Two COVID-19 antivirals get FDA nod for emergency use
Unlike in the case of remdesivir, both the drugs — Pfizer’s paxlovid and Merck’s molnupiravir — are oral pills and so can be administered outside hospital settings. These drugs are…
Is the current testing, sequencing strategy missing Omicron cases in India?
A November 30, 2021 circular from the health ministry clearly mentions that effective December 1, all passengers arriving from specified “at-risk” countries will be required to undergo an RTR-PCR test…
The new Omicron sub-lineage may not further increase transmissibility
Now, based on genome sequence data, scientists have identified a sub-lineage — BA.2 — of Omicron. As a result, the Omicron variant has been split into two sub-lineages, namely BA.1,…
How the idea of vaccine protection changed in one year
On this day last year (December 11, 2020), Pfizer’s vaccine for COVID-19 was granted an emergency use authorisation, and exactly a week later, Moderna’s vaccine was granted an EUA. On…
Does the Omicron variant make a case for booster doses?
At a recent meeting, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation maintained that it was not recommending a booster dose for any section of the population, priority groups included, in…
Groping in the dark on booster doses
Even when clamour from a few States for booster doses increased once the new variant with higher transmissibility causing a huge surge in cases in South Africa became known, the…
Mechanism of blood clots after Oxford vaccine administration found
Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome is a very rare serious adverse effects following vaccination using chimpanzee adenovirus Y25 (ChAdOx1), human adenovirus type 26 (HAdV-D26), and human adenovirus type 5 (HAdV-C5). In…
Criticised if delayed in sharing data, punished for diligently posting data
After the first infection by a new variant — it has 32 mutations in the spike protein alone — was confirmed from a specimen collected on November 9, Botswana and…
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