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UK asks regulator to assess AZ-Oxford vaccine amid questions

The step comes amid questions about preliminary results from trials of the jab, after the company and the university acknowledged that the most encouraging part of their findings stemmed from a dosing error.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he had asked the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to determine whether the vaccine “meets rigorous safety standards.”

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 Suspected North Korean hackers targeted COVID vaccine maker AstraZeneca –

Cyberattacks against health bodies, vaccine scientists and drugmakers have soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as state-backed and criminal hacking groups scramble to obtain the latest research and information about the outbreak.

Western officials say any stolen information could be sold for profit, used to extort the victims, or give foreign governments a valuable strategic advantage as they fight to contain a disease that has killed 1.4 million people worldwide.

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New Zealand’s Ardern set to declare climate emergency

“We’ve always considered climate change to be a huge threat to our region, and it is something we must take immediate action on,” Ardern said, according to state broadcaster TVNZ.If a climate emergency is passed, New Zealand would join countries like Canada, France and Britain that have taken the same course to focus efforts on tackling climate change.

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Action needed to spur British government-backed pandemic insurance, says project chair

Stephen Catlin, chairman of the Pandemic Re Steering Committee, a British industry group, said he had hoped in early June that a launch would be possible in 2021.“But as time went on, it became clear that the complexity was going to slow it down,” Catlin, who is also chairman and CEO of insurer Convex, told the Reuters Events Future of Insurance Europe conference.

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The biggest threat to Covid-19 vaccination could be fake news and misinformation

“The coronavirus disease is the first pandemic in history in which technology and social media are being used on a massive scale to keep people safe, informed, productive and connected,” the WHO said.

“At the same time, the technology we rely on to keep connected and informed is enabling and amplifying an infodemic that continues to undermine the global response and jeopardises measures to control the pandemic.”

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Covid vaccine rush in China raises fears of booming black market

As developers from AstraZeneca Plc to Pfizer Inc. near the finish line for their coronavirus vaccines, nations are preparing for the challenge of rolling them out, with inevitable supply shortages fueling concerns about inequitable distribution and even the emergence of illegal markets. One place where vaccine delivery is already being road-tested is China, which has allowed local developers’ shots for emergency use since mid-year.

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