This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 9, 2022 - May 15, 2022

Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccination plant, touted last year as a trailblazer for an under-vaccinated continent frustrated by sluggish Western handouts, risks shutting down after receiving not a single order, Reuters reported, citing South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare senior director Stavros Nicolaou.

In Malaysia, a total of 881,602 children or 24.8% of those aged five to 11 have been fully vaccinated under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) as at May 5. According to the CovidNow website, 1,538,685 children or 43.3% of the age group had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

The US health regulator said last Thursday that it would limit the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine for adults due to the risk of a rare blood clotting syndrome, the latest setback to the shot that has been eclipsed by rivals.

Amid flare-ups in Beijing and Shanghai, China’s Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer Zhifei Longcom released encouraging data, which showed that its vaccine is 75.7% effective against symptomatic and 87.6% effective against severe-to-critical Covid-19 cases for six months following full vaccination, according to a Global Times report.

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