Page 4 - Coronavirus Vaccine

Covid-19 effect: Global healthy life expectancy slumps to 2012 level

According to WHO's latest report, global life expectancy and healthy life expectancy dropped to 2012 levels of 1.8 and 1.5 years, respectively, eradicating a decade of progress

WHO hopes to bring countries together on reinforcing pandemic preparedness

The World Health Organisation begins its annual meeting on Monday with government ministers and other top envoys hoping to reinforce global preparedness for the next pandemic in the devastating wake of COVID-19. But the most ambitious project, to adopt a pandemic treaty, has been shelved for now after 2 1/2 years of work failed to produce a draft that countries could unite behind by Friday, as originally hoped. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insists it's not a failure and the World Health Assembly this week can still plot the way forward. When diplomats, health officials and activists were still attempting to produce a draft treaty, he predicted the assembly could be one of the most significant in WHO's 76-year history. Not anymore. WHO officials and others have been eager to build on the momentum of concern from the coronavirus pandemic, with the risk that the more it fades into history, the less the public and policymakers will be interested in preparing for a

Efforts to draft pandemic treaty falter as countries disagree on steps

A global treaty to fight pandemics like COVID is going to have to wait: After more than two years of negotiations, rich and poor countries have failed for now to come up with a plan for how the world might respond to the next pandemic. After COVID-19 triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. In 2021, member countries asked the U.N. health agency to oversee negotiations to figure out how the world might better share scarce resources and stop future viruses from spreading globally. On Friday, Roland Driece, co-chair of WHO's negotiating board for the agreement, acknowledged that countries were unable to come up with a draft. WHO had hoped a final draft treaty could be agreed on at its yearly meeting of health ministers starting Monday in Geneva. We are not where we hoped we would be when we started this process," he said, adding that finalizing an international

Non-profit criticises ICMR for rejecting Covaxin study, alleges censorship

Researchers associated with Banaras Hindu University have said Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine has side effects in children

290 cases of Covid variant KP.2, 34 of KP.1 detected in India: Insacog data

As many as 290 cases of KP.2 and 34 cases of KP.1, both sub-lineages of COVID-19 that are responsible for surge in cases in Singapore, have been found in India, according to official data. However, a source in the Union health ministry told PTI that they are all sub variants of JN1 and there is no associated increase in hospitalization and severe cases. "So there is no reason for concern or panic. The mutations will keep happening at a rapid pace and this is the natural behaviour of viruses like SARS-CoV2," the source said. The source further said that the INSACOG surveillance is sensitive and is able to pick up the emergence of any new variant and samples are also picked from hospitals in a structured manner to detect any change in the severity of disease due to virus. Data compiled by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) showed that 34 cases of KP.1 have been found across seven states and UTs with 23 cases registered from West Bengal. The other states are Goa (1)

Study on Covaxin should revise statement on conclusions for clarity

It likely overstates actual risks associated with the vaccine and conflates common illnesses with vaccine-related adverse effects

ICMR distances itself from BHU study on Covaxin, calls it 'poorly designed'

Bharat Biotech had then rebuked the BHU study, saying that its indigenously developed Covid vaccine Covaxin has shown an 'excellent safety track record' in various studies

BHU study on Covaxin side effects poorly designed: ICMR director Bahl

The Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Dr Rajiv Bahl on Monday criticised a recently published study on the long-term safety analysis of the Covaxin in adults and adolescents for its poor methodology and design, and clarified the article misleadingly and erroneously "acknowledges" ICMR. Dr Bahl said the study had no control arm of unvaccinated individuals for comparing the rates of events between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. Hence, the reported events in the study cannot be linked or attributed to COVID-19 vaccination. The ICMR is not associated with the study and has not provided any financial or technical support for the research, Dr Bahl said. The ICMR DG has written a letter to the authors of the paper and Editor of the journal to immediately remove the acknowledgement to ICMR and publish an erratum. A research paper, titled 'Long-Term Safety Analysis of the BBVl52 Coronavirus Vaccine in Adolescents and Adults: Findings from a l-Year Prospective Stud

AstraZeneca to establish $1.5 billion cancer drug plant in Singapore

The facility, which will be the drugmaker's first end-to-end ADC production site, will be supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board

Covid vaccine makers gear up to launch new-generation jabs in India

India currently does not have any XBB 1.5 variant-based vaccines in the market

Covaxin has 'excellent record', says Bharat Biotech after study cites risks

The research conducted by BHU indicated that Covaxin increased the rare risk of stroke and Guillain-Barre syndrome, among other issues

Lapses in BHU research on Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, says Bharat Biotech

Nearly 363 mn doses of Covaxin have been administered in India so far, second only to AstraZeneca-Serum Institute of India's Covishield

Over 30% Covaxin takers suffered from health issues after 1 year: BHU study

Nearly one-third of the individuals who received Bharat Biotech's anti-Covid vaccine Covaxin reported 'adverse events of special interest,' or AESI, according to a one-year follow up study conducted by a team of researchers at BHU. Nearly 50 per cent of 926 study participants in the study complained of infections during the follow-up period, predominated by viral upper respiratory tract infections. Serious AESI, which included stroke and Guillain-Barre syndrome, were reported in one per cent of individuals, the study, which looked at long-term safety of the BBV152 vaccine in adolescents and adults, claimed. Published in the journal Springer Nature, the study comes in the wake of UK pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca admitting its Covid vaccine can cause rare side-effects of blood clotting and lowering of platelet count in UK court. "Close to one third of the individuals developed AESIs. New-onset skin and subcutaneous disorders, general disorders, and nervous system disorders were th

AstraZeneca's anti-Covid drug cuts disease risk in vulnerable patients

The long-acting antibody therapy called sipavibart showed a "statistically significant reduction" in symptomatic Covid-19 cases among immunocompromised patients

After Covishield, new study 'finds' side effects in Covaxin recipients

In observational study on Bharat Biotech's Covaxin recipients, about one-third of participants reported adverse events

Rare blood clots from J&J and AstraZeneca Covid shots linked to genetics

Out of more than 18 million people who received the single-dose J&J vaccine, 60 cases of the clotting disorder were reported and nine people died, according to the Yale School of Medicine

Novavax signs Covid-19 license deal with Sanofi, secures business viability

Novavax said it would co-commercialize its Covid-19 vaccine with French drugmaker Sanofi and develop new Covid-19-influenza combination vaccines using Novavax's Matrix-M adjuvant

Covishield side effects: Doctors' group urges to review all Covid vaccines

In the wake of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca admitting in a UK court that its Covid vaccine can cause blood clots in rare cases, a group of doctors on Thursday expressed deep concern over the safety of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. At a press conference, the doctors, under the banner of the Awaken India Movement (AIM), urged the government to review the science behind all Covid vaccines and audit their commercialisation as well as implementation of active surveillance and monitoring mechanism to ensure vaccine adverse events are identified as early as possible. "The government has wholly ignored the rising number of cases of tragic deaths post-Covid vaccination all the while and continues to promote Covid vaccines as 'safe and effective', without scientific investigation and invoking epidemiology," Dr Tarun Kothari, a radiologist and an activist, said at the press conference. The world is learning about a side effect of the Covid vaccine ...

AstraZeneca to withdraw Covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria globally on weak demand

AstraZeneca will start the withdrawal of marketing authorisation for the vaccine in Europe

Not producing, distributing Covishield since December 2021: Serum Institute

AstraZeneca Covid vaccine row: As of April 30, 2024, over 1.7 billion doses of the Covishield vaccine has been administered in India