WASHINGTON (AP) — A first-of-its-kind RSV vaccine for pregnant women guards their newborns against the scary respiratory virus -– and federal health advisers on Thursday backed Pfizer's shot despite some lingering questions.
COVID-19 vaccine maker Novavax to chop workforce, expenses
May 9, 2023 GMTNovavax is cutting about a quarter of its global workforce as the COVID-19 vaccine maker seeks to slash expenses while dealing with uncertain future revenue.
The company said Tuesday that it expects to trim next year’s costs for research and development as well as selling, general and administrative expenses by about 40% to 50% compared to 2022.
Moderna tops 1Q forecasts; vaccine sales plunge as expected
May 4, 2023 GMTSales of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine plunged in the first quarter and some expenses soared, but Wall Street expected this and the drugmaker topped expectations.
Moderna said Thursday that revenue from its Spikevax vaccine tumbled to $1.83 billion in the quarter from nearly $6 billion a year ago.
Mexico develops own COVID-19 vaccine, 2 years late
May 4, 2023 GMTMEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials celebrated Wednesday the announcement that the country finally developed its own COVID-19 vaccine, more than two years after inoculations from the U.S., Europe and China were rolled out.
Bolsonaro home searched as Brazil probes fake vaccine cards
May 3, 2023 GMTBRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Federal Police searched former President Jair Bolsonaro’s home and seized his phone Wednesday in what they said was an investigation into alleged falsification of COVID-19 vaccine cards.
US approves 1st vaccine for RSV after decades of attempts
May 3, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. approved the first vaccine for RSV on Wednesday, shots to protect older adults against a respiratory virus that’s most notorious for attacking babies but endangers their grandparents, too.
Pfizer tops Q1 forecasts; vaccine sales slide as expected
May 2, 2023 GMTPfizer beat first-quarter forecasts as revenue took an expected dip, but the drugmaker predicted a sales rally later this year.
The pharmaceutical giant said Tuesday that total revenue dropped 29% in quarter, as sales tumbled for its market-leading COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty.
Djokovic can return to US Open; vaccine mandate ends May 11
May 2, 2023 GMTNovak Djokovic can return to the U.S. Open this year after missing the tournament in 2022, because the federal government's COVID-19 vaccination mandate for foreign air travelers ends next week.
US to lift most federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates next week
May 2, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will end most of the last remaining federal COVID-19 vaccine requirements next week when the national public health emergency for the coronavirus ends, the White House said Monday.
FACT FOCUS: COVID vaccines are not in the food supply
April 25, 2023 GMTAnti-vaccine advocates have for years used foreboding imagery of syringes to paint immunizations as dark and dangerous. But recent vaccine conspiracy theories are casting an air of fear around more mundane things — like cows and lettuce.
UNICEF: 12.7 million children in Africa missed vaccinations
April 20, 2023 GMTJOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nearly 13 million children missed one or more vaccinations in Africa between 2019 and 2021 because of the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the continent vulnerable to even more outbreaks of disease and facing a “child survival crisis,” a new report from UNICEF said Thursday.
Anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. launches presidential campaign
April 19, 2023 GMTBOSTON (AP) — Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched his longshot bid to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination next year.
Judge: Mississippi must give religious exemption on vaccines
April 18, 2023 GMTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi must join most other states in allowing religious exemptions from vaccinations that children are required to receive so they can attend school, a federal judge has ruled.
Promising new malaria vaccine for kids approved in Ghana
April 13, 2023 GMTDAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Ghana on Thursday became the first country to approve a new malaria vaccine for young children, one that officials hope will offer better protection against the disease that kills hundreds of thousands every year.
Moderna says potential flu vaccine needs more study
April 11, 2023 GMTModerna shares slipped Tuesday morning after the COVID-19 vaccine developer said its potential flu vaccine needs more study in a late-stage clinical trial.
The company said an independent data and safety monitory board found that the potential vaccine “did not meet the statistical threshold necessary to declare early success” in the study.
