In the wake of the COVID pandemic, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Israel’s largest medical center, Sheba Medical Center, are launching a scientific collaboration aimed at identifying emerging disease threats in the region. One of the first projects planned will be a study examining the impacts on antibody defenses amongst travelers from […] Continue reading ->
As nations clamp down on travellers from China during an Omicron surge there Chinese health experts have told the World Health Organization that two known Omicron lineages are dominating the current Chinese surge, with BA.5.2 and BF.7 together accounting for 97.5% of all locally-acquired infections.  The data was contained in a report by WHO’s Technical Advisory […] Continue reading ->
The World Trade Organization (WTO) TRIPS Council agreed to recommend to the General Council, WTO’s highest-level decision-making body, that it extend Saturday’s deadline for deciding on whether to extend an intellectual property rights waiver for COVID-19 vaccines to diagnostics and therapeutics. The panel’s recommendation on Friday at a formal meeting chaired by Ambassador Lansana Gberie […] Continue reading ->
As COVID-19 cases are starting to spike around the world once again, a new study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine “provides safety assurances to the global population” about fourth vaccine shots. The study, conducted in Israel, is the first large-scale research into the safety of the additional booster. It comes at the same time […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19, conflicts and climate change are posing additional challenges to efforts to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) in the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMRO), the World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledged on the eve of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day on Monday. “The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the vulnerability of our health, social protection and economic systems,”  Dr […] Continue reading ->