An expert panel has just given the green light to vaccinate children aged 5 to 11 in Israel — the first country to offer booster shots. It has also tightened its green pass system to keep the economy and schools open.

German officers have detained 12 individuals suspected of involvement in the manufacture and sale of falsified COVID-19 vaccine passports. The counterfeits are believed to have been sold for up to €400 each.

The lockdown starting Monday is expected to last 10 days and a vaccine mandate is set to start in February. Data shows the seven-day incidence rate in the country at around 1,000 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Vaccine equity campaigners have long warned the EU that sharing doses was essential to prevent new variants emerging. EU countries made big promises on vaccine donations, but have so far struggled to deliver. Why?

Novak Djokovic's father Srdjan does not think that his son will compete at the Australian Open because of COVID-19 vaccination rules in Australia.

FRANCE 24 spoke to the EU's Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton about several issues, including the threat of the omicron Covid-19 variant worldwide; the possibility of easing intellectual property rules on vaccines to get more doses out to lower-income countries; and the state of relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

German doctors and their staff have been facing aggression and threats from vaccine opponents. They have described having frayed nerves as pandemic fatigue sets in among patients and medical staff.

The court has agreed to hear arguments about the Biden administration's vaccine or testing requirement for large employers, and a separate vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

The head of the World Health Organization says rich countries are merely prolonging the pandemic by fueling vaccine inequality. "No country can boost its way out of the pandemic," he says.

Instead, mRNA vaccines use mRNA created in a laboratory to teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.

As the Omicron variant of Covid-19 continues to drive new infections around the world, Israel has become one of the first countries to start rolling out a fourth dose of the vaccine. The so-called "second" booster jab is currently available to the over-60s, health workers and anyone considered medically vulnerable.

Emmanuel Macron tells Le Parisien he wants to "piss off" the unvaccinated, prompting reaction from papers and rival politicians. Papers also reflect on the upcoming anniversary of the January 6 storming of the US Capitol. There's outrage in the Australian press after Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic is granted a medical exemption from the Australian Open's vaccine requirements. Plus: we discover two stories of people using billboards to look for love.