Top of The World: Demonstrators took to the streets of Kabul Wednesday in defiance of the Taliban. And, A new study by Oxford University in the UK has found that two of the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines weaken within three months. Also, a powerful blast in Pakistan has killed at least three people and wounded around 50 others.
Top of The World: Germany has joined France, Italy and Spain in suspending its use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine over concerns of blood clots in some recipients. And, with a rise in the number of migrants getting apprehended at the US-Mexico border, US President Joe Biden — once critical of Trump-era deterrence policies — is now facing criticism from all sides.
Europe is facing a dangerous, new surge of COVID-19 cases, just as Italy, France and Germany suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Dr. Barry Bloom, former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, talks with The World’s Marco Werman about what lessons the surge might offer US scientists and public health officials devising strategies to beat the new variants.
European Union leaders’ negotiations extended into a fourth day on Monday as they try to hammer out a deal to revive economies battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Also, a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed by scientists at Oxford University shows strong immune response and no early safety concerns. And in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro said that lockdown measures used to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus “kill” and have “suffocated” the country’s economy.