Health News Roundup: Livzon Pharma's COVID-19 vaccine gets emergency use approval in China; Russia reports most daily COVID-19 cases since March and more

The veterans said in a lawsuit in federal court in Pensacola, Florida, that the spinoff was "little more than a formalism" intended to "wall off" assets, violating a Florida law barring debtors from fraudulently transferring assets in order to shield them from creditors. U.S. CDC advisers vote to back Omicron-specific COVID vaccine boosters Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday voted to recommend use of COVID-19 booster shots redesigned to target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus for people aged 12 years and older.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Livzon Pharma's COVID-19 vaccine gets emergency use approval in China

China's Livzon Pharmaceutical Group Inc's (Livzon) protein-based COVID-19 vaccine has obtained emergency use authorization as a booster from the Chinese medical products regulator, the company said in a filing on Friday.

Russia reports most daily COVID-19 cases since March

Russia recorded 50,952 new COVID-19 infections over the last 24 hours, the government's coronavirus task force said on Friday, the highest daily tally in almost six months. Case numbers have climbed across Russia over the last six weeks, fuelled by the spread of new highly-transmissible variants of the coronavirus.

Veterans seeking earplug damages sue to block 3M healthcare spinoff

Two U.S. military veterans on Thursday sued 3M Co to block the planned spinoff of its healthcare business, which they called an illegal attempt to avoid compensating veterans for hearing damage caused by the company's military-issue earplugs. The veterans said in a lawsuit in federal court in Pensacola, Florida, that the spinoff was "little more than a formalism" intended to "wall off" assets, violating a Florida law barring debtors from fraudulently transferring assets in order to shield them from creditors.

U.S. CDC advisers vote to back Omicron-specific COVID vaccine boosters

Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday voted to recommend use of COVID-19 booster shots redesigned to target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus for people aged 12 years and older. The panel members voted 13-to-1 in favor of both the updated boosters by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

U.S. CDC backs use of redesigned Omicron COVID boosters

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday recommended the use of redesigned COVID-19 booster shots for people aged 12 years and older to target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants of the coronavirus. The green light for the use of redesigned Omicron COVID boosters will enable millions of the retooled shots to roll out by the end of the weekend as part of a nationwide revaccination campaign.

Shenzhen extends COVID curbs as China battles multiple outbreaks

Parts of the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen extended curbs on public activities on Friday but stopped short of a full lockdown, as cities across China battled COVID-19 outbreaks that dampen the outlook for economic recovery. In the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu, which put its 21 million people under lockdown on Thursday, factories including plants run by auto giants Toyota and Volkswagen kept production running under self-contained "closed-loop" operations.

Philips subsidiary to pay over $24 million for alleged false claims for medical equipment

A subsidiary of Dutch medical device maker Philips has agreed to pay over $24 million to resolve alleged false claims over respiratory-related medical equipment, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. The subsidiary, Philips RS North America LLC, formerly known as Respironics Inc, resolved allegations that it misled federal healthcare programs by paying kickbacks to durable medical equipment suppliers, the Justice Department said in a statement.

J&J to pay $40.5 million to settle New Hampshire opioid lawsuit

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $40.5 million to settle New Hampshire's claims over the company's role in the U.S. opioid epidemic, averting a trial that had been scheduled to begin next week. Thursday's settlement resolves a lawsuit brought in 2018 against Johnson & Johnson and its Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit.

EU states urged to roll out COVID booster shots to fend off winter infections

EU countries should start offering COVID boosters to their populations now to contain a fresh wave of infections expected this autumn and winter, the bloc's executive said in a document seen by Reuters on Friday ahead of its official release. The Brussels-based European Commission said more than 2,300 people still die of COVID in the bloc every week, while other negative health consequences of the disease include long-COVID symptoms and mental problems.

Deadline looming, White House sees spike in demand for at-home virus tests

The White House on Thursday said Americans have increased requests for at-home COVID-19 tests as the federal government prepares to stop providing free tests on Friday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that "we're going to do everything we can to get people their tests."

(With inputs from agencies.)