The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is aiming to give full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by early September, according to The New York Times. The two-dose vaccine, which Pfizer developed in collaboration with German-based BioNTech, was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA last November.    It is one of just three COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. stockpile, along with the two-shot vaccine from Moderna and the single-dose version developed by Johnson & Johnson.   The newspaper says the FDA is accelerating its normal timetable to grant full approval to the two-dose vaccine as the United …

Experts say South Africa is seeing growing drug addiction among young people during the pandemic. A medical research center found that some teenagers are abusing cough syrup that contains the drug codeine. Franco Puglisi looks at the drug addiction problem and efforts to rehabilitate youth in this report from Johannesburg.Camera: Franco Puglisi   Produced by: Barry Unger …

The state of Florida is experiencing a hospital crisis because of a surge in the number of patients with COVID-19. These patients are younger and sicker than patients infected with the original virus, and they are largely unvaccinated. Most of them have the Delta variant that is sweeping through the southern U.S., where vaccination rates remain low. At a media briefing August 3, doctors belonging to the Infectious Disease Society of America called for more COVID testing and more vaccinations — both in the U.S. and in other countries.  The Delta variant was first detected in India, but it is rapidly spreading around the world. Rachael Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has called the …