COVID-19 vaccine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he got his second COVID-19 vaccine shot, three weeks after getting the first dose.

The Russian leader announced getting the jab, which was kept out of the public eye, at a session of the Russian Geographical Society, in which he took part via video link.

A study assessing the benefits of mixing and matching coronavirus vaccines has been extended to include the Moderna and Novavax jabs.

The Com-Cov study, led by the University of Oxford, has been investigating the immune responses of volunteers given a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine followed by the Pfizer jab - and vice versa.

As reported by some media, Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that due to "low effectiveness" the combination of several types of vaccines against Covid 19 was being considered, causing panic among many citizens, although it was later explained that statement was misinterpreted.

The vaccine intention hasn't weakened in Romania, as sociological data shows it standing at 50 percent at least, president of the National COVID Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV) Valeriu Gheorghita said on Tuesday. "I don't think there is a decrease in vaccination interest.

Turkey on April 13 announced a two-week partial lockdown to help curb a recent rise in the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Romania's National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV) has reported that in the last 24 hours, 76,590 doses of vaccine were administered, of which 58,050 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, 9,796 of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and 8,744 of the Moderna vaccine, according to data provided by the National Public Health Institute on the National Electronic Vaccination Register application.

The Reisu-l-Ulema of the Islamic Community of Serbia, Sead Nasufović, said on Monday that followers of Islam can receive the COVID-19 vaccine during the Ramadan fast.

Ljubljana – The Covid-19 vaccination task force at the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) has decided the AstraZeneca vaccine will be administered to everyone over 18 years old without any restrictions, a member of the group Alojz Ihan told commercial broadcaster POP TV on Monday. The head of the group, Bojana Beović, confirmed this for the STA.

Vaccine hesitancy is currently running high in Turkey and creating serious risks at a time when the virus cases continue to hover at record levels in the country, experts have warned.

Some 25 percent of the people who are entitled to receive COVID-19 jabs are avoiding the inoculation and most of those are women, according to experts.

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).