(Reuters) – A White House plan to offer COVID-19 booster shots will most likely start this month only with the vaccine made by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, a narrower initiative than anticipated, a source familiar with the matter said.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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EUROPE
* Britain’s vaccine advisers said they were not recommending the vaccination of all 12- to 15-year-olds against COVID-19, preferring a precautionary approach in healthy children due to a rare side effect of heart inflammation.
* AstraZeneca and the European Commission have reached a settlement on the delivery of pending vaccine doses by the drugmaker, ending a row about shortages.
* Britain has started shipping vaccines to delegates attending global climate talks who cannot access them at home, with the first shots to be delivered next week.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Lockdowns and travel restrictions last year led to a “dramatic short-lived fall in emissions” of key air pollutants, the World Meteorological Organization said, with fine particle pollution falling by more than a third across parts of Asia.
* Several thousand people gathered in Bangkok to call for the resignation of the prime minister, one day before lawmakers hold a no-confidence vote over his government’s handling of the pandemic.
* China is facing growing difficulties in expanding its mass vaccination drive, but it will continue to inoculate more people and step up the programme of booster shots.
* Although Vietnam reported a record daily increase of 14,922 infections, the country’s coronavirus epicentre Ho Chi Minh City is considering reopening economic activity from Sept. 15.
AMERICAS
* New modelling shows an “urgent need” to get more young adults in Canada vaccinated as the country fights a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections driven by the Delta variant, the public health agency said.
* The United States will ship more than 1.2 million doses of vaccines to four African countries through the COVAX programme.
* As tourism was beginning to show signs of recovery, the Caribbean has been hit by a new wave of cases causing lockdowns, flight cancellations and overwhelming hospitals.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* South Africa’s health minister said scientists had told the government that at this stage the C.1.2 coronavirus variant detected locally was not a threat.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Moderna Inc said it had asked the EU drugs regulator for conditional approval of a booster shot of its COVID-19 vaccine at a 50 microgram dose.
* Europe’s medicines regulator said it was reviewing if there was a risk of a rare inflammatory condition after inoculation, following a report of a case with Pfizer/BioNTech’s shot.]
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Big tech shares edged higher, helping a benchmark world stock index post a sixth consecutive closing high, after a weak U.S. jobs report likely pushed back the timetable for when the Federal Reserve reduces its massive support of the economy. [MKTS/GLOB]
* The U.S. economy created the fewest jobs in seven months in August as hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector stalled amid a resurgence in COVID-19 infections, which weighed on demand at restaurants and hotels.
* The promise of a “normal” U.S. economy this summer, which kicked off with the June revival of restaurants, air travel and baseball games, is transforming into an uncertain fall of rising health and economic risks.
(Compiled by Aditya Soni and Juliette Portala; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Sriraj Kalluvila)
