December 2020 CNN; People with a “significant history of allergic reactions” should not be given the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, UK health authorities said Wednesday, after two health care workers experienced symptoms after receiving a shot the day before. The precautionary advice was given after the pair “responded adversely” following their shots …
Read More »States defer to health providers on who gets first vaccines
December 2020 Politico; States struggling to prioritize who should receive the initial coronavirus shots are handing off those critical decisions to health care providers, giving them less than two weeks to decide how to ration the scarce doses among their own employees. An expert panel advising the Centers for Disease …
Read More »Covid-19 vaccine ‘very safe and highly effective’, UK health chief says
December 2020 theguardian; Public health messaging that people can have faith in the safety of coronavirus vaccines is “vitally important”, the leader of the body that has approved the Pfizer jab has said. Dr June Raine, the chief executive of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said of the …
Read More »How Much Will It Cost to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine?
November 2020 Healthline; COVID vaccine may be approved for use by the end of December. The U.S. federal government has poured billions of dollars into the development of vaccines. They have also put in orders for hundreds of millions of doses. AstraZeneca announced Nov. 23 that its COVID-19 vaccine is …
Read More »How important are sex steroids in COVID-19 protection?
November 2020 MedicalNews; Numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths are at record highs worldwide, with no signs of a significant drop anytime soon. At the time of this article’s publication, more than 61 million people have developed SARS-CoV-2 infections worldwide, and more than 1.4 million people have died from COVID-19. Meanwhile, scientists …
Read More »Tuberculosis vaccine may help protect against COVID-19
November 2020 MedicalNews; Scientists developed the BCG (bacillus Calmette-Guérin) vaccine more than 100 years ago to protect against the bacterial infection tuberculosis (TB). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2004, around 100 million children a year were receiving the vaccine. In the United States, BCG is approved for people at …
Read More »KENYA: Inside Nairobi Hospital board, executive fights
November 2020 BusinessDaily; Details of intriguing boardroom fights over tenders at the premier private health facility Nairobi Hospital have emerged, even as the institution’s ousted chief executive officer, Allan Pamba, demands Sh218.8 million in compensation for unfair dismissal. Court filings by Dr Pamba link his ouster to multi-billion shilling contracts …
Read More »COVID-19: FDA authorises Regeneron antibody drug given to Trump
November 2020 Aljazeera; The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency-use authorisation for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc’s COVID-19 antibody therapy, an experimental treatment given to President Donald Trump that he said helped cure him of the disease. The FDA said on Saturday that the monoclonal antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab, …
Read More »WHO recommends against using remdesivir to treat Covid-19
November 2020 CNN; The World Health Organization has updated its ongoing guidance on Covid-19 medications to advise against using the antiviral drug remdesivir to treat hospitalized patients, no matter how severe their illness may be. According to the update, published in the medical journal the BMJ on Thursday, current evidence does not …
Read More »California’s Covid curfew to begin, as US cases hit 12-million mark
November 2020 BBC; California is to begin a night-time curfew on Saturday, in an attempt to curb a surge in coronavirus cases. The western state’s latest figures are now worse than the previous peak in August, the Los Angeles Times reports. Across the US, the daily death toll linked to …
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