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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The European Medicines Agency said yesterday a coronavirus variant known as “Mu” could be cause for concern, although there is no data yet to show it will overtake the dominant Delta strain. Mu, which was first identified in Colombia in January and is known scientifically as B.1.621, was classified earlier this month as a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization. The EMA, while mainly focused on the highly […]
by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Drew Weissman’s decades of research helped pave the way for mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, but the scientist isn’t resting on his laurels. The University of Pennsylvania immunologist, who on Thursday shared the $3 million 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences with his longtime collaborator Katalin Kariko, is now spearheading efforts to design a new vaccine against all coronaviruses. The Silicon Valley-backed award honors major […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The vaccine-sharing facility Covax said Wednesday it should be able to provide Covid jabs to no more than 20 percent of people in poorer countries this year, far fewer than anticipated. Covax acknowledged that it now expects to access just 1.425 billion vaccine doses this year — far short of its goal of delivering two billion doses by year-end. That milestone was now expected to be reached only in the first […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — There will be enough Covid-19 vaccine doses produced by the end of this year to cover the global population, industry heavyweights said Tuesday. There is a yawning gap in vaccination rates between rich and poor countries, but the threshold of 7.5 billion vaccine doses will be reached in September, Thomas Cueni, the head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) told a news conference in Geneva. Up to […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US pediatric Covid hospitalizations have surged since Delta became predominant, but a new study that offers a first look at the relevant data suggests that fears the variant causes more severe disease are unfounded. The paper by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found that between June 20 and July 31, 2021, unvaccinated adolescents were more than 10 times more likely to be hospitalized than those who […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Scientists in South Africa are monitoring a new coronavirus variant with an unusually high mutation rate, and whose frequency has gradually increased in recent months, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said Monday. The variant, known as C.1.2., was flagged last week by the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation and Sequencing Platform in a preprint study that has yet to be peer reviewed. While the majority of South Africa’s coronavirus cases […]
by Françoise KADRI / Paul RICARD Agence France Presse As the Delta variant continues its global surge, experts are questioning whether the long-held goal of achieving herd immunity from Covid-19 through vaccination is still viable. Herd immunity is achieved when a certain threshold of the global population has either been inoculated against a pathogen or has recovered from infection. But whether or not it is achievable with Covid-19, with the regular emergence of more […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — The Delta variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 doubles the risk of hospitalization compared to the Alpha variant it has supplanted as the dominant strain worldwide, researchers reported Saturday in The Lancet. Only 1.8 percent of the more than 43,000 Covid cases assessed in comparing the two variants were in patients who had been fully vaccinated. Three-quarters were completely unvaccinated, and 24 percent had only received one […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Fatigue and shortness of breath still afflict many patients a year after their hospitalization for Covid-19, according to a new Chinese study calling for a better understanding of the pandemic’s long-term health effects. Around half of the patients discharged from hospital for Covid still suffer from at least one persistent symptom — most often fatigue or muscle weakness — after 12 months, said the study published in British medical journal The […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A new approach using existing medicines to prevent malaria has been shown to reduce severe cases of parasitic disease among infants by more than 70 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a study. The “dramatic” results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, came from combining booster shots of an antimalarial vaccine ahead of the rainy season together with preventative drugs. Malaria kills more than 400,000 people […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Protection from two doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines wanes within less than six months, according to a study of phone app data Wednesday, suggesting that booster shots may be needed to ensure prolonged coverage. The latest finding comes as several countries are rolling out additional jabs for the fully vaccinated, a move slammed by the World Health Organization as millions in the world have yet to receive […]
By Janice Mejica Garcia EBC Seattle Bureau (Eagle News) — Nearly a year and a half has passed since the world went into lockdown to slow the transmission of Covid-19. Even though vaccines have been developed to help protect individuals, the virus mutated to the ‘Delta variant.’ This variant’s impact is being felt in the Seattle area, a place some consider as ground zero of the Covid-19 infections in the U.S. According to the […]
