Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) in France remains one of the lowest in the European Union, prompting health professionals to warn of a risk to public health and the importance of vaccinating boys too.
On Tuesday (6 June), EU health agencies recommended updating COVID-19 vaccines to target XBB strains, a subgroup of Omicron, with hopes to advance protection from infection and mild-symptomatic disease.
The negotiations that led to the European Commission brokering the controversial COVID-19 vaccine contracts with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer remain "a business secret", the chairman of Pfizer France told French Senators during a hearing on Wednesday (29 March).
Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary have demanded that the European Commission renegotiate the conditions for the supply of COVID vaccines manufactured by Pfizer. The health ministers of the four countries tabled a joint request during an EU Council meeting on 14 March.
The New York Times is suing the European Commission for failing to make public the text messages exchanged between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The EU and the US are expected to extend the mutual recognition for manufacturing standards to plasma and vaccines, as well as to keep monitoring the worrying protectionist developments in China on medical devices.
European populations are growing older, increasing the burden on already struggling health systems, but one way of reducing the burden is through adult immunisation programmes to combat vaccine-preventable diseases.
The EU's medicines watchdog said Wednesday (10 August) it aims to approve this autumn a Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine adapted for two fast-spreading subvariants of the Omicron strain.
A Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) waiver is neither useful nor effective in solving global vaccination issues, and comes with plenty of negative consequences, writes Pieter Cleppe.
Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Friday (17 June) reached an agreement to waive certain parts of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), though the deal has been criticised by both pharmaceutical firms and civil society groups.
The World Trade Organization agreed on the first change to global trading rules in years 17 June as well as a deal to boost the supply of COVID-19 vaccines in a series of pledges that were heavy on compromise.
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi announced on Monday (13 June) encouraging results for its new generation vaccine against COVID, developed in collaboration with British company GSK, after two conclusive clinical trials.
The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker, is considering setting up its first manufacturing plant in Africa as it looks to expand globally after its success in selling COVID-19 shots, its CEO said on 23 May.
The European Commission is leading talks on a waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights on COVID vaccines and treatments. However, critics from the pharmaceutical industry argue that changes to the current IP system could jeopardise research and development in their sector.
A broad international platform of activists, unions and experts has urged India and South Africa to reject the leaked compromise on intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, which the European Commission considers the ‘most promising path’ to sort out the issue.
We need better tools to end TB and AMR, and the EU can and must lead these efforts, writes Nicolae Ștefănuță.
Leading economists have urged South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to reject an EU and US compromise that would provide a temporary waiver on the intellectual property rights on COVID vaccines, warning that “a bad deal is worse than no deal".
The global project to share COVID-19 vaccines is struggling to place more than 300 million doses in the latest sign the problem with vaccinating the world is now more about demand than supply.
An Omicron-specific booster could be ready by August, the CEO of U.S. biotech firm Moderna told Reuters, but the firm is still gathering clinical data to determine whether that vaccine would offer better protection than a new dose of the existing jab.
The EU on Monday (14 February) stood by its refusal to lift patent protections on Covid vaccines, just days ahead of a summit with African Union countries who see the issue as a priority.
Paris police said Thursday (10 February) they would ban so-called "freedom convoys" inspired by a truckers' protest against coronavirus restrictions that has paralysed the Canadian capital Ottawa.
Top European Union officials said on Wednesday (9 February) low absorption of COVID-19 vaccines in African countries had become the main problem in the global vaccine rollout following a recent increase in supplies of jabs.
EU countries need to further develop tracking tools to monitor vaccine rates, the director of the EU's infectious disease agency (ECDC) said, amongst talks of centring the role of digital health in preventative care.
Germany's expert panel on vaccine use (STIKO) on Thursday (3 February) recommended Novavax's protein-based COVID-19 vaccine for basic immunisation for people over 18.