Tag Archive for: influenza

The Novo Nordisk Foundation, which controls drug maker Novo Nordisk, said it would commit up to 1.8 billion Danish crowns ($265 million) to setting up an initiative aimed at improving vaccines for respiratory diseases.

The meeting is also a chance to discuss the risk of animal viruses spilling over to humans and causing a pandemic.

Governments should invest in vaccines for all strains of influenza virus that exist in the animal kingdom as an insurance policy in case of an outbreak in humans, the incoming chief scientist at the World Health Organization said on Monday.

The race for an influenza vaccine is heating up as Moderna announced mixed interim results for its seasonal flu vaccine candidate Thursday.

The recent spread to mammals of H5N1 influenza – commonly known as bird flu – needs to be monitored, but the risk to humans remains low, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Pandemic restrictions that hampered the circulation of viruses other than COVID-19 could be behind the unseasonably early upsurge in respiratory infections in Europe this winter that the festive break could prolong, scientists say.

Kroger joins pharmacy chains CVS Health Corp and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., which have also limited purchases of children’s pain medicines at a time when U.S. flu hospitalizations have jumped to the highest in a decade for this time of year.

The United States is experiencing the highest levels of hospitalizations from influenza that it has seen in a decade for this time of year, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday, adding that 14 children have died so far this flu season.

An experimental vaccine provided broad protection against all 20 known influenza A and B virus subtypes in initial tests in mice and ferrets, potentially opening a pathway to a universal flu shot that might help prevent future pandemics, according to a U.S. study published on Thursday.

RSV, influenza, COVID-19 and monkeypox have dominated vaccine discussions this year, but vaccines are also being developed for a host of other infectious diseases.