Several world leaders and politicians are pushing back against vaccine skepticism amid concerns that fewer people are willing to be inoculated against the coronavirus, particularly among Republicans in the United States, and as much of Europe pauses the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot over blood-clot concerns. Britain’s Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, on Wednesday denounced those that he said have lobbied against vaccines in an article for a British health-care journal, describing the shots as tools to “protect and liberate” some of society’s most vulnerable members.

Former president Donald Trump, for his part, said in an interview on Fox News Tuesday that he does “recommend” that Americans get vaccinated, saying that the vaccine is “great” and “something that works.” He was vaccinated in January before he left office, but his office did not reveal the news until this month.

In France, Prime Minister Jean Castex said that he plans to be vaccinated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot as soon as his government lifts its temporary suspension on the vaccine. “Vaccination is the exit door from this crisis,” he said in an interview with a French TV station Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
Here are some significant developments:
  • The European Medicines Agency said health regulators remained “firmly convinced” that the benefits of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine outweighed the risks amid concerns that the shots caused blood clots in some people.
  • The former U.S. coronavirus response coordinator, Deborah Birx, said in an interview with ABC News that the moment Trump recommended injecting disinfectant still haunts her.
  • After weeks of declining coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations, new hot spots of infection have emerged in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Experts warn the spread of a more dangerous variant and a rush to return to normal life could prolong the pandemic.
  • U.S. health officials under Trump worked to convince Brazil to reject Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the federal government disclosed in a January document that was largely overlooked until this week.
  • The Federal Aviation Administration will extend its “zero tolerance” policy on flouting pandemic safety guidelines for as long as the federal mask mandate is in place. The FAA is investigating more than 450 cases of bad behavior by flight passengers.