Health News Roundup: WHO urges G20 to step up vaccine donations to the south; EU regulator verdict on Moderna COVID-19 booster shot next week and more

"The @g20org countries must fulfil their dose-sharing commitments immediately," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing. EU regulator verdict on Moderna COVID-19 booster shot next week The European Union's drug regulator expects to announce the results of its review of Moderna's COVID-19 booster vaccine next week and also to start a rolling review of Merck's antiviral oral pill, a senior official said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

WHO urges G20 to step up vaccine donations to the south

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday called on the world's 20 richest nations, holding a summit next week, to step up donations of COVID-19 doses to the global south where vaccinations lag. "The @g20org countries must fulfil their dose-sharing commitments immediately," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing.

EU regulator verdict on Moderna COVID-19 booster shot next week

The European Union's drug regulator expects to announce the results of its review of Moderna's COVID-19 booster vaccine next week and also to start a rolling review of Merck's antiviral oral pill, a senior official said on Thursday. The results of the Moderna review will be announced on Oct. 25, Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccines strategy for the European Medicines Agency (EMA), told a briefing.

U.S. urges all WTO members to support intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines

The White House on Thursday called on all World Trade Organization members to support an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines. "We ... need every WTO member to step up as well and support an intellectual property waiver, and every company must act ambitiously and urgently to expand manufacturing now," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

U.S. CDC advisers weigh Moderna, J&J COVID-19 vaccine boosters, mix-and-match shots

A panel of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday are considering several recommendations for rollout of COVID-19 vaccine boosters from Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson, expected to pave the way for additional shots for millions of Americans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized the booster doses U.S. FDA clears Moderna, J&J COVID-19 boosters, backs use of different vaccine for boost, and said Americans can choose a different shot from their original inoculation.

Bavarian premier says Germany should keep COVID state of emergency

Bavarian premier Markus Soeder said on Thursday Germany should not let its COVID-related state of emergency expire as cases rose again. Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn earlier this week said the state of emergency in place since March last year could end on Nov. 25 given the progress of the vaccine campaign, according to media reports.

WHO says studying Sweden pause of Moderna vaccine; Sputnik review resumed

A World Health Organization (WHO) advisory group is studying decisions in Sweden and Denmark to halt vaccinating young people with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after 'very rare' myocarditis in some and a statement was expected soon, WHO's assistant director-general Mariangela Simao said on Thursday. Work on a review of Sputnik V vaccine made by Russia's Gamaleya Institute for possible WHO emergency use listing has restarted, after being on hold due to a "legal procedure", she told a news briefing. Further inspections were planned in the next few weeks and additional clinical data was expected.

UK adds nerve disorder as rare side-effect of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

The UK drug regulator added an extremely rare nerve-damaging disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, updates on the agency's website showed on Thursday. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's (MHRA) decision comes after the European medicines agency added GBS as a possible side-effect last month.

WHO issues plan to prevent sexual abuse after Congo scandal

The World Health Organization issued its plan on Thursday to prevent any further misconduct by aid workers deployed in its field operations after WHO staff took part in a major sexual abuse scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some 83 aid workers, a quarter of them employed by the WHO, were involved in sexual exploitation and abuse during the country's massive Ebola epidemic from 2018 to 2020, an independent commission said last month.

Regret and defiance in Europe's vaccine-shy east as COVID-19 rages

As Latvia goes into lockdown and hospitals in Bulgaria and Romania buckle under a COVID-19 surge while Poland sells surplus vaccine doses, many central and eastern Europeans are torn between defiance and regret over not getting inoculated. The region has the European Union's lowest vaccination rates, an unwelcome distinction in which both political and economic factors play a role, and deadlier variants of the virus are spreading there fast.

Pfizer, BioNTech say COVID-19 booster shot showed high efficacy in large study

A booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE restored efficacy to 95.6% against the virus, including the Delta variant, data released by the companies from a large study showed on Thursday.

The companies said in a press release the trial, which has not been peer-reviewed, tested 10,000 participants aged 16 and older, and found that the booster shot had a favourable safety profile.