Health News Roundup: India's daily COVID-19 infections at more than two-month low; EU adds another rare blood condition as side effect of AstraZeneca shot and more

The vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, is being tested in multiple trials but has yet to be authorized for use in any country. Oxford vaccine inventors recognised in Queen's Birthday Honours The Oxford University scientists who invented the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are among those to be honoured by Queen Elizabeth, among a number of recipients who played key roles in Britain's coronavirus response, the government said on Friday.


Reuters | Updated: 12-06-2021 11:16 IST | Created: 12-06-2021 10:29 IST
Health News Roundup: India's daily COVID-19 infections at more than two-month low; EU adds another rare blood condition as side effect of AstraZeneca shot and more
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

India's daily COVID-19 infections at more than two-month low

India on Saturday reported 84,332 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, the lowest in more than two months, data from the health ministry showed. The South Asian country's total COVID-19 caseload now stands at 29.4 million, while total fatalities are at 367,081, data. India added 4,002 deaths overnight.

Analysis: U.S. FDA faces mounting criticism over Alzheimer's drug approval

In approving the first new Alzheimer's drug in nearly 20 years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking its biggest risk yet with a strategy that allows new therapies onto the market without strong evidence that they work, regulatory and scientific experts say. The Biogen Inc drug, Aduhelm, was authorized based on evidence that it can reduce brain plaques, a likely contributor to Alzheimer's, rather than proof that it slows the lethal mind-wasting disease progression.

EU adds another rare blood condition as side effect of AstraZeneca shot

Europe's drug regulator on Friday identified another very rare blood condition as a potential side effect of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and said it was looking into cases of heart inflammation after inoculation with all coronavirus shots. The European Medicines Agency's (EMA) safety committee said that capillary leak syndrome (CLS) must be added as a new side effect to labeling on AstraZeneca's vaccine, known as Vaxzevria.

Australia's Victoria state reports 1 new COVID case

Australia's Victoria state, which emerged from a strict lockdown earlier this week, recorded one new community case of COVID-19 on Saturday, the government said via Twitter. Investigations are underway as to how the person contracted the infection, authorities said.

Japan city uses tsunami lessons for COVID-19 vaccinations

Tamio Hayashi, 77, doubted he could ever navigate the internet systems set up to register for COVID-19 vaccines across most of Japan. He hated the idea of using the "troublesome" systems that have broken down and befuddled other older residents, hobbling Japan's inoculation push.

Novavax says COVID-19 vaccine shows immune response against Beta virus variant

Novavax Inc said on Friday its experimental COVID-19 vaccine showed immune response and protection against the highly contagious coronavirus variant originally identified in South Africa in a clinical trial. The vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, is being tested in multiple trials but has yet to be authorized for use in any country.

Oxford vaccine inventors recognized in Queen's Birthday Honours

The Oxford University scientists who invented the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are among those to be honored by Queen Elizabeth, among several recipients who played key roles in Britain's coronavirus response, the government said on Friday. Sarah Gilbert, the Oxford Jenner Institute scientist who co-developed the vaccine, will be made a Dame, while her colleague, the institute's director, Adrian Hill, is to receive an honorary Knighthood.

U.S. FDA asks J&J to discard millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration on Friday said Johnson & Johnson must throw away millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine that were manufactured at a problem-plagued Baltimore factory but also cleared millions for use. Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that the agency had cleared about 10 million doses. The New York Times said that the batches being discarded amount to around 60 million doses, citing people familiar with the matter.

U.S. administers 306.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines - CDC

The United States has administered 306,509,795 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and distributed 373,413,945 doses in the country as of Friday morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures were up from the 305,687,618 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by June 10 out of 372,830,865 doses delivered.

'Extraordinary times, extraordinary measures': U.S. approach to vanquish pandemic

The United States will continue to press for a waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments even as it and other Group of Seven rich nations sharply expand donations of vaccines to poorer countries. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that the Biden administration was working on multiple fronts to end the pandemic on Thursday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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