Health News Roundup: Africa CDC head: COVID still a threat given low vaccination rates; Taiwan eyeing an earlier end to COVID quarantine for arrivals and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Africa CDC head: COVID still a threat given low vaccination rates

The COVID-19 pandemic is still a threat on the African continent given low vaccination rates, the acting director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Thursday. "The virus is still circulating, and with the low rates of vaccination the pandemic is still very much with us here on the continent," Ahmed Ogwell Ouma told a news conference.

Taiwan eyeing an earlier end to COVID quarantine for arrivals

Taiwan is eyeing an earlier end to its mandatory quarantine for all arrivals and has been making relevant preparations, Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Friday, as the government continues to ease controls put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19. Taiwan has kept its entry and quarantine rules in place as large parts of the rest of Asia have relaxed or lifted them completely, though in June it cut the number of days spent in isolation for arrivals to three from seven previously.

U.S. seeing declina e in monkeypox new case growth, CDC says

U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Thursday she was cautiously optimistic over a decline in the growth of new monkeypox cases, but that some areas of the country are still experiencing a rise in infections. She also said during a White House briefing that the agency was taking steps to address racial and ethnic disparities in the distribution of monkeypox vaccines.

Consumer group says drugmakers abuse U.S. patent system to keep prices high

Makers of the top-selling drugs in the United States are costing patients billions of dollars and worsening a drug pricing crisis by abusing the U.S. patent system to stifle competition and inflate prices, a consumer group said on Thursday, The New York-based Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK) said in a report that three of the top 10 selling drugs in the U.S. face no competition in the country and will cost Americans an estimated further $167 billion before they are expected to so.

End of COVID pandemic is 'in sight' -WHO chief

The world has never been in a better position to end the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, his most optimistic outlook yet on the years-long health crisis which has killed over six million people. "We are not there yet. But the end is in sight," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a virtual press conference.

WHO 'strongly advises against' use of two COVID treatments

Two COVID-19 antibody therapies are no longer recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), on the basis that Omicron and the variant's latest offshoots have likely rendered them obsolete. The two therapies - which are designed to work by binding to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to neutralize the virus' ability to infect cells - were some of the first medicines developed early in the pandemic.

Swiss competition watchdog probes Novartis over patent use

The Swiss competition commission (COMCO) has opened an investigation of Novartis over possible unlawful use of a patent to reduce competitive pressure, the Swiss drugmaker confirmed on Thursday. COMCO conducted an early morning raid on the company on Sept. 13, it said in a statement that did not name Novartis, which subsequently said in its own statement that it was the group under investigation.

The lawsuit claims Pfizer fellowship program is biased against whites, Asian-Americans

A group of medical professionals that advocates against "radical, divisive, and discriminatory ideology" in healthcare sued Pfizer Inc on Thursday, saying the drugmaker runs a fellowship that illegally excludes white and Asian-American applicants. In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the plaintiff Do No Harm called Pfizer's Breakthrough Fellowship Program "discriminatory on its face" because only Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans can apply.

German COVID booster take-up low, new version may help - doctors group

Demand for booster vaccinations against COVID-19 is low in Germany, the association of general practitioners said on Thursday, with some patients waiting for a booster designed to combat the currently circulating Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants. General practitioners were supplied at the start of the week with the booster vaccine directed at the BA.1 version of Omicron and the original virus first detected in China, said Jens Lassen, chairman of their Schleswig-Holstein association.

Hungarian women dismayed at 'tormenting' abortion reform

Hungarian women voiced dismay as an amendment to abortion rules took effect on Thursday in what some see as a first step towards a tightening of access to the procedure under a deeply conservative government. Interior Minister Sandor Pinter submitted an amendment to abortion rules this week requiring pregnant women to submit evidence from their healthcare provider of a definitive sign of life, widely interpreted as the heartbeat of a foetus, before requesting the procedure.

(With inputs from agencies.)