BioNTech

Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank has volunteered to take part in the phase 1 human trial of a vaccine candidate against COVID-19 that is being developed at Ankara Oncology Hospital.

Varank received the first shot of the vaccine based on virus-like particles' technology.

German chancellor Angela Merkel will be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca coronavirus jab on Friday, German media outlets reported.

Prime Minister Florin Citu states that in the Government meeting scheduled for Thursday, a series of draft normative acts will be adopted that cannot be postponed, mentioning among them a memorandum by which the Ministry of Health concludes a new order for the purchase of 4,260,269 optional doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccine produced by BioNTech / Pfizer.

Turkey has ramped up "vaccine diplomacy" and the work on developing the country's own injection against COVID-19 is making progress, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said, as the number of daily infections continues to rise.

Denmark becomes the first country that has ceased giving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine amid concerns about rare cases of blood clots, the first country to do so entirely.

The move is expected to delay the country's vaccination programme by several weeks.

As many as 18,630 people (0.81%) in Romania test positive for COVID-19 between December 27, 2020 - April 11, 2021, after receiving the first dose of vaccine, according to information posted by the National Public Health Institute (INSP). As many as 69.2% of them were vaccinated with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, 5.4% with the Moderna vaccine and 25.4% with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

A new batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine consisting of 511,290 doses will arrive in Romania on Monday by air at the airports in Otopeni, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara, according to the National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV).

Pfizer-BioNTech asked for authorization on April 9 to use their Covid-19 vaccine on 12 to 15-year-olds in the United States, which could mark a crucial next step toward achieving herd immunity.

The mass vaccination of teenagers would also relieve an enormous strain on parents who are juggling the demands of homeschooling their children while keeping up with jobs.

Senior official with the Health Ministry Andrei Baciu said on Tuesday that this April and May over 8.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine will enter Romania. "We received a total of 2,212,734 doses in March. This week, we will receive another 134,400 doses from Moderna and 110,564 doses from AstraZeneca.

Most European Union member states will have sufficient Covid vaccine supplies to immunize the majority of people by the end of June, much earlier than the bloc's official target, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.