Australia Plans Digital Border Pass for Vaccinated Travelers - Australia is developing a digital border pass to show the vaccination status of travelers in a step toward further reopening its international border. The government awarded Accenture Plc the tender to deliver the pass that will replace the current Covid-19 travel declaration form and incoming passenger card.  It “will support the safe re-opening of Australia’s international borders” Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews said in a statement.

Pfizer Supplies Jordan, Lebanon With Covid Vaccines for Refugees - Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE are donating hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 vaccine doses to Jordan and Lebanon as a part of a broader push to aid refugees during the pandemic. On Monday, 100,000 doses of the companies’ coronavirus vaccine arrived at the coastal Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport. There, the donated doses are being loaded into UPS trucks and delivered to nearby warehouses at the Rafic Hariri Hospital, the largest Lebanese public hospital located on the outskirts of Beirut.

Even the Swiss Are Tightening the Screws on the Unvaccinated - Switzerland, which has stood out among European neighbors for its generally more laissez-faire approach to the pandemic, is joining the ranks of countries now increasing pressure on the unvaccinated. With hospitals filling up and inoculations lagging the rest of Western Europe, the government is doing what just a few weeks ago one of its members termed “bizarre” by requiring vaccine certificates for public activities. As of Monday, residents of one of the world’s wealthiest countries will have to show passes to enter restaurants, cinemas and fitness centers. They must attest to having been jabbed, tested or recovered from the virus.

Vaccinate children to stem winter wave of coronavirus, says Professor Ferguson - Children should be vaccinated to boost the UK’s immunity levels and stem the risk of a large winter wave of coronavirus, a leading scientific adviser to the government has said. Professor Ferguson, who sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said that the UK’s immunity levels were falling behind other European counties, such as Spain, Italy and France. But he also said he “hoped” that the country would not need another national lockdown, saying: “If we do need to drive down transmission we may not need another full lockdown.”

UK OKs vaccines for 12 year olds, aims to avoid lockdowns - Britain decided Monday to follow other countries in offering coronavirus vaccines to children 12 and up, as the government gambled that expanded vaccination and mild tweaks to social behavior can avert the need for lockdowns in the winter. Vaccinations for children and booster shots for at-risk adults are expected to be part of a “tool kit” to control COVID-19 infections this fall and winter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to announce Tuesday. On Monday, the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland recommended that children ages 12 to 15 be given a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, despite the government’s vaccine advisors saying this month that the step would have only marginal health benefits.

It may take 'many, many' more vaccine mandates to end the Covid-19 pandemic, Fauci says - Millions of Americans still need to get vaccinated to slow or stop the spread of Covid-19 and getting the pandemic under control could take 'many, many' more vaccine mandates, Dr. Anthony Fauci said. Fauci said if more people aren't persuaded to get vaccinated by messaging from health officials and 'trusted political messengers,' additional mandates from schools and businesses may be necessary. 'I believe that's going to turn this around because I don't think people are going to want to not go to work or not go to college ... They're going to do it,' Fauci told CNN's Jen Christensen. 'You'd like to have them do it on a totally voluntary basis, but if that doesn't work, you've got to go to the alternatives.'

Covid-19: Work-from-home guidance and face masks could be brought back in winter - Guidance to work from home and the mandatory use of face masks are likely to be retained as options in the Covid winter plan due to be set out by Boris Johnson. The Prime Minister will tell the nation on Tuesday how the country can learn to live with the virus, underlining how vaccinations will be a central part of the response to coronavirus in the coming months. Covid laws that are no longer required will be ditched and plans for vaccine passports for nightclubs and other large crowd venues have been shelved. The travel traffic lights system is also expected to be scrapped and PCR tests will no longer be required for fully vaccinated travellers.

COVID-19: Freedom Day was 'gamble' and has contributed to 40,000 hospital admissions, BMA says - More than 130,000 people in the UK have died with COVID-19 since the pandemic began last year. The British Medical Association says the loosening of restrictions, notably England's so-called Freedom Day, was a 'gamble' - contributing to more than 40,000 hospital admissions.

New Zealand PM Ardern extends lockdown in Auckland to Sept 21 - New Zealand's largest city Auckland will remain in lockdown to beat the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.

Vietnam's biggest city to keep virus curbs, flight resumption sought - Vietnam's coronavirus outbreak epicentre Ho Chi Minh City will extend its restrictions, state media reported on Monday, as the capital Hanoi and several provinces sought an easing of curbs and the aviation authority proposed domestic flights resume.

UK Canceling $1.7 Billion Vaccine Contract With Valneva Is a Bizarre Rug-Pull - The U.K. had poured millions of pounds into Valneva’s Scottish factory, secured an extra 40 million vaccine doses on top of the 60 million it had already agreed to buy, and boasted about the vaccine’s potential as a booster in the autumn. The fact that Valneva was headquartered in France, whose vaccine rollout was off to a dire start and where zero doses had been procured, was the ultimate punchline. Now the U.K. seems to have shot itself in the foot, rather than in the arm. The government is abruptly canceling its supply contract, having found Valneva in breach of its obligations without specifying how — something Valneva is contesting, though without giving more details.

Covid-19: Single Pfizer jab recommended for 12 to 15-year-olds - The UK’s four Chief Medical Officers have recommended all children aged 12-15 should be vaccinated against Covid. They have agreed that children of those ages should be given one dose of the Pfizer vaccine to help prevent education being disrupted. A final decision on rollout will be taken by ministers in the four nations of the UK.

Seriously ill COVID-19 patients double in vaccine pace-setter Singapore - The rapid pace of new COVID-19 infections and a doubling of seriously ill patients in Singapore have raised unexpected hurdles to reopening plans for the vaccination frontrunner, where 81% of the population is fully vaccinated. Singapore, one of the fastest in the world to reach that level, has seen its inoculation rates plateau, and this month paused its gradual reopening plans, spooked by daily infections that returned to one-year peaks this month.