Health News Roundup: Taiwan welcomes U.S. vaccine aid, bolstering its COVID fight; GSK to boost spending power of pharma business post break-up and more

New GSK, the pharma business to be separated from its consumer product operations next year, will cut dividend payouts and shift some debt to the consumer unit, leaving scope for investments to revive its sluggish stock market performance. India's vaccinations hit record with free COVID shots India gave out a record 5 million vaccine doses on Monday under a federal campaign to inoculate all adults for free after weeks of criticism that a chaotic rollout had worsened a second wave that killed hundreds of thousands.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Taiwan welcomes U.S. vaccine aid, bolstering its COVID fight

Taiwan welcomed 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from the United States on Sunday as help from a true friend, more than doubling the major semiconductor-producing island's arsenal of shots as it deals with a cluster of domestic infections. Washington, competing with Beijing to deepen geopolitical clout through "vaccine diplomacy," initially had promised to donate 750,000 doses but increased that number as President Joe Biden's administration advances its pledge to send 80 million U.S.-made shots around the world.

WTO head says South Africa, Senegal, Rwanda and Nigeria considered as vaccine production hubs

Africa is working with the European Union and other partners to help create regional vaccine manufacturing hubs in South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda, with Nigeria under consideration, World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. "We have now seen that over-centralization of vaccine production capacity is incompatible with equitable access in a crisis situation," Okonjo-Iweala said on Monday during a virtual meeting.

Study confirms GSK-Vir antibody drug reduces hospitalization, death in COVID-19 patients

GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Vir Biotechnology said on Monday final results from a late-stage study of their monoclonal antibody confirmed it significantly reduced hospitalization and death among high-risk COVID-19 patients when given early in the disease. The treatment, sotrovimab, received an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May, while the European Union's drug regulator has also backed it.

GSK to boost spending power of pharma business post break-up

GlaxoSmithKline will lay out plans to boost the spending power of its research-focused pharmaceuticals business at an investor day on Wednesday, as analysts call on the British drugmaker to boost drug development prospects with takeovers or alliances. New GSK, the pharma business to be separated from its consumer product operations next year, will cut dividend payouts and shift some debt to the consumer unit, leaving scope for investments to revive its sluggish stock market performance.

India's vaccinations hit record with free COVID shots

India gave out a record 5 million vaccine doses on Monday under a federal campaign to inoculate all adults for free after weeks of criticism that a chaotic rollout had worsened a second wave that killed hundreds of thousands. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government would buy 75% of all vaccines from drug makers and distribute those for free to states, which along with private hospitals, had earlier been buying shots for people aged 18-45.

Moderna plans to expand COVID-19 vaccine production: WSJ

Moderna Inc is adding two new production lines at its COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing plant in Massachusetts, in a bid to prepare for making more booster shots, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The additions will help Moderna increase overall production capacity by 50% at the plant, the report said citing company officials. (https://on.wsj.com/3xD7Wvj)

India in talks to find 'middle ground' with Pfizer, others for vaccine imports - govt official

India's government is in talks with Pfizer and other vaccine manufacturers for import of their COVID-19 vaccines in accordance with local laws, a senior government official said on Monday. "We have to find the middle ground," government advisor Vinod Kumar Paul told the news channel CNBC TV-18, when asked about the progess of talks with Pfizer and Moderna

Portugal speeds up vaccination as COVID-19 infections rise

As the Delta coronavirus variant continues to spread, Portuguese authorities are scrambling to bring a worrying spike in cases under control and said they would accelerate vaccinations and increase testing. Just over 25% of the population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Portugal, a country of 10 million that faced its toughest battle against the virus in January.

China's Dongguan is latest southern city to be hit by COVID-19

The manufacturing hub of Dongguan in China's most populous province Guangdong launched mass coronavirus testing on Monday and cordoned off communities, after the city detected its first infections of a flare-up in the province. The Delta variant of COVID-19 has dominated infections in the provincial upsurge, the first time it has hit China. Seen by experts as highly transmissible, the variant was first identified in India.

Israel urges adolescents to get vaccinated, citing Delta variant

An Israeli health official on Monday urged more 12- to 15-year-olds to be vaccinated against COVID-19, citing new outbreaks that he attributed to the more infectious Delta variant. Israel expanded vaccine eligibility to include adolescents last month. Infections have fallen off sharply in recent weeks. Vaccination turnout has largely flatlined at around 55% of the 9.3 million overall population having received both shots, implying that adults have largely stopped getting vaccinated.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)