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World

Poorer nations reject over 100 mln COVID-19 vaccine doses as many near expiry

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  • Short shelf life, lack of fridges are main reasons
  • About 16 mln doses destroyed from 100 mln rejected -UNICEF
  • Nearly 700 mln delivered doses stored in poor nations
  • WHO’s COVAX programme approaches 1 bln doses shipped

BRUSSELS, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Poorer nations last month rejected more than 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines distributed by the global programme COVAX, mainly because of a rapidly approaching expiry date, a UNICEF official said on Thursday.

The big figure shows the difficulties of vaccinating the world’s population, despite growing supplies of shots, with COVAX getting closer to delivering 1 billion doses to nearly 150 countries.

“More than a 100 million have been rejected just in December alone,” Etleva Kadilli, director of the supply division at the U.N. agency, told lawmakers at the European Parliament, adding that the main reason for rejection was their short shelf life.

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Later in the day a spokesperson for the U.N. children’s agency said that of the 100 million doses rejected, 15.5 million were deemed to have been destroyed. Some doses were rejected by multiple countries.

UNICEF did not reply to a query on the total of rejected doses so far, in addition to those rejected in December.

Wealthy countries donating vaccines with a relatively short shelf life has been a “major problem” for COVAX, a senior official of the World Health Organization said last month. read more

Poorer nations have also been forced to delay supplies because they have insufficient storage facilities, Kadilli said, including a lack of fridges for vaccines – for which COVAX investments have been delayed for months. read more

Many countries also face high levels of vaccine hesitancy and have overburdened healthcare systems.

By the end of 2021 the EU had made available to poorer nations 380 million doses, of which only 255 million have been delivered, the European Commission has said.

Many other doses are stored for use in poorer nations.

UNICEF data shows 681 million shipped doses are now stored in about 90 poorer nations, says CARE, a charity, which extracted the figures from a public database.

More than 30 poorer nations, including big states such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, have used fewer than half of the doses they received, CARE said.

A spokesperson for Gavi, a vaccine alliance which co-manages COVAX, said the high storage level was because of a surge in deliveries in the last quarter, especially in December.

Gavi added that most vaccines recently shipped by COVAX had a long shelf life, and so were unlikely to be wasted.

MORE SHIPMENTS

COVAX, which is co-led by the WHO, has delivered 987 million COVID-19 vaccines to 144 countries, Gavi data shows.

COVAX is the main supplier to dozens of poorer nations, but not the only one, as some countries buy doses on their own or use other regional programmes.

Supplies to poorer nations have long been very limited because of lack of vaccines, as wealthier countries secured most of the doses initially available from December 2020.

But shipments have increased exponentially in the last quarter, thanks to donations from rich countries that have vaccinated the majority of their populations.

In January, 67% of the population in richer nations had been fully vaccinated, whereas only 8% in poorer nations have received their first dose, WHO figures show.

Increased supply caught many recipients unprepared.

“We have countries that are pushing doses that are currently available towards quarter two of 2022,” Kadilli said.

Of the 15 million doses from the EU that have been refused, three-quarters were AstraZeneca shots with a shelf life of less than 10 weeks upon arrival, according to a UNICEF slide.

“You want to have adequate time to move vaccines from depots,” said Kenya’s health ministry spokesperson Mburugu Gikunda said, adding that doses near expiry would go to waste if accepted.

Reuters reported in December that up to one million vaccines were estimated to have expired in Nigeria the previous month without being used. read more

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Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; additional reporting by Maggie Fick in Nairobi; Editing by Alex Richardson and Clarence Fernandez

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Business

Morgan Stanley to pay $60 mln to resolve data security lawsuit

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NEW YORK, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley (MS.N) agreed to pay $60 million to settle a lawsuit by customers who said the Wall Street bank exposed their personal data when it twice failed to properly retire some of its older information technology.

A preliminary settlement of the proposed class action on behalf of about 15 million customers was filed on Friday night in Manhattan federal court, and requires approval by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.

