An alliance of patient organizations for rare diseases says most EU member states are not doing enough to help patients with life-threatening diseases get timely access to innovative drugs on compassionate grounds. A time difference of more than three years may exist between patients benefiting from a compassionate use treatment, depending on where they live.

The UK government says it is on track to vaccinate the 15 million most vulnerable people by mid-February, and that a “major study” is under way to assess the potential impact of the new UK variant on vaccine efficacy.

The European Medicines Agency says hacked COVID-19 vaccine data has been leaked online, and Australia’s chief medical officer defends the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine against scientists’ claim that it is not effective enough.