In still evolving data, yet another Israeli study has found that health workers who received a fourth dose of a Pfizer mRNA vaccine were half as likely to contract Omicron seven days after receiving the shot in comparison to people who only got three doses. The study released Thursday came less than one week after […] Continue reading ->
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections killed 1.27 million people in the world in 2019, according to a one-of-a-kind study in The Lancet. According to the study, led by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, with dozens of authors worldwide, the increased resistance of many common pathogens to treatment, known as […] Continue reading ->
UN Secretary General António Guterres Calls for ‘New Global Deal’ on Debt Relief, Climate and Health
International financial institutions need to extend widespread debt relief to developing countries, and private sector companies need to mend “social contracts” with societies, and in order to “beat climate, beat COVID” fight hunger – and global financial instability, said UN Secretary General António Guterres. He was speaking on the opening day of the World Economic […] Continue reading ->
France’s newest measure to tackle COVID-19 – requiring a certificate of vaccination at public places such as restaurants, cafes, cinemas, and long-distance trains – was approved by its parliament on Sunday. With lawmakers in the lower house of parliament voting 215 to 58 in favour, the law is set to be enforced in coming days. […] Continue reading ->
Rwanda became the recipient of the one-billionth COVID-19 vaccine delivered by COVAX, the global platform set up to ensure equitable access to the vaccines,announced last Friday. After numerous supply problems – most seriously when its key supplier, the Serum Insitute of India, was banned from exporting its vaccines by the Indian government – COVAX was […] Continue reading ->
Two new treatments for COVID-19 were recommended on Thursday by the World Health Organization’s Guideline Development Group of international experts – one for severely ill patients and the other for those patients who are not severely ill but most likely to develop severe disease. The recommendations were announced Friday morning in the BMJ. Both drugs, […] Continue reading ->
The European Union (EU) has described India’s call for an urgent meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference to discuss the body’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a proposed waiver of relevant intellectual property protections, as “premature”. Addressing the WTO General Council informal meeting on Monday, EU Ambassador João Aguiar Machado said […] Continue reading ->
The first generic version of Paxlovid, the Pfizer pill that has proven highly effective in treating COVID-19, is already available in Bangladesh. However, Indian generic company Dr Reddy’s, which has started to produce the Merck antiviral, molnupiravir, might be in trouble after the country’s National Task Force for COVID-19 resolved on Monday that there were […] Continue reading ->
Mass Omicron infection could lead to the formation of new and potentially even more dangerous coronavirus variants, officials from the World Health Organization warned on Thursday. That is despite the fact that the Omicron variant is proving less lethal than its SARS-CoV2 predecessors, such as Alpha, Beta and Delta – which swept through India and […] Continue reading ->
A new South African study shows that a second Johnson & Johnson dose, administered 6-9 months after the initial single-dose vaccine provided 84% protection against hospitalization from the Omicron SARS-CoV2 variant – results that even outperformed those of an earlier South African study looking at effectiveness of the two-dose Pfizer regime in the face of […] Continue reading ->