England Embarks On New Plan To Stretch Vaccines During Winter Surge

The Wall Street Journal: Nations Stretch Scarce Covid-19 Vaccines By Delaying A Second Shot 
Governments engaged in a desperate race to roll out vaccines to beat back a winter surge of the coronavirus have turned to a new tactic: freeing up scarce vaccine supplies so they can inoculate more vulnerable people faster with a single shot by delaying the second dose. ... The approach has prompted pushback by some medical authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which this week called delaying the second dose potentially detrimental to public health. However, other U.S. health officials have said they are looking into options such as tinkering with dosage sizes and other ways to stretch the reach of available vaccines. Elsewhere in Europe, some authorities are leaning toward the British approach. (Strasburg and Sugden, 1/6)

The New York Times: Japan Declares State Of Emergency In Tokyo Area After Days Of Hesitation 
After days of record coronavirus counts and a rapidly rising death toll, Japan declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures on Thursday, the country’s first such declaration since April. The announcement by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga came five days after governors from the affected prefectures had pleaded with the central government to act, and after his own coronavirus expert panel had recommended the emergency declaration, citing explosive growth in infections in the vast capital region. (Rich and Inoue, 1/7)

AP: Australia Moves Up Vaccination Start To February
Australia is advancing the start of its coronavirus vaccination program to mid-February, with plans to inoculate 15% of the population by late March. The government had argued there was no reason for an emergency rollout that cut short usual regulatory processes as has occurred in the United States and elsewhere because local transmission rates in Australia are much lower. It had planned to start vaccinating in March. (1/7)

AP: EU Commission Greenlights Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine
The European Union’s executive commission gave the green light Wednesday to Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, providing the 27-nation bloc with a second vaccine to use in the desperate battle to tame the virus rampaging across the continent. The European Commission granted conditional marketing authorization for the vaccine. The decision came against a backdrop of high infection rates in many EU countries and strong criticism of the slow pace of vaccinations across the region of some 450 million people. (Furtula and Corder, 1/6)

In other global developments —

CNN: Exposure To Air Pollution In South Asia Linked To Pregnancy Loss, Study Finds 
Pregnant women in South Asia who have been exposed to air pollution face an increased risk of pregnancy loss, miscarriage, and stillbirth, according to a new study. Researchers found that an estimated 349,681 pregnancy losses each year across India, Bangladesh and Pakistan were associated with bad air quality. (Regan, 1/6)

CNN: India Begins Mass Bird Cull In Response To Avian Flu Outbreak 
India has begun culling tens of thousands of poultry birds after avian influenza was detected in ducks, crows and wild geese in at least a dozen locations across the country. The country's Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying issued an alert on Wednesday, urging states to take measures to avoid any further spread of the disease. (Mogul and Gupta, 1/7)

The New York Times: Court In Pakistan Bans ‘Virginity Tests’ In Sexual Violence Cases 
A court in the northern city of Lahore in Pakistan has abolished so-called virginity tests, which women are subjected to in sexual assault cases, setting a precedent for the practice to be potentially outlawed nationwide. The practice — banned in neighboring Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh — continues to take place in Pakistan and more than a dozen other countries where it is seen as a measure of virtue and of whether a woman is trustworthy. (Schmall and ur-Rehman, 1/6)