Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Australia Keeps Borders Closed To Foreigners Until Next Year
AP: Australia Won't Welcome International Tourists Until 2022
International tourists won’t be welcomed back to Australia until next year, with the return of skilled migrants and students given higher priority, the prime minister said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia was expected to reach the vaccination benchmark on Tuesday at which the country could begin to open up: 80% of the population aged 16 and older having a second shot. (McGuirk, 10/5)
Axios: EU Drug Regulator Recommends Pfizer Booster For People 18 And Older
The European Union's drug watchdog on Monday endorsed a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for people 18 and older. The European Medicines Agency said booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine "may be considered at least 6 months after the second dose for people aged 18 years and older," per a press release from the agency. (Doherty, 10/4)
AP: Anti-Vaccine Villagers In Guatemala Hold Coronavirus Team
Anti-vaccine residents of a village in Guatemala seized and held a team of nurses who were trying to administer coronavirus shots Monday, authorities said. The team was held for about seven hours in the village of Nahuila, in the province of Alta Verapaz, north of Guatemala City. The villagers said they didn’t want the shots, and later blocked a road and let the air out of the nurses’ tires. A cooler and about 50 doses of vaccine were destroyed. Police and local officials later negotiated their release. (10/5)
Reuters: Japan's Dip In COVID-19 Cases Baffles Experts
Japan's COVID-19 case numbers have plummeted to the lowest in nearly a year just as other parts of Asia are struggling with surging infections, leaving health experts perplexed and raising concern of a winter rebound. New daily cases in Tokyo dropped to 87 on Monday, the lowest tally since Nov. 2 last year, and a precipitous decline from more than 5,000 a day in an August wave that hammered the capital's medical infrastructure. (Swift, 10/5)
