Seven days in medicine: 15-22 February
BMJ 2022; 376 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o442 (Published 24 February 2022) Cite this as: BMJ 2022;376:o442
Covid-19
Omicron booster study starts in UK
A UK trial has been launched to test one of the world’s first covid vaccines specific to the omicron variant.1 The study, by Moderna and the National Institute for Health Research, is being led by a team at St George’s University of London. It will see nearly 3000 participants receive a first or second booster, with half of the volunteers receiving a Moderna Omicron variant vaccine and the other half vaccinated with the commonly used Moderna covid vaccine Spikevax.
Six African countries to produce mRNA vaccines
Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia have been selected to receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines on the African continent, with training scheduled to start in March 2022. The move follows the establishment of an mRNA technology transfer hub in South Africa in June 2021 to support manufacturers in low and middle income countries in making their own mRNA vaccines at scale and to international standards. The scheme is supported by the World Health Organization, the Medicines Patent Pool, and Covax and the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.
EU discards 55 million covid vaccine doses
Analysis by the campaign group the People’s Vaccine Alliance found that the European Union will have to throw away 55 million doses of covid vaccines by the end of this month, substantially more than the 30 million doses that the EU …
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