Tag: vaccine

Pfizer requests US emergency authorization for Covid booster for adults

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech announced Tuesday they have formally submitted a request asking US officials for emergency authorization of their Covid-19 booster vaccine for people aged 18 and older. The move follows research published by the companies in late October indicating a third shot is 95.6 percent effective against symptomatic infection, based on clinical trials carried out on 10,000 people. The companies asked the US Food and Drug Administration to […]

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WHO looking forward to oral, nasal Covid vaccines

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization’s chief scientist said Tuesday she was looking forward to the “second generation” of Covid-19 vaccines, which could include nasal sprays and oral versions. Soumya Swaminathan said such vaccines could have advantages over the current crop as they would be easier to deliver than injections and could even be self-administered. Swaminathan said there were 129 different candidate vaccines that have got as far as clinical trials — being […]

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Moderna seeks EU approval of Covid vaccine for kids aged 6-11

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Moderna has applied to the European Union’s medicine regulator for approval of its Covid-19 vaccine for children aged six to 11, the US biotechnology company announced Tuesday. The dosage for the two injections administered four weeks apart has been adjusted to 50 micrograms, compared with the 100 micrograms for shot recipients in older age groups. “We are pleased to announce the submission of this variation to the EMA,” the European […]

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US First Lady pushes vaccine for young kids in school visit

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US First Lady Jill Biden on Monday visited a school in Virginia to promote vaccinations for five- to 11-year-olds, the latest effort in the White House’s push to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The president’s wife, a university professor, was the first senior personality sent out to advocate for the vaccine since it was approved for younger children in the United States on November 2. Visiting Franklin Sherman Elementary School in […]

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White House defends vaccine mandate against court challenge

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Sunday issued a vocal defense of a controversial Covid-19 vaccine mandate for large companies despite a court challenge that temporarily freezes the program. “The president and the administration wouldn’t have put these requirements in place if they didn’t think they were appropriate and necessary,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said on ABC talk show “This Week.” “The administration is certainly prepared to defend them.” And White […]

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US court suspends Biden vaccine mandate for businesses

    WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A US federal appeals court Saturday halted a vaccine mandate by President Joe Biden’s administration that is intended to push millions of workers at businesses with more than 100 employees into getting Covid-19 shots. The New Orleans-based US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that because petitioners “give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate, the Mandate is hereby STAYED […]

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Moderna sees fewer 2021 vaccine deliveries, shares drop

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Moderna cut its 2021 forecast for Covid-19 vaccine deliveries on Thursday, pushing back some doses to next year and sending shares sharply lower. The biotech company, which has soared to prominence this year on the success of its coronavirus vaccine, cited longer delivery times for international shipments. Other factors concern “temporary” impacts associated with the ramp up of production, said Moderna, adding that some shipments would lapse until early […]

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Georgia destroys 17,000 vaccine doses as rollout slows

TBILISI, Georgia (AFP) — Health officials in Georgia sounded the alarm Wednesday over the slow pace of coronavirus vaccinations, after some 17,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had to be destroyed because they expired. The Black Sea nation is in the midst of a devastating new wave of the pandemic despite vaccines being widely available. The country of 3.7 million people saw record numbers of daily cases this week, with 6,024 new infections on Wednesday, […]

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Canadian provinces nix mandatory Covid jabs for hospital workers

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada’s most populated provinces said Wednesday said they will not force health care workers to get Covid vaccines, saying mass layoffs of staff who do not get shots would devastate hospitals. The decisions by the governments of Ontario and Quebec — the provinces hardest hit by the pandemic — were announced separately. Quebec had originally set a mid-October deadline for its health care workers to be fully vaccinated, but pushed it […]

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WHO urges vaccine against bacteria killing 150,000 babies each year

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization on Wednesday called for the urgent development of a vaccine against a bacterial infection responsible for nearly 150,000 stillbirths and infant deaths each year. A fresh report by the UN health agency and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that the impact of Group B Streptococcus infection (GBS), which is estimated to live harmlessly in the intestinal tracts of up to a third of […]

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US poised for final approval of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children aged 5-11

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An expert panel unanimously recommended Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds on Tuesday, the penultimate step in the process that will allow injections in young children to begin this week in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the top US public health agency, was expected to endorse that recommendation later Tuesday. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine for the age group […]

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US approval for Moderna teen vaccines delayed

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US biotech firm Moderna said Sunday that American officials have delayed approving its Covid-19 vaccine for teenagers to allow more time to better assess the potential risk of developing myocarditis, or heart inflammation. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday “informed Moderna that the agency requires additional time to evaluate recent international analyses of the risk of myocarditis after vaccination,” the biotech company said Sunday in a statement. […]

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