The Latest: Australia: Stick with AstraZeneca for 2nd dose

A top health official is urging Australians to get ir second doses of AstraZeneca despite deaths from vaccine exceeding nation's COVID-19 death toll this year.

Two women in Australia have died from rare blood clots caused by vaccine. only COVID-19 fatality this year was an 80-year-old traveler who died in April after being infected overseas and diagsed in hotel quarantine.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told state leers on Monday that health authorities did t recommend people follow up ir first AstraZeneca dose with a different vaccine. Globally, safety and effectiveness of switching vaccines between doses is still being tested.

He urged people t to cancel ir second AstraZenca jab, which is booked three months after first, saying chances of developing blood clots after a second dose were 1.5 in a million.

COVID-19 has claimed 910 lives in Australia, but vaccine hesitancy is on rise as death rate slows.

Australia last week lifted its recommended limit for AstraZeneca from 50 to 60 after a 52-year-old woman died of clots. A 48-year-old woman died in April.

Pfizer is currently only alternative to AstraZeneca in Australia, although Moderna is expected to be registered soon. government hopes that every Australian ult who wants a vaccine will have access to one by end of year.

MORE ON PANDEMIC:

— Hesitancy undermining India’s vaccination efforts, especially in rural areas where most people live

— Thousands of Japanese companies are giving vaccines to workers, boosting nation’s slow rollout

HERE'S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine government has signed a purchase deal for 40 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in its largest such agreement this year after huge demands from wealthy countries started to ease.

Carlito Galvez Jr., who oversees government’s vaccine purchases, said bulk shipments funded by loans from Asian Development Bank and or lenders will start in August.

He asked towns and provinces to prepare to receive “very sensitive vaccines” like Pfizer. Philippine archipelago has sweltering tropical wear conditions, and many rural areas also lack warehouses, delivery aircraft and trucks equipped to keep vaccines at sub-zero temperatures.

“We don’t want any vaccine to be wasted because of spoil and mishandling,” Galvez said.

Philippines has concluded deals to buy 113 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from five foreign pharmaceutical companies and expects to receive 44 million doses this year under U.N.-backed COVAX program. It has ministered more than 8 million doses so far from existing stocks.

Pfizer vaccine will considerably boost country’s immunization campaign “and will enable us to realize our goal of achieving herd immunity by year end,” Galvez said.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Medical regulators in New Zealand have approved Pfizer vaccine for use in children as young as 12, following le of regulators in U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

decision by Medsafe was welcomed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, although it still needs official sign-off from government, which is likely later this month.

Pfizer vaccine was previously approved in New Zealand for people d 16 and older.

Ardern said about 265,000 extra children would be eligible under expanded cover, although she didn’t believe it would alter plans to complete nation’s coronavirus vaccination rollout by year’s end.

New Zealand plans to use only Pfizer vaccine to iculate its population of 5 million.