...while fast-tracking candidate vaccines represents a positive step forward in the race to stop these outbreaks and to improve global health security, it raises an important question. If vaccine candidates already existed for both of these viruses before the outbreaks began, then why weren’t investigational stockpiles of vaccine ready to go when the first cases were detected?
The World Health Organization (WHO) this week boosted the XBB.1.16 Omicron subvariant to a variant of interest (VOI) from a variant under monitoring (VUM), based on the latest assessments from its technical advisory group on virus evolution.
The subvariant is fueling India's biggest surge in about 7 months, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported another jump in the proportion of XBB.1.16 viruses.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in its weekly pandemic update said yesterday that COVID-19 cases and deaths declined over the last month, but added that levels are rising in 31% of countries, especially in two world regions.
Cases rise in India and the Middle East
Also, the WHO on March 30 added one more variant under monitoring to its list, XBB.1.9.1.
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