Report: Florida officials cut key data from vaccine study
April 8, 2023 GMTTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — An analysis that was the basis of a highly criticized recommendation from Florida's surgeon general cautioning young men against getting the COVID-19 vaccine omitted information that showed catching the virus could increase the risk of a cardiac-related death much more than getting the mRNA shot, according to drafts of the analysis obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.
Anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. challenging Biden in 2024
April 6, 2023 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and scion of one of the country’s most famous political families, is running for president.
Georgia House approves blocking COVID-19 vaccine mandates
March 23, 2023 GMTATLANTA (AP) — Any COVID-19 vaccine requirement by public schools, state agencies or local governments would be blocked under legislation given final approval by the Georgia House on Thursday.
The House voted 99-69 in favor of Senate Bill 1, which would make permanent what had been a one-year ban enacted in 2022.
Senators press Moderna CEO on COVID-19 vaccine price hike
March 22, 2023 GMTModerna’s CEO on Wednesday defended a plan to more than quadruple the company’s COVID-19 vaccine price, but he also said the drugmaker will work to ensure patients continue paying nothing at drugstores or clinics.
US agencies debunk Florida surgeon general’s vaccine claims
March 11, 2023 GMTORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — U.S. health agencies have sent a letter to Florida's surgeon general, warning him that his claims about COVID-19 vaccine risks are harmful to the public.
GOP panel ready to block new student vaccination mandates
March 7, 2023 GMTMADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans are preparing to again block a new policy from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers that requires students to get vaccinated twice against meningitis and tightening student chickenpox vaccination mandates.
Bulgaria scraps large quantities of expired COVID vaccines
March 6, 2023 GMTSOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian health authorities said Monday that 2.8 million of expired COVID-19 doses will be destroyed this year in addition to the 2.3 million doses that have already been scrapped in the country with the lowest vaccination rate in the European Union.
Djokovic withdraws after failed bid to play Indian Wells
March 6, 2023 GMTINDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Top-ranked Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the upcoming BNP Paribas Open, having lost his bid to enter the United States unvaccinated to play in the Southern California event.
Nurse faces legal action for ‘faking’ Spanish kids’ vaccines
March 2, 2023 GMTMADRID (AP) — Forty-two families in Spain are pursuing legal action against a nurse whom they allege faked the process of administering routine vaccines to their children, their lawyer said Thursday.
Troops who refused COVID vaccine still may face discipline
February 28, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The military services are still reviewing possible discipline of troops who refused the order to get the COVID-19 vaccine, defense officials told Congress on Tuesday, and they provided few details on how many of those who were forced out of the military would like to return.
Sliding vaccine sales, new costs, squeeze Moderna 4Q profit
February 23, 2023 GMTModerna’s fourth-quarter profit tumbled 70% as COVID-19 vaccine sales fell and the drugmaker caught up on a royalty payment.
Heavy research and development costs also weighed on Moderna as the vaccine developer looks to strengthen an income statement currently dominated by its Spikevax coronavirus preventive shots.
Flu vaccine worked well in season that faded fast, CDC says
February 22, 2023 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Early estimates suggest the flu vaccine performed well in a U.S. winter flu season that has already dissipated.
The vaccines were more than 40% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor's office, clinic or hospital, health officials said during a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccines meeting Wednesday.
Health care vaccine mandate remains as some push for an end
February 19, 2023 GMTLOWRY CITY, Mo. (AP) — At Truman Lake Manor in rural Missouri, every day begins the same way for every employee entering the nursing home's doors — with a swab up the nose, a swirl of testing solution and a brief wait to see whether a thin red line appears indicating a positive COVID-19 case.
NYC ending COVID-19 vaccination mandate for city employees
February 7, 2023 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — New York City, which once had the nation’s strictest workplace vaccination rules for COVID-19, is ending one of its last such mandates, saying it will no longer require the shots for municipal employees including police officers, firefighters and teachers.
Vaccine litigation lingers after lifting of military mandate
February 6, 2023 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal appeals court judges closely questioned a Biden administration attorney Monday on the consequences military personnel might face for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations, even though Biden's vaccine mandate for military personnel has been rescinded.
