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With a rapid and successful vaccine campaign on track, the path seemed clear not long ago for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to scrap all of England’s coronavirus rules on June 21, ending curbs that he resisted imposing in the first place. But on Monday, Mr. Johnson postponed by four weeks the moment dubbed “freedom day” by the tabloids after a spike in cases of a highly transmissible new variant that may cause more serious disease than earlier variants. Restaurants and pubs in England, while open, will still have to observe social distancing rules indoors, limiting capacity, and nightclubs and theaters will remain firmly closed. (Castle and Mueller, 6/14)

The World Health Organization warned Monday that the G-7’s pledge to share a billion doses with low-income countries would not be enough and has not come soon enough to stave off the fast-moving coronavirus. “I welcome the announcement that G-7 countries will donate 870 million (new) vaccine doses, primarily through Covax,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “This is a big help, but we need more, and we need them faster. Right now, the virus is moving faster than the global distribution of vaccines.” (Berger, 6/15)

The U.S. is banning the importation of dogs from more than 100 countries for at least a year because of a sharp increase in the number of puppies imported into the country with fraudulent rabies vaccination certificates. "We're doing this to make sure that we protect the health and safety of dogs that are imported into the United States, as well as protect the public's health," Dr. Emily Pieracci of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells NPR. The pandemic prompted a surge of pet adoptions, including puppies, as Americans sought companionship while they hunkered down in their homes to protect themselves from COVID-19. (Stein, 6/14)

IOC Vice President John Coates arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday, the same day that organizers and the International Olympic Committee were set to roll out the third and final edition of their so-called Playbooks. Coates is the International Olympic Committee’s official in charge of overseeing the Tokyo Games. He has been a controversial figure in Japan, saying the postponed Olympics would go ahead even if the country were under a state of emergency. (Wade, 6/15)

The sudden collapse of the Danish soccer player Christian Eriksen during a game at Euro 2020 on Saturday has spurred a wave of unfounded speculation over his vaccination status. Mr. Eriksen, a 29-year-old midfielder who also plays for the Italian champions Inter Milan, went into cardiac arrest in the first half of Denmark’s opening game against Finland and was resuscitated. Contrary to some social media posts, his condition was not because he had received a coronavirus vaccine. (Qiu and Decker, 6/14)