LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Countries should consider recommending that passengers wear masks on long-haul flights, given the rapid spread of the latest Omicron subvariant of COVID-19 in the United States, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Tuesday. In Europe, the XBB.1.5 subvariant was detected in small but growing numbers, WHO and Europe officials said at a press briefing.  Passengers[Read More…]

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk’s public condemnation of top U.S. health official Anthony Fauci is “dangerous” and “disgusting,” and should be called out, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. “They are disgusting, and they are divorced from reality, and we will continue to call that[Read More…]

Nov 22 (Reuters) – Updated COVID-19 boosters offer increased protection against new variants in people who have previously received up to four doses of the older vaccine, a real-world study in the United States showed. The study of over 360,000 people, published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, offers the[Read More…]

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) – A single dose of the monkeypox vaccine provides 78% protection against the virus, according to data from England released on Tuesday that health officials said was the strongest evidence yet of its effectiveness. Monkeypox cases have remained low but the World Health Organisation continues to[Read More…]

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Every morning, Mary’s eight-year-old daughter Paige walks into school in the Texan city of Austin with a legal letter in her rucksack, neatly packed with her schoolbooks and her lunch, just in case she gets stopped by state family protection officials. The[Read More…]

July 11 (Reuters) – Moderna Inc said on Monday it was advancing two Omicron vaccine candidates for the fall, one designed against the BA.1 variant and another against the BA.4 and BA.5. Vaccine makers including Moderna and rival Pfizer Inc are developing updated vaccines to target the fast-spreading Omicron subvariants[Read More…]

June 21 (Reuters) – The rollout in the United States this week of COVID vaccines for children as young as six months is likely to start slowly, and then pick up in the coming days, according to White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration[Read More…]

May 26 (Reuters) – About 200 confirmed and more than 100 suspected cases of Monkeypox have been detected so far outside of the countries where it usually spreads, a World Health Organization official said on Thursday, urging countries to increase surveillance for the infectious disease. Monkeypox, a mild viral infection,[Read More…]

By Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization was due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the recent outbreak of monkeypox, a viral infection more common to west and central Africa, after more than 100 cases were confirmed or suspected[Read More…]