The Biden administration will no longer enforce its mask mandate for travel after a federal judge in Florida struck down the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mandate for planes, buses and trains Monday afternoon. US District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled in favor of the Health Freedom Defense Fund which had […] 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 ->
China’s financial hub Shanghai continues to see rising COVID-19 cases despite the country’s attempts at a “no COVID” policy. The city reported over 27,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday, a new high, following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announcement a day earlier reinforcing the zero-tolerance approach to COVID. “Prevention and control work cannot be relaxed,” Xi said […] Continue reading ->
Pharmaceutical giants have questioned why a waiver on intellectual property (IP) rights for COVID-19 vaccines is still on the table when they are battling to find markets for their vaccines amid order cancellations – including from the Africa Centre for Disease Control. “I’m stunned that the proposed IP waiver is still being debated while supplies […] 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 ->
In a highly symbolic visit to Lviv, Ukraine, World Health Organization Regional Director Hans Kluge reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to rebuilding the country’s war-torn health system. Speaking in a press briefing staged directly from Lviv, Kluge said, “We are committed to work through a decentralized footprint [in Ukraine], both during the current humanitarian response but also […] Continue reading ->
Nearly two-thirds of Africans have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2 — the virus responsible for COVID-19, WHO said, announcing the release of a new assessment of virus seroprevalence on the continent. The analysis, a systematic review of some 150 studies, was published on the pre-print server, medRXiv.org. Addressing a press briefing on Thursday, Dr Matshidiso […] Continue reading ->