Only private jabs are available to most, but annual shots could reduce healthcare costs and prevent deaths
Private Covid boosters are available for people who do not qualify to receive these vaccines on the NHS. But is it worth paying for a shot?
With most people now having been exposed to Sars-CoV-2 through previous vaccination and/or infection, our immune systems are generally well equipped to recognise and kill the virus if we become infected.
Continue reading...High court strikes out part but not all of Bridgen’s case and orders him to pay Tory MP’s costs
The MP Andrew Bridgen has been ordered to pay Matt Hancock more than £40,000 in legal fees after an early stage of their libel battle.
The MP for North West Leicestershire is bringing a libel claim against the former health secretary regarding a January 2023 message on X that followed Bridgen posting a comment about Covid-19 vaccines.
Continue reading...After no reported cases of wild polio for 19 weeks, vaccination efforts boosted at last endemic spots in Pakistan and Afghanistan
The world is “tantalisingly close” to eradicating polio – with no confirmed cases of wild polio anywhere so far this year. But experts warn that vaccination efforts – and funding – must not falter if the world is to rid itself of a human infectious disease for the second time in history, after smallpox.
There have been no reported cases of wild polio infection in people for the last 19 weeks. Figures from the World Health Organization reveal that the last confirmed cases were on the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan in October and September 2023 respectively; these are the last nations on Earth where polio is endemic.
Continue reading...German man, who said he had vaccines for ‘private reasons’, suspected of selling certificates to people who didn’t want jab
A German man who voluntarily received 217 coronavirus jabs over 29 months showed “no signs” of having been infected with the virus that causes Covid-19 and had not suffered from any vaccine-related side effects, according to a study published in the medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The 62-year-old, from Magdeburg, Germany, whom doctors described as “hypervaccinated”, said he had had the large number of vaccines for “private reasons”, according to the researchers from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg who examined him.
Continue reading...MSF begins vaccine drive against incurable disease, which is spread via dirty water and kills thousands of pregnant women
A push to tackle an outbreak of hepatitis E in South Sudan is being hampered by flooding that has isolated populations and turned villages into islands.
A pioneering vaccination drive has begun to protect people against a spate of cases but the true scale of the disease outbreak is unknown.
Continue reading...UN agency calls for ‘urgent vaccination efforts’ in region to prevent further spread of disease
The World Health Organization has issued an urgent warning over measles after an “alarming” 30-fold rise in cases across Europe.
The UN agency reported an enormous increase in numbers affected by the disease, which it said had “accelerated in recent months”. More than 30,000 cases were reported between January and October last year, compared with 941 cases in the whole of 2022 – a more than 30-fold rise.
Continue reading...More than 7,000 hospital admissions and deaths could have been avoided if people had been fully vaccinated
Older people are being urged to become fully vaccinated against Covid as a world-first study shows thousands of hospital admissions and deaths in the UK could have been avoided if everyone had had all of their doses.
The rollout began strongly in the UK, with 90% of the population over the age of 12 vaccinated with at least one dose by January 2022. However, rates of subsequent doses fell sharply, a study shows, with less than half the population fully jabbed by June 2022.
Continue reading...Resurgence classified as grade 3 emergency by WHO, with southern Africa and Haiti among those hardest hit
Cholera cases soared last year, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organization, which recorded 4,000 cholera deaths and 667,000 cases globally.
The numbers surpassed that of 2022, and the WHO has classified the global resurgence of cholera as a grade 3 emergency, its highest internal health emergency level.
Continue reading...African-led trial ended a year early as researchers conclude there is ‘little or no chance’ new combination vaccines cut HIV risk
The first trial in Africa of two combination vaccines to prevent HIV has been halted after researchers concluded it was not working.
The vaccines (part of the PrEPVacc study) were being tested on 1,500 people aged between 18 and 40 in Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa.
Continue reading...Covid inquiry expected to be told former PM was open to ‘military options’ to obtain ‘impounded’ jabs from factory in Leiden
Boris Johnson’s appearance before the Covid-19 inquiry is not until Wednesday but it is already making headlines in the Netherlands amid a mixture of amusement and alarm at claims he asked for British spies to plan a “raid” on a Dutch vaccine plant.
The operation – according to sources who briefed Johnson’s employer, the Daily Mail – would have taken place against the backdrop of a tit-for-tat row in March 2021 between the then prime minister and the EU, which was moving towards restricting exports of vaccines across the Channel.
