Health News Roundup: Serum Institute to produce Ebola vaccine for use in Uganda outbreak; Xi says China will seek to lift birth rate in face of ageing population and more

While there is no known cure, three injections of the vaccine provide nearly 100% immunity. China reports 921 new COVID cases for Oct 16 vs 1,026 a day earlier China reported 921 new COVID-19 infections on Oct. 16, of which 245 were symptomatic and 676 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Monday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Serum Institute to produce Ebola vaccine for use in Uganda outbreak

The Serum Institute of India plans to manufacture 20,000 to 30,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine by the end of November for use in trials against an outbreak in Uganda, its developers and a company source said. The response to Uganda's outbreak has been blunted by the absence of a proven vaccine against the Sudan strain of the virus.

Xi says China will seek to lift birth rate in face of ageing population

China will enact policies to boost its birth rate, President Xi Jinping said on Sunday, as policymakers worry that an imminent decline in China's population could hurt the world's second-biggest economy. "We will establish a policy system to boost birth rates and pursue a proactive national strategy in response to population ageing," Xi told some 2,300 delegates in a speech opening the once-in-five-year Communist Party Congress in Beijing.

Moderna signs deal on variant-adapted COVID shots for world's poorest

Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) has agreed to provide its new variant-adapted COVID-19 vaccine to the global scheme aiming to deliver shots to the world's poorest people. The biotech company and vaccine alliance GAVI will cancel their existing supply deal for vaccines based on the original coronavirus strain. Instead, Moderna will supply up to 100 million doses of its new, variant-adapted vaccines at its lowest available price from 2023.

Mariachi bands fire up fading memories of Mexican Alzheimer patients

Mariachi bands have long been a staple of Mexican culture, and now their lively songs are finding a new use: reawakening the memories of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The Mexican Alzheimer's Center is promoting the therapy, hoping the music will stir up recollections of times past among patients with the degenerative illness, encouraging them to sing or even dance to familiar old tunes.

Shanghai reports no symptomatic, 32 asymptomatic COVID cases for Oct 16

Shanghai reported no new domestically transmitted symptomatic coronavirus cases for Oct. 16, the same as a day earlier, and 32 local asymptomatic cases, up from 28 the previous day, the city government said on Monday. No cases were reported outside quarantined areas, the same as the previous day.

U.S. health regulator extends review of Biogen's ALS drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has extended the review of Biogen Inc's experimental treatment for an inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by three months, the company said on Monday. Biogen said it had submitted responses to the FDA's information requests, which the agency said would require additional time for review and set a new target action date of April 25, 2023.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledge $1.2 billion to eradicate polio

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said on Sunday that it will commit $1.2 billion to support efforts to end all forms of polio globally. Polio is a highly infectious disease spread mainly through contamination by faecal matter, used to kill and paralyse thousands of children annually. While there is no known cure, three injections of the vaccine provide nearly 100% immunity.

China reports 921 new COVID cases for Oct 16 vs 1,026 a day earlier

China reported 921 new COVID-19 infections on Oct. 16, of which 245 were symptomatic and 676 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Monday. That is compared with 1,026 new cases a day earlier – 244 symptomatic and 782 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.

Lower-cost U.S. hearing aids go on sale Monday

Major U.S. retailers will begin selling lower-cost hearing aids without a prescription or medical exam under final Biden administration rules that take effect Monday. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August approved the sale of over-the-counter hearing aids, allowing millions of Americans to buy hearing aids without seeing an audiologist and potentially saving individuals thousands of dollars.

With no monkeypox vaccine at home, frustrated Mexicans go abroad

As monkeypox continues to impact gay and bisexual men in dozens of countries around the world, at-risk Mexicans are going abroad for vaccines they say their government has not bothered to make available at home. Mexico ranks ninth globally in total cases, according to the World Health Organization, but officials have not announced plans to acquire vaccines even as other Latin American countries receive shipments.