Health

AstraZeneca vaccine booster shot effective against Omicron: Oxford lab study

A three-dose course of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the omicron coronavirus variant, the pharmaceutical company said on Thursday, citing data from an Oxford University lab study.

The study, yet to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, showed antibody levels against imicron after the booster shot were higher than antibodies in people who had been infected with and recovered naturally from COVID-19.

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After a three-dose course of the vaccine, neutralizing levels against omicron were similar to those against the virus’s delta variant after two doses, the company added.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said researchers at Oxford University who carried out the study were independent from those who worked on the vaccine, Vaxzevria, with AstraZeneca.

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Latest hunger data spotlights extent of famine risk in Gaza, Sudan and beyond

Dangerous levels of acute hunger affected a staggering 281.6 million people last year – the fifth year in a row that food insecurity has worsened – heightening growing fears of famine and “widespread death” from Gaza to Sudan and beyond, UN agencies warned on Wednesday.

Health

Latest hunger data spotlights extent of famine risk in Gaza, Sudan and beyond

Health

New global campaign boosts lifesaving vaccines

Two UN agencies alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the global vaccine alliance Gavi launched on Wednesday a campaign to scale up programmes to save lives, marking the start of World Immunisation Week, celebrated annually during the last week of April.