Health News Roundup: Australia to expand rollout of fifth COVID vaccine shot; Why Europe's drug shortages may get worse and more

A paper by Gao and colleagues published in the Lancet medical journal on Wednesday showed that no new variants had emerged in the initial weeks of China's recent outbreak, after the end of its zero-COVID policy saw a huge wave of cases. Japan to end blanket COVID testing for Chinese travellers -FNN Japan is arranging to relax border control measures for visitors from China as early as this month, Japanese broadcaster FNN reported on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Risk to humans from H5N1 bird flu remains low but we must prepare - WHO

The recent spread to mammals of H5N1 influenza - commonly known as bird flu - needs to be monitored, but the risk to humans remains low, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. H5N1 has spread among poultry and wild birds for 25 years, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in a virtual briefing, but the recent reports of infections in mink, otters and sealions "need to be monitored closely".

Biden to push for insulin cost caps, but unlikely to secure Congressional approval

U.S. President Joe Biden will call for a nationwide cap of $35 a month on out-of-pocket insulin costs during his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, but is unlikely to get his wish as it lacks enough Congressional support. Democrats failed to pass a similar measure last year when they controlled both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Back then they only needed 10 Republican votes in the U.S. Senate to pass it.

World should 'calm down' about China COVID variants - Chinese scientist

The world should "calm down" about the possibility of new COVID-19 variants circulating in China, leading Chinese scientist George Gao said. A paper by Gao and colleagues published in the Lancet medical journal on Wednesday showed that no new variants had emerged in the initial weeks of China's recent outbreak, after the end of its zero-COVID policy saw a huge wave of cases.

Japan to end blanket COVID testing for Chinese travellers -FNN

Japan is arranging to relax border control measures for visitors from China as early as this month, Japanese broadcaster FNN reported on Wednesday. Japan plans to end blanket testing of COVID-19 for all travellers from China upon arrival, the broadcaster said. It will continue requiring negative COVID tests before departure, it said.

Doctor accused of spreading deadly meningitis arrested in Mexico

Mexican police detained a medical doctor and two others on Tuesday, all implicated in causing a meningitis outbreak in northern Mexico, after a surge of local cases in recent months led to the death of at least 35 women. Another 79 people have been hospitalized with signs of infection.

Australia to expand rollout of fifth COVID vaccine shot

Australia will roll out a fifth dose of COVID-19 vaccine later this month to all citizens aged 18 and above who have not contracted coronavirus or been vaccinated in the past six months, Health Minister Mark Butler said on Wednesday. The decision expands eligibility for the booster shot to include about 14 million people, more than half the country's population, who will be offered Omicron variant-specific vaccines from Feb. 20, Butler said.

CVS digs into primary care with $9.5 billion Oak Street Health deal

CVS Health Corp will buy Oak Street Health Inc for about $9.5 billion in cash, joining rivals in adding primary care to its portfolio as pressure mounts on its health insurance business. Oak Street is losing money and not expected to contribute to CVS earnings for years, but analysts said the deal is strategically sound and shares of the multi-business company were up 4.5%.

Texas sues Biden administration for asking pharmacies to fill reproductive health prescriptions

Texas sued the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday to prevent it from asking pharmacies to fill reproductive health prescriptions. The Biden administration said in July 2022 that refusing to fill prescriptions for drugs that could be used to terminate a pregnancy could violate federal law, regardless of various state bans on the procedure.

Factbox-Which CVS rivals also own primary care services

CVS Health Corp is moving deeper into primary care with its planned $9.5 billion deal for Oak Street Health announced on Wednesday, giving it a bigger role in healthcare services in line with many of its rival. Here is a list of some big companies that are also providing medical services or have announced similar deals:

Why Europe's drug shortages may get worse

When Ignasi Biosca-Reig heard there were shortages of amoxicillin in Spain, he quickly added shifts at his drug company's factories to boost production of the popular antibiotic. But a few extra shifts was as far as he could go. Much as he would have liked to significantly increase supplies, Biosca-Reig said he couldn't justify investing millions of euros in new production lines unless he was paid more for the generic drug to cover sharply rising costs.

(With inputs from agencies.)