It will take months to develop a new shot of COVID-19 vaccine that works against the Omicron variant as the existing vaccines may be less effective against the new strain, the head of US vaccine manufacturer Moderna has told Financial Times. Stephane Bancel told the newspaper in an interview published Tuesday that data would be مزید پڑھیں

As scientists race to understand the consequences of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, one of the most important questions is whether this new version of the coronavirus can outrun the globally dominant Delta variant. The World Health Organization on Friday designated Omicron a “variant of concern” just days after the variant was first reported in southern مزید پڑھیں

BioNTech said on Monday it had started work on a vaccine tailored to Omicron, the worrying new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, though it was not yet clear if it would have to rework its established COVID-19 shot. The development of an adapted vaccine is part of the company’s standard procedure for new variants, مزید پڑھیں

The British scientist who led the research underpinning AstraZeneca’s coronavirus jab said on Saturday a new vaccine could be developed against the emerging Omicron variant “very rapidly” if needed. Professor Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, also said existing vaccines should work against the new strain, but that would only become apparent مزید پڑھیں

Global authorities reacted with alarm on Friday to a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, with the EU and Britain among those tightening border controls as researchers sought to find out if the mutation was vaccine-resistant. Hours after Britain banned flights from South Africa and neighbouring countries and asked travellers returning from there to مزید پڑھیں

Europe has once again become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic amid a “false sense of security” over the protection offered by vaccines, said World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Wednesday. WHO officials warned that the SARS-CoV-2 virus would keep spreading intensely as societies return to the social mixing and mobility of a مزید پڑھیں

The World Health Organization (WHO) has extended travel restrictions on Pakistan by three months due to it being the last polio-endemic country, along with Afghanistan. The WHO deemed Pakistan and Afghanistan to be dangerous countries in a recent statement by the Thirtieth Polio IHR Emergency Committee, stating that the two countries have failed to eradicate مزید پڑھیں

A global licence for serological technology that detects COVID-19 antibodies will be provided royalty-free to poor and middle-income countries under a first of its kind agreement to boost production, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday. The existing four tests, which check for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies developed after either an infection or a مزید پڑھیں

A further 700,000 people could die of Covid by March in Europe and parts of Asia, the World Health Organization has warned. The death toll already exceeds 1.5 million in the 53 countries of what the WHO terms as its Europe region. The WHO warned of “high or extreme stress” in intensive care units in مزید پڑھیں

Pfizer said on Monday its COVID-19 vaccine provided strong long-term protection against the virus in a late-stage study conducted among adolescents aged 12 to 15 years. A two-dose series of the vaccine was 100% effective against COVID-19, measured seven days through over four months after the second dose, the company said. The long-term data will مزید پڑھیں