Asia

Study suggests vaccination plays role in making Omicron waves less severe CIDRAP

A new analysis suggests that the Omicron variant has comparable intrinsic severity to the ancestral (Wuhan) SARS-CoV-2 strain, but its effective severity is substantially lower because of vaccination.

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Case-patients with at least one dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or CoronaVac vaccine had significantly lower odds of mortality than unvaccinated patients, the authors said, with the lowest odds observed in people who had received three Pfizer doses (odds ratio, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.18 to 0.49).

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Study: COVID-19 vaccination gives added protection against omicron infections in 5 to 17-year-olds A study by KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH), National Center for Infectious Disease and Ministry of Health in Singapore found that COVID-19 vaccination remained effective against omicron BA.4/BA.5 ... Science X

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Five- to 11-year-old children who are vaccinated with two COVID-19 vaccine doses have the highest immunity against omicron infections prior to the first infection.

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Japan to roll out COVID-19 booster targeting XBB subvariant in the fall A vaccine subcommittee under the health ministry is aiming to prepare for another spike in infections possibly arriving in the winter. Tomoko Otake The Japan Times

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COVID cases trend down in all world regions CIDRAP

Except for a few hot spots, COVID-19 activity over the past month declined in all six world regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its weekly update today.

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Though two of the countries reporting rising cases—Australia and China—are both in the WHO's Western Pacific region, cases in the area declined 5% over the past 28 days.

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