Vaccine effectiveness will likely drop against Omicron: Moderna CEO

The head of drugmaker Moderna said COVID-19 vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus as they have been against the Delta variant.

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“There is no world, I think, where (the effectiveness) is the same level . . . we had with Delta,” Moderna Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel told the Financial Times in an interview.

“I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to . . . are like ‘this is not going to be good’.”

UAE residents have mixed feelings about travel amid COVID-19 variant Omicron

First image of Omicron shows many more mutations than Delta variant

Sudan: WHO supports battle against cholera in the east

The World Health Organization (WHO) is scaling up support in Sudan, where authorities have declared a cholera outbreak in Gedaref state amid the ongoing brutal conflict between opposing militaries.

Ban smoking and vaping in schools worldwide urges WHO

Young people continue to be “relentlessly” targeted with tobacco and nicotine products, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday, in a call to ban smoking and vaping “whether sitting in class, playing games outside or waiting at the school bus stop”.

Health

New global action pledge to end TB by 2030

Applause rang out in one of the main conference rooms at UN headquarters on Friday as world leaders, civil society representatives and other stakeholders approved a declaration to advance efforts to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030.