(Reuters) – Pfizer will supply Japan with another 120 million vaccine doses and is in talks with Brazil to sell 150 million doses next year, as the drugmaker and German partner BioNTech seek U.S. emergency use of their shot for children aged 5 to 11.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
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EUROPE
* Germany’s vaccine advisory committee recommends a booster mRNA vaccination shot for people who were inoculated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
* Spain’s coronavirus incidence dropped below 50 cases per 100,000 people on Thursday, reaching the threshold considered “low risk” by the Health Ministry for the first time in over a year.
* Italy increased the maximum attendance capacity allowed at cultural and sporting venues on Thursday, continuing its progressive easing of curbs for those who can show documents of immunity from the disease.
* The European Medicines Agency has approved U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co’s manufacturing site in West Point, Pennsylvania, to make Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.
AMERICAS
* President Joe Biden on Thursday said more U.S. businesses should obligate workers to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.
* Panama is purchasing 3 million additional doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines for its inoculation efforts next year.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Australian doctors warned a too-rapid easing of restrictions in Sydney could put pressure on health systems and risk lives, as the country’s biggest city prepares for an end to more than 100 days in lockdown next week.
* Singapore is working on allowing quarantine-free entry to travellers from the United States who are vaccinated before the end of the year.
* Malaysia has granted conditional approval for the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech to be used as a booster shot.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Countries in the Middle East and North Africa are struggling to recover from the coronavirus crisis as underfunded public health systems exacerbate economic woes, the World Bank said.
* Nigeria’s president unveiled a record 16.39 trillion naira ($39.99 billion) budget for 2022, with a projected 25% year-on-year rise in government spending as the economy struggles with the impact of the pandemic.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* French healthcare company Sanofi said it had found positive results from the first study into a high-dose influenza vaccine with a COVID-19 mRNA booster.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian shares rose on Friday as Chinese shares returned from a one week holiday upbeat, tracking a global rally, while investors also eyed key U.S. jobs data for any fresh insight into the timing of Federal Reserve tapering. [MKTS/GLOB]
* U.S. job growth likely accelerated in September as the summer wave of infections began to subside, positioning the Federal Reserve to start scaling back its monthly bond-buying.
* Japan’s household spending fell more sharply than expected in August, as a state of emergency curbs to combat the pandemic weighed on consumption.
* British employers increased pay for new staff by the most since at least the 1990s, according to a survey that will be studied by the Bank of England.
(Compiled by Ramakrishnan M., Shailesh Kuber and Juliette Portala; Edited by Giles Elgood, Shounak Dasgupta and Sriraj Kalluvila)
