University of Oxford

South Africa suspended the start of its AstraZeneca inoculation programme over concerns the shot does not work on a new variant, with WHO experts due to meet on Feb. 8 to discuss the vaccine already facing questions about its efficacy for over-65s.

The small Balkan country has inoculated more than 450,000 of its population of seven million in almost two weeks, a rate that exceeds all other states in Europe apart from Britain, according to the scientific publication Our World in Data.

About 1,500 of the initial volunteers in a late-stage clinical trial of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine were given the wrong dose, but weren't informed that a mistake had been made after the blunder was discovered, documents obtained by Reuters show.

A warning from AstraZeneca that initial supplies of its COVID vaccinations to Europe will be lower than expected has sparked fresh concern over the rollout of inoculations, forcing some countries to plan for a sharp drop in deliveries.

The U.S. logged its highest ever daily death toll from the coronavirus Wednesday as the world prepares to turn the page on a grim year defined by the pandemic, with much of the globe united in one hope for 2021: that a slew of new vaccines will stamp out COVID-19.

The European Medicines Authority (EMA) will most likely not be able to approve the Covid-19 vaccine developed by drug maker AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in January, the watchdog's Deputy Executive Director Noel Wathion said.

"They have not even filed an application with us yet", Wathion said in an interview with Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad published on Tuesday.

University of Oxford professor emeritus of ancient history Robert Parker has been invited by the British School at Athens to deliver a lecture on "New Discoveries and New Problems in Greek Religion," on Tuesday, December 8, at 7 p.m. Greek time.

The 9th Thessaloniki International Symposium begins on Monday with the first of its four online debates available live on its Facebook page.

The British government said on Nov. 27 it has asked its independent medicines regulator to assess AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine as part of the formal approval process for the drug to be rolled out by the end of the year.

British drugs group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said on Monday they will seek regulatory approval for their coronavirus vaccine after "effective" trials, in the latest potential boost to curbing the global outbreak.

The partners announced that while the vaccine showed an average 70-percent effectiveness, the level jumped to 90 percent depending on dosage.