Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
U.S. to announce new warning on J&J coronavirus vaccine for autoimmune disorder -Washington Post
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce a new warning on Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine related to a rare autoimmune disorder, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing four people familiar with the matter. According to the Post, about 100 preliminary reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) have been detected in the United States after vaccination with J&J shot, mostly in men, many of whom were 50 or older. Around 12.8 million people have received the one-dose vaccine in the United States.
Israel partners with NRx Pharmaceuticals to commercialize COVID vaccine
Israel is partnering with U.S.-based NRx Pharmaceuticals to complete trials and commercialize the Israeli-developed COVID-19 vaccine BriLife. NRx and the Israel Institute for Biological Research on Monday announced a memorandum of understanding that includes the worldwide development, manufacturing and marketing rights of the vaccine, which in recent months has been undergoing early clinical trials in Israel.
Desperate Myanmar residents queue for oxygen as COVID-19 cases surge
Myanmar’s military authorities pledged on Monday to ramp up oxygen supplies to help treat COVID-19 patients, as residents described their struggle to secure supplies to save loved-ones from a record-setting wave of infections. Photographs on social media showed long queues of residents in Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon trying to refill oxygen cylinders.
World hunger, malnutrition soared last year mostly due to COVID-19 – U.N. agencies
World hunger and malnutrition levels worsened dramatically last year, with most of the increase likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a multi-agency United Nations (U.N.) report published on Monday. After remaining virtually unchanged for five years, the number of undernourished people rose to around 768 million last year – equivalent to 10% of the world’s population and an increase of around 118 million versus 2019, the report said.
U.S. administers 334.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines – CDC
The United States has administered 334,600,770 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Monday morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The figure is up from the 334,151,648 vaccine doses the CDC said had been administered by July 11 out of 387,006,120 doses delivered.
WHO warns against mixing and matching COVID vaccines
The World Health Organization’s chief scientist on Monday advised against people mixing and matching COVID-19 vaccines from different manufacturers, calling it a “dangerous trend” since there was little data available about the health impact. “It’s a little bit of a dangerous trend here. We are in a data-free, evidence-free zone as far as mix and match,” Soumya Swaminathan told an online briefing.
Johnson & Johnson in discussion with FDA regarding COVID-19 vaccine side effects
Johnson & Johnson said on Monday it was in discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about rare cases of a neurological disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome, that have been reported following vaccination with the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. The chance of having Guillain-Barré syndrome occur is very low and the rate of reported cases exceeds the background rate by a small degree, J&J said. (https://bit.ly/3katP1r)
Greece orders COVID-19 vaccinations as infections rise
Greece has made vaccinations against COVID-19 mandatory for certain workers and announced restrictions to contain the spread of the virus as infections have kept rising during the vital summer tourism season. “The country will not shut down again because of some,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address announcing the measures.
Mexico reports 3,074 new COVID-19 cases, 89 more deaths
Mexico’s health ministry on Monday reported 3,074 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country and 89 more fatalities, bringing total figures to 2,593,574 infections and 235,058 deaths. The government has said the real number of cases is likely significantly higher, and separate data published recently suggested the actual death toll could be 60% higher than the official count.
France insists health workers get COVID-19 shots as infections rise
All health workers in France must get COVID-19 jabs and anyone wanting to get into a cinema or board a train will need to show proof of vaccination or a negative test under new rules announced by President Emmanuel Macron on Monday. Unveiling sweeping measures to combat a surge in infections, Macron said vaccination would not be compulsory for the general public for now but stressed that restrictions would focus on those who are not vaccinated.
(With inputs from agencies.)
