Tag: covid19

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia said on Tuesday a second person had been diagnosed with a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine but there had been no rise in inoculation cancellations as authorities try to steady a bungled immunisation campaign. This week Australia abandoned a goal of vaccinating all of its nearly 26 million

TORONTO (Reuters) – Doctors in the Canadian province of Ontario may soon have to decide who can and cannot receive treatment in intensive care as the number of coronavirus infections sets records and patients are packed into hospitals still stretched from a December wave. Canada’s most populous province is canceling elective surgeries, admitting adults to

(Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co and Incyte Corp said their rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib did not meet the main goal of preventing progression to mechanical ventilation in hospitalized COVID-19 patients under a late-stage study. Patients receiving baricitinib were 2.7% less likely than those receiving standard of care to progress to ventilation, which was not

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian health regulator Anvisa approved on Thursday the beginning of clinical trials in the country for a new COVID vaccine developed by Canada’s Medicago R&D Inc and GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Anvisa said in a statement. Anvisa said the companies were authorized to conduct phase 3 trials in the country. The companies are

(Reuters) – A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down Governor Tony Evers’ mask mandate, saying he exceeded his authority and violated the separation of powers by reissuing emergency orders during the pandemic. In its 4-to-3 ruling, which voids a Feb. 4 face-covering order currently in effect, the court found that Evers effectively breached

LONDON/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Scientists who have watched with dismay a series of disputes over AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine say strong efficacy data from a large U.S. trial should lay concerns to rest, but worry the skirmishes may leave a lasting mark on public trust. Spats with governments across Europe about production, supplies, possible side effects and

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – UK experts propose evidence-based management strategies for rheumatology patients on immunosuppressive therapy, including delaying/postponing rituximab, as appropriate. “The aim of this viewpoint article is to outline the existing data on the effect of antirheumatic therapy on vaccine responses in patients with inflammatory arthritis, and to formulate a possible pragmatic strategy

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Toxic metabolic encephalopathy (TME) not due to the effects of sedative medications occurred in one in eight patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at NYU Langone Health hospitals last spring, neurologists report. TME was multifactorial in these patients and most often due to hypoxemia, sepsis and uremia. After adjusting for confounding factors,

(Reuters) – To avoid coronavirus infection during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), medical professionals can increase their distance from the patient by doing chest compressions using the unshod heel of the foot – known as leg-heel compression – instead of their hands, a new study suggests. Researchers had 20 medical professionals perform standard manual chest compression followed

DESSAU, Germany (Reuters) – In the German town of Dessau, one of the sites of the Bauhaus art school, an institute was set up in 1921 to mass-produce vaccines that later helped strengthen the German Democratic Republic. Exactly 100 years later, the site is gearing up to be a one-stop shop to produce COVID-19 vaccines

(Reuters) – The United States must stick to a two-dose strategy for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, top U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci told the Washington Post newspaper. Fauci said that delaying a second dose to inoculate more Americans creates risks. He warned that shifting to a single-dose strategy for the vaccines could

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission said on Tuesday that it was considering emergency approvals for COVID-19 vaccines as a faster alternative to more rigorous conditional marketing authorisations which have been used so far. The move would mark a big shift in approach to vaccine approvals, as it would entail using a procedure that the

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain will give a single vaccine dose to under 55-year-olds who have already been infected with COVID-19, the Health Ministry announced on Friday in the latest update of its national inoculation strategy. “The duration of protective immunity to the virus after natural infection is unknown but studies show that administering a single

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders will agree on Thursday to work on certificates of vaccination for EU citizens who have had an anti-COVID shot, with southern EU countries that depend heavily on tourism desperate to rescue this summer’s holiday season. Lockdowns to slow the pandemic caused the deepest ever economic recession in the 27-nation

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden will ease restrictions on elderly residents of care homes who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, the country’s top epidemiologist said on Wednesday, at the same time as rules for the rest of the country are tightened. Sweden has seen a rise in cases in the last couple of weeks, raising fears

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea will almost certainly miss its goal of vaccinating 80% of its population to reach coronavirus “herd immunity” by November, the head of a doctors’ association whose advice helped the country contain the pandemic’s first wave said on Wednesday. The vaccination programme is due to start next week, after a procurement

SERRANA, Brazil (Reuters) – The COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech is effective against the UK and South African variants, the vaccine’s Brazilian partner said on Wednesday, citing test results in Chinese trials. “We have tested this vaccine in China against the English and the South African variants, with good results,” said Dimas Covas,