Overall two-dose vaccine effectiveness (VE) against Omicron variant-related hospitalization or death remained above 70% for at least 6 months among adults in Hong Kong but dropped to below 62% in those aged 80 and older, necessitating a third dose, finds a case-control study published today in JAMA Network Open.
As global demand for Covid-19 vaccines dries up, the program responsible for vaccinating the world’s poor has been urgently negotiating to try to get out of its deals with pharmaceutical companies for shots it no longer needs.
Drug companies have so far declined to refund $1.4 billion in advance payments for now-canceled doses, according to confidential documents obtained by The New York Times.
It remains crucial that variants be tracked, yet scientists question how quickly the next variant of concern will be detected as many countries wind down surveillance efforts.
There has been widespread scepticism over China's official COVID data since it abruptly axed anti-virus controls last month that had shielded China's 1.4 billion people from the disease for three years. ...
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