Australia to spend on vaccine security
Australia has announced it will spend 500 million Australian dollars (USD 351 million) to secure COVID-19 vaccines for the Pacific and Southeast Asia “as part of a shared recovery for our region from the pandemic.” The government said it would use a range of advance purchase agreements with manufacturers via the global COVAX Facility plan, which aims to ensure virus vaccines are shared with all nations.
“We are committing an additional AU$500 million over three years towards this effort,” it said. “The funding will further help ensure that the countries of the Pacific and East Timor are able to achieve full immunisation coverage, and will make a significant contribution toward meeting the needs of southeast Asia.”
J&J to test vaccine shots in children
Johnson & Johnson plans to start testing its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in youths aged 12 to 18 as soon as possible, a company executive said at a meeting held by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday, according to Reuters report.
“We plan to go into children as soon as we possibly can, but very carefully in terms of safety,” J&J’s Dr. Jerry Sadoff told a virtual meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Depending on safety and other factors, the company plans to test in even younger children afterwards, Sadoff, a vaccine research scientist at J&J's Janssen unit, said.
