India okays Covaxin for kids aged 2-18 years

An expert panel set up by the Indian government yesterday recommended Covaxin, India's indigenous Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech, for use on children between the ages of two and 18, Health Ministry sources said. The final clearance for the use of Covaxin on children will be given by the Drug Controller General of India. When that approval does come, Covaxin will be the second vaccine cleared for use on children after Indian pharma major Zydus Cadila's three-dose DNA vaccine was approved in August for use on children over 12 A third potential vaccine for children is Serum Institute of India's Novavax for which the DCGI last month cleared trials for children between seven and 11 years.

Russia says no progress in talks with US over standoff

Talks in Moscow between Russian and US officials  to resolve a diplomatic standoff yesterday ended without any breakthroughs, but were still "useful", Moscow's deputy foreign minister said. The discussions held behind closed doors saw Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland discuss a long-running row over embassy staffing limits, among other issues. The meeting comes with Washington's ties with Moscow under particular strain over a long list of disagreements including the conflict in Ukraine, which Ryabkov said was not discussed. As part of tit-for-tat sanctions, Russia earlier this year prohibited the US embassy in Moscow from employing foreign nationals and formally designated the United States as an "unfriendly state."

UK govt botched initial Covid response: MPs' probe

UK lawmakers yesterday said that the government's response when Covid-19 swept into Europe cost lives and was "one of the most important public health failures" in the country's history. In a damning assessment, a cross-party group of MPs found that official pandemic planning was too focused on influenza and had failed to learn the lessons from prior outbreaks of SARS, MERS and Ebola. The 151-page study, published by two parliamentary committees after months of hearings, comes ahead of an independent public inquiry into the government's coronavirus handling due to begin next year. Britain has suffered one of the highest tolls in Europe with nearly 138,000 Covid-19 deaths since March last year, raising questions about why it has fared worse than comparable nations. The MPs said Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government had waited too long to act in early 2020.