Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Anger at plans to roll back Covid vaccines to under-11s in England

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Children aged 5-11 will no longer be offered Covid jabs, except those in clinical risk groups, UKHSA confirms

The decision to reduce the number of children who are offered Covid jabs has prompted outcry from parent groups and academics.

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), children who had not turned five by the end of last month will not be offered a vaccination. The agency said the offer of Covid jabs to healthy 5-11-year-olds was always going to be temporary.

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Millions in England to be invited for Covid booster from Monday

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NHS launches autumn drive with jabs offered first to care home staff and residents, and housebound people

Millions of care home residents, staff and housebound people in England will be invited for their autumn coronavirus vaccine booster from Monday.

Health teams will visit care homes and private homes to vaccinate about 1.6 million residents, staff and housebound people in the latest phase of the vaccine programme, NHS England has said.

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FDA authorizes Covid-19 booster shots retooled to tackle Omicron subvariants

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Vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech approved as US prepares for vaccination campaign in fall

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday authorized retooled Covid-19 booster shots made by both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech to target the currently dominant BA.4/BA.5 Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus.

Both vaccines also include the original version of the virus targeted by all previous Covid shots as the US prepares for another vaccination campaign in the fall.

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Monkeypox cases appear to be declining in some large US cities

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Experts say the trend in New York, Chicago and San Francisco appears to be linked to immunity and behavior changes

Monkeypox cases in some large US cities appear to be declining, matching trends seen in Europe, and experts are cautiously optimistic the outbreak may have peaked in places hit hardest by the virus.

The optimism comes just as US officials on Friday said there’s enough of a supply of monkeypox vaccine available now – though the shots aren’t getting to some of the people who need the protection the most.

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Moderna sues Pfizer and BioNTech over coronavirus vaccine

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Company is suing pharmaceutical rival and its German partner for patent infringement

Moderna is suing its US pharmaceutical rival Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for patent infringement in the development of the first Covid-19 vaccine approved in the United States, alleging they copied technology that Moderna developed years before the pandemic.

The lawsuit, which seeks undetermined monetary damages, was being filed in US district court in Massachusetts and the regional court of Düsseldorf in Germany, Moderna said in a news release on Friday.

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Struggle to find bulk billing clinics for children prompts fears vaccination rates will fall

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Poorer families set to be hit most, expert says, while single mothers routinely neglect their own medical needs to afford children’s care

As more GP clinics abandon or significantly reduce bulk billing, parents and carers say it is becoming harder to find a clinic that routinely bulk bills children.

In response to Guardian Australia’s series on the bulk billing crisis, more than 300 people shared their stories of how health care costs are adding pressure to family budgets on top of the rising costs of living.

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NSW detects first locally acquired cases of monkeypox amid concerns about vaccine shortage

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Health authorities are urging the public to remain ‘vigilant’ for symptoms as the state recorded three cases of community transmission on Sunday

The first locally acquired cases of monkeypox have been detected in New South Wales, placing health authorities on alert amid a global vaccine shortage.

The state recorded three additional cases of monkeypox on Sunday, bringing the total caseload to 42. They included one case that acquired their infection in NSW and two cases that picked up the virus “within Australia”.

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Australia secures 450,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine

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Jab will be prioritised for at-risk groups including gay and bisexual men – especially those who travel

The Australian government has bought 450,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, including 22,000 that will arrive this week and next.

The third-generation Bavarian-Nordic vaccine will be prioritised for at-risk groups including gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, especially those travelling to countries with a significant outbreak.

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HPV vaccine after removal of precancerous cells may cut cervical cancer risk

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Study finds reduced risk of cervical cancer recurring after HPV vaccination post-surgery, though further research is needed

Giving women the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine when precancerous lesions are removed from their cervix may cut the risk of cells recurring and them getting cervical cancer, a study has found.

Cases of cervical cancer in the UK have fallen hugely since school pupils aged 13 and 14 – first girls and later boys – began being offered HPV jabs in 2008 as protection against the disease.

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US to hold push for Covid boosters until fall in order to better protect against BA.5

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Pfizer and Moderna expected to roll out reformulated boosters, likely to be authorized for anyone 12 and older, in September

Instead of expanding eligibility for a fourth Covid-19 booster shot now, the Biden administration will push this fall to get Americans to take another booster vaccination that is predicted to better protect against the Omicron BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus.

Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna are expected to start rolling out the reformulated boosters, which are expected to be authorized for anyone 12 and older, in September.

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UK needs urgent vaccine drive to curb monkeypox, campaigners say

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Terrence Higgins Trust says action must be stepped up to prevent disease becoming endemic

Health authorities are underestimating the scale of the response required to stop monkeypox becoming endemic in the UK, sexual health campaigners have warned, as a new vaccination drive is launched.

The Terrence Higgins Trust urged the NHS and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to urgently pump cash into the system to pay more healthcare workers to administer vaccines. It also wants the number of doses ordered to be doubled to protect against a virus that has infected at least 2,208 people in the UK, according to the latest official figures.

