WHO Approves Covovax, Serum Institute's Covid Vaccine
Geneva (Switzerland):
On Friday (17th December, 2021), the World Health Organization has given Covovax, the Serum Institute of India's release of the Novavax COVID vaccine, an exceptional clearance.
The vaccine, developed by Serum Institute of India under license from Novavax in the United States, will now be distributed as part of the global vaccination programs system Covax, WHO said in a statement, "providing quite a boost to continuing efforts to vaccinate more people in lower-income countries."
Covovax is taken in two doses and is stable at 2°-8° Celsius in freezer.
Omicron Is Reportedly Spreading At An Exponential Rate In Several Countries: WHO
On Tuesday (14th December, 2021), the World Health Organization warned that Omicron was spreading at an unprecedented rate and encouraged countries to take on the role of medicine manufacturer. The coronavirus tablet developed by Pfizer was found to be effective against the variation.
Scientists estimate that the true number of people infected with Omicron in the UK could be as high as 200,000 each day, and the English Premier League has recorded a record number of cases, threatening significant match disruption.
Europe is the world's coronavirus hotspot, accounting for 62 percent of all COVID infections in the last seven days, and the five countries with the highest infection rates in the world are all European.
Scientists estimate that the true number of people infected with Omicron in the UK could be as high as 200,000 each day, and the English Premier League has recorded a record number of cases, threatening significant match disruption.
WHO claims that Omicron reduces vaccine efficacy and spreads more quickly.
According to the World Health Organization, Omicron is anticipated to outrun the Delta variety of coronavirus in areas where community transmission occurs, based on existing evidence.
As of December 9, the WHO reported that Omicron had spread to 63 countries. In South Africa, where Delta is less prevalent, and in the United Kingdom, where Delta is the dominant strain, faster transmission was seen.
However, it highlighted that due to a lack of data, it couldn't say whether Omicron's high transmission rate was due to a lower susceptibility to immune responses, a higher transmissibility, or a mix of the two.
Globally, as of 3:29 pm CET, 20 December 2021, there have been 273,900,334 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5,351,812 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 16 December 2021, a total of 8,337,664,456 vaccine doses have been administered.
Current Situation by WHO Region-wise:
In low- and lower-middle-income nations, investing one dollar per person every year might save nearly 7 million lives.
Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), which include heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and respiratory disease, currently account for seven out of ten fatalities worldwide.
Despite the fact that 85 percent of early deaths (between the ages of 30 - 69) from NCDs occur in low- and middle-income countries, making them a substantial health and socioeconomic burden, their impact on lower-income countries is typically underestimated.
The vast majority of these deaths can be avoided by implementing WHO's NCD Best Buy programmes, which have been proven to work. These include low-cost strategies for reducing tobacco and alcohol use, improving diets, increasing physical activity, lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and preventing cervical cancer.
Keeping people healthy lowers health-care costs, boosts productivity, and results in people living longer and healthier lives.
References: WHO, NDTV, Blaze Staff
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