VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A healthcare worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Rome, Italy, Jan 27, 2021. (File photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi) - 

The European Union has exported "over 1 billion" doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the past 10 months, the bloc's chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday (Oct 18).

"Very clearly, the European Union is the largest exporter of COVID-19 vaccines," she said, announcing the "important milestone" in a brief broadcast and statement.

Von der Leyen said that 87 million of the doses had been funnelled through the World Health Organization-led COVAX scheme to mid- and low-income countries.

Most of the exports are orders paid for by other countries for COVID-19 vaccine doses manufactured in the EU.

Von der Leyen said that, separate from the export figure, "the EU will donate in the next months at least 500 million doses to the most vulnerable countries". She urged other countries "to step up, too".

Her declaration comes in the context of a sharp divide between wealthier regions and poorer ones in terms of COVID-19 vaccination rates.

The European Union, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Singapore and Japan are all among those to have more than half of their populations fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile many countries in Africa and other places such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Myanmar and Syria have less than 10 per cent of their people inoculated.

The European Union, which has 65.6 per cent of its population fully inoculated according to an AFP tally of official statistics, has been stepping up exports of vaccines.

So too is the United States, which has 57 per cent fully jabbed. President Joe Biden said last week his government was raising its donations to Africa to a total 67 million doses.

G20 countries have pledged to fairer distribution of COVID-19 vaccines after World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pointed out early this month that, of more than 6 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide, only 1.4 per cent of people in poor countries have been fully vaccinated.

The European Union has in place a vaccine export control mechanism under which doses to be sent abroad have to be first approved by Brussels and the member state in which they are produced.

Only one shipment - a 250,000-dose consignment of AstraZeneca meant for Australia - has been blocked under the scheme, back in April.

"We have always shared our vaccines fairly with the rest of the world," von der Leyen said.

"We have exported as much as we delivered to EU citizens. Indeed, at least every second vaccine produced in Europe is exported."

She added: "Together with President Biden, we aim for a global vaccination rate of 70 per cent by next year."//CNA

Afghanistan has not had a countrywide polio immunisation campaign in over three years. (Photo: AFP) - 

Afghanistan will kick off its first countrywide polio immunisation campaign in years next month to protect millions of unvaccinated children, the UN said on Monday (Oct 18).

The United Nations' health and children's agencies said the campaign to vaccinate against the crippling and potentially fatal disease would begin on Nov 8, with full support from the Taliban leadership.

"WHO and UNICEF welcome the decision by the Taliban leadership supporting the resumption of house-to-house polio vaccination across Afghanistan," they said in a statement.

Since the Taliban swept back into power two months ago, the UN had been talking with the group's leadership to address the towering health challenges in the country, the statement said.

"The Taliban leadership has expressed their commitment for the inclusion of female frontline workers," it said.

Afghanistan's new rulers had also committed to "providing security and assuring the safety of all health workers across the country, which is an essential prerequisite for the implementation of polio vaccination campaigns", the agencies said.

That marks a dramatic about-face from the Islamists' position during their years of insurgency against the ousted Western-backed government.

Due in large part to Taliban opposition to door-to-door vaccination campaigns, which they suspected were being used to spy on their activities, no campaigns with countrywide reach have been carried out in over three years.

Taliban leaders often told communities in areas they controlled that vaccines were a Western conspiracy aimed at sterilising Muslim children.

The UN agencies said next month's campaign would aim to reach 9.9 million children under five - more than a third of them in regions that had long been inaccessible to vaccinators.

A second nationwide polio vaccination campaign had also been agreed upon and would be synchronised with a campaign planned in neighbouring Pakistan in December, they said.

"This is an extremely important step in the right direction," WHO Representative in Afghanistan Dapeng Luo said in the statement.

"Sustained access to all children is essential to end polio for good."

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries where the wild version of the poliovirus continues to spread.

In rare cases, polio infections surface in other countries caused by one type of polio vaccine that is no longer used - OPV - which contains small amounts of weakened but live poliovirus.

The UN agencies noted that only one case of wild poliovirus had been reported in Afghanistan since the start of the year, providing "an extraordinary opportunity to eradicate polio".

"Restarting polio vaccination now is crucial for preventing any significant resurgence of polio within the country and mitigating the risk of cross-border and international transmission," they said.

Herve Ludovic De Lys, UNICEF's representative in Afghanistan, stressed that "to eliminate polio completely, every child in every household across Afghanistan must be vaccinated".

"With our partners, this is what we are setting out to do."

The UN agencies said that children under five would also be provided with an extra dose of Vitamine A during the campaign.

The discussions with the Taliban leadership had also resulted in agreement on the need to "immediately start measles and COVID-19 vaccination campaigns", they said//CNA

FILE PHOTO : China and US flag before a meeting in 2018 - 

China hopes U.S. firms will strengthen their cooperation with Chinese companies in the areas of new energy vehicles, biopharma and next-generation information and communication technology, the country's industry minister said on Monday.

Xiao Yaqing, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, made the comments at a video conference meeting with the chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council, according to a statement posted on the ministry's official WeChat account.

Xiao also said that U.S. and Chinese firms were interdependent in the global industrial chain and that China welcomes U.S. companies to expand their investment in China, the statement said//CNA

A health worker holds a syringe and a vial of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at a market in Bangkok, Thailand, Mar 17, 2021. (File photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha) - 

Thailand will stop using the COVID-19 vaccine of China's Sinovac when its current stock finishes, a senior official said on Monday (Oct 18), having used the shot extensively in combination with Western-developed vaccines.

Thailand used more than 31.5 million Sinovac doses since February, starting with two doses to frontline workers, high-risk groups and residents of Phuket, a holiday island that reopened to tourists early in a pilot scheme.

In July, Thailand started inoculating people with Sinovac as a first dose followed by the Oxford University-developed AstraZeneca. Thailand was the first country to combine a Chinese and Western shots, a strategy its health officials said has proved effective.

"We expect to have distributed all Sinovac doses this week," said health official Opas Karnkawinpong, adding the programme will switch to combining the AstraZeneca vaccine with that made by Pfizer and BioNTech.

Thailand next year plans to buy 120 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in total and has already booked 60 million doses of AstraZeneca, a vaccine it manufactures locally.

Thailand has said it will only procure vaccines effective against new variants.

It has so far vaccinated 36 per cent of the estimated 72 million people who live in Thailand and hopes to reach 70 per cent by year-end.

The country is forging ahead with a quarantine-free reopening plan next month of 17 provinces to vaccinated arrivals from low risk countries. Included will be destinations like Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

Thailand has recorded nearly 1.8 million cases and 18,336 fatalities overall, more than 98 per cent in the past seven months//CNA