COVID-19 vaccines

Turkey has administered over half a million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the last 24 hours, according to figures released on July 17. 

The country continues its vaccination campaign, which began this January, to curb the spread of the virus, as all residents 18 and over are eligible for vaccine shots.

Turkey has started to administer its homegrown COVID-19 vaccine candidate to volunteers at a major hospital in the capital Ankara as part of the jab's Phase 3 clinical trials to compare its efficacy to that of the Chinese-developed CoronaVac shot, the country's top health official announced on July 16. 

Bucharest, July 16 /Agerpres/ - A total of 15,201 doses of Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson vaccine have been administered in the past 24 hours, of which 9,907 represented the first dose and 5,294 the second dose, according to a report released on Friday by the National Coordinating Committee for Vaccination Activities against COVID-19.

People who receive a COVID vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech produce 10 times more antibodies than those who opted for Sinovac's CoronaVac, a Chinese drug. This was reported on Friday, July 16 by South China Morning Post with reference to relevant research.

Despite the success of the ongoing vaccination program, COVID-19 cases are on the rise, but presently there is no need to impose restrictions, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said.

Data from the Health Ministry show that the daily virus cases inched up above 6,000 cases over the last couple of days after plateauing to around 5,000 in the past weeks.

As many Asian countries battle their worst surge of COVID-19 infections, the slow-flow of vaccine doses from around the world is finally picking up speed, giving hope that low inoculation rates can increase and help blunt the effect of the rapidly spreading delta variant.

In the past 24 hours, 14,608 doses of Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson vaccines were administered, of which 9,007 represented the first dose and 5,601 the second dose, according to a report sent on Tuesday by the National Committee Coordinating COVID-19 Vaccination Activities (CNCAV).

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with China and the United Arab Emirates on Monday for the production of the Chinese Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine in Serbia.

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated the warning that Janssen vaccine may include minimal risk of developing Guillan Barré syndrome (GBS).

The warning states that the symptoms began within 42 days after the vaccination and that "the chance of this happening is very low".

Bucharest, July 12 /Agerpres/ - Romania's National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV) reports that 12,082 doses of vaccine have been administered in the past 24 hours, of which 7.395 being the first dose and 4,687 the second dose, CNCAV reports on Monday.