducted in four phases. He stated that the initiative was a milestone in […]