Last year was another extraordinary year for medical innovation. The World Health Organization recommended a second vaccine for the prevention of malaria in children and a second vaccine for Dengue fever. The first ever CRISPR treatment was approved to treat sickle-cell disease and -thalassaemia and we had another Alzheimers medicine approval by the US Food and Drug Administration.
These breakthroughs provide hope to patients, families and caregivers all over the world. However, we know that these ground-breaking advances in healthcare are only meaningful when they can reach the people who need them. To be successful, we need to be as innovative in our approaches to patient access as we are in the scientific discovery and development of medicines and vaccines themselves.
Investing in medicines and vaccines can provide significant health, economic and societal value. In the European Union alone, prescription drugs added an estimated 2 million healthy years to patients lives between 2007 and 2017. Furthermore, for just a subset of medicines, the pharmaceutical industry contributes 27 billion in productivity gains for EU economies, and approximately 13 billion in healthcare cost savings due to averted complications. Vaccination is recognized as one of the most cost-effective ways of saving lives and promoting good health and wellbeing and promoting economic recovery. The return on investment in innovation is significant for health systems and economies.
Yet the burden of disease, particularly from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), is growing. Between 2020 and 2050, cancer is projected to cost the world economy $25 trillion. The global cost of Alzheimers and related dementias will cumulatively reach between $11.3 trillion and $27.3 trillion by 2050, with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) set to shoulder 65% of that economic burden. These examples alone demonstrate the value of investing in new treatments that tackle some of our most significant global health challenges.
The upcoming Fair Pricing Forum, hosted by the WHO, will focus on the role that affordability and pricing can play in determing access to health products. This is an important discussion to have, not only to better understand the evidence, but also to identify ways governments, payers, and industry can work together to find tailored and pragmatic solutions to the barriers that prevent patients from benefiting from new treatments.
The pharmaceutical industry perspective is clear. When determining the price of any medicine or vaccine we must recognize the value they bring and take into account a countrys economic circumstances, so that it reaches the people who need it, and provides an incentive for R&D investment into the next generation of medicines and vaccines.
Pharmaceutical companies are working in partnership across healthcare systems and governments to ensure patients can access new treatments. Tools such as tiered and differential pricing have been shown to be effective and sustainable in improving access to medicines in low and middle income countries (LMICs). While the specifics vary among companies and products, tiered pricing is now a standard approach across much of the industry, in which prices are aligned to take into account a countrys relative wealth.
For example, tiered pricing was used extensively by companies during the pandemic to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines were affordable. Gavi, COVAX and other procurers for LMICs benefitted from reduced prices.
Other integrated approaches such as value-based healthcare (VBHC) where value reflects the outcomes for all stakeholders, especially patients, affordability-based patient assistance programmes and managed entry agreements are also increasingly supporting health systems to allocate resources effectively and efficiently to address diverse access barriers.
However, the price of an individual medicine or vaccine is only one factor, and it alone does not determine whether patients are able to access the treatment they need. There are many challenges that impede the journey of a medicine or vaccine from a developer to a patient. These challenges can be linked to regulatory pathways, reimbursement and procurement processes, funding and financing of healthcare systems, and the ability of healthcare systems and infrastructure to deliver products and services to the people who need them.
If we are going to tackle barriers to access and support patients to receive innovative treatments, we must strengthen the funding and capacity of healthcare systems so they have the facilities and skills to diagnose, treat and support patients. Progress towards the provision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) alongside increasing investment into health systems needs to be accelerated to achieve the SDG targets.
It is too often the case that even inexpensive treatments for many major diseases are unavailable to the patients and populations who need them. Many of the WHO Best Buy NCD medicines that could save lives in LMICs are off-patent and cost less than $1, but are still not accessible to millions of people who would benefit from them.
This is why industry, health systems and healthcare organizations should work together to improve access to care by supporting greater investment in healthcare including prevention and building the capacity and capability for the delivery of high quality care, including innovative treatments.
Pharmaceutical companies understand this, and many are working closely with healthcare systems and stakeholders around the world to improve access. For example, since 2017, Access Accelerated, a collective initiative of leading biopharmaceutical companies in partnership with the World Bank and other civil society partners, has resulted in the mobilization of billions of dollars to improve the prevention, treatment and care of people living with NCDs in LMICs. Access Accelerated and the World Bank will soon launch a renewed partnership to support countries to catalyze increased financing for NCDs.
Several companies are working in partnership with C/Can and the Access to Oncology Medicines (ATOM) Coalition led by Union of International Cancer Control (UICC) to build healthcare system infrastructure and capacity to provide innovative medicines in sustainable ways.
The health and economic benefits of these treatments can be unlocked by ensuring better access to the latest medical innovations. To focus purely on affordability misses many of the main barriers. Unless we strengthen the healthcare systems that people rely on, progress towards sustainable equitable access will remain elusive.
Symptoms of measles include an itchy rash of red-brown spots.Credit: Jim Goodson/CDC/Science Photo Library
UK health services are battling an outbreak of measles causing alarm in a nation that had eliminated the disease in 2017.
On 19 January, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the public-health authority, declared a national incident over rising cases of measles. The agency has logged more than 300 cases in England since 1 October 2023 (see Measles surge).
A decline in uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is given in two doses, during the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the spread of the disease across England and the rest of Europe, while small outbreaks have occurred in a handful of US states.
Measles is caused by a virus and is highly contagious. It is spread through coughing and sneezing. Symptoms include a fever, a runny nose and an itchy rash of red-brown spots. Its considered to be one of the most infectious respiratory infections there is, says population-health researcher Helen Bedford at University College London. Those most at risk include babies, young children, pregnant people and those with a weakened immune system.
Nature explores the uptick in cases.
Low uptake of the measles vaccine is a key driver of the UK measles cases, say researchers. Around 85% of children in England have received two MMR vaccine doses by five years old, according to data from the National Health Service (NHS). This falls below the vaccination rate of at least 95% needed to achieve herd immunity which substantially reduces disease spread as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO; see Jabs needed).
Source: UK government
It is worrying but not all that surprising to see another measles outbreak within the UK, paediatrician Ronny Cheung at the Evelina London Childrens Hospital said in a statement to the UK Science Media Centre. The fact remains that vaccination coverage for children under the age of 5 is now the lowest it has ever been in the past 10 years, he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic worsened matters, says Bedford. At first, the number of measles cases dipped because of social-distancing measures. But vaccine uptake also dropped, contributing to the latest surge, she says.
Moreover, anti-vaccine messaging during the pandemic caused some people to question vaccine safety, which might have delayed uptake, says Bedford. People have got more questions, which, unfortunately, due to cuts in public-health funding, arent always properly addressed, she says.
On 22 January, the NHS launched a vaccination campaign, urging millions of parents and carers to book vaccine appointments for their children. Health services will contact all parents of unvaccinated children aged 6 to 11. If parents and young people respond to the information, and the message to get vaccinated, we could stop it in its tracks, says Bedford.
Vaccination rates are lowest in London, where just 74% of children have received two doses of the vaccine. Two doses are 97% effective against catching measles. One local council in the capital has launched a vaccine-awareness campaign in multiple languages to reach more people.
Without further action, the outbreak could spread more widely across the United Kingdom, causing deaths, says Bedford.
In 2018, a measles outbreak of around 900 cases occurred in England. The previous year, the WHO had declared that the United Kingdom had eliminated the disease, defined as the absence of circulating measles. Despite losing the elimination status, the country gained it again in 2021.
In response to the outbreak, Public Health England, the UKHSAs predecessor, advised people to get the MMR vaccine. The only thing that you can do to stop measles spreading is get vaccinated, says Bedford. This means catching up people who didnt have it, including those who didnt have it 20 years ago, she says.
Since 1 December, there have been 23 confirmed measles cases in the United States, across Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Many of the cases were linked to international travellers returning to the country, and reflect a rise in the number of measles cases globally, according to a newsletter sent by the US Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention on 25 January. There were 58 reported US cases last year, down from 121 in 2022. This is much less than the more than 1,200 US infections in 2019.
But Europe is facing a more alarming situation. There was a 45-fold rise in measles cases in the WHOs European region from 2022 to 2023. In 2023, the regions 40 member states reported some 42,200 measles cases, up from fewer than 1,000 in 2022.
The rise in cases is also the result of declining national vaccination rates, which fell from 92%, on average, in 2019 to 91% in 2022, according to the WHO.
Globally, the number of measles cases increased by 18% between 2021 and 2022, and deaths from measles increased by 43%, according to a WHO report released last November.
Exactly four years ago today the UK's first coronavirus cases were confirmed.
On 31 January 2020, Public Health England said a University of York student from China had tested positive for COVID-19, along with his mother.
