The health conditions in India have deteriorated further, with more than 20 million cases of the emerging corona virus "Covid-19" recorded, while the "Pfizer" company is preparing to start using its vaccine for children and adolescents.

And the Indian Ministry of Health announced that the number of injuries exceeded 20 million, after more than 357,000 new infections were recorded, and more than 3,400 new deaths were recorded.

Medical experts indicated that the real numbers may have exceeded the official toll by 5 or 10 times.

Meanwhile, at least 11 Indian states imposed some restrictions, in an attempt to curb the spread of infection, in light of the government's reluctance to impose a comprehensive lockdown, fearing the economic repercussions.

The health system - which lacks resources and is not equipped to cope with this situation - is facing a great shortage of beds, medicines and oxygen, despite the influx of international aid in recent days.

Although it is the largest producer of vaccines in the world, India does not have enough to immunize its population, and this undermines the plan to intensify and expand the vaccination program, which will be implemented starting from Saturday, and about 9% of the population received only one dose of the Corona vaccine.

The mutated Indian strain reached at least 17 countries, including Britain, Switzerland and Iran, prompting many governments to close their borders to travelers from India.

New vaccines

In the latest developments in vaccines, US media reported that the United States is expected to allow the "Pfizer-BioNTech" vaccine to be administered to children aged 12 years or over, starting from next week.

And the company "Pfizer" (Pfizer) requested an emergency license to use its vaccine for children and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 years, according to what CNN quoted a government official as saying.

"CNN" said that "the US Food and Drug Administration will have to change its regulations for licensing the vaccine in emergency situations, but the process is supposed to be easy."

It is noteworthy that the "Pfizer" vaccine is currently licensed in the United States for people aged 16 years or over.

Expanding vaccination to teenagers would open the door to vaccinations for millions of other Americans.

The second dose

Meanwhile, delivery of vaccines was delayed in Brazil, second only to India, the country most affected by the epidemic.

In 7 major Brazilian cities, including Porto Alegre, the administration of the second dose of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine has been suspended due to lack of doses.

Argentina has managed to collect more than two billion dollars in wealth tax, which was imposed only once with the aim of securing funding to purchase medical supplies and help small businesses affected by the epidemic.

On Monday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte received his first dose of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, after he said earlier that he would leave the opportunity for people who need more vaccines, while the archipelago faces a severe outbreak in the epidemic.

Meanwhile, the authorities in the United States and European Union countries began to backtrack on precautionary measures, in an indication of controlling the outbreak of the virus.

The administration of US President Joe Biden intends to support the US pharmaceutical company "Pfizer" move towards exporting doses of its anti-virus vaccine.