Live Updates: Labour Party Urges PM Johnson to Cancel Visit to India Due to New COVID Strain There

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - At least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine has been administered to 50.4 percent, or nearly 130 million, of the US population over the age of 18, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

A total of 209,406,814 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the US, according to CDC data released on Sunday. At least one dose has been administered to 129,988,985 people aged 18 and over.

In total, 131,247,546 people in the US, or about 39.5 percent of the population, have received at least one vaccine dose, while 84,263,408 (over 25 percent of the total population) have been fully vaccinated, according to CDC.

Overall, more than 264.5 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been delivered in the US.

French President Emmanuel Macron does not believe that the Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine can currently contribute to accelerating the vaccination pace in the EU as the Russian drug has yet to obtain approval from the European health regulator.

"At this stage, the Russian vaccine is not recognised by our authorities ... So I don't think that the Russian vaccine today is a solution to an acceleration because it will take time to have the authorisation of the European agency and it will take time to produce on our continent such a vaccine", Macron told CBS News in an interview.

On Tuesday, Renaud Muselier, the head of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region in southeastern France, said that he had pre-ordered half a million shots of the Sputnik V vaccine, pending approval at the European level.

The French secretary of state for European affairs, Clement Beaune, has expressed dissatisfaction over this decision. According to the official, it is necessary to wait for the decision of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the Russian vaccine.

Last week, Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the far-left France Untamed political party and a former presidential candidate, said that Paris had been aware of the high efficacy of Sputnik V since November, but refrained from procuring it owing to ideological considerations.

In the meantime, the EMA has been evaluating Sputnik V since 4 March. However, several EU countries, including Slovakia and Hungary, have already approved its use without waiting for EMA authorization. Overall, the Russian vaccine has been approved in 60 countries worldwide.

South Africa’s health watchdog SAPHRA has recommended resuming the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, days after it was paused over blot clotting concerns.

South Africa stopped administering the US-made vaccine after the US Food and Drug Administration said that six women aged 18 to 48 had developed a rare and severe type of blood clots. One of them died.

"Based on their review of the available data, SAHPRA has recommended that the pause in the Sisonke study be lifted, provided that specific conditions are met", a statement read.

It recommended informing people about possible adverse effects prior to the vaccination and monitoring those injected with the J&J shot if they are deemed at high risk of a blood clotting disorder.

SAHPRA chairperson Helen Rees argued that the risk of developing blood clotting complications was small and protecting yourself against COVID-19 was advisable.

"Nobody wants to get COVID-19. The sooner we can vaccinate people the better. We want to build public confidence and hope that next week we will get response from the Research Ethics Committee", she said.

Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize said on Tuesday that more than 289,000 health care workers in South Africa had received a J&J shot. The country has amassed 30 million J&J doses on top of 30 million Pfizer doses.

"I can't see why the prime minister can't conduct his business via Zoom", Shadow Communities Secretary Steve Reed said, stressing that Boris Johnson should not travel to India at the moment.

"Over the past day, 8,632 coronavirus cases were confirmed across 83 Russian regions, including 1,094 cases (12.7 percent) that were detected among people showing no clinical symptoms", the coronavirus response centre said.