(Reuters) – The COVAX vaccine-sharing facility has lowered its delivery target to 1.425 billion doses of anti-COVID-19 shots this year, from a July estimate of 2 billion, the GAVI Vaccine Alliance said.
Reasons for the cut include export restrictions on key supplier Serum Institute of India (SII), manufacturing problems and delays in the regulatory reviews.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
EUROPE
* Switzerland will require people from Monday to show a COVID-status certificate to access indoor spaces like restaurants, the government said, while also previewing potential travel restrictions.
* A Ukrainian government commission will meet soon to decide whether to tighten lockdown restrictions, the prime minister told a televised government meeting.
* Germany could see a “massive momentum” in new cases in autumn if the vaccination rate does not increase, the head of the Robert Koch Institute said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Japan’s government is firming up its intentions to extend the state of emergency in most areas where it is currently in effect, including the capital Tokyo, until Sept. 30, NHK reported.
* The Asian Youth Games, due to be held in Shantou city in China’s southern Guangdong province in November, have been postponed to December 2022.
* Three-quarters of people over the age of 16 in Australia’s New South Wales have now had at least their first vaccination dose.
* South Korea is drawing up a plan on how to live more normally with COVID-19, expecting 80% of adults to be fully vaccinated by late October.
AMERICAS
* The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in person when it starts its next session in October.
* President Joe Biden on Thursday will present a six-pronged strategy intended to fight the spread of the Delta variant and increase U.S. vaccinations, the White House said.
* Canadian National Railway Co said all its employees in Canada must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 1.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Abu Dhabi Investment Authority sees technology and climate change as key investment areas for its post-COVID-19 strategy, it said in its 2020 annual review.
* The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Tuesday approved $567 million in emergency support for Tanzania to help it finance a vaccination campaign and meet the health and social costs of the pandemic.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Vaccine developer Novavax Inc has initiated an early-stage study to test its combined flu and COVID-19 vaccine.
* Talks are underway with Johnson & Johnson about running a booster trial in South Africa after its vaccine was used in a mass trial of almost half a million health workers in the country, Bloomberg News reported.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* World stocks edged away from the previous session’s record highs and European stocks dropped on uncertainty over the pace of economic recovery, while the dollar hit one-week highs as investors reduced exposure to riskier assets. [MKTS/GLOB]
* The U.S. Federal Reserve should go forward with a plan to trim its massive pandemic stimulus programme despite a slowdown in U.S. jobs growth last month, the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said.
* Japan should strive for a new form of capitalism to reduce income disparity that has worsened under the pandemic, former foreign minister Fumio Kishida says.
* Russia may borrow less than planned in the final part of this year thanks to higher-than-expected budget revenues, deputy finance minister said.
(Compiled by Milla Nissi and Juliette Portala; Edited by David Evans and Jonathan Oatis)