Almost two months later, the UK locked down and it was another two years until the final legal restrictions were removed - with some arguing this happened prematurely.
Now in 2024, the virus is still affecting people in ways scientists are only just beginning to fully understand - and affecting the NHS. So how prevalent is COVID today and what have we learned?
How widespread are COVID infections now?
Unsurprisingly, COVID cases are much lower than they have been at various peaks over the past four years.
But the latest data, which covers up to 10 January, estimates that 2.3% of the population of England and Scotland had COVID in the community - the equivalent of around 1.2 million people.
As people no longer report their test results, the most reliable recent estimates on COVID prevalence come from the winter infection survey, carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency.
It is smaller than the original, regular ONS infection study that was discontinued in March 2023, and it doesn't cover Wales or Northern Ireland.
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Although the winter infection study uses lateral flow not PCR tests, the results are broadly comparable.
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It shows that following the spread of the JN.1 variant, which is a sub-lineage of the BA.2.86 version of Omicron, the virus last peaked before Christmas, with highs of 4.4% between 19 and 23 December - roughly one in 23 people.
Similarly to the height of the pandemic, the peak was felt most strongly in London, with 5.5% of the capital believed to have COVID by 19 December. The lowest peak was in the North East, with 3.2% of the region thought to have had the virus by 12 December.
Will we see more waves of cases?
The recent COVID peaks are only around half what they were in spring 2022, when 7.6% of England were estimated to have the virus and 9% of Scotland.
Stephen Griffin, professor of virology at the University of Leeds, warns that although the peaks look less dramatic, repeated waves mean they add up to a very high number of cases.
"We're still seeing multiple waves of COVID every year because the virus is still evolving at an incredible rate," he says.
The government often cites the initial vaccine rollout as the biggest success of its COVID response.
After they were offered to everybody aged 12 and over, 85% had two doses of a vaccine by mid-2022. But additional booster jabs are now only offered to the over-65s.
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And with new variants constantly emerging and most people's vaccine protection waning, Prof Griffin says the UK is "not suppressing prevalence", which means "we'll continue to see those waves".
How many people have to go to hospital for COVID now?
The pre-Christmas peak in cases didn't result in as large numbers needing hospital treatment compared with the early days of the pandemic.
Professor Oliver Johnson, professor of information theory at the University of Bristol, says while there have been "many infections" recently, "they are much less severe on average since before we had vaccines".
Fewer than 5,000 people with COVID have needed hospital treatment in England every week since early 2023. That number peaked at more than 25,000 in a single week in January 2021.
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What impact has the anti-vax movement had?
Far fewer people are dying with COVID than before vaccines were offered to all over-18s in June 2021.
Despite the pandemic sparking a resurgence in the "anti-vax" movement, Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, says the overwhelming positive impact of vaccines on COVID mortality has undoubtedly been "good PR" for them.
"Anti-vax sentiment clearly got highlighted during COVID - but I think most people know that those vaccines really work and that in a world without them, it would be Christmas 2021 again."
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Asked whether the recent drop in MMR vaccines and the measles outbreak in the West Midlands are solely the result of anti-vax groups, he admits there has been "some outright anti-vax sentiment" around MMR that has had an impact, particularly on social media.
But he stresses that addressing "missed opportunities" to use community leaders to engage with disenfranchised groups is just as important in reversing the problem.
Prof Griffin says the delayed decision to vaccinate five to 11-year-olds in 2022 was bad for jab rates, alongside the then-health secretary Sajid Javid's description of the programme as "non-urgent". Data shows only around 10% of under-12s had a single dose.
"The dithering and indecision around the benefits for vaccinating children was pretty damaging in the sense that if you look at uptake in younger groups, it's appalling," Prof Griffin adds.
Primary courses of the vaccine are also no longer universally available for all age groups, aside from the clinically vulnerable and people who live with them.
"So children turning five after September 2022 have to wait until they're in their 60s to have a vaccine, unless they become clinically vulnerable," Prof Griffin says.
"The idea that repeated infections are a preferable means of generating population immunity to vaccines, especially in children, is a dangerous nonsense."
Concerns over 'silent organ damage' from COVID
Long COVID is defined by symptoms that persist for three months or more with no other explicable cause. Almost two million people in the UK had the condition at the time of the latest ONS survey in March 2023.