Customers would receive at least two years of fraud insurance coverage, and each can apply for reimbursement of up to $10,000 in out-of-pocket losses.

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Morgan Stanley denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle, and has made “substantial” upgrades to its data security practices, according to settlement papers.

Customers accused Morgan Stanley of having in 2016 failed to decommission two wealth management data centers before the unencrypted equipment, which still contained customer data, was resold to unauthorized third parties.

They also said some older servers containing customer data went missing after Morgan Stanley transferred them in 2019 to an outside vendor. Morgan Stanley later recovered the servers, court papers show.

Morgan Stanley said in an email on Monday it had notified all customers who may have been affected and was pleased to settle the lawsuit.

In October 2020, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $60 million civil fine to resolve U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency accusations concerning the incidents, including that its information security practices were unsafe or unsound.

The case is In re Morgan Stanley Data Security Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-05914.

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Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Daniel Wallis and Jason Neely

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Business

Exclusive: Facebook owner is behind $60 mln deal for Meta name rights

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Dec 13 (Reuters) – Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O), the owner of social media network Facebook, is behind a $60 million deal to acquire the trademark assets of U.S. regional bank Meta Financial Group (CASH.O), spokespeople for the companies said on Monday.

The deal underscores how valuable the Meta name has become for the technology giant, which is betting that its focus on the metaverse – shared digital spaces accessed via the internet through an array of devices – will pay off handsomely in the coming years.

Meta Financial had said in regulatory filing on Monday that a Delaware company called Beige Key LLC agreed to acquire the worldwide rights to its company names for $60 million in cash. It did not disclose who the owner of Beige Key was.

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“Beige Key is affiliated with us and we have acquired these trademark assets,” a Meta Platforms spokesperson said. A MetaBank spokesperson also confirmed Meta Platforms’ involvement.

As well as offering products through its MetaBank subsidiary including consumer savings, loans and credit cards, and commercial lending, Meta Financial partners with institutions including government agencies and financial technology firms to offer banking services with the aim of bolstering financial inclusion.

Facebook said in October its parent company had changed its name to Meta Platforms. The tech giant, which has invested heavily in virtual reality and augmented reality, sees the metaverse as the successor to the mobile internet. read more

Last week, Meta Platforms opened up its previously invite-only Horizon Worlds app, where users of its Quest virtual reality headsets can play games and interact as avatars, to over-18 users in the United States and Canada.

The metaverse concept, which has cropped up on several Silicon Valley companies’ earnings calls and which will require cooperation among tech giants, could be more than a decade away from being fully realized. read more

The Meta Platforms spokesperson said the company engaged in discussions with Meta Financial before Facebook’s name change was announced.

In the filing, Meta Financial said it had embarked on a brand strategy review earlier this year, but the MetaBank spokesperson declined to comment on the negotiations beyond the contents of the filing.

Meta Financial’s shares were trading 1.5% lower in mid-afternoon trading, giving it a market capitalization of around $1.74 billion. Meta Platforms was up 1.6%, valuing it at $933 billion.

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Reporting by David French in New York and Elizabeth Culliford in Birmingham, England; Editing by Nick Zieminski

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US

Jury hits organizers of ‘Unite the Right’ rally with $26 mln verdict

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Nov 23 (Reuters) – A federal jury in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Tuesday found the organizers of the 2017 “Unite the Right” white nationalist rally liable for injuries sustained by counter-protesters and awarded approximately $26 million in damages.

The nine plaintiffs in the case said they suffered physical or emotional trauma at the rally, including four who were struck when a self-described neo-Nazi, James Fields, drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

After a four-week trial, the jury found in favor of the victims on four of six counts but was unable to come to a unanimous verdict on the other two, according to court filings.

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The rally followed months of protests over the city’s plan to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Hundreds of white nationalists traveled to Charlottesville in August 2017, with some marching on the University of Virginia campus carrying torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us!”

Then-President Donald Trump was criticized for initially saying there were “fine people on both sides” after the rally devolved into violent clashes.

President Joe Biden has frequently cited the torch-lit march and Trump’s response as the event that precipitated his decision to mount another run for the White House, after two previous unsuccessful campaigns.

“We are thrilled that the jury has delivered a verdict in favor of our plaintiffs, finally giving them the justice they deserve after the horrific weekend of violence and intimidation in August 2017,” the plaintiffs’ co-lead lawyers, Roberta Kaplan and Karen Dunn, said in a statement.

The two dozen defendants included Jason Kessler, the main organizer; Richard Spencer, who originated the term “alt-right,” a loose network of groups characterized by a rejection of mainstream politics that includes white supremacists and neo-Nazis; and several white nationalist groups.

Joshua Smith, one of the defense lawyers, told reporters he viewed the jury’s inability to reach a consensus on two federal conspiracy counts as a “victory” given the disparity in resources between the plaintiffs’ and defendants’ legal teams.

The victims sued for assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of both Virginia and U.S. civil rights laws.

The defendants argued that they were exercising their constitutional rights and had secured a legal permit for the rally, blaming the deadly violence on Fields, the driver who killed Heyer, and others.

Fields was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder and hate crimes.

The lawsuit received financial support from a nonprofit civil rights group, Integrity First for America.

In a statement released by the organization, the plaintiffs said, “Our single greatest hope is that today’s verdict will encourage others to feel safer raising our collective voices in the future to speak up for human dignity and against white supremacy.”

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Reporting by Joseph Ax in Princeton, New Jersey, Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware, and Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Grant McCool

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Business

Tesla’s Musk sells $930 mln in shares to cover stock option tax – filings

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021. Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters

Nov 15 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk has sold $930 million in shares to meet tax withholding obligations related to the exercise of stock options, U.S. securities filings showed on Monday.

Musk sold 934,091 shares after exercising options to buy 2.1 million stocks at $6.24 each on Monday. Tesla shares closed at $1,013.39. He is required to pay income taxes on the difference between the exercise price and fair market value of the shares.

This is the second time in a week that the billionaire has exercised his stock option. Last Monday, he sold another 934,000 shares for $1.1 billion after exercising options to acquire nearly 2.2 million shares. read more

The two options-related sales were set up in September via a trading plan that allows corporate insiders to establish preplanned transactions on a schedule, the filings said.

As of the end of 2020, he had an option to buy 22.86 million shares, which expire in August next year, a Tesla filing shows.

On Nov. 6, Musk polled Twitter users about selling 10% of his stake, pushing down Tesla’s share price after a majority on Twitter said they agreed with the sale. It was not clear how or whether the trading plan related to Musk’s Twitter poll.

Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar

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Business

JPMorgan sues Tesla for $162 mln over warrants, Musk tweets

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NEW YORK, Nov 15 (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Monday sued Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) for $162.2 million, accusing Elon Musk’s electric car company of “flagrantly” breaching a contract related to stock warrants after its share price soared.

According to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Tesla in 2014 sold warrants to JPMorgan that would pay off if their “strike price” were below Tesla’s share price upon the warrants’ expiration in June and July 2021.

JPMorgan, which said it had authority to adjust the strike price, said it substantially reduced the strike price after Musk’s Aug. 7, 2018 tweet that he might take Tesla private at $420 per share and had “funding secured,” and reversed some of the reduction when Musk abandoned the idea 17 days later.

But Tesla’s share price rose approximately 10-fold by the time the warrants expired, and JPMorgan said this required Tesla under its contract to deliver shares of its stock or cash. The bank said Tesla’s failure to do that amounted to a default.

“Though JPMorgan’s adjustments were appropriate and contractually required,” the complaint said, “Tesla has flagrantly ignored its clear contractual obligation to pay JPMorgan in full.”

Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment after market hours.

According to the complaint, Tesla sold the warrants to reduce potential stock dilution from a separate convertible bond sale and to lower its federal income taxes.

JPMorgan said it had been contractually entitled to adjust the warrants’ terms following “significant corporate transactions involving Tesla.”

The automaker in February 2019 complained that the bank’s adjustments were “an opportunistic attempt to take advantage of changes in volatility in Tesla’s stock,” but did not challenge the underlying calculations, JPMorgan said.

Musk’s tweets led to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges and $20 million fines against both him and Tesla.

Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Cynthia Osterman

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Business

Investors await Evergrande’s overdue $148 mln payment as debt woes grow

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A man rides an electric bicycle past the construction site of Guangzhou Evergrande Soccer Stadium, a new stadium for Guangzhou FC developed by China Evergrande Group, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China September 26, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

  • Evergrande due to pay $148 mln bond coupon on Wednesday
  • Shares of developer Fantasia plunge 50% after missing payment
  • S&P downgrades Shimao Group to “BB+” from “BBB-“

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Cash-strapped China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) faced a Wednesday deadline for making an offshore bond payment, while a credit rating downgrade on another property firm added to mounting concerns about a liquidity squeeze in the sector.

Evergrande, the world’s most indebted developer, has been stumbling from deadline to deadline in recent weeks as it grapples with more than $300 billion in liabilities, $19 billion of which are international market bonds.

The company has not defaulted on any of its offshore debt obligations, but another overdue $148 million bond payment must be made on Wednesday. There was no word on that payment as of early afternoon Asia time.

The developer, which also has coupon payments totalling more than $255 million on its June 2023 and 2025 bonds on Dec. 28, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters about its Wednesday payment deadline. read more

China’s property woes rattled global markets in September and October. There was a brief lull in mid-October after Beijing tried to reassure markets the crisis would not be allowed to spiral out of control. read more

But concerns have resurfaced, with the U.S. Federal Reserve warning on Tuesday that China’s troubled property sector could pose global risks.

More developers are seeing their credit ratings slashed on their worsening financial profiles.

S&P Global Ratings said on Wednesday it had downgraded property developer Shimao Group Holdings’ (0813.HK) rating to “BB+” from “BBB-” over concerns that tough business conditions would hinder the company’s efforts to reduce debts.

S&P considers a rating under “BBB-” to be speculative grade.

Worries over the potential fallout from Evergrande have also roiled China’s property sector in recent days, slamming the bonds of real estate companies amid worries the crisis could spread to other markets and sectors.

Shares of developer Fantasia Holdings (1777.HK) plunged 50% on Wednesday after it said there is no guarantee it will be able to meet its other financial obligations following a missed payment of $205.7 million that was due Oct. 4.

FINANCING OPTIONS

Underlining the liquidity squeeze, some real estate firms disclosed plans to issue debt in the inter-bank market at a meeting with China’s inter-bank bond market regulator, the Securities Times reported on Wednesday. read more

In the near future, real estate companies will issue bonds in the open market for financing, while banks and other institutional investors will assist via bond investment, said the paper.

Debt-laden developers including Evergrande and peer Kaisa Group (1638.HK) have also been looking to raise cash to repay their many creditors by selling some of their property and other business assets.

Beijing has been prodding government-owned firms and state-backed property developers to purchase some of Evergrande’s assets to try to control the fall. read more

Rising concerns about the developers’ woes spreading to other sectors was visible on Wednesday as the spread, or risk premium, between lower risk, investment grade Chinese firms and U.S. Treasuries widened to a more than five-month high. (.MERACCG)

Despite the debt woes of Evergrande, its electric vehicles (EV) unit is pushing ahead with its business plan. The unit is seeking Chinese regulatory approval to sell its inaugural Hengchi 5 sport-utility vehicles. read more

China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd (0708.HK) plans to sell HK$500 million ($64 million) worth of shares to fund production of new energy cars.

Shares in Evergrande were little changed from previous close on Wednesday afternoon, while the EV unit was up 2.2%.

Founded in Guangzhou in 1996, Evergrande epitomised a freewheeling era of borrowing and building. But that business model has been scuttled by hundreds of new rules designed to curb developers’ debt frenzy and promote affordable housing.

Any prospect of Evergrande’s demise raises questions over more than 1,300 real estate projects it has in some 280 cities.

Reporting by Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai and Clare Jim in Hong Kong; Writing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Ira Iosebashvili; Editing by Stephen Coates and Lincoln Feast.

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Business

China Evergrande secures extension on defaulted $260 mln bond -REDD

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  • Evergrande secures 3+ mth extension on Jumbo Fortune Bond -REDD
  • Evergrande’s stake sale to Hopson is its second deal to collapse
  • Evergrande, Hopson trade blame over deal collapse
  • Market sentiment fragile despite government reassurances

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI, Oct 21 (Reuters) – China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) has secured an extension on a defaulted bond, financial provider REDD reported on Thursday, offering rare respite to the developer a day after a deal to sell a $2.6 billion stake in its property services unit failed.

Evergrande has won a “more than three month” extension to the maturity of a $260 million bond issued by joint venture Jumbo Fortune Enterprise and guaranteed by Evergrande beyond Oct. 3, after agreeing to provide extra collateral, REDD reported, citing holders of the bond.

Evergrande did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

News of the extension came after Evergrande said on Wednesday it had scrapped a deal to sell a 50.1% stake in Evergrande Property Services Group Ltd (6666.HK) to Hopson Development Holdings Ltd (0754.HK) as the smaller rival had not met the “prerequisite to make a general offer”. read more

Both sides traded blame for the setback, with Hopson saying it does not accept “there is any substance whatsoever” to Evergrande’s termination of the sales agreement, and it is exploring options to protect its legitimate interests.

The deal is the developer’s second to collapse amid its scramble to raise cash in recent weeks. Two sources told Reuters last week the $1.7 billion sale of its Hong Kong headquarters had failed amid buyer worries over Evergrande’s financial situation. read more

The setback also comes just ahead of the expiry of a 30-day grace period for Evergrande to pay $83.5 million in coupon payments for an offshore bond, at which time China’s most indebted developer would be considered in default.

Evergrande in an exchange filing on Wednesday said the grace periods for the payment of the interest on its U.S. dollar-denominated bonds that had become due in September and October had not expired. It did not elaborate.

“The scrapped transaction has made it even more unlikely for it (Evergrande) to pull a rabbit out of a hat at the last minute,” said a lawyer representing some creditors, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“Given where things are with the missed payments and the grace period running out soon, people are bracing for a hard default. We’ll see how the company addresses this in its negotiations with creditors.”

REASSURANCES

Trading in the Hong Kong-listed shares of China Evergrande, its property services unit and Hopson all resumed on Thursday after a more than two-week suspension. Evergrande trimmed opening losses and was down 9.8% in early trade. Its property services unit dropped 5%, while its electric vehicle arm (0708.HK) plunged as much as 10.3%. Shares of Hopson rose 5.6%.

Mainland China’s property index (.CSI000948) gained nearly 2%.

Evergrande was once China’s top-selling developer yet is now reeling under more than $300 billion of debt, prompting government officials to come out in force in recent days to say the firm’s problems will not spin out of control and trigger a broader financial crisis.

The string of official reassurances are likely aimed at soothing investor fear that the developer’s debt crisis could ripple through China’s broader property sector, which contributes around a quarter to the country’s economic growth.

Since the government started clamping down on corporate debt in 2017, many real estate developers have turned to off-balance-sheet vehicles to borrow money and skirt regulatory scrutiny, analysts and lawyers said. read more

Statements from other property developers on Thursday exacerbated investor concern of contagion.

Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd (0127.HK) said it would book a loss of $29 million in its current fiscal year from the sale of bonds issued by property developer Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd (1638.HK).

