The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to two Omicron-targeting booster vaccines on Wednesday as it anticipates the potential rise of COVID-19 cases in its fall and spring. The boosters, one by Moderna and the other by Pfizer-BioNTech, are bivalent vaccines, or “updated boosters”, that are designed to protect against […] Continue reading ->
Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic announced it has temporarily authorized the first bivalent Covid-19 booster vaccine in the country. That clears the way for an eagerly anticipated second round of booster vaccinations that should better target Omicron sub-variants. Moderna’s COVID-19 mRNA-1273.214 vaccine, Spikevax, is the first COVID-19 vaccine that contains messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) against two […] Continue reading ->
The Omicron-targeted boosters are coming. Almost 250 days since Omicron became the dominant variant in the US, Pfizer and BioNTech on Monday officially announced that they’ve requested an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration for their booster dose of an Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine for those 12 and older. The […] Continue reading ->
African nations need to pivot to prevention in their fight against disease by “addressing its root causes” through a greater focus on improved diets, healthier environments, and better road safety, among other factors, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the 72nd WHO Regional Committee for Africa meeting, at the opening of the weeklong session of […] Continue reading ->
When Dr. Magaly Blas, an Associate Professor at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru, was researching the association between the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer and the human T-lymphotropic virus that causes leukaemia, she found herself travelling often to the Amazon region of Ucayali, home to an indigenous community among whom the disease […] Continue reading ->
An expert panel of advisers to the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that countries consider a second COVID-19 booster dose for older, at-risk and immunocompromised people, echoing guidance provided by European and U.S. regulators months earlier. WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization released its updated recommendations on Thursday, a week after […] Continue reading ->
Desperately ill patients died alone in hospitals, tended in their final hours by burnt-out health workers.  An avalanche of misinformation undermined care, and non-COVID patients and programmes faced cancelled appointments and treatment delays. These are some of the factors that undermined patient safety during COVID-19, according to a rapid review by the World Health Organization […] Continue reading ->