BA.5, part of the Omicron family, is the latest coronavirus variant to cause widespread waves of infection globally. According to the World Health Organization’s most recent report, it was behind 52% of cases sequenced in late June, up from 37% in one week. In the United States, it is estimated to be causing around 65% of infections.
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The White House said on Tuesday it will ensure Americans continue to have easy access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and testing to contain the fast-spreading Omicron BA.5 subvariant that now makes up a majority of cases in the United States.
Novavax Inc. announced today that the European Commission (EC) has approved the expanded conditional marketing authorization (CMA) of Nuvaxovid (NVX-CoV2373) COVID-19 vaccine in the European Union (EU) for adolescents aged 12 through 17.
Coronavirus vaccines tweaked to include the Omicron variant strain can improve protection when used as a booster, the European Medicines Agency and other global health regulators said on Friday.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to hear a challenge to New York’s mandate that healthcare sector workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 brought by a group of doctors, nurses and others who objected on religious grounds.
U.S. regulators plan to decide by early July on whether to change the design of COVID-19 vaccines this fall in order to combat more recent variants of the coronavirus, with hopes of launching a booster campaign by October, a top Food and Drug Administration official said on Tuesday.
A U.S. appeals court panel said on Monday it would convene a full panel to reconsider President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring civilian federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and set aside the order pending that hearing.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had recommended Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children and adolescents aged 6 to 17, allowing a rollout of the shots to begin for that age group.
The United States has already delivered more than 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 years old to sites that will administer the shots, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson said on Thursday.
COVID-19 vaccines that specifically target the Omicron and other variants are under development, Pfizer Inc.’s chief executive said on Wednesday, adding that the company will be able to quickly adapt shots as the novel coronavirus mutates.