Will your last COVID vaccine work against new ‘FLiRT’ variants?

...Both FLiRT variants are considered very similar to JN.1, health officials say, with early data suggesting only a couple of changes in their spike proteins.

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However, because the FLiRT variants are relatively new, there isn’t enough data to show whether the vaccine or immunity from a recent case of COVID will provide effective protection against them.

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Measles case confirmed as experts fear UK faces worst outbreak in 12 years A person who attended Wrexham Maelor Hospital in North Wales has been found to have had measles as experts fear the UK faces the worst outbreak of the infection in 12 years tim-hanlon The Mirror

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Almost 900 cases of the virus have been recorded in 2024 so far, compared with 368 cases recorded 2023, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), meaning England has seen more cases of the disease in the first four months of this year, than in the whole of last year.

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Researchers estimate vaccines have saved 154 million lives over past half-century

An international team of health and medical researchers including workers at the WHO, working with economists and modeling specialists, has found that the use of vaccines to prevent or treat disease has saved the lives of approximately 154 million people over the past half-century.

In their study, published in The Lancet, the group used mathematical and statistical modeling to develop estimates for lives saved due to vaccines and then added them together to find the total.

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Countries struggle to draft 'pandemic treaty' to avoid mistakes made during COVID After the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders worldwide vowed to do better next time but are still struggling to finalize a global plan. The World Health Organization is overseeing an effort to come up with an agreement for responding to the next pandemic. AP News

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