LONDON – There’s mixed news about emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, with Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE reporting their vaccine Comirnaty maintains its protective effect against B 1.1.7, first detected in the U.K., while researchers in South Africa say virus variant 501Y.V2 is able to escape neutralization by both monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma from previously infected individuals.

CAJICA, Colombia – Brazil’s health care surveillance agency, Anvisa, granted the first two emergency approvals for COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday, Jan. 17, giving the green light to Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s Coronavac and to Covishield, developed by Astrazeneca plc and the University of Oxford.

Moncef Slaoui, chief advisor to Operation Warp Speed, the public-private partnership to hurry along a vaccine for COVID-19, cited tough going in the early days of development, as researchers met “a real challenge to engage the population.” During a panel discussion at the virtual 39th J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, he pointed to “a double-edged sword, to talk about what a vaccine can do, when we don’t know – and then once you know, you’re going to have to change your message.”

CAJICA, Colombia – Authorities in Brazil released new efficacy data for Sinovac Biotech Ltd.'s COVID-19 vaccine Coronavac that surprised on the downside, suggesting the vaccine could be much less effective than initially indicated for preventing symptomatic infections.

CAJICA, Colombia – A phase III trial for an HIV vaccine developed Janssen Vaccines & Prevention BV is finally moving forward in Latin America and elsewhere in the world after a delay of more than a year caused by slow regulatory progress and worsened by a string of COVID-19 lockdowns.

CAJICA, Colombia – Brazil's Butantan Institute and the government of the state of Sao Paulo released efficacy results on Jan. 7 for Coronavac, developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd., that suggest the COVID-19 vaccine is more than 78% effective.

LONDON – Controversy has erupted over COVID-19 vaccines dosing after the U.K. said it is to prioritize giving as many people as possible a single dose of the two currently approved products, rather than two doses three or four weeks apart, as scheduled on their labels. The move prompted a sharp rebuke from FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn and Peter Marks, director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation, who said any such change “is not rooted in the science.”