EU leaders voiced frustration on March 25 over a massive shortfall in contracted deliveries of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines, as a third wave of infections surged across Europe.
AstraZeneca released primary analysis showing that the company’s AZD1222 vaccine demonstrated 76 percent efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19, 100 percent efficacy against severe or critical disease and hospitalizations, and 85 percent efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19 in people 65 years and older.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Melinta Therapeutics’ Kimyrsa (oritavancin) for the treatment of adults with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections caused by susceptible isolates of designated Gram-positive microorganisms, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
A World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on March 15 that the past week saw an 11% increase in Covid-19 cases worldwide, raising concerns that measures to halt the pandemic’s spread may be breaking down just as vaccine distribution picks up.
Sanofi and Translate Bio said on March 12 they had started a human trial of their mRNA Covid-19 vaccine candidate, the French drugmaker’s second vaccine project, which follows a protein-based shot hit by a delay during 2020.
New Covid-19 cases continue to decline in North America, but in Latin America infections are still rising, particularly in Brazil where a resurgence has caused record daily deaths, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned on March 10.
A majority of Covid-19 patients that were admitted to U.S. hospitals during the first few months of the pandemic were prescribed antibiotics even before a bacterial infection had been confirmed, a study showed on March 10.
The United States reported a 12 percent decline in new cases of Covid-19 for the week ended March 7, while vaccinations accelerated to a record 2.2 million shots per day, according to a Reuters analysis of state, county and CDC data.
The gout medication colchicine will be tested in a large UK study looking into potential early-stage Covid-19 treatments and enrollment criteria was widened for the latest arm of the trial, University of Oxford researchers said on March 3.
The drug hydroxychloroquine, once touted by Donald Trump as a pandemic “game-changer,” should not be used to prevent Covid-19 and has no meaningful effect on patients already infected, a World Health Organization expert panel said.
