U.S. President Joe Biden hosted an event at the White House Thursday honoring the 50 millionth coronavirus vaccination administered in the country.Four people — an elementary school counselor, a grocery store employee and two firefighter EMTs — were vaccinated against the virus at the White House Thursday afternoon to commemorate the milestone..@POTUS watching vaccination to commemorate 50 million #COVID19 shots under his watch. pic.twitter.com/CizKLRlXYv— Patsy Widakuswara (@pwidakuswara) February 25, 2021 “Fifty-million shots in just 37 days since I’ve become president,” Biden told reporters at the event, noting that despite extreme weather …

The COVAX facility for coronavirus vaccines will soon get access to 170 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund.     The COVAX Facility aims to ensure at least 2 billion vaccine doses are available to 85 of the world’s poorest countries.  UNICEF said Thursday that deliveries of the vaccine will begin in the first quarter of 2021.      Two other vaccine makers, Pfizer and the Serum Institute of India, are also providing their vaccines to COVAX for distribution.   In other COVID-19 news, a …

A new study finds the new Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is as effective in real-world use as it was during its late-stage clinical trials. In a large-scale study of 1.2 million people, researchers at Israel’s Clalit Research Institute found the two-dose vaccine reduced symptomatic cases of COVID-19 by 94% across all age groups, and reduced severe illnesses by 92%.  Researchers also found that a single shot of the vaccine was 57% effective after just two weeks.FILE – People queue to receive a vaccine against COVID-19 at a makeshift vaccination site in Petah …

Residents at an assisted living facility in the US are getting a taste of life before the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to a “hug tent,” residents can – while wearing plastic sleeves – embrace and hold hands with their families. More from VOA’s Mariama Diallo. …

At a dog training center in Myakka City, Florida, Heather Junqueira, founder of BioScent, brings a four-year-old beagle, Noel, into a room with stainless-steel canisters, several containing samples of COVID-19.   Noel springs into action as she tries to find the ones with a smell that she knows will earn her praise and dog treats. It only takes Noel only a few seconds to figure out which ones contain gauze pads wiped with sweat or surgical masks worn by people infected with COVID.  Heather Junqueira, founder of BioScent in Myakka City, …

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout to date has been far from equitable. The vast majority of doses have gone to high-income countries, but a World Health Organization program aiming to change that delivered its first shots Wednesday, in Ghana. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more. …