Continue reading...Continent must have more resilient health systems and local vaccine manufacturing to prevent next pandemic, says public health body
Africa’s leading public health body is using the first ever health day at Cop on 3 December to call for increased funding to fight the health impacts of the climate crisis on the continent and create more resilient systems to ensure it is prepared for the next pandemic.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) launched the second phase of its three-year, $1.5bn Saving Lives and Livelihoods drive this week, but its director general, Dr Jean Kaseya, said multiple disease outbreaks combined with the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and recovery from Covid means that much more financial support is needed.
Continue reading...Experiment produced fake images, patient and doctor testimonials and video in just over an hour
Researchers have used artificial intelligence to generate more than 100 blog posts of health disinformation in multiple languages, an “alarming” experiment that has prompted them to call for stronger industry accountability.
Artificial intelligence platforms such as ChatGPT contain safeguards that stop it from responding to prompts about illegal or harmful activities, such as how to buy illicit drugs.
Continue reading...The new R21/Matrix-M vaccine will be far more easily available than the first vaccine – but the reality of life in Africa will blunt its impact
A new vaccine against malaria – which kills 600,000 people every year, mostly children – is to be injected into babies’ arms in 18 countries where the disease is most deadly. That’s joyous news. But the unbridled enthusiasm the announcement has generated says as much about the sorry state of malaria control as the brilliance of scientific invention.
Because this is an imperfect vaccine that at best will protect 75% of those given it. That’s the top figure from the clinical trials. In the reality of village life in poverty-ridden parts of Africa, it may keep fewer than half safe. It’s still hugely important to get vaccination programmes going in the 18 countries that will now be funded to run them, because many deaths will be averted. But it’s not the end of malaria. Nowhere near.
Continue reading...Moderna and Pfizer shots approved with vaccinations potentially beginning as soon as this week
The US has approved a series of Covid-19 booster vaccines amid rising cases of coronavirus around the country, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Monday.
The FDA said it had approved Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which can be administered even to people who never previously received a Covid-19 vaccination.
Continue reading...Pirola variant has prompted concern among scientists because of high number of mutations it carries
Care home residents and people who are housebound will be offered Covid vaccines from Monday, with over-65s and other vulnerable groups to be called for their jabs from the week after.
The NHS will kick off its autumn programme of Covid vaccines from next week, having moved the date forward by a month in response to the spread of a new variant nicknamed Pirola.
Continue reading...Move in England comes after detection of highly-mutated coronavirus variant that is spreading around the world
Health officials have brought forward plans for autumn flu and Covid vaccinations after detecting a highly-mutated Covid variant that is spreading around the world.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said vaccinations would be available from 11 September in England as a precautionary measure intended to protect the most vulnerable as the winter months approach. The vaccination programme had not been scheduled to launch until early October.
Continue reading...Humane alternatives to killing rampant creatures such as wild boar, deer and grey squirrels are being developed
Conflicts between humans and wildlife are triggering growing numbers of disease outbreaks, road accidents and crop damage. And the problem is likely to get worse unless new, humane measures to curtail animal numbers are developed in the near future, say scientists.
It is a critical environmental issue that will be debated this week at a major conference in Italy where experts will discuss how best to limit numbers of grey squirrels, wild boar, deer, feral goats, pigeons, parakeets and other creatures that are causing widespread ecological damage in many countries.
Continue reading...CDC must now weigh in on vaccine to fight respiratory infection in vulnerable newborns
US regulators on Monday approved the first RSV vaccine for pregnant women so their babies will be born with protection against the scary respiratory infection.
RSV is notorious for filling hospitals with wheezing babies every fall and winter. The Food and Drug Administration cleared Pfizer’s maternal vaccination to guard against a severe case of RSV when babies are most vulnerable – from birth through six months of age.
Continue reading...Institution used concerning approval procedures for hundreds of studies, review says
A major French research centre that produced one of the most widely cited and controversial research papers of the Covid-19 pandemic has been found by an international research team to have used questionable and concerning ethics approval processes across hundreds of studies.
The Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection, or IHU, is a large clinical research centre in the south of France. It was founded by Prof Didier Raoult, who was also director of the centre until August 2022, when he stood down ahead of the release of findings from a government audit that found the institute conducted trials “likely to constitute offences or serious breaches of health or research regulations”.
Continue reading...Facility in Porton Down, Wiltshire will allow vaccines to be developed for future pandemic pathogens
Ministers have opened a new vaccine research centre in the UK where scientists will work on preparing for “disease X”, the next potential pandemic pathogen.
The state-of-the-art Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre is based at the UK Health and Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Porton Down campus in Wiltshire.
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