Health News Roundup: U.S. scientists doubtful of one-shot regimen for Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines: WSJ

"It is essential that these vaccines be used as authorized by FDA in order to prevent Covid-19 and related hospitalizations and death," Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told the Journal. We're almost done with COVID curbs, Netanyahu says as Israel reopens restaurants Israel has almost emerged from its COVID-19 closures, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on the campaign trail, said on Sunday as restaurants reopened under an exit plan fueled by fast-paced vaccinations.

Preliminary data from a study conducted at the University of Oxford indicates that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC is effective against the P1, or Brazilian, variant, a source with knowledge of the study told Reuters on Friday. The data indicates that the vaccine will not need to be modified in order to protect against the variant, which is believed to have originated in the Amazonian city of Manaus, said the source, who requested anonymity as the results have not yet been made public.

U.S. scientists doubtful of one-shot regimen for Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines: WSJ

U.S. scientists are skeptical of a one-shot regimen for Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc COVID-19 vaccines, saying there isn't enough evidence that a single dose provides long-term protection, the Wall Street Journal reported https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-scientists-skeptical-of-one-shot-regimen-for-pfizer-moderna-covid-vaccines-11615064919?mod=latest_headlines. "It is essential that these vaccines be used as authorized by FDA in order to prevent Covid-19 and related hospitalizations and death," Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told the Journal.

We're almost done with COVID curbs, Netanyahu says as Israel reopens restaurants Israel has almost emerged from its COVID-19 closures, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on the campaign trail, said on Sunday as restaurants reopened under an exit plan fueled by fast-paced vaccinations. But health officials cautioned that rising contagions could trigger another lockdown - a possible dampener on Netanyahu's hope of parlaying his pandemic policies to victory in a March 23 ballot.

Coronavirus variants should not derail English lockdown easing, says health official The emergence of new variants of the coronavirus should not derail a plan to start easing a nationwide lockdown in England over the coming weeks, Public Health England (PHE) official Susan Hopkins said on Sunday. "I think it won't change it for the next three to five weeks, that would be highly unlikely," Hopkins, PHE’s strategic response director, told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.

'Not running away': Women fighting on Britain's COVID-19 front line After a year that has shaken Britain's National Health Service to its core, women working at a hospital in the East Lancashire NHS Trust in England's north-west talk about what the coronavirus crisis has meant to them.

THE CONSULTANT NURSE

Austria suspends AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine batch after death Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on Sunday. "The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) has received two reports in a temporal connection with a vaccination from the same batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the district clinic of Zwettl" in Lower Austria province, it said.

Mexico's coronavirus death toll rises to 190,604: Health Ministry Mexico's Health Ministry on Sunday reported 2,734 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country and 247 additional fatalities, bringing the total tally to 2,128,600 infections and 190,604 deaths. Health officials have said the real number of infected people and deaths in Mexico is likely significantly higher than the official count because of a lack of wide-scale testing.

New Zealand's Auckland emerges from lockdown, Australia starts AstraZeneca vaccinations Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, emerged on Sunday from a strict weeklong lockdown imposed after a community cluster of the more contagious British coronavirus variant. There were no new local COVID-19 cases recorded on Sunday, health officials said, marking a full week of no community transmissions across the country.

Reopening England's schools is step towards normality, PM Johnson says The reopening of England's schools to all pupils on Monday will mark the first step back towards normality and is only possible because of the efforts of the public to bring COVID-19 infection rates down, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. Johnson has announced a roadmap for lifting lockdown measures that sees schools open first, followed in later stages by the gradual easing of restrictions on mixing with other people and the reopening of non-essential shops and other venues.

(With inputs from agencies.)