Health News Roundup: Moderna to develop mRNA-based shingles vaccine; China reports 137 new coronavirus cases on Feb 18 vs 87 day earlier and more

The health agency said it does not, however, expect to make any more decisions on the remaining lots of the vaccine manufactured at Emergent's Baltimore facility. Purdue's Sackler owners propose up to $6 billion opioid settlement The Sackler family owners of Purdue Pharma LP have proposed a new and larger settlement worth up to $6 billion to resolve allegations that the OxyContin maker and its owners contributed to the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, a mediator's report showed on Friday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Carnival Cruise Line to ease mask mandate for guests from March 1

Carnival Cruise Line plans to make masks optional for its guests from March 1 after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eased its warnings for cruise ships, the company said in a statement late on Friday. The company said masks would be recommended but not required.

Moderna to develop mRNA-based shingles vaccine

Moderna Inc said on Friday it is developing three new vaccines based on the same technology used for its COVID-19 shot, including one for viral infection shingles. The success of COVID-19 vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology from Moderna and rival Pfizer has prompted efforts to use the novel technology in other vaccines and therapeutics targeted at hard-to-treat diseases.

J&J unit proposes independent exam if it remains in bankruptcy

A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary proposed on Friday that it would submit to an independent examination of the corporate restructuring the healthcare giant undertook in an attempt to settle in U.S. bankruptcy court thousands of lawsuits alleging that J&J baby powder and other talc products cause cancer. Greg Gordon, a lawyer for J&J subsidiary LTL Management LLC, raised during a hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan the idea of a court-appointed examiner that could "come in and do whatever investigation it wants" to determine whether the restructuring short-changed cancer victims.

China reports 137 new coronavirus cases on Feb 18 vs 87 day earlier

Mainland China reported 137 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Feb. 18, the country's national health authority said on Saturday, up from 87 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 80 were locally transmitted, the National Health Commission said, compared with 40 a day earlier. These included 46 cases in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.

Analysis-Hong Kong's 'zero-COVID' success now worsens strains of Omicron spike

Hong Kong until recently had an enviable record battling COVID-19, but as an Omicron wave now overwhelms the city, the steps that saved lives are making life unbearable for many of its 7.4 million people. Like an immune system overreacting and harming the person it is meant to protect, the "dynamic zero-COVID" policies that had crushed the virus in Hong Kong have contributed to current woes, experts say. Patients lie in beds in cold, wet parking lots outside overflowing hospitals, isolation facilities are filling up and thousands queue for hours outside testing venues.

African countries to get mRNA vaccine technology in WHO project

The World Health Organization said on Friday six African countries - Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia - would be the first on the continent to receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines. The technology transfer project, launched last year in Cape Town, aims to help low- and middle-income countries manufacture mRNA vaccines at scale and according to international standards.

Biden to extend U.S. national emergency due to COVID-19 health risk

President Joe Biden said on Friday the U.S. national emergency declared in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be extended beyond March 1 due to the ongoing risk to public health posed by the coronavirus. Biden said the deaths of more than 900,000 Americans from COVID-19 emphasized the need to respond to the pandemic with "the full capacity" of the federal government.

FDA to allow export of AstraZeneca COVID vaccine lots made at Emergent plant

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it had found four batches of AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine manufactured at the troubled Emergent BioSolutions facility that were fit to be shipped outside the United States. The health agency said it does not, however, expect to make any more decisions on the remaining lots of the vaccine manufactured at Emergent's Baltimore facility.

Purdue's Sackler owners propose up to $6 billion opioid settlement

The Sackler family owners of Purdue Pharma LP have proposed a new and larger settlement worth up to $6 billion to resolve allegations that the OxyContin maker and its owners contributed to the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, a mediator's report showed on Friday. The mediator, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman, has been overseeing talks between Sackler family members and eight states and the District of Columbia. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in December blocked an earlier $4.33 billion proposed settlement that would have legally shielded the family members, a decision that threatened to upend Purdue's bankruptcy reorganization.

Malawi detects polio, first wild case in Africa in over 5 years

Malawi has declared a polio outbreak after a case was detected in a young child in the capital Lilongwe, the first case of wild poliovirus in Africa in more than five years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Laboratory analysis showed the strain detected in Malawi was linked to one that has been circulating in Pakistan, where it is still endemic, the WHO said in a statement.