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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 25: Lorraine Harvey, an in home care worker, receives her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from registered nurse Rudolfo Garcia at a clinic at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in South Los Angeles on February 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. African Americans and Latinos comprise a majority of the South LA community and are dying of COVID-19 at a rate significantly higher than whites. Vaccine equity has also lagged in South Los Angeles relative to some more wealthy areas. (Mario Tama/Getty Images/AFP) Brazil hit 250,000 fatalities -- the second-highest national death toll after the US -- while the worldwide vaccine campaign received the royal endorsement of Queen Elizabeth II, 94, who urged people not to be wary of the injection. President Joe Biden declared the US rollout is now "weeks ahead of schedule" as he celebrated 50 million vaccines administered since he took office on January 20, but he warned Americans to keep masking up. "We're moving in the right direction despite the mess we inherited," Biden said, referring to the program under his predecessor Donald Trump. The United States is the world's hardest-hit country, with coronavirus deaths crossing the 500,000 mark earlier this week. Biden said that there would be "enough supply" for all adult Americans by the end of July. The EU announced Thursday it expected to vaccinate 70 percent of adults by the end of the summer, after months of problems and friction. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said fully vaccinating just under three-quarters of adults by late summer was a "goal that we're confident with." But in Brazil, the grim quarter-million deaths milestone came one year after the first Covid-19 case was confirmed in the country, which is struggling with severe vaccine shortages and a devastating second wave. - Mass graves - The coronavirus has hit especially hard in Brazil's impoverished "favelas," among indigenous …

[Read more...] about US, EU say vaccine programs on track as global deaths hit 2.5 mn

The session started off with a 11-point rise in the first 21 minutes of trading and remained in the green throughout the day before closing with a 17.7-point gain, the first double-digit point increase recorded in the last seven sessions. Trading volume on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, rose 7.7 percent to VND16.02 trillion ($693.4 million), highest in the last 10 sessions. The bourse saw 358 stocks gain and 85 lose. VN-Index now needs another 0.67-percent gain to reach the 1,194-point peak it reached on January 15 before falling to the 1,020 range. The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks on the HoSE, saw 27 tickers gain, leading with SBT of sugar producer Thanh Thanh Cong – Bien Hoa Jsc, up 5.5 percent. This is the first gain of the ticker after six consecutive losing sessions. It was followed by SSI of leading brokerage SSI Securities Corporation, up 5.4 percent, and BVH of insurance company Bao Viet Holdings, up 4.6 percent. Two real estate companies were in the top 10 blue chip gainers, with TCH of Hoang Huy Investment Financial Services Jsc up 3.7 percent and VRE of retail real estate arm Vincom Retail up 3.2 percent. All banking blue chip were in the green, led by STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank, up 4.1 percent, HDB of HDBank, up 2.6 percent, and MBB of Military Bank, up 2.5 percent to the new all-time high of VND28,350. Bucking the trend, three tickers ended in the red, led by VIC of biggest conglomerate Vingroup, down 0.5 precent, followed by PNJ of Phu Nhuan Jewelry, down 0.2 percent and MWG of electronics retail chain Mobile World, down 0.1 percent. Foreign investors remained net sellers for the seventh session in a row to the tune of VND209 billion, with strongest pressures on TCB of largest private lender Techcombank, HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and CTG of state-owned lender VietinBank. The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid …

[Read more...] about VN-Index moves closer to January peak

>>> First 35 volunteers receive injections of home-grown COVID-19 vaccine in second-stage trial The award ceremony was held at the Ministry of Health’s headquarters in Hanoi on the morning of February 27. The COVIVAC vaccine research and production project was launched by IVAC (under the Ministry of Health) in May 2020, on the basis of cooperation with the relevant universities, research institutes and international organisations. IVAC Director Dr. Duong Huu Thai said that COVIVAC is a liquid vaccine with or without adjuvants, without preservatives, and the production technology using the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine vector with the S gene of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine attached to produce vaccines in chicken eggs containing embryos. This technology is also used to produce vaccines to prevent seasonal flus circulating in Vietnam. The results of pre-clinical studies in India, the USA and Vietnam have shown both safety and efficacy. After seven months of study (May to December last year), IVAC has successfully produced three consecutive batches on a large scale, with 50,000-100,000 doses per batch. The vaccine batches for clinical trials have been assessed for quality by the manufacturers and the National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Biologicals, which has certified six batches of finished vaccines. COVIVAC has also undergone preclinical tests for toxicity, immune response, and protective effects on domestic and foreign laboratory animals. The COVIVAC vaccine phase 1 and phase 2 clinical research protocols have been approved by the National Ethical Council in Biomedical Research and the Ethical Councils at grassroots level. IVAC is expected to start conducting clinical trials this March and the process is due to be completed in October. Notably, the cost of this vaccine will be less than VND60,000 per dose. Currently, IVAC is upgrading existing factories to improve production capacity once entering large-scale production. …

[Read more...] about VND20 billion offered for home-grown COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial study