Tag: Vaccines

Saudi: Last date for pilgrims to get vaccines before Haj season
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Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah confirmed that the last date for pilgrims to receive vaccinations is ten days before the Haj 1444 AH.
Receiving vaccinations is a condition to enable them to perform the rituals of Haj.
This came in response to an inquiry on the ministry’s Twitter account, asking if receiving the third dosage of COVID-19 was a requirement for performing the Haj.

In response, the ministry of Hajj and Umrah stated that receiving all recommended vaccinations is necessary in order to issue the Haj permits.
Below is a list of the COVID-19 vaccines approved by Saudi Arabia
Pfizer/BioNTech — 2 doses
Oxford/AstraZeneca— 2 doses
Covovax— 2 doses
A certificate of vaccination with quadrivalent meningitis vaccine (ACYW135), issued three years ago and not less than ten days prior to arrival in Saudi Arabia, is also required from pilgrims.
On January 5, Kingdom announced the start of the registration period for the Haj pilgrimage 2023 for citizens and residents in the Kingdom.
On January 10, Kingdom announced that it will no longer impose limits on the number of pilgrims for this year’s Haj after three years of restrictions to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 14, that the ministry had set the tenth of Shawwal as the last date for domestic pilgrims to pay the third and final instalment of their Haj ritual reservation.

The final instalment is 40 percent of the set fee for packages approved during this pilgrimage season.
This year, the issuance of official permits will start on May 5, which is the 15th of Shawwal.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )
April 26, 2023
Biden administration developing plan to get Covid vaccines to the uninsured

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The people briefed on the matter cautioned that the plan’s specifics are not yet final and could still change. An HHS spokesperson did not immediately comment on the details of the program.
The administration, for example, has yet to finalize contracts with vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer to purchase additional shots for the program. It is also still building out a distribution network to continue administering vaccines and treatments to the uninsured.
But HHS has set aside as much as $1.1 billion for the program, with the hope that it will keep Covid care free for uninsured adults through at least the summer of 2024, the people briefed on the matter said. Much of that money would go toward purchasing new vaccines in the fall, when drugmakers are expected to update their shots, and paying its distribution partners to administer them.
The stockpile for the uninsured will likely be small, given the lack of continued demand for the vaccine. Fewer than 40,000 people are now getting vaccinated per day as the pandemic recedes in people’s minds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the lowest rate since the Covid shots became widely available.
Officials have estimated they probably have enough of the antiviral Paxlovid on hand to cover future demand for the treatment from the uninsured.
The population that would qualify for free care would also be somewhat limited. There are about 30 million adults without health insurance, though that number could grow as pandemic-era protections expire and more people lose their Medicaid coverage. A separate, pre-existing federal program will continue providing free vaccinations for uninsured children.
Still, the program has taken on heightened importance within the administration amid scrutiny of its plans to hand off major responsibilities tied to a pandemic still killing more than 1,300 a week, according to the CDC.
Officials are particularly eager to avoid reports of low-income Americans going without Covid treatments because they can’t afford to pay out-of-pocket prices likely to reach hundreds of dollars per dose.

Top health officials, including CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell, are slated to appear Wednesday before Congress to discuss their priorities for the coming year.
Both Moderna and Pfizer are planning to charge at least $110 per dose for their vaccines on the private market, though they argue much of that cost will be covered for those who have insurance.
And while the companies have pledged to make the shots free for the uninsured through “patient assistance” programs, Biden officials remain skeptical they will be structured in a way that makes the vaccines easily accessible.
“We are going to have a plan to make sure that uninsured Americans continue to get access to vaccines and treatments for free,” White House Covid response coordinator Ashish Jha said in March on the “In the Bubble” podcast. “This is a really important goal, and we have set aside money to make sure we can meet that goal.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 19, 2023
Vaccines for cancer, heart disease to be ready by end of decade

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London: Millions of lives could be saved by a groundbreaking set of new vaccines for a range of conditions including cancer, experts have said.
A leading pharmaceutical firm said it is confident that jabs for cancer, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases, and other conditions will be ready by 2030, the Guardian reported.
Studies into these vaccinations are also showing “tremendous promise”, with some researchers saying 15 years’ worth of progress has been “unspooled” in 12 to 18 months thanks to the success of the Covid jab.

Paul Burton, the chief medical officer of pharmaceutical company Moderna, said he believes the firm will be able to offer such treatments for “all sorts of disease areas” in as little as five years.
The firm, which created a leading coronavirus vaccine, is developing cancer vaccines that target different tumour types, the Guardian reported.
Burton said: “We will have that vaccine and it will be highly effective, and it will save many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives. I think we will be able to offer personalised cancer vaccines against multiple different tumour types to people around the world.”
He also said that multiple respiratory infections could be covered by a single injection — allowing vulnerable people to be protected against Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — while mRNA therapies could be available for rare diseases for which there are currently no drugs, the Guardian reported.
Therapies based on mRNA work by teaching cells how to make a protein that triggers the body’s immune response against disease.

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#Vaccines #cancer #heart #disease #ready #decade
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 8, 2023
Hyderabad will produce more than 1,400 crore vaccines, says KT Rama Rao

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Hyderabad: Telangana minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday said that Telangana produces one-third of human vaccines which is more than 35 per cent, with 900 crore vaccines produced by Hyderabad.
By next year around 1,400 crore vaccines will be produced from Hyderabad, KTR stated.
“Hyderabad also has the largest number of USFDA-approved manufacturing pharmaceutical companies for a single province in the world which is 214 units. The second largest is in New Jersey with 189 units,” KTR further stated.
KTR stated that the third most important thing is Hyderabad also has the largest medical devices park in India where we also have Asia’s largest stunt manufacturing facility, so Hyderabad in fact one of the most important life sciences hubs.
“We are also going to be launching Hyderabad Pharma city which will again be a very large Pharma cluster in the world. So consolidating all these strengths in life sciences our ambition is to continue what we have started and take it to the next level,” he further stated.
He added, “So we have been conducting an event called Bio Asia for 19 years and this year is the 20th year of Bio Asia. Very hopeful with International partners such as the United Kingdom, and Belgium and representatives from more than 55 different countries. With more than 2,500 participants, this event will become a huge success.”
He further stated, “I’m also constantly in touch with various industry bodies and industry associations who participated, we have Nobel laureates and we have world-renowned scientists and also industrialists participating in this event. I’m looking forward to this with great enthusiasm, there will be a number of investment announcements, a number of MOUs announced, and there will be an exhibition where a number of new companies exhibit their products.”

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 21, 2023
‘Amazing coincidence’ Moderna offered free vaccines when asked to testify, Bernie Sanders says

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Moderna on Wednesday said people in the U.S. will be able to access vaccines “regardless of ability to pay.” | Jon Cherry/Getty Images
It “maybe was just a wild and crazy coincidence” drug company Moderna announced a plan to give free Covid vaccines to uninsured Americans right as a Senate committee asked them to testify — but it was “a step in the right direction,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday.
“Amazing coincidence, that happened the same exact day we announced that we were inviting them to testify,” Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The committee last week asked Moderna’s CEO, Stéphane Bancel, to appear in a panel next month examining proposed plans to raise the Covid vaccine’s list price to $110 to $130 per dose.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 19, 2023
WHO: Turkey, Syria earthquakes ‘worst natural disaster’ in European region in a century

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The powerful earthquakes that struck central Turkey and northwest Syria just over a week ago are the “worst natural disaster in the WHO European Region for a century,” said Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe.
“We are still learning about its magnitude. Its true cost is not known yet,” Kluge said during a press briefing today.
The WHO’s European Region includes 53 European and Central Asian countries, including Turkey.
More than 31,000 people are confirmed dead in Turkey, and nearly 5,000 lost their lives across the border in Syria, he said, adding that the figures are expected to rise further. He added that 26 million people across both countries are in need of humanitarian assistance.
The WHO launched a $43 million appeal to support the earthquake response, with likely more to come.
“I expect this to at least double over the coming days as we get a better assessment of the massive scale of this crisis and the needs,” Kluge said.
With water and sanitation facilities being hit, concerns are mounting over health issues, including the spread of infectious diseases. Health care facilities have also been gravely damaged.
“According to the Turkish authorities, an estimated 80,000 people are in hospital, placing a huge strain on the health system, itself badly damaged by the disaster,” Kluge said.

“We have initiated the largest deployment of Emergency Medical Teams in the WHO European Region in our 75-year history,” he added. Their goal is to support the damaged medical facilities, focusing on the high number of trauma patients and those with catastrophic injuries.

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#Turkey #Syria #earthquakes #worst #natural #disaster #European #region #century
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 15, 2023
Pfizer reports record revenue, expects Covid-19 vaccines to be commercialized later this year

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In its 2022 fourth-quarter earnings call, company executives said that they expect sales of Covid-19 vaccines to decrease, in part because they still have shots that the government purchased last year to distribute.
The decline in revenue also comes in part because an estimated 24 percent of the population will receive a Covid-19 vaccine this year, down from 31 percent in 2022 as fewer people comply with federal recommendations.
“Fewer people are expected to receive their primary doses,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said. “And for the most part only those who are older or at higher risk are expected to continue receiving more than one booster per year.”
Pfizer expects to account for about two thirds of Covid vaccinations, and Bourla estimated about 102 million shots of its vaccine, called Comirnaty, would be distributed this year. The company is not expecting any new Covid variants that would prompt more people to get vaccinated.
The company also noted that the U.S. government had previously purchased a set number of Covid-19 vaccines; but moving forward, there will be less demand once the vaccine is sold on the commercial market.
Company executives did not mention how much they plan to charge for their Covid products on the commercial market but have previously stated it would be somewhere between $110 and $130 per dose. Moderna, which also makes an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, has floated a price of $110 to $130 per dose.
On Monday, the White House announced that it would end the Covid-19 emergency declarations in May. And last week, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee discussed the steps it would need to take for a simplified Covid-19 vaccine regimen as it moves toward a model of managing the virus on a yearly basis, similar to the way flu shots are developed and administered.
Pfizer has its sights set on future iterations of Covid-19 vaccines, which it expects will be needed as immunity wanes as the virus continues to mutate.

“We expect to see an increase in Covid-19 vaccination rates assuming the successful development and approval of a Covid-flu combination product,” Bourla said, noting that about half of eligible adults receive a flu shot annually.
Other products in the pipeline: Pfizer also noted that it expects to launch its RSV vaccine for adults 60 and older this year. The FDA said Tuesday that it would convene its external vaccine advisory committee to discuss its application in late February.
The company is also developing an mRNA-based flu vaccine and an mRNA-based shingles vaccine.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 1, 2023
COVID-19 still a global health emergency, says WHO

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The verdict is in: The COVID-19 pandemic is still a global health emergency, the World Health Organization has concluded. But it might not be for much longer.
The decision from the WHO — exactly three years after COVID-19 was first declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) — comes after a meeting of the COVID-19 emergency committee on January 27. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus concurred with the committee’s advice that there is a continued risk posed by COVID-19.
The news comes as countries increasingly deliberate how to move forward from the acute phase of the pandemic, with the U.S. looking at annual COVID-19 boosters, for example. However, the committee found that, globally, there are still a high number of deaths from COVID-19 compared to other infectious respiratory diseases; vaccine uptake is still insufficient in low- and middle-income countries and there is uncertainty about emerging variants.
But the reality is that the pandemic no longer poses the same threat as it did when it spread like wildfire through the globe in 2020. The committee acknowledged this, saying the crisis “may be approaching an inflection point.”
As for exactly how the world will transition away from a PHEIC and into endemicity is still up for debate, with the committee acknowledging that it is unlikely that the virus can be eliminated from human and animal reservoirs. The committee recommended that a proposal be developed for an alternative mechanism that would maintain international focus on COVID-19, even after the crisis is no longer classified as a PHEIC.
For now, Tedros has asked countries to continue work in several areas, including maintaining their focus on vaccination of high-priority groups, improving reporting of COVID-19 surveillance data and increasing uptake of COVID treatments and tests.
“Today’s announcement is a recognition that the global threat posed by COVID-19 is not over,” said Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “While the world has made remarkable progress over the last two years, implementing the largest and fastest global vaccine rollout in history, we cannot afford to be complacent.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 30, 2023