ReutersModerna Inc. on April 19 said a COVID-19 booster designed to target the Beta variant as well as the original coronavirus generated a better immune response against a number of virus variants including Omicron.
Unvaccinated people infected with the Omicron variant are unlikely to develop immune responses that will protect them against other variants of the coronavirus, a new study suggests. Additionally, the average number of global deaths from COVID-19 were 6 percent higher on weekends compared to weekdays throughout the pandemic, according to statistics reported to the World Health Organization between March 2020 and March 2022.
Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 500 million on April 14, according to a Reuters tally, as the highly contagious BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron surges in many countries in Europe and Asia.
Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on April 13 that the company could possibly develop a new vaccine that protects against the Omicron variant as well as older forms of COVID-19 by autumn.
Reuters/Andrew KellyThe BA.2 Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus is responsible for 86% of U.S. COVID-19 cases and more than 90% of infections in the Northeast, according to data on April 12 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
ReutersThe World Health Organization said on April 11 it is tracking a few dozen cases of two new sub-variants of the highly transmissible Omicron strain of the coronavirus to assess whether they are more infectious or dangerous.
ReutersCurrent COVID-19 vaccines are not well-matched against the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on April 6, as its panel of outside experts meets to discuss changes to future booster doses.
A fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine lowered rates of COVID-19 among the elderly but the protection against infection appeared short-lived, a large study in Israel found.
The U.S. health regulator said on April 5 GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology’s antibody therapy was no longer authorized as a COVID-19 treatment, with data suggesting it was unlikely to be effective against the dominant Omicron sub-variant in the country.
The U.S. national public health agency said on April 4 the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron was estimated to account for nearly three of every four coronavirus variants in the country.