Modern Land (China) Co Ltd (1107.HK) said it had ceased to seek consent from investors to extend the maturity date of a dollar bond due on Oct. 25 . Its shares were suspended from trading on Thursday.

While Chinese high-yield spreads, as indicated in an index of Chinese corporate high-yield issuers (.MERACYC), continued to narrow as of Wednesday evening U.S. time, Modern Land’s decision weighed on investors’ mood, said Clarence Tam, fixed income portfolio manager at Avenue Asset Management in Hong Kong.

“The market is worried all single-B companies will choose not to pay,” he said.

Reporting by Clare Jim in HONG KONG and Andrew Galbraith in SHANGHAI, additional reporting by Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christopher Cushing

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Business

Crypto firms Tether, Bitfinex to pay $42.5 mln to settle US CFTC charges

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Cryptocurrency Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex will pay $42.5 million to settle civil charges from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over allegedly making misleading statements and making illegal transactions.

Firms doing business as Tether agreed to pay $41 million to resolve CFTC charges they made misleading claims about Tether’s cryptocurrency stablecoin, the CFTC said in a statement on Friday. According to the regulator, at various times from June 2016 to late February 2019, Tether made misleading or untrue statements about whether it held sufficient U.S. dollar reserves to fully back up its U.S. dollar tether token.

SEC’S GENSLER DOESN’T SEE CRYPTOCURRENCIES LASTING LONG

In a separate order, firms doing business as Bitfinex agreed to a $1.5 million penalty over charges their controls were not adequate to keep U.S. customers from illegally engaging in retail commodity transactions on the exchange. This violated U.S. law and a 2016 settlement with Bitfinex over similar allegations, the CFTC said.

Cryptocurrency Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex will pay $42.5 million to settle civil charges from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over allegedly making misleading statements and making illegal transactions. Photographer: And

Neither Tether or Bitfinex, which are controlled by the same parent company, admitted nor denied the findings.

In a statement on its website, Tether challenged the CFTC’s statements, saying the agency’s findings were that Tether’s dollar reserves were not all in cash in a bank account titled in Tether’s name at all times, rather than that the tokens were not fully backed.

CFTC Commissioner Dawn Stump, a Republican, affirmed the agency’s findings that the “assurance provided to tether customers was not 100% true, 100% of the time” and that “wrongdoing occurred,” according to a statement published alongside the CFTC orders.

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However, Stump raised concern that the resolution – the first time the CFTC has applied the definition of “commodity” to a stablecoin – would sow confusion among cryptocurrency firms and investors.

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Technology

Brazil health regulator suspends use of 12 mln Sinovac vaccine shots

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An employee handles vials containing CoronaVac, Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Butantan biomedical center in Sao Paulo, Brazil January 12, 2021. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

SAO PAULO, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Brazil’s federal health regulator Anvisa on Saturday suspended the use of over 12 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd (SVA.O) that were produced in an unauthorized plant, it said in a statement.

Anvisa said it was alerted on Friday by Sao Paulo’s Butantan institute, a biomedical center that has partnered with Sinovac to locally fill and finish the vaccines, that 25 batches, or 12.1 million doses, sent to Brazil had been made in the plant.

“The manufacturing unit … was not inspected and was not approved by Anvisa in the authorization of emergency use of the mentioned vaccine,” the regulator said. The ban was “a precautionary measure to avoid exposing the population to possible imminent risk,” it added.

Butantan also told Anvisa that another 17 batches, totaling 9 million doses, had been produced in the same plant, and were on their way to Brazil, the regulator said.

During the 90-day ban, Anvisa will seek to inspect the plant, and find out more about the security of the manufacturing process, it said.

During Brazil’s vaccine rollout earlier this year, the vast majority of administered vaccines were from Sinovac. More shots from other manufacturers have since come online.

Brazil on Saturday reported 21,804 new coronavirus cases, and 692 COVID-19 deaths.

Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Richard Chang

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