Clinical trials

The coronavirus variant Omicron may partially evade protection from two doses of vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech, Alex Seagal, head of research at a South African laboratory, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Turkey has donated 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Burkina Faso and Togo, two Western African countries where the effects of the pandemic have had more troubling consequences than the rest of the world, in a campaign by the Organization of Turkic States.

The immune response in people who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines from Astra Zeneca and Biontech / Pfizer with Moderna was higher, according to a large British study.

Initial data suggest that locally developed vaccine Turkovac is very effective against COVID-19, an expert has said, while Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has voiced concern over the slow pace in the jab drive, particularly in the second shot of the vaccine.

Early indications of the severity of the Omicron COVID-19 variant are "a bit encouraging," top U.S. pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci said on Dec. 5, while cautioning more information was still needed.

Australia on Dec. 5 cleared the first COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11, with the next stage of its vaccine rollout expected to start in early 2022.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said medical regulators had granted provisional approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be administered to younger children for the first time.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has once again called on the public to continue to adhere to the anti-virus rules and getting the vaccine against COVID-19.

German biotech company BioNTech should be able to adapt its coronavirus vaccine relatively quickly in response to the Omicron variant, said its CEO Ugur Shahin, adding that despite the mutations, the vaccines must continue to protect people against serious illness.

The European Medicines Agency said today it had begun reviewing a new vaccine against COVID-19, produced by the French company Valneva - the first step towards approving its use in the European Union, the Associated Press reported.

COVID vaccination will probably be needed each year. This was stated by the CEO of Pfizer. Scientists believe they have found a link between the appearance of blood clots and the Astra Zeneca vaccine.