AstraZeneca said on Thursday that preliminary data from a trial showed that its COVID-19 shot, Vaxzevria, generated an increase in antibodies against the Omicron and other variants when given as a third booster dose. The increased response, also against the Delta variant, was seen in a blood analysis of people …
Read More »Merck COVID-19 pill success slams Moderna shares, shakes up healthcare sector
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 …
Read More »Iraq receives new batches of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines
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 …
Read More »Iraq receives over 100,000 coronavirus vaccine doses
Iraq on Sunday received a donation of more than 100,000 AstraZeneca doses against Covid-19 from Italy via vaccine-sharing facility Covax, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said. More than four million people in Iraq, or around 10 percent of its 40 million inhabitants, have received at least one coronavirus vaccine jab, …
Read More »COVID vaccine creator at Oxford says mass boosters may be unnecessary
Booster shots to extend the protection of COVID-19 vaccines may be unnecessary for many people, a leading scientist behind the AstraZeneca vaccine said on Friday. Oxford University Professor Sarah Gilbert told The Telegraph newspaper that immunity from the vaccine was holding up well — even against the delta variant. While …
Read More »AstraZeneca, EU reach settlement on delivery of remaining COVID-19 vaccines
The European Commission and AstraZeneca said on Friday they had reached a settlement on delivering remaining COVID-19 vaccine doses by the British drugmaker and also ended pending litigation in Brussels. The settlement clears a major overhang for AstraZeneca, whose cheap and easily transportable vaccine has faced several setbacks, including the …
Read More »Japan eyes mixed use of COVID-19 shots to speed vaccine rollout
Japan is looking into the possibility of mixing shots of AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine with those developed by other drugmakers in a bid to speed up its vaccine rollout, the minister in charge of vaccinations said on Sunday. Japan, which has previously relied on the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE and Moderna …
Read More »What are the potential side effects of having a COVID vaccine?
While the world is unlikely to exit the COVID-19 pandemic any time soon, vaccines have given hope and freedom to millions around the world who have lived under tight restrictions for over 18 months. In the wake of their creation and approval by the relevant medical authorities, the roll-out of …
Read More »Facebook bans firm behind Pfizer, AstraZeneca smear campaign
Facebook has removed hundreds of accounts linked to a disinformation network operating out of Russia that sought to smear COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca Facebook said Tuesday that it has removed hundreds of accounts linked to a mysterious advertising agency operating out of Russia that sought to pay …
Read More »Mixed AstraZeneca-Pfizer shot boosts COVID antibody level – study
A mixed vaccination of first AstraZeneca and then a Pfizer COVID-19 shot boosted neutralizing antibody levels by six times compared with two AstraZeneca doses, a study from South Korea showed. The study involved 499 medical workers – 100 receiving mixed doses, 200 taking two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, and …
Read More »EU starts real-time review of Sanofi-GSK coronavirus jab
Sanofi-GSK hopes to get approvals by the end of this year after early-stage results showed the vaccine produces a robust immune response. Europe’s drug regulator said on Tuesday it had started a real-time review of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by French drugmaker Sanofi and the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline, the fifth shot …
Read More »UK health minister Javid tests positive for COVID-19
British health minister Sajid Javid on Saturday said he had tested positive for COVID-19, but added that his symptoms were mild and he was thankful to have had had two doses of vaccine against the disease.
Read More »French study: Two doses of vaccine crucial to beating Delta variant
Newly-published research from France’s Pasteur Institute suggests that people are mostly protected from the Delta variant of coronavirus after two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. The study, published in Nature journal on Thursday, tested the effects of exposure to the hyper-infectious strain first identified in India on 59 vaccinated people …
Read More »Germany recommends combining AstraZeneca, mRNA shots
Authorities are trying to increase the speed and effectiveness of vaccinations as the highly infectious Delta variant spreads. Germany is recommending that all people who get a first shot of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine switch to a different type of vaccine for their second shot. The aim is to increase …
Read More »Lockdown measures extended in Australia amid COVID-19 outbreak
Australian officials extended lockdown and social distancing measures to more of the country on Wednesday, with four major cities already under a hard lockdown in a race to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant. Summary | NSW total cases in latest outbreak top 170 South Australia logs …
Read More »Egypt opens up to vaccinated tourists without need for Covid-19 test
Cairo has said it will allow travelers to visit the country without providing a negative PCR test, as long as they have been inoculated with vaccines approved by the World Health Organization and the Egyptian Medicines Authority.
Read More »AstraZeneca vaccine effective against COVID-19 variants identified in India
AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine is effective against Delta and Kappa variants, which were first identified in India, the company said on Tuesday, citing a study.
Read More »India’s vaccinations hit record with free COVID shots
India gave out a record 7.5 million vaccine doses on Monday under a federal campaign to inoculate all adults for free after weeks of criticism that a chaotic rollout had worsened a second wave that killed hundreds of thousands.
Read More »Japan to ship 1 mln COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam
Japan will send 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday, as Vietnam seeks to accelerate its vaccine procurement drive to tackle a more stubborn wave of infections. The shipment of AstraZeneca PLC vaccines produced in Japan is due to arrive in Vietnam on …
Read More »AstraZeneca says antibody treatment failed in preventing COVID-19 in exposed patients
Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Tuesday a study of its monoclonal antibody treatment, AZD7442, did not meet the main goal of preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in people recently exposed to the novel coronavirus. The company said the participants in the trial were unvaccinated adults older than 18 years with confirmed exposure …
Read More »