Post-pandemic blues of predatory pharma

Huge stockpiles of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, along with a steep drop in revenues, tell a sorry tale of Big Pharma’s greed   

Nobel Prize 2023: Katalin Kariko, Drew Weissman awarded for work that led to effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

Kariko and Weissman eliminated critical obstacles on the way to clinical applications of mRNA, paving the way for speedy development of mRNA …

COVID is officially no longer a global health emergency — here’s what that means

COVID will still have pandemic status, and countries will continue to have their own authority as to whether to treat COVID as an emergency …

‘Wise to assume bird flu pandemic will cause more severe disease in humans than COVID-19’

Bird flu expert Suresh Kuchipudi on the pathogenesis of H5N1 and threats it poses

People working fewer hours due to Long COVID, as sick days increase dramatically: ILO report

Accommodation & food services, transportation & storage among sectors that saw substantial drops in mean hours worked

India has reported 19 COVID-19 deaths so far in December; 10 of them have been in Kerala

Government and independent experts assure there is no cause for worry

Bharat Biotech’s vaccine, Covaxin not as effective as Serum Institutes of India’s Covishield

Study led by National Centre for Biological Sciences intended to shape future vaccine strategies by offering insights into the immunity acquired …

Mugger crocodiles in Gujarat’s Charotar region have tripled in past decade, count by wildlife non-profit reveals

Increase in the reptiles’ numbers a cause for celebration but also concern, says expert

Biodiversity loss identified as biggest reason for emergence of infectious diseases

Policy efforts to strengthen conservation would help, suggests new study

WHO has ended the COVID-19 global health emergency — what happens now?

The ‘end of the pandemic’ might have several ramifications

Tourism industry faced losses worth $2.6 trillion in 2020-2022

While tourism has rebounded, both tourist numbers and export revenues in 2022 remained 34% below 2019 levels

There’s no evidence indicating dominant link between warmer climates and COVID-19 spread: WMO

However, even secondary factors like weather and air quality can significantly impact the number of infections and deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic

WHO launches ‘CoViNet’ — a global laboratory to monitor emerging coronaviruses

Builds on COVID-19 reference laboratory network established during early days of pandemic to confirm disease

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic 4 years ago: Take a look at the virus’ journey and global response to it

A timeline of the key events related to COVID-19

ICMR COVID-19 study: ‘Treat finding on 6.5% mortality rate for comorbid patients post-discharge with caution’

Finding should not be confused with long covid-related mortality as researchers did not analyse that, experts tell DTE

India may have seen most COVID-19-related deaths globally — close to 5 million

Official figures show 531,843 deaths; mortality could be 10 times the reported figures, show WHO estimates 

Agreement on sharing pathogen access unlikely at World Health Assembly, may delay pandemic treaty

Even after two years of negotiations, countries have not reached a consensus on the finer details of the pandemic agreement

Hygiene hypothesis: Gut microbiome development affected in children born during COVID-19 lockdown, studies show

Microbiomes in such kids less diverse, with distinct effect on certain populations of organisms, says Nature article

WHO ends COVID-19 global health emergency, bringing one of human history’s most painful periods to a close

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautions world against letting its guard down

Measles accounted for most excess deaths as a result of COVID-19 related vaccine disruptions

Excess deaths due to vaccine breaks amounted to 967,000 deaths, catch-up shots could avert 79% of them, finds Lancet study

COVID vaccines pillar COVAX to wind down by year-end, left with billions unspent

Vaccine delivery to shift to regular programmes

New Covid strain in circulation, may not be a concern for India

EG.5.1 variant, code-named Eris, has behind almost 15% cases in the UK  

Half of the world’s hungry people live in Asia-Pacific; Southern Asia worst affected: FAO

Higher food, feed, and fuel prices, combined with a slow recovery from COVID-19 pandemic to blame; women fared worse in food insecurity

Two new omicron variants JN.1 and HV.1 under scrutiny in US

EG.5 and HV.1 responsible for over 45% infections according to latest CDC update

Bird flu outbreak in Andhra: Could H5N1 spark next pandemic? New paper warns of risks

Over 48 mammal species infected with virus since 2020; threat of mutation that sustains human-to-human transmission