(2022-03-06). Indian Government Recommends Permission for Phase 3 Trial of Sputnik Light Vaccine as Booster Dose. sputniknews.com Last month, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) granted emergency use permission for the single-dose 'Sputnik Light' COVID vaccine in the country. A study has revealed that the coronavirus vaccine Sputnik Light is expected to provide a high level of protection against severe disease and hospitalisation in the face of the Omicron strain.
(2022-03-06). Total vaccine jabs in Iran hit 142.8mn. en.mehrnews.com According to the Iranian Health Ministry on Sunday, the total number of vaccines injected into Iranian people has reached 142,884,337.
(2022-03-06). Russia's COVID-19 case tally grows by 79,863, a new low since January 26 — crisis center. tass.com The country recorded 744 deaths and 149,060 recoveries over the past 24 hours…
(2022-03-06). EU comments on warplanes for Kiev. rt.com 
Ukraine insists it needs jet fighters to repel the Russian attack | European Council President Charles Michel has said that the bloc's military aid to Ukraine will not include jet fighters, which Kiev has insisted it badly needs to fend off the ongoing Russian invasion. | "The European Union is definitely not at war with Russia. A war is what Russia has launched against Ukraine, a country very friendly and very close to the EU. That is why we support Ukraine on all levels," Michel said in an interview with several European newspapers on Saturday. | The chief of the EU's top political body confirmed that the EU…
(2022-03-05). [Perspectives] Apartheid logic in global health. thelancet.com "All my friends were dead by then and I knew I was dying too. The doctors said less than a year. But they started me on the new drugs anyway. That was 1989…y ahora, I'm still here with my twelve cats——los doce discípulos, I call them, because they follow me everywhere", Manuel laughs and leans in as if to tell a secret, "even though they say I'm not supposed to have them because they can make people with HIV sick". Manuel spoke these words in Chicago, USA, in 2014, a quarter of a century after he was expected to have died.
(2022-03-05). COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness is rapidly waning in children. wsws.org Evidence from the CDC and New York state demonstrates that vaccine effectiveness for children has dropped considerably during the Omicron surge, underscoring the dangers posed by the Biden plan to ensure schools will remain open for in-person classes.
(2022-03-05). [Comment] Gefapixant for chronic cough. thelancet.com Chronic cough is responsible for a decrease in quality of life. Chronic cough affects approximately 5—10% of the global population1,2 and might be complicated by incontinence, cough syncope, and dysphonia, leading to social embarrassment and subsequent social isolation and depression or anxiety.3,4 In some people, cough is associated with a treatable underlying disease such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Many of these individuals might respond to treatments targeting the primary cause.
(2022-03-05). [Comment] Prioritise research on vaccines for pregnant and breastfeeding women. thelancet.com Pregnant women, their fetuses, and infants are at increased risk of severe disease and death from many vaccine-preventable diseases, including COVID-19.1,2 However, they are typically excluded from pre-implementation vaccine research aimed at generating robust data in support of evidence-informed decision making. This was initially the case with COVID-19 vaccines. In 2019, the PREVENT Working Group published 22 recommendations on how to include pregnant and breastfeeding women in vaccine research and implementation for emerging infections.
(2022-03-05). Guatemalan Water Defenders Celebrate Ten Years Of Resistance. popularresistance.org In Central America, as in many other parts of the world today, communities are being thrust into life and death struggles up against powerful interests to ensure clean water and health for their future generations. This is often the case where mining companies seek to dig up gold, silver, iron ore or other metals and minerals, disrupting or destroying precious water supplies in the process, and leaving behind massive quantities of toxic waste on the land. | With national and international laws designed to privilege such harmful activities in the name of so-called development and progress, it is vital to celebrate…
(2022-03-05). Chinese mainland reports 102 new local COVID-19 cases. ecns.cn The Chinese mainland on Friday reported 102 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said Saturday.
(2022-03-05). [World Report] Ukrainian health workers respond to war. thelancet.com Ukraine's civilian health workers are having to postpone usual care and focus instead on treating casualties following Russia's invasion. Salehya Ahsan reports.
(2022-03-05). New Zealand court bans strike by 10,000 health workers. wsws.org The decision to ban the health workers' strike points to the increasingly anti-democratic measures being used against the working class, as COVID spreads out of control and the cost of living soars.
