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Switzerland to destroy 10 million doses of Moderna

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Switzerland will need to destroy 10.3 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine against COVID-19, after they expired this week, the health ministry said on Saturday (Sep 24).

The ministry said it had no choice but to eliminate the jabs after the doses expired last Wednesday, according to Keystone-ATS.

It told the news agency that 2.5 million of the doses were being stored at a Swiss army logistics base and 7.8 million were in an external storage depot in Belgium.

The ministry confirmed an initial report on Swiss news site Beobachter, which estimated that the doses set for destruction were worth around 280 million Swiss francs (US$285 million).

The health ministry, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP, pointed to its early procurement strategy in the race to develop vaccines to counter the global COVID-19 pandemic.

It ordered doses from various manufacturers to avoid becoming reliant on vaccines that might eventually prove ineffective and to guard against any delivery problems.

The fact that vaccines based on mRNA technology, from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, turned out to be effective, left Switzerland with a large surplus of doses.

In June, the Swissinfo news site estimated that Switzerland had an excess of about 38 million doses of various COVID-19 vaccines, that would expire before the year-end.

The ministry said that about 3.5 million doses of the new, adapted Moderna vaccine would be available when Switzerland kicks off its next booster campaign next month.

Switzerland, which has counted 13,556 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, has fully vaccinated nearly 70 per cent of its population of 8.7 million.

(channelnewsasia.com)

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Pakistan PM Shehbaz offers dialogue with India for ‘peace’

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The Indian Army on Thursday (May 16) said it will pursue confidence building measures to reduce the “alertness level” in line with the May 10 understanding on cessation of hostilities with the Pakistani side.

The remarks by the Indian Army came hours after Islamabad said the India-Pakistan arrangement on stopping the military actions has been extended till May 18.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday extended an offer of talks to India, saying Pakistan is ready to engage “for peace”. Mr. Shehbaz made the comments during a visit to the Kamra air base in the country’s Punjab province where he interacted with officers and soldiers involved in the recent military confrontation with India.

“We are ready to talk with it (India) for peace,” he said and added that the “conditions for peace” include the Kashmir issue.

(The Hindu)

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Plane crash victims’ families file complaint against Jeju Air CEO

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Some families of those killed in a Jeju Air plane crash last December have filed a criminal complaint against 15 people, including South Korea’s transport minister and the airline’s CEO, for professional negligence.

The 72 bereaved relatives are calling for a more thorough investigation into the crash, which killed 179 of the 181 people on board – making it the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil.

The crash was “not a simple accident”, they allege, but a “major civic disaster caused by negligent management of preventable risks”.

Nearly five months on, authorities are still studying what may have caused the plane to crash-land at Muan International Airport and then burst into flames.

The police had already opened a criminal investigation before this latest complaint, and barred Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae from leaving the country, but no one has been indicted over the incident.

One of the relatives, Kim Da-hye, denounced the “lack of progress” in investigations.

“We are filled with deep anger and despair. Having taken this extraordinary measure of filing a criminal complaint, we will not give up and will continue to pursue the truth,” Mr Kim said in a statement to the media.

Among the 15 people named in the complaint were government officials, airline officials and airport staff responsible for construction, supervision, facility management and bird control.

The complaint filed on Tuesday raises questions around the circumstances of the crash, including whether air traffic control responded appropriately and whether the reinforcement of a mound at the end of the runway violated regulations.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, took off from the Thai capital of Bangkok on the morning of 29 December, and was flying to Muan in South Korea.

Five minutes after the pilots made contact with Muan International Airport, they reported striking a bird and declared a mayday signal.

The pilots then tried to land from the opposite direction, during which the aircraft belly-landed without its landing gear deployed. It later overran the runway, slammed into a concrete structure and exploded.

Earlier this year, investigators said they found bird feathers in both engines of the jet, but did not conclude the extent to which the bird strike was a contributing factor.

Since the incident, some bereaved families have also been targeted by a torrent of conspiracies and malicious jokes online.

These included suggestions that families were “thrilled” to receive compensation from authorities, or that they were “fake victims”. As of March this year, eight people have been apprehended for making such derogatory and defamatory online posts.

(BBC News)

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Gary Anandasangaree appointed Public Safety Minister of Canada

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Sri Lankan-born Gary Anandasangaree has been sworn in as Canada’s new Minister of Public Safety under PM Mark Carney’s cabinet.

A former Minister of Justice and Crown–Indigenous Relations, Anandasangaree will now oversee national security, emergency preparedness, and border protection.

“As I step into this new role, I am grateful to Prime Minister Mark Carney for his trust. I am ready to work with my Cabinet and Caucus colleagues, our partner organizations, and all orders of government to unite, secure, protect, and build Canada,” he has Tweeted.

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