Millions of vaccine doses in the US are about to expire, no one in North Korea has Covid-19

According to the 6:00 a.m. update on June 9 from the global statistics site Worldometers, the pandemicCovid-19continues to rage in 220 countries and territories, infecting more than 174.7 million people and taking the lives of about 3.76 million others.

India and Brazil continue to be the two hottest epidemic centers in the world, with the number of infections and deaths remaining very high. Specifically, India has more than 91,200 positive cases, bringing the total to over 29 million infected people. The number of deaths increased by more than 2,200 to 353,500 cases.

Brazil also continues to face a serious spread of the new coronavirus. In the past day, the country recorded nearly 52,500 new cases to the list of 17 million infected people, and nearly 2,700 victims to the total of 477,300 deaths.

Millions of vaccine doses in the US are about to expire

Thanks to an effective vaccination campaign, the US is on track to control the pandemic well, recording only more than 11,300 new infections and 363 deaths in the past 24 hours. To date, the country has more than 34.2 million infections and over 613,000 deaths from Covid-19.

Hospitals, state health departments and the federal government are scrambling to find ways to dispose of millions of doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that are set to expire in June.

The Wall Street Journal points out that the prospect of these vaccines being destroyed while many developing countries are suffering from severe vaccine shortages has put President Joe Biden's administration under increasing pressure to share the vaccine with the world soon.

The newspaper said that Philadelphia currently has 42,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine about to expire, and that number is also up to thousands in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Ohio, Arkansas, etc. Meanwhile, a large amount of Pfizer and Moderna-BioNTech vaccines will also expire in the next few months.

The shelf life of these vaccines is 6 months.

North Korea has no Covid-19 cases

According to the latest data provided by North Korea to the World Health Organization (WHO), the country has tested nearly 29,000 people but has yet to record any cases of Covid-19.

An updated WHO report shows that between May 21 and 27, Pyongyang announced that it had tested 721 people for Covid-19, of whom 146 had flu-like symptoms or severe respiratory infections.

Regarding North Korea, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) confirmed that as of June 7, more than 1.7 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine under the COVAX framework had not yet been delivered to the country.

Previously, GAVI said that the lack of technical preparation of the country of 25.6 million people along with the global vaccine shortage were the two causes of the delay.

"We are working with the North Korean authorities to ensure a successful and thorough vaccination program once the vaccines arrive," NK News quoted a GAVI spokesperson as saying on June 2.

Japan promotes mass Covid-19 vaccination

In order to promote the Japanese government's large-scale Covid-19 vaccination program, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has opened a vaccination center right at Tsukiji - the world-famous fish market that is now closed. About 500 firefighters and 2,500 police officers are expected to be vaccinated at this location.

Also here, Tokyo plans to vaccinate 5,000 people a day with Moderna's vaccine, then increase it to 110,000 by the end of June. In addition to firefighters and police officers, local fire department volunteers, acupuncturists, chiropractors and people aged 64 and under will also be vaccinated.

The government plans to build a new vaccination center in Yoyogi Park.

Companies and universities in the city are now applying for permission to conduct on-site Covid-19 vaccinations, starting from the end of June.

Japan is vaccinating its citizens with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The country launched its Covid-19 vaccination program in February, starting with medical workers and people over 65, with the goal of completing vaccinations for the elderly by the end of July.