Page 62 - Heca News Today

Canadian drug developer Medicago's plant-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, enhanced by GlaxoSmithKline's booster, was 75.3% effective against the Delta variant of the virus in a late stage study, the two companies said on Tuesday.

Africa has little chance of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic unless 70% of its population is vaccinated by end-2022, yet "extreme vaccine discrimination" is leaving the continent behind, a report published on Monday said.

As China prepares to open its $120 billion corn market to genetically modified (GM) seed, little-known Dabeinong Biotechnology hopes to reap the benefits of early biotech investments and a law keeping foreign firms on the sidelines.

South Africa is preparing its hospitals for more admissions, as the Omicron coronavirus variant pushes the country into a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday.

Nepal has detected its first two cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the health ministry said on Monday.

Future pandemics could be even more lethal than COVID-19 so the lessons learned from the outbreak must not be squandered and the world should ensure it is prepared for the next viral onslaught, one of the creators of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday he planned to issue a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private-sector employers that will go into effect on Dec. 27, calling it a "pre-emptive strike."

South Africa's Biovac Institute will start making Pfizer-BioNTech's , COVID-19 vaccine early next year after receiving the drug substance from Europe, a Pfizer executive said on Monday.

The Swiss blue-chip SMI was seen opening 0.9% higher at 12,280 points on Monday, according to premarket indications from bank Julius Baer .

At least 17 COVID-19 cases, including a probable case of the Omicron variant, have been detected among passengers and crew on a cruise ship that disembarked in New Orleans over the weekend, Louisiana health officials said.