‘Died suddenly’ posts twist tragedies to push vaccine lies
February 4, 2023 GMTResults from 6-year-old Anastasia Weaver’s autopsy may take weeks. But online anti-vaccine activists needed only hours after her funeral this week to baselessly blame the COVID-19 vaccine.
A prolific Twitter account posted Anastasia’s name and smiling dance portrait in a tweet with a syringe emoji.
California won’t require COVID vaccine to attend schools
February 4, 2023 GMTSACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Children in California won't have to get the coronavirus vaccine to attend schools, state public health officials confirmed Friday, ending one of the last major restrictions of the pandemic in the nation's most populous state.
South Dakota Senate censures, reinstates suspended lawmaker
February 1, 2023 GMTPIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Senate on Wednesday censured and reinstated a Republican senator who was suspended last week amid allegations she harassed a legislative aide by telling the aide that she had harmed her child by getting him vaccinated.
Georgia lawmakers could bar COVID-19 vaccine rules for good
February 1, 2023 GMTATLANTA (AP) — Some Georgia senators want to permanently block schools and most state and local government agencies from requiring people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
In 2022, lawmakers put a one-year ban into law, part of a broad conservative nationwide backlash against mandates meant to prevent the spread of the respiratory illness.
Drugmaker Pfizer starts low with 2023 earnings forecast
January 31, 2023 GMTPfizer surprised Wall Street by predicting a bigger-than-expected sales drop this year for two key products: its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment.
The drugmaker also released on Tuesday an earnings forecast that starts off below analyst expectations as Pfizer begins what company leaders call a transition year for sales tied to the ongoing pandemic.
S. Dakota GOP leader: Senator accused of harassment
January 28, 2023 GMTPIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota's Senate Republican leader said Friday that a committee will investigate a suspended senator for allegedly harassing a legislative aide during an exchange over childhood vaccines and breastfeeding.
FDA’s advisers back plan to simplify COVID-19 vaccinations
January 26, 2023 GMTThe U.S. is poised to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like a yearly flu shot, a major shift in strategy despite a long list of questions about how to best protect against a still rapidly mutating virus.
US proposes once-a-year COVID shots for most Americans
January 24, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials want to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the annual flu shot.
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a simplified approach for future vaccination efforts, allowing most adults and children to get a once-a-year shot to protect against the mutating virus.
Defibrillators in telephone booths long preceded COVID
January 18, 2023 GMTCLAIM: British telephone booths are being retrofitted with defibrillators because the COVID-19 vaccines are causing more cardiac arrests.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. A movement to install defibrillators in telephone kiosks across the U.K.
Tennis player denies using fake COVID-19 travel certificate
January 17, 2023 GMTMELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Italian tennis player Camila Giorgi has denied allegations that she obtained a false COVID-19 vaccine certificate to allow her to travel.
A doctor is under investigation in Italy for supplying false certificates and fake vaccines and Giorgi’s name was revealed in a long list of people implicated by an Italian newspaper.
US kindergarten vaccination rate dropped again, data shows
January 12, 2023 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Vaccination rates for U.S. kindergarteners dropped again last year, and federal officials are starting a new campaign to try to bring them up.
Usually, 94% to 95% of kindergarteners are vaccinated against measles, tetanus and certain other diseases.
Pentagon drops COVID-19 vaccine mandate for troops
January 11, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon formally dropped its COVID-19 vaccination mandate Tuesday, but a new memo signed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also gives commanders some discretion in how or whether to deploy troops who are not vaccinated.
Hamlin’s collapse spurs new wave of vaccine misinformation
January 4, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Unfounded claims about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines proliferated in the hours and days after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during Monday's game, revealing how pervasive vaccine misinformation remains three years after the pandemic began.
State-run vaccination site at Mall of America shuts down
December 31, 2022 GMTMINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota health officials have closed their COVID-19 vaccination site at the Mall of America.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that health officials closed the site on Friday evening following a visit from Gov.
