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| - The European Union struck a deal on Wednesday to buy up to 300 million more coronavirus shots, as vaccination rollouts were launched in Japan and South Africa. A maternity ward nurse in Cape Town was the first to get the shot in South Africa, with health workers first in line. "This is a new era for us," said South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa after receiving his jab. In Japan 40,000 healthcare workers are also first in line for Pfizer-BioNTech shots as the country begins vaccinations five months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. "Hopefully vaccinations... can change the situation here," nurse Rino Yoshida told national broadcaster NHK after she got one of the first shots. The scramble to source vaccine doses, and then to roll them out in the most effective way, has caused huge headaches for policymakers around the world -- not least in the Europe Union, which has been widely criticised for a slow rollout and chaotic procurement. The bloc's chief Ursula von der Leyen confirmed as many as 300 million more shots were on their way, adding to the bloc's stockpile of 2.6 billion doses. Von der Leyen said the excess shots would go to neighbouring countries and serve as insurance in case some are less effective against new virus variants. But UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is urging an even wider perspective, calling at a Security Council meeting for "a global vaccination plan to bring together all those with the required power, scientific expertise and production and financial capacities". Just 10 nations have administered 75 percent of the doses so far and 130 countries have had no vaccinations at all, he said, calling on the G20 club of major economies to lead a worldwide effort. Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the new head of the World Trade Organization, said the body could help ensure universal access to the jabs. "It's really in the self-interest of every country to see everyone vaccinated because you're not safe until everyone is safe," she told AFP in an interview. There was some good vaccine news for Gaza on Wednesday, as Israel's defence ministry said 1,000 doses of Russian-donated vaccines would be delivered to the blockaded Palestinian territory. And Indonesia got started on a second wave of vaccinations for the elderly and people in public-facing jobs like market traders, with the health ministry saying 1.1 million health workers have already been vaccinated. But Taiwan's health minister Chen Shih-chung said in a radio interview that a crucial deal to acquire the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had failed "at the final step" of negotiations. "We believed there was political pressure," he said. "The deal fell through... because someone doesn't want Taiwan to be too happy." Chen added that he could not confirm whether China had leant on the firm to block a contract with the island, which Beijing considers part of its territory. Neither BioNTech nor Chinese pharma firm Fosun, slated to produce the German-developed vaccine in Shanghai, responded to requests for comment. With infections topping 109 million and more than 2.4 million deaths, the pandemic has sparked lockdowns and curfews that have devastated the global economy. Spain reported on Wednesday that its national debt had spiked to 1.31 trillion euros ($1.59 trillion) last year. The leap was "largely due to direct aid and measures implemented to respond to the health, economic and social effects of Covid-19", the economy ministry said. In Italy, newly installed Prime Minister Mario Draghi said the country had "the possibility -- or rather the responsibility -- to start a new reconstruction" like that following World War II, after the pandemic killed more than 94,000 Italians so far. Top of former European Central Bank chief Draghi's to-do list is how to spend more than 200 billion euros from the EU's post-coronavirus recovery fund -- a thorny problem that helped bring down the previous government. Across the world, quick and drastic action in Australia and New Zealand has allowed both countries to weather the crisis better than in Europe. Australia's Victoria state, currently hosting the Australian Open tennis tournament, and New Zealand's largest city Auckland were set to emerge from snap lockdowns Wednesday. In the Philippines, socially distanced Catholic devotees marked Ash Wednesday with one Manila church sprinkling dust on worshippers' heads -- rather than daubing them with crosses -- to reduce the coronavirus risk. "We should not forget God," said worshipper Jeanne Sunga. "Even during the pandemic." burs-tgb/jxb
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