Coronavirus Updates

The European Union’s drug agency, the European Medicines Agency has begun to assess data provided by Pfizer ahead of a possibl;e authorization of the vaccine against the coronavirus for 12- to 15-year-olds. The data includes a clinical trial involving teens from age 12. Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration is expected to provide emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds by next week, according to reports.

Fully vaccinated people in the United States can go outside without a mask, except at crowded events, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC said in an announcement on Tuesday. US President Joe Biden reiterated the change in CDC guidelines in remarks on Tuesday and in a tweet from his official Twitter account. The CDC still recommends wearing masks at indoor public venues.

Turkey has announced a full lockdown beginning on Thursday and lasting three weeks to slow a spike in cases of the coronavirus, and resulting deaths. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the announcement on Monday. All Turkish citizens will have to remain indoors except of essential shopping and urgent medical treatment. The country had been under a nighttime curfew and full weekend lockdown for the last two weeks.

Egypt’s drug authority granted approval for the emergency use of China’s Sinovac vaccine against the coronavirus. The approval was announced on Monday. Egypt also is preparing to locally produce the Sinovac vaccine, Reuters reported. It also has approved the use of the Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Sputnik vaccines.

The United States will share up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus with other countries, the White House announced on Monday. It is not known to which countries the vaccine would be offered. The US Food and Drug Administration has not yet authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine for use. Most of those doses are still being produced, however, and will not be available until May or June.

The production of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in Turkey will start in the coming weeks. The Russian Direct Investment Fund announced Monday that production will take place at the plants of the Turkish pharmaceutical company Viscoran Ilac. The vaccine produced in Turkey is intended both for local use and export to third countries.

Bar Ilan University has awarded an honorary doctorate to Moderna’s top medical officer, Tal Zaks.  Zaks, who is Israeli, was honored for his role in developing the company’s COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna is based in Massachusetts in the United States. Zaks, who is Israeli, called the award a “great honor” and a “token of appreciation of all the people at Moderna who are behind this achievement.” Zaks will leave the company in September after six years as Chief Medical Officer.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi received a shot of the coronavirus vaccine, his office announced on Sunday. The country is currently undergoing a nationwide vaccination drive. It is not known which vaccine the president received, though the country is vaccinating citizens with the AstraZeneca shot and a vaccine produced by China’s Sinopharm, both received by Egypt under the COVAX program to provide vaccine doses to poorer countries.

Pfizer is working on a new version of its vaccine that will be easier to store and use. The current vaccine must be stored in special freezers that cool to -70 degrees Celsius, or -94 degrees Fahrenheit, making it difficult for poorer countries or rural areas to handle. The new version, which Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview with AFP should be effective against new variants, will come diluted and ready for use and will be able to be stored in a standard freezer.

The United States will resume administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, after pausing its use for 11 days after a small number of recipients developed a rare blood clot. Three of the 15 people, out of some 8 million recipients of the vaccine, who developed the clots died. US health officials decided that the benefits of receiving the vaccine outweighed the small risk of the rare side effect.