Medical research

Germany is donating an additional 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to boost the rollout of vaccines in the world's poorest countries, the finance minister said on Feb. 19, increasing an earlier contribution of 600 million euros.

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE have started an international study with 4,000 volunteers to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of their COVID-19 vaccine in healthy pregnant women, the companies said on Thursday.

1,086 are the new cases of coronavirus in our country when 10,926 tests were performed, the data in the Unified Information Portal show. This means that the percentage of positive samples remains around 10 percent.

The number of patients cured in the last 24 hours was 744, and the number of deaths was 42.

4,594 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were given in 24 hours.

Scientists look for safety issues during the testing phase and continue their monitoring as shots roll out around the world. So far, the only serious warning to emerge is a rare risk of severe allergic reactions.

 A new AstraZeneca vaccine batch, consisting of 163,200 doses, will arrive on Thursday at the "Cantacuzino" National Institute for Medical-Military Development Research, the National Coordinating Committee for Vaccination against COVID-19 Activities (CNCAV) informs. "The transport is provided by the producing company, and the vaccine doses will be brought to Bucharest by land.

Senior official with the Health Ministry Andrei Baciu told AGERPRES on Wednesday that the COVID-19 vaccination in Romania has proven its "efficiency and safety" and will stop the pandemic. According to Baciu, after the vaccination of the healthcare workers with the second dose, a decrease by over 87% in COVIDD-19 infections has been observed in recent weeks.

Japan launched its coronavirus vaccination programme on Feb. 17, five months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, as the World Health Organization reported a fall in new cases around the world.

North Korea attempted to steal Covid-19 vaccine technology from US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, according to South Korean intelligence officials.

It is currently unclear as to what, if any, data was stolen.

South Korea's National Intelligence Agency privately briefed lawmakers about the alleged attack, reported local news agency Yonhap.

The World Health Organization has granted an emergency authorization to AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine, a move that should allow the U.N. agency's partners to ship millions of doses to countries as part of a U.N.-backed program to tame the pandemic.

The World Health Organization gave emergency use approval to AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccines on Feb. 15, meaning distribution can start to poorer countries starved of doses to fight the pandemic.