Studies have put the extra cost to UK GP and other primary care services at an estimated 23m a year - with annual losses to the workforce and greater economic cost thought to be as much as 1.5bn.
A Canadian study suggested that for people infected three times or more, long COVID rates were around 38%.
Dr Rae Duncan, a consultant cardiologist and long COVID research clinician at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, warns that studies are beginning to suggest serious complications from COVID that could lie dormant for years.
"COVID is a spectrum and long COVID is only one end of that," Dr Duncan says.
"It's never been just a cold. The more times you're infected, the higher your cardiovascular risk, neurological, and endocrine risk. These can all result in life-altering conditions.
"Some may have underlying silent organ damage, which is asymptomatic, meaning people are not aware of it. It needs more research but it's very concerning."
Read more: How long COVID ruined my life Hundreds of long COVID doctors suing NHS
A UK biobank study found increased risk of cardiovascular death up to a year-and-a-half after getting COVID in unvaccinated people. Others, including data pooled by scientists in Taiwan, show far greater COVID mortality in people with Alzheimer's disease.
One piece of research suggested babies born to COVID-positive, unvaccinated mothers had a 20.3% risk of neurodevelopmental delay by age, compared to 5.9% of babies whose mothers did not catch COVID while pregnant.
Given emerging research the virus may carry cardiovascular risks for children, citing NHS guidance that children can go back to school three days after getting COVID, Dr Duncan adds: "We have published data showing it takes around seven days for 75% of children, and 10 days for 90% of children to become non-infectious.
"So we have largely chosen to ignore the impact of COVID on our kids and I think that's a really bad decision."
How many people are dying with COVID?
Last year excess deaths (how many more deaths occur than are expected) were still higher than the five-year average, but down on 2022 - from more than 30,000 in 2022 to nearly 27,000 in 2023.
COVID-related deaths almost halved from 32,300 in 2022 to 16,600 in 2023. But they still made up almost two-thirds (62%) of excess deaths last year.
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Many argue that NHS backlogs are contributing to excess death numbers, and pressures are evident across all areas of services.
According to the latest data from November, 6.4 million patients were on the waiting list for treatment in England, 42% of whom were still waiting beyond the 18-week target.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine attributed more than 23,000 excess deaths in England in 2022 to long waits in emergency departments - where the latest figures show nearly half (46%) are still waiting far longer than the four-hour target to be seen.
Prof Griffin says: "Excess mortality has got less attributable to COVID, but it's still a problem.
"COVID did have a huge impact on NHS capacity to deal with the backlog, but we haven't had those widespread restrictions for several years now, yet the NHS has been unable to catch up again and the year-long added pressure from COVID hospitalisations remains."
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Prof Griffin says that as the years go by, one would expect COVID-related deaths to creep down, but not enough is being done to prevent COVID fatalities.
He adds: "We try and bring down excess deaths from non-communicable diseases like cancer and obesity, but we don't seem to do it very well for infectious disease, even though that's something we can do a lot more about."
Dr Duncan says that we "urgently need multi-layered public health protections", including seasonal vaccines and ventilation systems for cleaner indoor air to "stop people continuously re-infected with constantly evolving new variants".
She adds that "already licenced medications" could help people with long-term COVID complications but the government needs to fund them.
What has COVID taught us?
Mr Fell says that as a nation we went into the pandemic in a poor state of health, with "deep inequalities" between ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
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"The pandemic reminded us that inequalities in health outcomes are very real and matter enormously," he says.
"There was more infection in some populations because of underlying health differences, but also things like occupational exposure and overcrowded housing in terms of chains of transmission."
In those aged 65 and over, Alzheimer's disease was the most common pre-existing health condition in people who died with COVID. Diabetes was the most common for those under 65.
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Although COVID is still a factor driving excess deaths, Mr Fell highlights the mortality rate for age-old public health concerns like smoking, which according to the NHS, causes around 76,000 deaths a year in the UK.
"We still have all the other pandemics of death and illness day in day, out," he adds. "We need to put as much effort into some of those things as we did in how we responded to COVID."
From improved ventilation in schools and hospitals to investment in more antiviral drugs and vaccines, Prof Griffin adds: "If you think about the trillions of pounds that have been destroyed by COVID globally, surely the investment of however many million is worthwhile for this and future pandemics."
Government guidance states that, based on evidence, the vaccine programme changed in 2023 to target higher-risk groups, and that vaccinating children outside of those groups is not recommended.
