Health

COVID-19 aid supplies have arrived in North Korea but are being held in quarantine in its seaport of Nampho, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, as the isolated nation shows few signs of easing strict border lockdowns. North Korea sealed its borders when the coronavirus pandemic began last …

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech said on Thursday they had asked US regulators to approve emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine for children aged from five to 11, Pfizer said in a post on Twitter. “We and BioNTech Group officially submitted our request to US FDA for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) …

Sweden’s Public Health Agency on Wednesday recommended a temporary halt to the use of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine among young adults, citing concerns over rare side effects to the heart. It said the pause should initially be in force until December 1, explaining that it had received evidence of an …

Iraq recorded 2,479 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said today, Tuesday. The daily epidemiological report on the COVID-19 situation stated that 28 COVID-19 deaths were registered today. On the other hand, 3,243 patients achieved full recovery. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Iraq, …

Positive clinical trial results for Merck & Co’s (MRK.N) experimental antiviral COVID-19 pill reverberated through the healthcare sector on Friday, sending the drugmaker’s stock price soaring while denting high-flying shares of vaccine companies and makers of other coronavirus therapies. Merck shares jumped as much as 12.3% and hit their highest …

Compared to coronavirus cases earlier in the pandemic, infections with the Delta variant lead to worse outcomes for unvaccinated pregnant women, new data suggest. Doctors studied 1,515 pregnant women with COVID-19 who received care from a large public health system in Dallas from May 2020 through Sept. 4, 2021. Overall, …

US health officials are preparing to consider more COVID-19 vaccine boosters for adults and the first vaccine shots for children younger than 12. The Food and Drug Administration said its panel of outside vaccine experts will meet Oct. 14 and 15 to consider whether to recommend booster doses for adults …

Biden administration officials say a new pill that could provide an easier, effective way to treat COVID 19 is good news while adding vaccination remains the key to controlling the pandemic. Officials at drug maker Merck say they’ll soon seek regulatory approval for the experimental pill, which reduced hospitalizations and …

Iraq recorded, on Saturday 1236 new Covid-19 cases to bring its total to 2,007,227, the health ministry said. It reported 42 fatalities; its death toll reached 22,344 cases. It also reported 3,803 recoveries to take its total to 1919106.

The European Union’s drug regulator said on Friday there is a possible link between rare cases of bloods clots in deep veins with Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine and recommended the condition be listed as a side-effect of the shot. The European Medicines Agency also recommended immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), a …

As Merck & Co and Pfizer Inc prepare to report clinical trial results for experimental COVID-19 antiviral pills, rivals are lining up with what they hope will prove to be more potent and convenient oral treatments of their own. Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Pardes Biosciences, Japan’s Shionogi & Co Ltd and Novartis …

Iraq received about a million new batches of Covid-19 vaccines. A source told Shafaq News Agency that the Iraqi Company for marketing drugs and medical appliances, affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Environment, has received new batches of vaccines, medicines, and protocols for protecting and treating the past ten …

Booster shots to bolster immunity against the coronavirus would be free and accessible, US President Joe Biden said on Friday, one day after federal health agencies backed a booster rollout, and he pledged to get his own shot as soon as possible. “Like your first and second shot. The booster …

The local administrations in two locations near Tokyo and one in Osaka Prefecture said Tuesday that foreign substance were discovered in five unused vials of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine. The vials containing the white floating matter belong to the same lot, FF5357, according to the cities of Sagamihara and Kamakura, …

The European Union is to donate another 200 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to low-income countries, more than doubling its present pledge, the bloc’s chief said on Wednesday. The extra doses announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen come on top of 250 million shots the EU has already …

The World Health Organization (WHO) has denounced the “shocking inequity” in the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, urging the Western governments to put a halt to booster doses until at least the end of the year. In an address to the 71st session of the Regional Committee for Europe, WHO …

Vaccines are effective enough at preventing severe cases of Covid-19 that there is no current need for the general population to be given third doses, according to a report in The Lancet published Monday. Some countries have started offering extra doses over fears about the much more contagious Delta variant, …

An outbreak of dengue fever is suspected of killing dozens of people in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh since the start of September, and authorities have launched a campaign to destroy mosquito breeding grounds. Dinesh Kumar Premi, the chief medical officer in Firozabad, the most affected district in the …

German company BioNTech, which in partnership with Pfizer developed one of the most widely used anti-Covid shots, says it’s preparing for the worldwide launch of its jab for younger recipients and might get approval in October. An mRNA vaccine against coronavirus for children aged between five and 11 years old …

South Africa’s health regulator has approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for use by children aged 12 and older, paving the way for the government to offer vaccinations to teenagers. The South African Health Products Authority (SAPHRA) said the decision came after a review of updated safety and efficacy information submitted in …