Health

Pfizer study shows COVID-19 booster can be given along with pneumonia shot

Pfizer said on Wednesday booster doses of its COVID-19 vaccine can be administered along with its pneumonia vaccine and produced strong safety and immune responses in people aged 65 and above in a late-stage study.

The study, initiated in May, tested the company’s next-generation pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PREVNAR 20, with a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 shot in 570 participants.

For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.

The aim of the study was to test the safety of the combination and the immune response after adding the pneumonia vaccine to the existing COVID-19 vaccine.

The company said responses elicited by PREVNAR 20 and booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine were similar when given together or with placebo.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

The data provides evidence supporting the potential to administer PREVNAR 20 and the company’s COVID-19 vaccine at the same time, reducing the number of visits people make to doctors or pharmacies for recommended immunization, Pfizer said.

PREVNAR 20 was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in June last year to help protect adults against most invasive pneumococcal diseases and pneumonia.

Study participants were recruited from the companies’ late-stage COVID-19 vaccine study, and those who had received the second dose of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine at least six months before entering the co-administration study.

EU evaluates Sobi arthritis drug to treat COVID-19 in adults with pneumonia

Arthritis drugs tocilizumab and sarilumab reduce COVID-19 deaths: Study

Health

‘Just in case’ use of antibiotics was rife during COVID-19, says UN health agency

Antibiotics saw “extensive overuse” globally among hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the pandemic without improving clinical outcomes, while also potentially exacerbating the already serious and growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Health

Teen alcohol and nicotine use in Europe is up, WHO urges preventive measures

Substance use is on the rise among teenagers in Europe, Central Asia and Canada and girls now match or even exceed boys when it comes to smoking and drinking, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report on Thursday.

Health

Gender therapy review reveals devastating impacts on teens

A top Human Rights Council-appointed expert has welcomed the decision by all health authorities in the United Kingdom to halt the routine use of puberty-blockers offered to children as part of gender transition services, amid a sharp increase more widely in the number of teenage girls seeking such treatment and concerns that it might disrupt brain development.