"pfizer-biontech-vaccine"

London: A third ‘booster’ dose of Covid-19 vaccine successfully raises antibody levels that neutralise the Omicron variant, according to laboratory findings. Published as a research letter in The Lancet, researchers including from the Francis Crick Institute and UCLH Biomedical Research, found that antibodies generated in people who had received only two doses of either the […]

As of Saturday, over 26.6 million vaccine doses had been administered throughout Italy.

Pregnant individuals reported pain at the injection site more frequently than their nonpregnant counterparts but fewer follow-up symptoms such as headache, chills, muscle pain and fever.

Nearly 51 per cent of Moderna recipients had full-body symptoms, compared with 48 per cent of people who got the Pfizer/BioNTech shot.

According to CNN, blood serum samples from people who had received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine "efficiently" neutralised a version of the virus.

The US and German companies said in a statement that the doses come on top of the 300 million initially ordered.

The research, published in the journal Nature Medicine, noted that the vaccine is effective against coronavirus variants carrying the N501Y and E484K mutations.

"While these findings do not indicate the need for a new vaccine to address the emerging variants, the companies are prepared to respond if a variant of SARS-CoV-2 demonstrates evidence of escaping immunity by the Covid-19 vaccine," Pfizer and BioNTech said in a statement on Wednesday.

In a yet-to-be peer reviewed research, scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch, tested the ability of blood serum from 20 individuals immunised with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to neutralise coronavirus engineered to carry the new mutations

EU regulators earlier noted there was no evidence to suggest the vaccine would not be effective against the new variant.

The Ministry of Health reported 2,191 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, which increased the country's overall infection tally to 585,545.

People aged over 65 as well as those with chronic ailments or at a high risk of infection will receive the vaccine in the first stage, and those aged over 50 in the second.

Health officials had feared the US Thanksgiving holiday in late November would lead to a fresh outbreak of the novel coronavirus after millions of Americans traveled to join friends and family.

The ministry opened registration for the vaccination campaign through an online application called "Sehaty", and said the vaccine would be "free for all citizens and residents".

Trudeau has previously said the country will receive 249,000 initial doses of the vaccine this month, the first 30,000 doses of which are expected to have arrived by Monday.

The US has the world's highest death toll of more than 299,000, and the largest number of cases, at 16.2 million -- including more than 1.5 million new cases in just the past week.

Britain on Wednesday gave emergency approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, with health officials set to use criteria based on age and vulnerability to decide the order of people to receive it.

As production of the two vaccines expands, 20 million will be reached in December, 30 million in January and 50 million in February, making 100 million total.

Priority groups will include care home residents, health and care staff, the elderly and the clinically extremely vulnerable.