Europe

The Netherlands join the list of countries to suspend the use of Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines due to concerns about possible side effects. The Dutch government said the move, which will last until at least 29 March, was a precaution, BBC News reports. The Republic of Ireland earlier made a similar decision …

The decision to suspend astrazeneca vaccines was taken because of concerns about blood clots forming in vaccinated people. The European Medicines Agency has opened an investigation. This suspension comes “after reports of serious cases of blood clots forming in people who have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine,” said the …

The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 on Tuesday questioned the neutrality of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) after an EMA official urged EU members to refrain from approving the Russian vaccine for now. Christa Wirthumer-Hoche, the head of EMA’s management board, told a talk show on Austrian …

European Union leaders will meet on Thursday to try to speed up the production and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in a race against the emergence of new variants that some fear could bring a third wave of the pandemic across the continent. They will also consider how to strike the …

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Friday he was heading to an asylum seekers centre in the city of Pau in southwestern France after media reported an immigration official has been stabbed to death. Read also: Uganda: Anthony kerali, University professor found dead He said on Twitter he would …

The new American President Joe Biden will attend his first meeting with Group of Seven leaders on Friday to discuss plans to defeat the coronavirus, reopen the battered world economy and counter challenges posed by China. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only killed 2.4 million people but also trigged an …

Emmanuel Macron the French president said that Europe and the United States should urgently allocate 3% to 5% of their coronavirus vaccine supplies to developing countries where vaccination campaigns have scarcely begun. In an interview granted to the UK-based Financial Times newspaper, he said some African nations were having to …

Several people have been injured after a gas explosion in Memmingen in southern Germany, daily Bild reported on Friday, citing a police spokesman. The paper said a further explosion could not be ruled out. According to the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper the explosion occurred at the offices of the German Red …

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine was 91.6% effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19, according to peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical trial published in The Lancent international medical journal on Tuesday. “The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticised for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of …

According to a junior British Minister, Britain cannot publish details of the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine supply contract because it would jeopardize national security, as the European Union threatened drug companies over supply delays. Scotland will publish covid-19 detailed vaccine supply data next week even though the British government has refused …