 | | | | PARIS (Reuters) -French officials urged a faster rate of COVID-19 inoculations on Monday after an initial roll-out slowed by bureaucracy and what some see as excessive government precautions in one of the most vaccine-sceptical countries in the world. | | | | | | BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission is in discussions with Pfizer and BioNTech about the possibility of ordering more doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, in addition to the 300 million shots already covered under an existing contract, a spokesman said on Monday. | | | | | | The Japanese government said on Monday it was considering declaring a state of emergency in and around Tokyo as coronavirus cases climb, casting fresh doubt over whether it can push ahead with the summer Olympics and keep economic damage to a minimum. | | | | | | (Reuters) -Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: | | | | | | Britain began vaccinating its population with Oxford University and AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot on Monday in a world first, racing to give protection to the elderly and vulnerable as a new surge of cases threatened to overwhelm hospitals. | | | | | | LONDON (Reuters) -Britain began inoculating its citizens with the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, giving the shot to Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, at a hospital a few hundred metres away from where the vaccine was developed. | | | | | | Scientists are not fully confident that COVID-19 vaccines will work on a new variant of the coronavirus found in South Africa, ITV's political editor said on Monday, citing an unidentified scientific adviser to the British government. | | | | | | Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has commended his security detail for their "loyalty and courage" in inoculating themselves with unauthorised COVID-19 vaccines, his spokesman said on Monday, as some lawmakers called their actions illegal. | | | | | | Dubai Airports and the operator of Hyderabad airport, GMR Hyderabad, have agreed a logistics deal for COVID-19 vaccine distribution to handle up to 300 tonnes of vaccines per day, the companies said on Monday. | | | | | | Ireland's hospitals cannot manage the current trajectory of its fast-growing COVID-19 outbreak and will cancel most non-urgent procedures this week to create as much spare critical care space as possible, its hospitals' chief said on Monday. | | | | | | British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would have to take tougher measures to control the spread of the novel coronavirus, Sky News reported. | | | | | |
