Covid-19 Vaccine Requirement
The European Medicines Agency has announced, that their human medicines committee (CHMP) concluded by consensus that the data on the Covid-19 vaccine Janssen were robust and met the criteria for efficacy, safety and quality.
"With this latest positive opinion, authorities across the European Union will have another option to combat the pandemic and protect the lives and health of their citizens," said Emer Cooke, EMA's Executive Director, adding, "this is the first vaccine which can be used as a single dose". These measures will allow regulators to swiftly assess data emerging from a range of different sources and take any necessary regulatory action to protect public health.
Twenty-seven European leaders have met to debate joint Covid-19 measures, including unilateral border and movement restrictions, the slow vaccine rollout and vaccine passports. While open questions remain, a vaccine passport is to be expected by summer.
Travel pass – a Covid-19 vaccination passport app developed by the International Air Transport Association – will be tested on Air New Zealand flights between Auckland and Sydney from April on “to streamline the health verification process to help customers know what they need to take their next international trip safely”.
Sweden has announced changes to its policy regarding coronavirus vaccines.
Updates include; expanding group criteria to more people, and creating a booking system that isn't reliant on having BankID or a personnummer.
There has been pressure on the Government to take action as Sweden has over 1 million foreign residents - of whom 100,000 have applied for residence/citizenship, with the majority still awaiting a decision, so are likely not to have a personnummer - are disproportionally affected by COVID-19.
Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa announced that Pfizer has postponed the delivery of a new batch of the coronavirus vaccine to the country by one day to Tuesday due to a logistics hurdle.
The cool boxes designed by Pfizer have GPS trackers so the company can deal with potential storage issues en route. The vaccine must be stored at ultra-low temperatures of about -70 degrees Celsius before being shipped to distribution centres in specially designed cool boxes filled with dry ice.
"Due to a minor logistical issue, we have rescheduled a limited number of our deliveries," Andrew Widger, Pfizer's director for media relations said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency approval Friday evening to the vaccine made by Mainz-based biotech company Biontech and its partner Pfizer.
The Washington Post reported that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Hahn on Friday to resign if the vaccine, made by Mainz-based Biontech and its U.S. partner Pfizer, is not approved before the end of the day (local time).
According to the CEO of the airline Qantas, implementing a Covid-19 vaccination requirement for passengers would be "a necessity" as soon as vaccines become widely available. He also stated that "talking to my colleagues in other airlines around the globe" this requirement could be a widespread measure against the virus.