It also says that data at the end of 2022 suggested almost all older children and adults had coronavirus antibodies from either vaccines or infection.
Sky News has contacted the Department of Health and NHS England for comment.
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Tearful Nicola Sturgeon says she at times felt overwhelmed by pandemic video Coronavirus
Former first minister of Scotland admits to inquiry that she failed to properly record key discussions
Wed 31 Jan 2024 14.15 EST
Nicola Sturgeon has admitted failing to properly record key discussions about the Covid crisis after being pressed at the UK Covid inquiry over claims that some decisions were too centralised and secretive.
The former first minister, who led Scotlands response to the pandemic, pushed back tears when she admitted she found the pressure of the crisis incredibly stressful, and at times wished she had not been in charge.
I was the first minister when the pandemic struck, she said, her voice breaking. Theres a large part of me wishes that I hadnt been but I was and I wanted to be the best first minister I could be during that period.
During a day-long evidence session, Sturgeon repeatedly denied challenges from Jamie Dawson KC, the inquirys counsel, about whether she had sought to politicise the pandemic to promote independence.
She was shown an email from July 2020 that appeared to come from the office of her deputy and closest political ally, John Swinney, in which a senior official told Swinney and Sturgeon he was extremely concerned about Spain being subject to far tougher travel rules than other countries.
The official said he feared the Spanish government would believe this was entirely political; they wont forget; there is a real possibility they will never approve EU membership for an independent Scotland.
Sturgeon said she assumed she had read the email but rejected the suggestion she agreed with it. Travel policy with Spain had been decided entirely on finely balanced scientific and economic grounds, she said. The Scottish government told the hearing the email had not come from Swinney or his private office, but from another civil servant.
Why is that even part of the discussions? Dawson asked. It wasnt part of my consideration, Sturgeon replied. I, certainly to the best of my knowledge, didnt have any discussions of that nature.
Under close questioning from Dawson, Sturgeon admitted she had made a number of errors in her handling of policymaking and some of the key decisions taken during the crisis.
Those included:
That she regretted not telling people about Scotlands first outbreak, involving 38 cases linked to a Nike conference in Edinburgh in March 2020, as that had the potential to undermine public confidence.
That she had thought wrongly that her chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, could remain in post after admitting she had breached lockdown rules by visiting her holiday home.
Sturgeon strongly refuted repeated suggestions from Dawson that there had been a deliberate effort on her part to centralise and control key decisions by taking a very firm grip of decision-making. She said any mistakes were unintentional, driven by the intense pace and significance of the events that were unfolding.
I did not operate on any issue at any point of the Covid pandemic in a way that sought to exclude people from decision-making, she said.
I tried to lead from the front. I tried to shoulder my fair share, sometimes deliberately more than my fair share of the burden of decision-making given the severity and the difficulty of the decisions that were being made. I thought that was appropriate for a first minister.
Dawson pressed Sturgeon who quit as first minister last February in part, she said, because of the immense pressures of the Covid crisis on why her regular gold group meetings had not been minuted, and why only a small group of ministers and advisers had taken part.
It emerged on Tuesday that Sturgeon had failed to include Kate Forbes, then her finance secretary, in gold group meetings, which routinely took place before cabinet meetings. Forbes said she had known they existed only in early 2021.
Sturgeon denied Forbes had been deliberately excluded but admitted those meetings were held with key advisers to help shape the policies and decisions she wanted to put to cabinet.
The inquiry heard on Tuesday that Sturgeon and Swinney had decided to shut all Scottish schools in March 2020 without telling the cabinet. Dawson then showed Sturgeon a WhatsApp exchange between her and her chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, which appeared to show them jointly deciding on a policy to ban alcohol consumption in public, before a cabinet meeting.
Sturgeon denied his suggestion that the Scottish cabinet had largely existed simply to ratify her decisions. Cabinet meetings were robust and had real power, she said, insisting the inquiry had all the material it needed to see how and why policy decisions had been taken.
However, she admitted she preferred gold group meetings because she didnt have a great deal of patience for large meetings with a cast of unnecessary thousands. She said: I wanted to get all of the people with the right expertise in the room so that we could take the best decisions we possibly could.
Sturgeons emotions again broke through when she denied seeking to exploit the crisis for political gain. She said her only instinct had been to minimise harm in horrific circumstances.
Again fighting back tears, she stated: For as long as I live, I will carry the impact of these decisions, I will carry regret at the decisions and judgments I got wrong.