(2022-03-05). Turkey ends remaining pandemic measures as over 200 die every day. wsws.org This ending of public health measures is based not on science and protecting the health of the population but on the profit interests of the ruling capitalist class.
(2022-03-05). [World Report] International Women's Day: dismay at alcohol and arms ties. thelancet.com Health advocates are concerned at the corporate capture of International Women's Day, with the alcohol industry and arms manufacturers backing a popular website. Sophie Cousins reports.
(2022-03-05). [Comment] Offline: Ukraine and the lessons of Alexander Herzen. thelancet.com A pandemic. And now war. A war, the UK's Ukraine Ambassador wrote last week "on the whole of the civilised world". The burden of war falls mostly on women and children. 10 million children younger than 5 years died in conflicts between 1995 and 2015. Women and children will now be dying from preventable causes in Ukraine. The health and humanitarian crisis afflicting Ukraine has received far too little attention. Consider those forcibly displaced. Although hard to predict, as many as 5 million people, up to three-quarters of whom will be women and children, are likely to become refugees.
(2022-03-05). [Perspectives] Sally Grantham-McGregor: pioneer in early childhood development. thelancet.com "I can still be horrified by the poverty in the world and how it affects children's development", says Sally Grantham-McGregor, Emeritus Professor of International Child Health at University College London (UCL), UK, and the doyenne of early childhood development (ECD). In pioneering work in Jamaica, she developed a low-cost early childhood intervention and showed that it can have long-term benefits for children. Now called Reach Up, it has been implemented in 16 countries, with several, including China and Peru, rolling it out as a national programme.
(2022-03-05). NPC deputy suggests boosting vaccine circulation in Greater Bay Area. ecns.cn Vaccines in Hong Kong and Macao should be distributed in accordance with those on the Chinese mainland, lifting barriers across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), Cai Weiping, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), said in Beijing on Saturday.
(2022-03-05). COVID-19 : Science and the quest towards a universal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. peoplesdispatch.org The complex and evolving patterns of viral infections make the quest for a universal vaccine difficult. In this episode, professor Satyajit Rath explains the scientific concepts pertaining to viral infections and the mechanisms of vaccines against them. He gives a historical perspective on the continuous efforts being made by scientists to develop universal vaccines for various infections, including SARS-CoV-2.
(2022-03-05). Educators and students on the US West Coast denounce the drive to war with Russia and lifting of COVID-19 mitigation measures. wsws.org Teachers and students in California, Washington, and Hawaii denounced both the drive to war and its use to draw attention away from the catastrophe of the COVID-19 pandemic which continues to kill thousands daily in the US.
(2022-03-05). 'Recovery Trial' finds anti-arthritis drug reduces severe COVID-19 mortality. peoplesdispatch.org The trial found that Baricitinib reduces the mortality of hospitalized patients by 13%. Baricitinib inhibits the enzymes of a specific family of enzyme called the Janus Kinase (JAK) family…
(2022-03-05). Milwaukee: First Starbucks in Wisconsin files for union election. fightbacknews.org Oak Creek, WI – On February 17, over 50 people gathered in front of Starbucks in Oak Creek, a suburb of Milwaukee, for an announcement that the workers at that location filed for a union election. Shortly after, it was announced that an additional Wisconsin Starbucks filed for a union election, this one in the tiny community of Plover. The election filing is one of at least 100 across the country where Starbucks workers demanded a union at their workplace. Except for the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Starbucks workers have worked through it all. | The workers at Starbucks are beset on all sides. While…
(2022-03-05). Two Months On: What's Happening With Met Police Probe Into 'Partygate' Scandal? sputniknews.com In late January, London's Metropolitan Police announced a criminal investigation into allegations of parties in Downing Street during COVID lockdowns between 2020 and 2021. The investigation came after the police received evidence from a separate inquiry on the alleged parties, conducted by senior civil servant Sue Gray.
(2022-03-05). Daniel H. Rosen's Argument Revisited on Post-Covid China. moderndiplomacy.eu According to Daniel H. Rosen's article "Xi Is Running Out of Time: China's Economy Heads for a Hard Landing," China's economy is on the verge of a "hard landing" and the Chinese Communist Party is in danger of losing its power. Some people are worried that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has missed an opportunity …
(2022-03-05). Capital mexicana levantará todas las restricciones anticovid. telesurtv.net La medida se establece puesto que desde el pasado mes la capital registra una caída en los números de casos positivos y fallecidos por la pandemia.