France and Germany were set to resume AstraZeneca vaccinations after EU regulators gave the jab the all-clear, and US President Joe Biden said his administration would meet its goal of inoculating 100 million Americans weeks ahead of schedule.
Concerns around the AstraZeneca jab saw countries from Venezuela to Indonesia put their programmes on pause, hampering the drive to vaccinate populations worldwide against the disease that has killed more than 2.6 million people.
Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and Bulgaria also said they would resume vaccinations after the European Medicines Agency said that the jab was "safe and effective".