Decision on China jabs due soon

WHO's approval would expand use, though false claims fuel hesitancy in US

The World Health Organization will soon decide whether to give emergency approval for China's two main COVID-19 vaccines, WHO Assistant Director-General Mariangela Batista Galvao Simao has said.

Simao told a news conference in Geneva on Monday that the agency could decide on a vaccine made by Sinopharm by the end of this week, and one made by Sinovac Biotech by the end of next week.

China has already deployed millions of doses of both vaccines at home and has exported them to many countries, particularly in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

An emergency listing from the WHO is an indication to national regulators of a shot's safety and efficacy, and would allow the Chinese vaccines to be included in COVAX, the global program to provide vaccines mainly for poor countries.

If approved, the Chinese vaccines would be the first from a non-Western country to gain approval from the global health body. So far the WHO has given emergency approval to vaccines from the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership, Astra-Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson. It is also expected to review Moderna's shot this week.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Tuesday received the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine in Doljevac and expressed gratitude to China and the Chinese people for "enormous support and help".

After taking the jab at the health station in the village of Pukovac, Vucic invited all people to follow his example and further speed up the immunization campaign.

"We are very grateful to China and the Chinese people for enormous support and help, for the vast quantity of vaccines that we received," Vucic said.

On Wednesday, legal proceedings by the European Commission against AstraZeneca over vaccine supplies began at the Brussels Court of First Instance. The commission has accused the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker of failing to fulfill its contract for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, and for not having a "reliable" plan to ensure timely deliveries.

In the worst-hit country, vaccinations have made good progress. The United States has so far administered more than 232 million vaccine doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, enough for more than half of all adults in the US to have gotten at least one shot.

Mask mandate eased

New COVID-19 cases are falling, according to CDC numbers, and the agency said on Tuesday that residents vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear masks outdoors, as long as they are not at crowded events.

But vaccine hesitancy is becoming a greater barrier to the country's inoculation campaign.

In Florida, a private school is barring teachers who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 from coming into contact with students, arguing against all evidence that the educators pose a health risk.

Critics have held up the move by the Centner Academy as a particularly glaring example of the dangers of misinformation as the US works to get its population inoculated.

In an email to parents on Monday, co-founder Leila Centner wrote that vaccinated people "may be transmitting something from their bodies" that could harm others, in particular the "reproductive systems, fertility, and normal growth and development in women and children".

The school urged faculty and staff who have not yet been vaccinated to wait until the end of the school year to do so, saying they should hold off "until there is further research available on whether this experimental drug is impacting unvaccinated individuals".

The claims, which have been circulating on social media, have previously been debunked by experts and fact-checkers.

"There's no evidence to suggest that vaccination will cause a person to shed the SARS-CoV-2 virus," said Jamie Scott, professor emeritus and former research professor of molecular immunity at Simon Fraser University in Canada.

Xinhua, agencies and Ai Heping in New York contributed to this story.