A third shot of the Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine boosted vaccine effectiveness against infection, which had been diminished five to six months after the second vaccine dose, according to a study of over 12,000 healthcare workers released this week by Nature. The study was conducted in Israel by Sheba Medical Center and involved 12,413 health workers […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization has reported that it is investigating some 74 cases of acute childhood hepatitis, of an unknown origin, in the United Kingdom along with five suspected and confirmed cases in the Republic of Ireland. That follows on previous reports of similar, severe hepatitis cases of an unknown origin among a cluster of […] Continue reading ->
The latest study on the effectiveness of a second COVID-19 booster, published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, has shown that within a period of two weeks to one month after receiving the jab, recipients’ infection rates dropped by one-half and severe cases and deaths by three-quarters. The study, conducted by Israel’s […] Continue reading ->
Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft, a senior scientist at the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative (DNDi) has a vision that could be critical to halting the next pandemic – but is esoteric, difficult to organize and even more challenging to build the trust and buy-in needed to make it really work. The vision is of a common clinical-trial […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19 affiliated deaths last week were the lowest on record globally since the pandemic began two years ago. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) today emphasized that the pandemic remains a public health emergency and we must not drop our guards. “This is the moment to work even harder to save lives,” said Dr Tedros […] Continue reading ->
Pfizer has so far refused an invitation from the Geneva-based Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) to cooperate on a study exploring whether the treatment window of its successful antiviral drug, Paxlovid, could be extended from 5-7 days using another drug compound in addition, Dr Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft, Director of DNDi’s COVID-19 Response, told Health Policy […] Continue reading ->
TEL AVIV – Ninety percent of drug candidates fail in clinical trials because of unexpected safety issues or lack of efficacy in human subjects, according to Noga Yerushalmi, Investment Director at M Ventures, the strategic, corporate venture capital arm of Merck. There have been dramatic improvements in omics technologies – that is the collective technologies […] Continue reading ->
China’s COVID-19 situation is getting worse, and strategies to control the spread of the Omicron variant are getting stricter as the country registered 20,472 daily cases on Wednesday – the highest-ever infection rate. The epicentre of the outbreak is Shanghai, which recorded 17,007 cases on Wednesday and municipal authorities are conducting mass testing in the […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the scientific community to start to implement a ‘One Health’ approach – encompassing people, animals, plants and the environment – to ensure the early identification of infectious diseases and make the world a healthier place. The issues that “One Health” may tackle are diverse. They can range from curbing deforestation […] Continue reading ->
A second booster of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduced mortality rates among elderly people in Israel by 78%, according to a new study by the country’s Clalilt Health Services, Sapir College and Ben-Gurion University. This is the largest study of its kind to date, and involved more than 560,000 people aged 60. “The main conclusion […] Continue reading ->