Austrian authorities suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on March 7.
The United States had administered 87,912,323 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of early March 6 and delivered 116,355,405 doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
U.S. scientists are skeptical of a one-shot regimen for Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. Covid-19 vaccines, saying there is not enough evidence that a single dose provides long-term protection, the Wall Street Journal reported.
U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc. said on March 6 the experimental antiviral drug molnupiravir the company is developing with Ridgeback Bio showed a quicker reduction in infectious virus in its phase 2a study among participants with early Covid-19.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to Gilead Company Kite’s Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Genentech’s Actemra (tocilizumab) for slowing the rate of decline in pulmonary function in adults with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD).