Health Ministers
Pfizer, BioNTech to limit delays of vaccine shipments to one week
Pfizer and BioNTech said Saturday they will limit the delays of their vaccine deliveries to just one week, after fears in Europe that shipments of the jabs could be slowed for up to a month. The US drugmaker and its German partner “have developed a plan that will allow the scale-up of manufacturing capacities in Europe and deliver significantly more doses in the second quarter,” they said in a joint statement. “As a result, our facility in Puurs, Belgium will experience a temporary reduction in the number of doses delivered in the upcoming week.” Pfizer and BioNTech pledged that deliveries would be back to the original schedule to the European Union from the week of January 25, with increased delivery from the week of February 15. “To accomplish this, certain modifications of production pr...
Brazil education minister resigns over plagiarism, CV ‘lies’
Brazil’s education minister resigned Tuesday only five days after he was appointed, amid accusations that he lied over his academic record. Carlos Alberto Decotelli was the first black person to be appointed to the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Decotelli handed in his resignation to Bolsonaro in Brasilia, said a spokesman, Paulo Roberto, capping several days of controversy. Bolsonaro named Decotelli last week as replacement for Abraham Weintraub, who resigned in mid-June after becoming embroiled in a series of controversies, including making racist anti-Chinese comments on Twitter. Decotelli had claimed he held a Master’s degree from Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation, a doctorate from Argentina’s University of Rosario and a post-doctorate from Germany’s Wuppertal Unive...