Health News Roundup: FDA to add warning about rare heart inflammation to Pfizer, Moderna vaccines; Russia's new COVID-19 cases surge to highest since January and more

Bhutan, nestled between India and China, has one of the world's lowest COVID-19 fatality counts, with just one person dying from the infectious disease since the pandemic began. Singapore accelerating COVID-19 vaccinations, aims to ease curbs Singapore said on Thursday it expects to almost double the number of doses of coronavirus vaccines it administers each day to 80,000 from this weekend and might later ease restrictions on gatherings and travel for those inoculated.


Reuters | Updated: 24-06-2021 18:55 IST | Created: 24-06-2021 18:27 IST
Health News Roundup: FDA to add warning about rare heart inflammation to Pfizer, Moderna vaccines; Russia's new COVID-19 cases surge to highest since January and more
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Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

FDA to add warning about rare heart inflammation to Pfizer, Moderna vaccines

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday it plans to move quickly to add a warning about rare cases of heart inflammation in adolescents and young adults to fact sheets for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory groups, meeting to discuss reported cases of the heart condition after vaccination, found the inflammation in adolescents and young adults is likely linked to the vaccines, but that the benefits of the shots appeared to clearly outweigh the risk.

Russia's new COVID-19 cases surge to highest since January

Russia on Thursday reported 20,182 new COVID-19 cases, the most confirmed in a single day since Jan. 24, amid a wave of infections that authorities blame on the Delta variant and people's reluctance to get vaccinated. The government coronavirus taskforce also confirmed 568 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours. Both Moscow and St Petersburg recorded the most deaths in a single day since the pandemic began.

Afrigen gears up to deliver Africa's first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine

Afrigen Biologics expects a decision in mid-July on partners to produce Africa's first COVID-19 vaccine using the mRNA platform, the South African start-up's managing director said. The World Health Organization picked Afrigen for a pilot to give poor and middle-income countries the know-how and licenses to make COVID-19 vaccines, in what South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called an historic step.

Africa CDC says continent not winning against 'brutal' COVID-19 pandemic

Africa is not winning its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic as a third virus wave sweeps the continent and countries struggle to access enough vaccines for their populations, Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said on Thursday. The COVAX programme co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO) for fair distribution of vaccines is now planning a shake-up as it has been shunned by rich countries and failing to meet the needs of the poorest, internal documents seen by Reuters show.

UK scientists identify antibody levels needed to prevent symptomatic COVID-19

British researchers have identified the level of antibody protection needed to prevent symptomatic COVID-19, the University of Oxford said on Thursday, adding that results from the study could help speed up new vaccine development.

Pfizer says COVID vaccine highly effective against Delta variant

The Pfizer-BioNTech ‮>‬PFE.N‮<‬ vaccine is highly effective against the Delta variant of COVID-19, a Pfizer official in Israel said on Thursday. First identified in India, Delta is becoming the globally dominant version of the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization.

Lilly to seek accelerated FDA approval for Alzheimer's drug this year

Eli Lilly and Co said on Thursday it will apply for U.S. health regulator's accelerated approval for its experimental Alzheimer's drug this year, sending its shares up about 8% before the bell. The news comes weeks after Biogen Inc Alzheimer's drug, Aduhelm, was approved under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's accelerated approval pathway, for which the agency came under intense criticism as questions were raised on the strength of the clinical data.

Bhutan PM says ready to mix COVID-19 doses to deal with vaccine shortages

Bhutan's Prime Minister on Thursday said he "has no problem" in mixing-and-matching COVID-19 vaccine doses to immunize a population of about 700,000 people in the tiny Himalayan nation. Bhutan, nestled between India and China, has one of the world's lowest COVID-19 fatality counts, with just one person dying from the infectious disease since the pandemic began.

Singapore accelerating COVID-19 vaccinations, aims to ease curbs

Singapore said on Thursday it expects to almost double the number of doses of coronavirus vaccines it administers each day to 80,000 from this weekend and might later ease restrictions on gatherings and travel for those inoculated. Around 3 million people, or just over 50% of Singapore's population, have received the first dose of a vaccine. About 2 million of those have received the second dose also.

Macron says EU needs more coordination to counter Delta variant

French President Emmanuel Macron urged EU countries to be extremely vigilant about the Delta variant of the coronavirus and to be more closely coordinated on allowing tourists to come from outside the bloc. "We must all be vigilant because the much-talked-about Delta variant is coming, which spreads much more rapidly than the other variants and affects people who are not vaccinated or who only have had one dose," Macron said ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, adding the EU needed to drive vaccinations even more.

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

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