Naturopath who sold fake vaccine cards gets nearly 3 years
November 30, 2022 GMTSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A naturopathic doctor who sold fake COVID-19 immunization treatments and fraudulent vaccination cards during the height of the coronavirus pandemic was sentenced in California on Tuesday to nearly three years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
Polio is back in Indonesia, sparking vaccination campaign
November 28, 2022 GMTPIDIE, Indonesia (AP) — Children in school uniforms and toddlers with their parents lined up Monday for polio vaccinations in the Sigli town square on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, after four children were found infected with the highly contagious disease that was declared eliminated in the country less than a decade ago.
WHO, CDC: A record 40 million kids miss measles vaccine dose
November 23, 2022 GMTLONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say measles immunization has dropped significantly since the coronavirus pandemic began, resulting in a record high of nearly 40 million children missing a vaccine dose last year.
New Mexico urges flu, COVID immunization for children
November 16, 2022 GMTSANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State health officials are encouraging the immunization of children against flu and COVID-19 without making changes to its list of other vaccines required for school entry in the fall of 2023.
Youngkin, Gilbert oppose adding COVID vaccines to state list
October 21, 2022 GMTRICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Republican elected leaders said this week they will oppose any legislative effort to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the state's list of required immunizations.
FACT FOCUS: States, not CDC, set school vaccine requirements
October 20, 2022 GMTA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee on Thursday voted that the agency should update its recommended immunization schedules to add the COVID-19 vaccine, including to the schedule for children.
EU regulator clears Pfizer-BioNTech’s tweaked COVID booster
September 12, 2022 GMTLONDON (AP) — The European Medicines Agency has recommended the authorization of a tweaked booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine that includes protection against two of the latest versions of omicron, as countries look to bolster their immunization programs ahead of winter.
Sentencing set for naturopath who sold fake vaccine cards
August 10, 2022 GMTSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A naturopathic doctor charged with selling fake COVID-19 immunization treatments and fraudulent vaccination cards will be sentenced in November after a California judge on Wednesday denied her motion to withdraw her plea agreement.
US court sides with NY in fight over school vaccine rules
July 29, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Friday against a group of New York parents who sued after the state made it more difficult for children to get a medical exemption from school immunization requirements, which were tightened after a major measles outbreak in 2019.
25 million kids missed routine vaccinations because of COVID
July 15, 2022 GMTGENEVA (AP) — About 25 million children worldwide have missed out on routine immunizations against common diseases like diptheria, largely because the coronavirus pandemic disrupted regular health services or triggered misinformation about vaccines, according to the U.N.
Canada official warns of possible COVID resurgence ahead
June 30, 2022 GMTOTTAWA (AP) — Canada’s chief public health officer is warning of a possible COVID-19 resurgence in the fall and winter.
Theresa Tam said Thursday the circulating omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are even more transmissible and able to evade immunity than previous versions, making a rise in cases likely in coming weeks.
CDC touts vaccine for gay men for Florida meningitis surge
June 22, 2022 GMTORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Health officials on Wednesday recommended that men in Florida who have sex with other men get a meningococcal vaccine following one of the worst outbreaks among gay and bisexual men in U.S.
UK to offer vaccines to some gay, bisexual men for monkeypox
June 21, 2022 GMTLONDON (AP) — British health officials will start offering vaccines to some men who have sex with men and are at the highest risk of catching monkeypox, in an effort to curb the biggest outbreak of the disease beyond Africa.
ND set to administer COVID-19 vaccine to youngest children
June 21, 2022 GMTBISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota is receiving its initial order of 5,700 coronavirus vaccine doses for young children now that federal officials have endorsed the shots for youngsters ages 6 months to 5 years.
WHO: Monkeypox won’t turn into pandemic, but many unknowns
May 30, 2022 GMTLONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization’s top monkeypox expert said she doesn’t expect the hundreds of cases reported to date to turn into another pandemic, but acknowledged there are still many unknowns about the disease, including how exactly it’s spreading and whether the suspension of mass smallpox immunization decades ago may somehow be speeding its transmission.