Health News Roundup: Swiss to get Moderna vaccine; Brazil clears emergency use of Sinovac, AstraZeneca vaccines and more

Swiss to get Moderna vaccine in tranches until mid-year: Blick Moderna will deliver 7.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Switzerland in batches in the months ahead, putting the country among the world leaders in inoculating its population, the head of Moderna's European business said.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Swiss to get Moderna vaccine in tranches until mid-year: Blick

Moderna will deliver 7.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Switzerland in batches in the months ahead, putting the country among the world leaders in inoculating its population, the head of Moderna's European business said. "We are working at full speed to steadily expand our production capacities. If everything goes as planned, just under half the population could be treated with our vaccine by the summer," Dan Staner told the SonntagsBlick newspaper in an interview.

Bayer aims to help CureVac with COVID-19 vaccine output, says CEO

German pharmaceutical giant Bayer is examining whether it can help CureVac to produce its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, its chief executive was quoted as saying on Sunday. Though inoculation campaigns have started around the world using various COVID-19 vaccines, many countries say their ability to get shots into arms is being limited by lower than expected supplies owing to a shortage of production.

Brazil clears emergency use of Sinovac, AstraZeneca vaccines, shots begin

Brazilian health regulator Anvisa on Sunday approved emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd and Britain's AstraZeneca, clearing the way for immunizations as the pandemic enters a deadly second wave. Minutes after Anvisa's board voted unanimously to approve both vaccines, Monica Calazans, a 54-year-old nurse in Sao Paulo, became the first person to be inoculated in the country, receiving the Chinese vaccine known as CoronaVac.

India's COVID-19 vaccination drive hits bump due to app glitch

India's COVID-19 vaccination drive hit a bump on the first day due to glitches in an app called Co-Win that is being used to coordinate the campaign, according to several officials involved in the immunisation programme. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched what his government has described as the "world's largest vaccination programme" on Saturday to rein in the pandemic in India, which has reported the second highest number of cases after the United States.

China reports 109 new COVID-19 cases to keep concerns simmering before Lunar New Year

Worries simmered in mainland China about a potential fresh wave of coronavirus cases ahead of the Lunar New Year next month as authorities on Sunday reported 109 new COVID-19 cases, most of them in Hebei province surrounding Beijing. Though the Jan. 16 tally of new cases was less than the previous day's 130, China has in the past week seen the number of daily cases jump to an over 10-month high.

Brazilian approval of Sputnik V vaccine delayed by missing data

Brazil's health regulator is seeking further data on Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine before considering its approval for emergency use. Documents supporting drugmaker Uniao Quimica's application for emergency use of the vaccine have been returned to the company because they did not meet its minimum criteria, the watchdog said on Saturday.

U.S. CDC reports 394,495 deaths from the coronavirus

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 23,653,919 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 213,145 from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 3,557 to 394,495. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the illness known as COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. EST on Saturday versus its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/3m662x4)

Portugal's health system on brink of collapse as COVID-19 cases surge

Portugal's public health system is on the verge of collapsing as hospitals in the areas worst-affected by a worrying surge in coronavirus cases are quickly running out of intensive care beds to treat COVID-19 patients. "Our health system is under a situation of extreme pressure," Health Minister Marta Temido told reporters on Sunday afternoon after a visit to a struggling hospital. "There is a limit and we are very close to it."

Valneva says UK rollout of COVID-19 vaccine could start in July-September: report

French drugmaker Valneva hopes its COVID-19 vaccine can start to be used in Britain between July and September, the company's chief executive was quoted as saying. Valneva has agreed to provide Britain with 60 million doses of its vaccine, compared with 100 million doses of the shot from AstraZeneca and Oxford University. It is expected to need a two-dose regimen.

Fauci says 100 million vaccinations in 100 days 'absolutely a doable thing'

President-elect Joe Biden's goal of delivering 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine within the first 100 days of his presidency "is absolutely a doable thing," Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday. Fauci, speaking on NBC's "Meet The Press", said two new vaccines under development by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson could "very soon" be presented to U.S. regulators for approval, which would increase the pace of vaccinations. "We're weeks away, not months away, for sure," he said.

(With inputs from agencies.)