But I will always know in my heart and in my soul, that my instincts and my motivation was nothing other than trying to do the best in the face of this pandemic.
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Danaher took a major dip in its full-year earnings report, with revenues dropping more than 10% in 2023 despite better-than-expected results from the fourth quarter, following what it described as a transformational year for the company and an ongoing period of change that it expects will extend through at least the first half of 2024.
President and CEO Rainer Blair said on the companys earnings call Tuesday that, Now, over the long term, we believe Danaher will be a faster-growing business with higher margins and stronger free cash flow generation.
Last year saw Danaher spin out its environmental, water quality and applied solutions businesses in late Septemberforming the independent company Veraltoto help renew its focus on life sciences and diagnostics, while last December brought the addition of British antibody and proteomics player Abcam through the closure of a $5.7 billion acquisition deal.
At the same time, like all diagnostics developers, the company felt COVID-19 pandemic tailwinds turn into headwinds, according to Blair, as the publics demand for tests continued to wane. Meanwhile, challenges in high-growth international markets such as China also contributed to Danahers declines in its life science and biotechnology divisions.
Full-year sales dropped 10.5%, from 2022s $26.64 billion to 2023s $23.89 billion, the company said. That included a slight decrease among Danahers core businesses coupled with a COVID-related headwind of about 9.5%, Blair said. Net earnings reached $4.2 billion.
For the fourth quarter alone, sales were down 10% to $6.41 billion versus $7.13 billion during the same period the year before. Bioprocessing sales, which includes Danahers Cytiva unit, were down 21% during that time, falling to $1.76 billion from the segments $2.22 billion total a year prior.
The environment in North America and Europe is stable, with customers still working through inventory built up during the pandemic, Blair said. Demand and underlying activity levels in China remain weak as customers are continuing to conserve capital and prioritize programs. For the full year of 2024, we expect core revenue in our bioprocessing business to be down low single digits.
Still, Blair said core quarterly revenues in each of the companys segments were at least better than expected. One clear winner was a respiratory testing gain from Cepheid: On the back of a four-in-one screener for COVID, respiratory syncytial virus and two types of flu, the diagnostics subsidiary's sales reached about $650 million to thoroughly beat previous internal estimates of $350 million.
Based on what we saw the last two years and on our discussions with customers and public health experts, we believe annual respiratory revenue in a typical season will be approximately $1.5 billion, Blair said. This increase from our initial assumption of $1.2 billion per year is driven by modestly higher volumes and a greater mix of our four-in-one tests.
Additionally, Cepheid's respiratory franchise is now six times larger than it was prior to the pandemic, and we expect this to be sustainable, he added.
Among the several life-science-focused companies in Danahers portfolioincluding Sciex, Leica, Aldevron and now Abcam, among othersrevenue slid a total of 1% amid drops in core sales and gains from acquisitions. The fourth quarter of 2023 logged $1.93 billion in sales compared to $1.95 billion the year prior.
In terms of 2024 guidance, the company said it expects core revenue to be down low single digits year over year, with the first quarter declining by high single digits. And, going forward, Danaher said it will no longer separate out and report base business core revenue, as the pandemic has transitioned to an endemic state.
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Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) A COVID-19 vaccine research from Taiwan-based Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp., which found its locally-produced vaccine was as effective as the Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines, will be featured in a United States medical publication.
The research paper will be published in the March issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a monthly peer-reviewed journal from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director General Lo Yi-chun () told CNA on Friday.
Lo said Medigen will be publishing the positive results of its protein subunit COVID-19 vaccine, which has been proven to provide 90 percent protection against moderate to severe infections on individuals who get three jabs.
The protein subunit vaccine is effective against the Omicron subvariant, and could protect those receiving the inoculation from moderate to severe symptoms and even death, according to Lo.
Moreover, Medigen's research documents are the first big data comparison between the strengths of mRNA and protein subunit vaccines, he added.
Taiwan's CDC explained that data for the research were collected domestically in Taiwan through the nation's vaccine rollout programs.
The data used for the comparison was based on more than 60 million vaccine jabs received by over 23 million individuals during the mass Omicron community infections that broke out domestically in 2022.
The CDC said the research concluded that Medigen's protein subunit inoculation provided protection against COVID-19 that is akin to that offered by the vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech, which have been proven to be more efficient and long lasting than those from Astrazeneca (AZ).