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‘Covid is not going to go away’: Australia will require public health measures for foreseeable future, say experts

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Vaccine inequity and emerging variants mean the future of the pandemic is increasingly uncertain, researchers say

In May 2021, Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly, described how Covid vaccines were our “ticket out of the pandemic”. Vaccination, he said, would give Australians “a life with more certainty”.

More than one year later, Australia’s Covid-19 vaccination rate is among the highest in the world.

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Biden administration announces new strategy to tackle Covid subvariant

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White House says BA.5 is responsible for majority of new infections in the US amid reports of plan for second booster shots for adults

Joe Biden’s administration has announced a new strategy to tackle the highly contagious BA.5 coronavirus subvariant amid reports that the government was developing a plan to make second booster shots available to all US adults.

In a fact sheet published on Tuesday the White House said BA.5, a subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant, is already responsible for the majority of new Covid-19 cases in the US.

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After the long wait, US parents seeking under-5s’ vaccine face yet more hurdles

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Some local officials are unsure of how to order Covid vaccines or when they will arrive, while others are aiming to ignore federal guidelines completely

Ashley Comegys, a parent of two young children in Florida, was ecstatic when the Covid vaccines were authorized for children above the age of six months in the US. “We’ve been waiting for this for so long,” she said. “We can finally start to spread our wings again.”

But then she learned that Florida had missed two deadlines to preorder vaccines and would not make them available through state and local health departments, delaying the rollout by several weeks and significantly limiting access.

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Pfizer vaccines that target Omicron variant pass first step to approval in Australia

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The TGA’s ‘provisional determination’ for two vaccines comes as BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants drive new wave of Covid cases

Two vaccines that specifically target the Omicron variant have been granted “provisional determination” by Australia’s drugs regulator, the first step in a process for getting the vaccines approved for use.

It comes as the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron drive a new wave of cases, prompting premiers to warn of increasing hospitalisations and deaths, and renewed calls to the public to wear masks in crowded indoor spaces.

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New Covid subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are the most contagious yet – and driving Australia’s third Omicron wave | Adrian Esterman

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The latest variants are masters at evading immunity – meaning previous infection and vaccines are unlikely to provide much protection against catching it

Australia is heading for its third Omicron wave in the coming weeks, as BA.4 and BA.5 become the dominant Covid strains.

BA.4 and BA.5 are more infectious than previous Covid variants and subvariants, and are better able to evade immunity from vaccines and previous infections. So we’re likely to see a rise in case numbers.

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Two children diagnosed with first cases of diphtheria of the throat in NSW this century

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Unvaccinated two-year-old and six-year-old from northern NSW diagnosed with potentially deadly bacterial infection

A toddler is in intensive care and a second child has been hospitalised after contracting the first cases of diphtheria of the throat in New South Wales this century.

Diphtheria is a contagious and potentially deadly bacterial infection. It affects the throat and tonsils in its most severe form, resulting in a greyish-white membrane forming that can make it hard to swallow and breathe.

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Nation records 33 Covid deaths as Victoria reports fifth monkeypox case – as it happened

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Mark Butler urges Australians to get boosters as new subvariant circulates; nation records 33 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Australia ‘deeply concerned by continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights’

Penny Wong, minister for foreign affairs, released a statement last night saying Australia remains “deeply concerned” by the continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights.

Australia remains deeply concerned by the continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights, freedoms and autonomy, two years since the imposition of the National Security Law.

The National Security Law has been applied broadly to arrest or pressure pro-democracy figures, opposition groups, the media, trade unions and civil society. The electoral reforms imposed by Beijing in 2021 have further eroded Hong Kong’s democratic governance.

This will be the fourth time the government has offered to make the changes, announced the changes, and then backtracked as a result of internal politics.

I’m just not sure where we go from here but our members are resolute. We are going to continue fighting to get these trains made safe, and we’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.

It’s going to be a very messy day. It’ll be a weekend timetable with other trains taken out of it.

The families of the railway workers right now could be having $3,000 deposited in their account, instead of having that money spent on modifying perfectly good trains.

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US ramping up monkey pox vaccine distribution to slow down spread

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The government will expand access to and increase supply of two different formulations to contain the infection

The US government is ramping up efforts to staunch the spread of monkeypox by sending hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses to states in the coming months, expanding access for those most at risk and increasing supply to areas with high case numbers.

The plan, announced on Tuesday, involves rapidly expanding access to doses of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine – which has so far been limited – to prevent monkeypox in areas with the highest transmission and need.

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CDC recommends Covid vaccines for infants, toddlers and preschoolers

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Children as young as six months will be able to get shots from either Pfizer or Moderna after Friday’s FDA approval

Children as young as six months old, through age five, will be able to get the US’s first Covid-19 vaccines approved for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

The development came after final sign-off on Saturday from Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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