Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
by Jan HENNOP There is “no answer yet” on whether vaccine makers will have to adapt their Covid shots to counter the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant, Europe’s medicines watchdog chief said on Tuesday. The highly-mutated variant, now present in dozens of countries, appears to be more contagious than previous strains and is driving new waves of infections globally. Scientists are also examining whether it is more resistant to vaccines than previous strains. But the head of […]
by Daniel Woolls with AFP bureaus The United States, Brazil, Canada, and Saudi Arabia became the latest countries Friday to restrict travel from southern Africa, where a new Covid strain labelled a “variant of concern” has been discovered in a potentially heavy blow to the world’s efforts to end the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organization said the new variant is more infectious than the dominant, highly transmissible Delta strain, and renamed this B.1.1.529 strain […]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The use of so-called “mix and match” Covid-19 vaccine boosters may give a stronger immune response than sticking to one type of jab, the EU’s drug watchdog said on Thursday. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was studying data to see if it will follow a decision by US authorities on Wednesday to allow the use of a different vaccine for follow-up shots. The Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson […]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Two doses of Covid vaccine appear to provide protection against the rapidly spreading Delta variant, the European Medicines Agency said Thursday. The upbeat assessment came as the World Health Organization warned that the coronavirus variant first spotted in India could fuel a new wave of cases in Europe. The EMA’s head of vaccine strategy, Marco Cavaleri, said the Amsterdam-based watchdog was “aware of concerns caused by the rapid spread […]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The European Medicines Agency said Tuesday it has started a “rolling review” of China’s Sinovac coronavirus jab, a process that could lead to eventual approval for the European market. Made by Sinovac’s Beijing-based Life Sciences unit, the vaccine contains an inactivated coronavirus that cannot cause a disease, but helps a person to develop antibodies against the virus. The EMA’s human medicines committee’s “decision to start the rolling review is based […]
by Danny Kemp with Agence France Presse bureaus Den Haag, Netherlands (AFP) — The EU’s medicines regulator said Tuesday it was “firmly convinced” the benefits of AstraZeneca’s vaccine outweigh potential risks, insisting there was no evidence linking it to blood clots after several nations suspended the shot over health fears. The suspensions have provoked intense debate over whether it was prudent to put AstraZeneca inoculations on hold just as vaccination campaigns were beginning to gather […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The makers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine Tuesday demanded an apology from the EU’s medicines regulator after a senior official warned member states against hastily authorising the jab, comparing emergency rollouts to “Russian roulette”. Several EU countries have already begun distributing Sputnik V ahead of approval in the bloc, a move criticised by board chair of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Christa Wirthumer-Hoche Monday. “We demand a public apology from […]
by Ed FRANKL Agence France Presse FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany reported a record number of deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday, the first day of a new partial lockdown to try to halt a surge in infections. A total of 952 people died in the previous 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute disease control centre. It said 27,728 new coronavirus cases were registered, a figure close to the daily record […]
by Danny KEMP Agence France Presse THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (AFP) — The EU’s medicines regulator on Tuesday dramatically advanced the decision day for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus jab under pressure from Germany, meaning vaccinations in the bloc could start by the year’s end. The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency’s announcement that it will meet on December 21 instead of December 29 to decide whether to authorise the shot, followed a growing backlash from desperate EU […]
