SouthEast Asia

Study suggests vaccination plays role in making Omicron waves less severe CIDRAP

A new analysis suggests that the Omicron variant has comparable intrinsic severity to the ancestral (Wuhan) SARS-CoV-2 strain, but its effective severity is substantially lower because of vaccination.

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Case-patients with at least one dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or CoronaVac vaccine had significantly lower odds of mortality than unvaccinated patients, the authors said, with the lowest odds observed in people who had received three Pfizer doses (odds ratio, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.18 to 0.49).

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All countries 'dangerously unprepared' for future pandemics, says IFRC The world is "dangerously unprepared" for future pandemics, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) say in a report published on Monday, calling on countries to update their preparedness plans by year-end. Reuters Reuters

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Just a quarter of Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment orders will go to developing countries | Oxfam International

Some nations could be paying ten times the price of Paxlovid’s generic equivalent, as WHO chief calls for treatment access to battle acute and long COVID-19

Rich countries have secured almost three times as many courses of a World Health Organisation (WHO)-recommended COVID-19 medicine, Pfizer’s Paxlovid, according to new analysis from Oxfam and the People’s Vaccine Alliance.

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