A city official says the COVID-19 outbreak in China's largest metropolis of Shanghai remains “extremely grim" amid an ongoing lockdown confining 26 million people to their homes.

Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia will be the first African countries to receive the technology required to produce mRNA vaccines on the continent.

The European Union’s drug regulator has given its backing to booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for people 18 and older.

The European Medicines Agency says it has started an expedited evaluation on whether to recommend use of a booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech.

Germany will start offering coronavirus vaccinations for all children and teenagers aged 12 and older.

A top official at the European Medicines Agency says a decision on whether to recommend that Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine be authorized for children is expected late next week.

The European Medicines Agency has recommended that the use of the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech be expanded to children ages 12 to 15.

The European Union’s executive arm has signed a third vaccine contract with Pfizer and BioNTech through 2023 for an additional 1.8 billion doses of their COVID-19 shots.

The European Union has cemented its support for Pfizer-BioNTech and its novel COVID-19 vaccine technology by agreeing to a massive contract extension for a potential 1.8 billion doses through 2023.

For the first time in a year, Mexican school children have returned to classrooms — at least in the southern state of Campeche.

In a stinging rebuke to pharma giant AstraZeneca, the head of the European Union's executive arm has announced plans for a major contract extension for COVID-19 vaccines with Pfizer stretching to 2023.

In a rare acknowledgement, China’s top disease control official says current vaccines offer low protection against the coronavirus and mixing them is among strategies being considered to boost their effectiveness.

Pfizer is already testing its vaccine on over 2,000 children between the ages of 12 and 15. At least two children have already received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as part of the new clinical trial. Earlier this month, Moderna announced it had begun testing its vaccine in children ages 6 months to 12 years. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson said it would test its vaccine in older children first before expanding to younger ages. AdWhile AstraZeneca’s vaccine has not been approved for use in the U.S. yet, the company started testing the vaccine in children ages 6 and older last month.

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 file photo, frozen vials of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are taken out to thaw, at the MontLegia CHC hospital in Liege, Belgium. The European Commission has secured an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech for an extra 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to tackle a surge of coronavirus clusters that have prompted border restrictions. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)BERLIN – The German government said Wednesday it expects the supply of coronavirus vaccines to rise steadily in the coming months, hitting a peak of almost 10 million doses a week in July. Germany's vaccine campaign has lagged behind far behind countries such as Britain and the United States. Since the outbreak began, Germany has recorded more than 2.5 million confirmed cases and 72,489 COVID-related deaths.

(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)BARCELONA – Chafing under Spain’s sluggish vaccination rollout, regional health authorities and doctors are urging the central government in Madrid to administer the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to both young and old. The EU so far has approved vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca, which all require two shots for each person. Regional health authorities both in Madrid's central region and northeast Catalonia publicly spoke out for the government to use AstraZeneca for older people. “This situation has greatly compromised our vaccination strategy, ” regional health authorities in Catalonia said in an open letter published in the Barcelona-based La Vanguardia newspaper. Spain has administered fewer than 700,000 of the 1.1 million AstraZeneca vaccines it has received.

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 file photo, frozen vials of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are taken out to thaw, at the MontLegia CHC hospital in Liege, Belgium. The European Commission has secured an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech for an extra 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to tackle a surge of coronavirus clusters that have prompted border restrictions. The European Commission said Wednesday that the deal will help “tackle coronavirus hot spots” and facilitate free border movement. The European Commission said the new Pfizer-BioNTech doses will be made available for purchase to all member states on a pro-rata basis. Overall, the EU has signed six contracts for more than 2 billion vaccine doses, with Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Johnson & Johnson and CureVac.

EU leaders on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021, during an EU summit video conference, will look at ways to improve the vaccine rollout, as they press pharmaceutical companies to respect the terms of their contracts with the 27-nation bloc. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)BRUSSELS – Two months after its first vaccine shots, the European Union is still struggling to get its COVID-19 inoculation drive up to speed. EU leaders are meeting Thursday to jump-start the process, fearing that new virus variants might spread faster than Europe’s response. The EU leaders' debate will focus as much on speeding up authorizations as boosting vaccine production rates through new facilities and cutting delivery bottlenecks. AdStill, European travel restrictions don't look like they will be easing anytime soon.

