COVID-19

Moderna’s new variant-busting COVID vaccine starting trial in Israel Study will assess how well special shot built to be Omicron-proof protects against infection; expert says Israel helping lead way in ‘the future of the fight against the pandemic’ timesofisrael

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“The Omicron component in this new vaccine works alongside the original vaccine formulation that targets the original strain. And while the Omicron component was made to target early Omicron variants, it is likely to also target well newer sub-variants of Omicron, including those that haven’t yet emerged,” he said...

BA.5 spurs new calls to fund next-generation COVID-19 vaccines The rise of the BA.5 variant is spurring new calls for funding for an Operation Warp Speed 2.0 to accelerate development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines that can better target new variants.&nb… aneklason The Hill

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WHO: COVID-19 cases rise for the 5th week, deaths stable GENEVA (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases reported worldwide rose for the fifth week in a row while the number of deaths remained relatively stable, the World Health Organization reported Thursday. AP NEWS

In the U.N. health agency’s weekly review of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO said there were 5.7 million new infections confirmed last week, marking a 6% increase. There were 9.800 deaths, roughly similar to the previous week’s figure.

UK Covid infections rise by almost 30% in a week Around 3.5 million people thought to have disease in first week of July the Guardian

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