Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
Texas reports first U.S. death in person with monkeypox
Texas on Tuesday reported the first death in a severely immunocompromised person who was diagnosed with monkeypox, according to state health department officials. The case is still under investigation to see what role monkeypox played in the death. Although painful, monkeypox is rarely fatal.
Monkeypox outbreak can be eliminated in Europe, WHO says
It is possible to eliminate the monkeypox outbreak in Europe, World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday, highlighting evidence that case counts are slowing in a handful of countries. There are encouraging signs of a sustained week-on-week decline in the onset of cases in many European countries, including France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Britain, as well as a slowdown in some parts of the United States, despite scarce vaccine supplies.
CDC advisers to decide on Omicron-retooled boosters on Sept 1
Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will meet on Thursday to vote on whether to recommend the use of two COVID-19 vaccine boosters tailored against the Omicron variant. A recommendation in favor of the modified vaccines by Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech SE, as well as Moderna Inc is expected to pave the way for a rollout next week.
COVID drives down U.S. life expectancy for the second straight year – CDC data
Life expectancy fell in the United States in 2021 for the second year in a row to its lowest level since 1996, driven by COVID-19 deaths, according to provisional government data published on Wednesday. The nearly one-year decline from 2020 to 76.1 years marked the largest two-year drop in life expectancy at birth in close to a century, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found.
U.S. plans to move COVID vaccines, and treatments to private markets in 2023
The U.S. government expects its supply of COVID-19 vaccines and antiviral treatments to run out over the next year and is preparing for them to be sold via the commercial market, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday. President Joe Biden’s administration expects to run out of federal funding for buying and distributing COVID-19 vaccines by January, although it has already bought over 170 million doses for a booster campaign later this year, according to a blog post written by Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell.
COVAX to send Mexico 10 million COVID shots by Sept. 30, says official
The United Nations-backed COVAX vaccine program will send 10 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 shots for children to Mexico by the end of September, a senior Mexican official announced Tuesday. The confirmed dates for the shots’ delivery comes a week after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would complain to the United Nations about the delayed shipment of vaccines the government had requested.
Rights groups sue to block Indiana abortion ban
Abortion rights groups and medical providers in Indiana said they filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to stop the state’s ban on the procedure from going into effect. The lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky and other groups argues the law violates Indiana’s state constitution by abrogating its protections for privacy, due process and other rights.
South Korea to end pre-departure COVID test requirement for overseas travelers
South Korea will from Saturday no longer require travelers to the country to test for COVID-19 before departure, although they will still need to take a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival. The latest relaxing of rules comes amid an easing in case numbers with daily COVID infections hovering around 100,000 in recent weeks compared with more than 180,000 in mid-August.
New Australian research centre aims to speed up pandemic drug discovery
A new research institution being launched in Australia will aim to develop drugs to treat diseases caused by pathogens with the potential to cause global pandemics more quickly. The Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics, based in Melbourne, is the latest in a series of similar initiatives, including from the National Institutes for Health in the United States and the Pandemic Antiviral Discovery (PAD), a group led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners.
Guangzhou tightens COVID curbs as infections hit big southern Chinese cities
China’s Guangzhou on Wednesday imposed COVID-19 curbs in parts of the city, joining Shenzhen in battling local flare-ups, deepening uncertainty over commerce and daily life in two of southern China’s most economically vibrant metropolises. Several of China’s biggest cities have stepped up their COVID-19 restrictions this week, affecting the activities of tens of millions of people. Mindful of balancing economic needs with efforts to contain each and every outbreak, authorities said the curbs would last for just a few days, although some smaller cities extended restrictions earlier this month.
(With inputs from agencies.)