(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)BRUSSELS – The European Union on Monday defended its flagging coronavirus vaccine program, which has come under criticism from the World Health Organization, EU states and recently departed member Britain. Britain’s media had a feast, depicting the EU as untrustworthy, though the U.K. government kept a low profile on the issue. Ad“These are things which happen when you are working at full speed to deal with a developing situation,” European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said. Gallina said the bloc expects to have received 400 million doses by the end of June. Still, critics have said that the European Commission should have started clinching contracts much earlier.

“Europe invested billions to help develop the world's first COVID-19 vaccines," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the World Economic Forum's virtual event in Switzerland. The EU has committed to buying 300 million AstraZeneca doses with option on 100 million extra shots. The slow rollout, however, is hardly only the result of vaccine production issues. That’s why there is such big disappointment.”The European Medicines Agency is scheduled to review the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine Friday and its approval is hotly anticipated. The AstraZeneca vaccine is already being used in Britain and has been approved for emergency use by half a dozen countries, including India, Pakistan, Argentina and Mexico.

(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)HONOLULU — Hawaii’s leaders say limited supply is the main thing constraining distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in the state. He said the sites have set the vaccine doses aside and will receive replacement doses on Tuesday and Wednesday. ___TORONTO — Canadian officials say the country won’t be getting any Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine next week and 50% less than expected over the next month. U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer confirmed last week it would temporarily reduce deliveries to Europe and Canada of its COVID-19 vaccine while it upgrades production capacity. ___JERUSALEM — Israel’s Cabinet on Tuesday extended an existing nationwide lockdown through the end of January as the country contends with a runaway surge in coronavirus cases.

___THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:The U.S. will allow more people to get coronavirus shots, including those 65 and older. Brad Little says people 65 and over will be able to get the coronavirus vaccine starting Feb. 1. Ontario reported 2,903 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, including eight new cases of a variant from the United Kingdom. ___MADRID — Spain is reporting 25,438 coronavirus cases and more than 400 deaths for the second day in a row. Italy added 14,242 coronavirus infections on Tuesday, increasing the tally to 2.3 million cases.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020 file photo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson watches as nurse Rebecca Cathersides administers the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to Lyn Wheeler at Guy's Hospital in London. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool, File)LONDON – Britain's health secretary said Sunday that every adult in the country will be offered a COVID-19 vaccine by the autumn as the U.K. ramps up its mass vaccination program amid a huge surge of infections and hospital admissions. More than 600,000 people age 80 and over will begin receiving invitations this week to get the coronavirus shot at new large-scale vaccine centers around England. On Friday, Britain authorized the vaccine made by Moderna, making it the third to be licensed for use in the country. The U.K. has so far inoculated about 1.5 million people with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.

Instead, it would accelerate shipment of first doses and use the levers of government power to provide required second doses in a timely manner. It's seen as a prudent approach, since both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require a second shot after the first vaccination. Of 21.4 million doses distributed, about 5.9 million have been administered, or just under 28%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Biden announced his plan after eight Democratic governors wrote the Trump administration on Friday urging it to do as much. ___This story has been corrected to show that 21.4 million doses of vaccine have been distributed, not 29.4 million.

The news came shortly after the EU’s executive arm said it had secured 300 million extra doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The EU commission later detailed in a statement that it offered to member states to purchase an additional 200 million doses of the vaccine, with the option to acquire another 100 million doses. “This would enable the EU to purchase up to 600 million doses of this vaccine, which is already being used across the EU. Von der Leyen said 75 million of the extra doses would be available during the second quarter, with the rest being delivered throughout 2021. The EU has sealed six vaccine contracts for up to 2 billion doses, with Moderna, AstraZeneca-Oxford, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Pfizer-BioNTech and CureVac.

