Health News Roundup: South Korea vaccinates 18,000 to start ambitious COVID-19 campaign; AstraZeneca vaccine made in India to arrive in Canada on Wednesday and more

AstraZeneca vaccine made in India to arrive in Canada on Wednesday A shipment of 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and made by the Serum Institute of India is set to arrive in Canada on Wednesday, the chief executive of local partner Verity Pharmaceuticals said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

New Zealand's largest city Auckland back to lockdown after COVID-19 case

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Saturday that the country's biggest city, Auckland, will go into a seven-day lockdown from early morning on Sunday after a new local case of the coronavirus of unknown origin emerged. This comes two weeks after Auckland's nearly 2 million residents were plunged into a snap three-day lockdown when a family of three were diagnosed with the more transmissible UK variant of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

South Korea vaccinates 18,000 to start ambitious COVID-19 campaign

South Korea said 18,489 people received their first doses of AstraZeneca PLC's vaccine by midnight on Friday as it launched an ambitious COVID-19 inoculation campaign, and will begin using Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines on Saturday. The first to receive the shots are healthcare workers, staffers at assisted care facilities and other high-risk people, with a goal of vaccinating 32 million to 36 million people - some 60% to 70% of the population - by September.

U.S. near authorization of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine

U.S. regulators on Friday said they would work quickly to authorize Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use after a panel of outside advisers backed the one-shot immunization. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide on emergency use by Saturday for what would be the third vaccine available in the United States, and the only one that requires a single shot.

AstraZeneca vaccine made in India to arrive in Canada on Wednesday

A shipment of 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and made by the Serum Institute of India is set to arrive in Canada on Wednesday, the chief executive of local partner Verity Pharmaceuticals said on Friday. Verity's chief executive, Howard Glase, said the shipment is not part of Canada's allocation from the COVAX system, meant to ensure equitable vaccine distribution. Canada has a separate procurement deal with AstraZeneca, which licensed the vaccine to Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine producer.

Virus can be transmitted via lung transplant; COVID-19 deadlier than flu for ICU patients

The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. COVID-19 can be transmitted via lung transplant

U.S. administers 70.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines: CDC

The United States has administered 70,454,064 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Friday morning and distributed 94,300,910 doses. The tally of vaccine doses are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday, the agency said.

Johnson & Johnson says two people had severe allergic reactions after COVID-19 shot

A Johnson & Johnson scientist said on Friday that the company has received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one case of anaphylaxis, in people who had received the company's COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development and medical affairs at J&J unit Janssen Pharmaceuticals, said the case of anaphylaxis was observed in an ongoing trial of healthcare workers in South Africa.

"Things are tenuous," U.S. CDC says as downward trend in COVID-19 cases stalls

The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that a recent decline in COVID-19 cases may be stalling, a development she described as concerning while urging that safeguards to fight the virus remain in place. Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters the number of cases had been increasing for the past three days compared to the prior week and that declines in hospitalizations and deaths were also "potentially leveling off at still a very high number."

South Korea launches review of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine 

South Korean has begun a review of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine after the U.S. pharmaceutical firm submitted an application for approval, the government said on Saturday. The food and drug safety ministry said it would study the one-shot vaccine with private advisory panels before it authorises the vaccine.

U.S. CDC says risk of Ebola to the United States is extremely low

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was closely following outbreaks of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Guinea, and said the risk of Ebola to the United States was extremely low. "Out of an abundance of caution, the U.S. government will institute public health measures for the very small number of travelers arriving from the DRC and Guinea," the CDC said in a statement late on Friday.

(With inputs from agencies.)