Johnson and Johnson

BioNTech has begun work on a vaccine specifically for the new variant of the coronavirus Omicron, which was first identified in South Africa.

The development of an adapted vaccine is part of the standard procedure.

The first steps for a possible new vaccine are carried out in parallel with the assessment of whether one will be needed after the advent of Omicron.

As of Saturday, the United States had administered 412,856,169 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and sent 503,521,625 doses to vaccination centers, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Many people lined up in front of vaccination points in the country in order to obtain a certificate that allows them to continue working.

"We have so far delivered nearly 7 million doses of vaccines, and 2.7 million doses have been injected," Bogdan Kirilov, the executive director of the Medicines Agency, told BNR.

A negative test for coronavirus will no longer be sufficient for them to come to work, as for other unvaccinated citizens, the Slovenian government has decided. If they want to work, they must receive the first dose of the vaccine by October 1, and the second by November 1.

In an effort to expand coronavirus vaccine coverage in Greece as a recent surge in infections throughout the country appears to be threatening the summer season for the second year running, Greece rolled out two new initiatives on Tuesday.

Namely, from May 10, foreign visitors will be allowed to enter the country without the need for a negative PCR test and mandatory quarantine said Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios.

"There will be a peak of infections around Easter. There is a bit of a false decrease. Antibodies created by vaccines manage to neutralize, albeit to different degrees, virologist Prof. Radka Argirova told BNT.

We have one and the same strain for a year and four months in Bulgaria. Vaccines had to be changed twice a year, she added.

Bulgarian Health Minister Kostadin Angelov announced this week that the country's roll-out of the AstraZeneca vaccine may be discontinued due to lack of interest.

Recently between 100 and 200 doses per day of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered throughout the country.

When the vaccination will start, whether at the beginning of next year, depends on the experts and their assessments, Vui said and added that it could happen in January.
"We will have two vaccines, and I hope three," said Vucic, adding that it would show that Serbia is among the countries that behaved best during the epidemic.

Multinational pharmaceutical companies have committed themselves today to deliver the vaccine against COVID-19 worldwide in 12 to 18 months, AFP reported.