G-20 Summit Kicks Off With Focus on Global Minimum Tax, Pandemic Preparedness
ROME — The G-20 Summit hosted by Italy kicked off Saturday in Rome, where leaders from the world’s major economies discussed issues of mutual concern, including pandemic recovery and climate change.The red carpet was rolled out at “La Nuvola,” Rome’s c…
WHO Director-General runs unopposed for 2nd five-year term
Geneva, The World Health Organization said Friday that its Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is running unopposed for a second five-year term.The U.N. health agency made the announcement after the deadline for candidacies for the next term …
South Africa to give free access to national parks in November after postponement due to COVID-19
The managing body of South African National Parks (SANParks) announced that annual National Parks Week will be held on Nov 22-28 to give citizens free access to most of its parks.SANParks traditionally hosted the week-long event in September to cultiva…
Cheap Antidepressant Shows Promise Treating Early COVID
A cheap antidepressant reduced the need for hospitalization among high-risk adults with COVID-19 in a study that was looking for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat coronavirus.Researchers tested the pill used for depression and obsessive-…
FDA Panel Endorses Pfizer COVID-19 Shot for Kids
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s independent advisory committee endorsed giving child-size emergency doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5-11.While it is considered rare for younger children to become seriously ill or …
African Effort to Replicate mRna Vaccine Targets Disparities
In a pair of Cape Town warehouses converted into a maze of airlocked sterile rooms, young scientists are assembling and calibrating the equipment needed to reverse engineer a coronavirus vaccine that has yet to reach South Africa and most of the world’…
White House Encourages All Those Eligible to Get COVID Boosters
The White House on Friday urged all those eligible in the United States to get COVID-19 booster shots to do so, one day after U.S. health and drug regulatory agencies endorsed an expanded list of recommended shots.On Thursday, the Food and Drug Adminis…
Fauci Defends Coronavirus Vaccination Mandates
U.S. President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser on Sunday defended vaccination mandates to combat the coronavirus, dismissing objections from conservative Republican state governors that they infringe on people’s freedom to control their health care.”Wh…
Medical Aid Groups Welcome Plans by Moderna to Build Plant in Africa
NAIROBI — Medical aid groups are welcoming plans by U.S. drug maker Moderna to build a plant for manufacturing vaccines in Africa. The groups say the plant, the first from a company making a COVID-19 vaccine, will help in fighting vaccine inequality.Af…
WHO Recommends COVID-19 Booster Shot for Immunocompromised
The World Health Organization is recommending that people with weakened immune systems be given a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.A panel of WHO vaccine advisers said the additional dose would help immunocompromised people because that population …