Health News Roundup: Merck and Singapore sign deal on COVID-19 antiviral pill; White House adviser: Pfizer vaccine for kids may be ready by Thanksgiving and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Merck and Singapore sign deal on COVID-19 antiviral pill

Pharmaceutical company Merck announced on Wednesday a supply and purchase agreement with Singapore that will ensure it access to its experimental oral COVID-19 antiviral drug, the latest Asian country aiming to get supplies. The drug Molnupiravir is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the coronavirus and would be the first oral antiviral medication for COVID-19. Merck is seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the pill.

White House adviser: Pfizer vaccine for kids may be ready by Thanksgiving

Pfizer Inc's new vaccine for children aged five to 11 could be ready as early as November pending approval from federal regulatory health agencies, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeffrey Zients said on Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration has scheduled time to review the Pfizer/BionNTech application for emergency use with its advisory panel at the end of October, to be followed by recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Zients told CNN.

Sanofi says good results from flu vaccine with mRNA booster study

French healthcare company Sanofi said on Wednesday that it had found positive results from the first study into a high-dose influenza vaccine with a COVID-19 mRNA booster. Sanofi said the interim results from the study of Sanofi's Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent vaccine with Moderna's COVID-19 mRNA investigational booster dose showed the vaccines had similar immunogenicity responses and a similar safety and tolerability profile.

What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: Finland joins Sweden and Denmark in limiting Moderna vaccine

Moderna plans African vaccine plant as drugmakers urged to help poorest

Moderna plans to invest up to $500 million to build a factory in Africa to make up to 500 million doses of mRNA vaccines each year, including its COVID-19 shot, as pressure grows on the pharmaceutical industry to manufacture drugs on the continent. African countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) have been urging drugmakers for months to set up vaccine plants on the continent to help it secure supplies of COVID-19 shots that have been hoovered up by wealthier nations.

Germany does not expect extra covid curbs this winter - minister

Germany does not expect to have to impose any further coronavirus-related restrictions this autumn and over the coming winter, since the vaccination rate is higher than previously thought, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday. He said that a study by the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases had shown that the number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 was 5% higher than believed, meaning existing rules requiring people to show evidence of showing a negative test or having been vaccinated or recovered on entering an indoor space or event should be enough.

African Union to start talks with WHO on malaria vaccine rollout on continent

Africa will start talks with the World Health Organization about getting the first approved malaria vaccine to the continent as soon as possible, the African Union's top health official said on Thursday, amid calls for funding for drugs beyond COVID-19. John Nkengasong spoke a day after the WHO said RTS, S - or Mosquirix - developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline should be widely given to children in Africa. Experts said the recommendation was potentially a major advance against a disease that kills a quarter of a million African children each year.

U.S. judge blocks enforcement of near-total abortion ban in Texas

A federal judge temporarily blocked on Wednesday a near-total ban on abortion in Texas, the toughest such law in the United States, following a challenge from President Joe Biden's administration after the U.S. Supreme Court let it proceed. The action by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin prevents the state from enforcing the Republican-backed law, which prohibits women from obtaining an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, while litigation over its legality continues.

Germany recommends booster shots for J&J vaccine recipients

Germany's vaccine advisory committee recommends a booster mRNA COVID-19 vaccination shot for people who were inoculated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it said on Thursday. The committee, known as STIKO, said it had seen higher COVID-19 breakthrough infections and comparatively low vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant among people who had had a single shot of the J&J vaccine.

Finland joins Sweden and Denmark in limiting Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

Finland on Thursday paused the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for younger males due to reports of a rare cardiovascular side effect, joining Sweden and Denmark in limiting its use. Mika Salminen, director of the Finnish health institute, said Finland would instead give Pfizer's vaccine to men born in 1991 and later. Finland offers shots to people aged 12 and over.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)