The research completely maps out the strength of various vaccine combinations between different age groups and the results are available to experts around the world, the CDC said.
Lo told CNA that Medigen's findings have already been made public and presented at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle last February.
The CDC also advised anyone who received an AZ vaccine as their first two initial inoculation jabs to get additional boosters with next-generation serums.
(By Tseng Yi-ning and James Lo)
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Representational image
In addition to the intrinsic severity of COVID-19, there is a hidden threat many patients face when inflicted with the virus: secondary bacterial infections. With the immune system already working overtime to liberate the body of the coronavirus, other harmful invaders such as bacteria have a much easier time entering us in our weakened states and inflicting illnesses.
It is important to note that secondary bacterial infections can be deadly, and must never be underestimated. As University of Queensland Professor Kirsty Short elaborates, most to all COVID-19 fatalities have a secondary co-infection as a culprit.
Now, a team of researchers led by Dr Short has harnessed the power of machine learning to predict the risk of secondary bacterial infections.
Ever since the discovery of Penicillin, we've made monumental strides in the field of antibiotics, and a few of them would certainly be effective against such secondary infections.
However, while treating all patients with antibiotics might seem logical, over-prescription can set a dangerous precedent for bacteria to evolve to evade our current antibiotics. Essentially, experts warn that unregulated antibiotic usage could end up starting an antibiotic-resistant superbug revolution, something we obviously hope to avoid at all costs.
One solution is to predict which patients are more likely to develop a secondary bacterial infection, and begin their treatment promptly and preemptively. Fortunately, with a little AI magic, Kirsty might have an answer.
To help those hospitalised and at risk from secondary bacterial infections, the researchers developed LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator). This technique analysed blood samples from COVID-19 patients across six countries, identifying seven genes whose expression levels could predict the risk of developing a secondary bacterial infection within 24 hours of hospital admission.
Dr Meagan Carney, a key researcher on the project, emphasises that LASSO has the potential to revolutionise antibiotic prescription, and put doctors more at ease during the process. Further, Carney explains that the LASSO technique is a relatively simple method compared to the complex AI algorithms often discussed in the media. Its straightforwardness could make it easier for scientists from other fields to build upon the procedure, and accelerate the adoption of data science in the medical industry.
We should strive towards making data science less of a black box and inspire scientists across the world to better understand how it can revolutionise the medical industry, she remarks.
The findings of this research have been published in Lancet Microbe and can be accessed here.
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Just last month, a study highlighted the alarming speed at which the highly contagious COVID variant JN.1 could spread, even among vaccinated individuals. Researchers attributed this heightened transmissibility to JN.1 being one of the most immune-evading variants of SARS-CoV-2 identified to date.
But now, early vaccine data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has offered a glimmer of hope. According to a report by CNN, data indicates that the latest COVID-19 vaccine can reduce the risk of symptomatic infection by half.
Vaccine manufacturers had adapted their formulations to target the Omicron variant XBB.1.5 that was predominant in the US throughout much of 2023. Encouragingly, the new CDC data suggests that these updated vaccines also exhibit similar efficacy against JN.1.
The CDC report reveals that the updated COVID-19 vaccines provide 54% protection against symptomatic infection in recently vaccinated immunocompetent adults, compared to those who did not receive the updated vaccine. These findings are reassuring for all, even in the absence of data on vaccine effectiveness in immunocompromised individuals.
Despite this positive development, experts caution that the latest COVID-19 vaccines may not consistently prevent infections caused by JN.1 or other Omicron subvariants, but they can mitigate the severity of the disease. They emphasise that vaccination's aim isnt just preventing infection, but also reducing the seriousness of infections.
Turning to India's JN.1 situation, experts foresee a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the virus's spike protein mutation, which enhances its infectiousness. Indeed, the country is already witnessing an upward trend in infections, The Times of India reports.
Fortunately, JN.1 typically induces mild illness, primarily manifesting as upper respiratory symptoms. Moreover, the prevalence of hybrid immunity among the Indian population is sure to keep it reasonably protected.
Nevertheless, medical professionals advise against complacency, given the virus's propensity to mutate. While panic is unwarranted, adherence to COVID-appropriate behaviourmask-wearing, avoiding crowded settings and maintaining hand hygieneremains crucial.
Individuals with underlying health conditions and the elderly should exercise heightened caution to minimise the risk of infection. Normal life and travel must go on, albeit while maintaining vigilance and adhering to preventive measures.
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