Laura Kelly said Thursday that inmates will be vaccinated after health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. The governor warned Friday that initially, the supply of vaccines available to people other than health care workers and nursing home patients will be very limited. The announcement came as many local officials argued it was time to distribute the vaccine beyond health care workers. The governor’s plan came as the state’s new COVID-19 cases continue to rise and ICU beds are nearly full. Shots also are still being given to health care workers, first responders and staff and residents at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

Syringes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine sit in a tray in a vaccination room at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)New research suggests Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine can protect against a mutation found in the two more-contagious variants of the coronavirus that have erupted in Britain and South Africa. Bushman, who wasn't involved with the Pfizer study, cautioned that it tested just one vaccine against one worrisome mutation. Pfizer and researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston conducted laboratory tests to see if that mutation could thwart the vaccine. The Pfizer study found that the vaccine appeared to work against 15 additional possible mutations, but E484K wasn’t among those tested.

With the Moderna vaccine, the second one now authorized in the EU, we will have a further 160 million doses. The EU has ordered 80 million doses of the Moderna vaccine with an option for a further 80 million. The EU agency gave the green light to use the Moderna vaccine on people age 18 year and above. The Dutch were only beginning to give out vaccine shots Wednesday, the last EU nation to start doing so. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz tweeted that approval of the Moderna vaccine “is another important step in the fight against the pandemic.

A nurse prepares a vaccine prior to the vaccination of elderly people at a nursing house in Athens, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. (Louisa Gouliamaki/Pool via AP)BRUSSELS – The European Commission defended its coronavirus vaccination strategy Monday amid growing criticism in member states about the slow rollout of COVID-19 shots across the region of 450 million inhabitants. As part of its strategy, the EU has sealed six vaccines contracts, with Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Pfizer-BioNTech and CureVac. But only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved for use so far in the 27-nation bloc. With the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the commission has an option for an extra 100 million doses that will bring the total to 300 million shots.

FDA’s decision could help pave the way for other countries that are considering the Moderna vaccine, the first-ever regulatory clearance for the small Cambridge, Massachusetts, company. Britain, Canada and a few other countries already have cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, with a European Union decision due Monday. The FDA’s main messages:--Both the new Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech shot require two doses several weeks apart. --In a study of 30,000 volunteers, the Moderna vaccine was more than 94% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in people 18 and older. Like with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, expect sore arms, fever, fatigue and muscle aches, which are signs the immune system is revving up.

FILE - In this June 11, 2009, file photo, the logo of the World Health Organization is seen at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The head of the World Health Organization says on Friday, Dec, 18, 2020 the U.N. health agencys program to help get COVID-19 vaccines to all countries in need, has gained access to nearly 2 billion doses of several promising vaccine candidates. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)GENEVA – The World Health Organization program to help get COVID-19 vaccines to all countries in need has access to nearly 2 billion doses of “promising” vaccine candidates, officials said Friday. Of the approximately 12 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines the pharmaceutical industry is expected to produce next year, about 9 billion shots have already been reserved by rich countries. The U.N.-backed COVAX program needs $6.8 billion more to secure vaccine contracts and ensure delivery of allocated doses.

In scrutinizing early results of the study, the FDA found the vaccine was more than 94% effective overall at preventing COVID-19. The independent review by FDA’s vaccine panel is considered key to easing public skepticism about the safety of the vaccine. While pregnant women were excluded from Moderna's study, FDA reviewers noted 13 new pregnancies among participants after the study got underway. The impact of the vaccine on those pregnancies is “unknown at this time,” the FDA review found. The FDA review said the role of shot in potentially triggering the cases in the vaccine group “cannot be ruled out.”Similar cases were reported during the review of Pfizer’s vaccine.

Packed in dry ice, shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began arriving Tuesday at more than 400 additional hospitals and other distribution sites. On Wednesday, health care workers at Naval Hospital Jacksonville will start receiving vaccinations, as well employees at UF Health Gainesville. That projection assumes swift authorization of the Moderna vaccine, which also requires two shots for full protection. Elsewhere around the world, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is being given in Britain and Canada. The Moderna vaccine was more than 94% effective overall at preventing COVID-19 illness, and 86% effective in people 65 and older.

Nurse Melissa Valentin shows a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be applied to medical personnel at the Ashford Presbyterian Community Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Packed in dry ice, shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began arriving Tuesday at more than 400 additional hospitals and other distribution sites. That projection assumes swift authorization of the Moderna vaccine, which also requires two shots for full protection. Elsewhere around the world, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is being given in Britain and Canada. The Moderna vaccine was more than 94% effective overall at preventing COVID-19 illness, and 86% effective in people 65 and older.