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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on Wednesday (9 January) announced that the novel type 2 oral polio vaccine (nOPV2) has been quality-assured (prequalified) by the World Health Organization (WHO). Developed by a team including scientists from the MHRA, nOPV2 is considered a safer polio vaccine that helps to protect children from the disabling and life-threatening disease and lower the risk of vaccine-derived outbreaks. The vaccine received WHO Emergency Use Listing three years ago, and since then 950 million doses have been delivered worldwide. The UN health agency's decision to add it to the list of prequalified vaccines is based on the analysis of outcomes in vaccinated populations that has confirmed strong safety profile and effectiveness.

Superdrug has reported more than 400 per cent spike in sale of the chickenpox vaccines in the UK. To protect children against the disease during chickenpox season, nearly nine out of 10 patients (87 per cent) have taken their wards under the age of five for vaccination in the last eight weeks. Chickenpox can be a seasonal disease with children usually catching it in the winter and spring, with UK peaks often between March and May. The last two years of spending time in and out of various lockdowns have meant less interaction between people, and so less transmission across the general population. Caris Newson, head of healthcare services at Superdrug, said: "One of the knock-on effects of Covid is that people have a greater awareness and understanding of the benefits that vaccines can offer. "We launched the chickenpox vaccination service five years ago in 2017 and it's now that we're beginning to see greater interest in how it can support family health. In fact, our fully qualified nurses have told us that they've had more parents ask about the chickenpox vaccination service, and word of mouth has then spread amongst parents and schools."

More than 7,000 hospitalisations and deaths in the UK could have been averted in summer 2022 if people had received their recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses, a new study published in The Lancet has revealed. The largest ever study carried out in the UK found that between a third and a half of the UK population had not had the recommended number of COVID vaccinations and boosters by summer 2022. In Northern Ireland, nearly 50 per cent of the population were under-vaccinated, while the proportion of under-vaccinated people in England was 45.7 per cent, 34.2 per cent for Scotland and 32.8 per cent Wales. Researchers from the Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and the University of Edinburgh analysed the electronic health records of 67 million residents aged 5 and older from across the four countries during June 1 to September 30 2022.

Britain has approved a new coronavirus vaccine by the Austrian-French drugmaker Valneva. "An approval has been granted after the Valneva Covid-19 vaccine was found to meet the required safety, quality and effectiveness standards," the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said in a statement on Thursday (April 14), adding: "It is also the first, whole-virus inactivated Covid-19 vaccine to gain regulatory approval in the UK." In vaccines such as Valneva's VLA2001, the virus is grown in a lab and then made completely inactive so that it cannot infect cells or replicate in the body but can still trigger an immune response. It is seen by some as having the potential to win over people wary of some which use new mRNA technology. Valneva CEO Thomas Lingelbach said that "this authorisation could pave the way for the availability of an alternative vaccine solution for the UK population."

The British scientist who led the research underpinning AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine said at the weekend that a new jab could be developed against the emerging Omicron variant "very rapidly" if needed. Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, also said existing vaccines should work against the new strain, but that would only become apparent after more research in the coming weeks. "It's extremely unlikely that a reboot of a pandemic in a vaccinated population like we saw last year (with the Delta variant) is going to happen," he told BBC radio. But if required, "The processes of how one goes about developing a new vaccine are increasingly well-oiled, so if it's needed that is something that could be moved very rapidly." In a statement, AstraZeneca said it had "developed, in close collaboration with Oxford University, a vaccine platform that enables us to respond quickly to new variants that may emerge".

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised booster vaccination to be offered this autumn (2023) for those at higher risk of severe Covid-19 in its interim advice to government on the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination programme for 2023. The JCVI also advised that for a smaller group of people, such as those who are older and those who are immunosuppressed, an extra booster vaccine dose in the spring should also be planned for. Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of Covid-19 vaccination on the JCVI, said: "The Covid-19 vaccination programme continues to reduce severe disease across the population, while helping to protect the NHS. That is why we have advised planning for further booster vaccines for persons at higher risk of serious illness through an autumn booster programme later this year. We will very shortly also provide final advice on a spring booster programme for those at greatest risk."

An alliance of companies has pledged to ensure equitable access to vaccines and treatments for pandemics, as the friction around intellectual property rights for Covid-19 interventions between the pharmaceutical industry and developing nations endures. At the heart of the plan is a commitment to set aside part of the production of vaccines and treatments upfront for vulnerable populations in low-income countries when the next pandemic arises, given how fragmented access to Covid tools has left many populations unprotected. In order to do better next time - and without knowing which companies will develop the first drugs and vaccines for the next pandemic - having the industry collectively make this commitment is potentially transformative, said Thomas Cueni, head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). The pledge, called the Berlin Declaration, was made on July 19 by members of the global pharmaceutical industry group that include many of the companies involved in developing Covid interventions, such as AstraZeneca, GSK, Moderna, Pfizer and Merck. The declaration is not legally binding. However, if a company that signed on reneges on its vow, it would face grave consequences in the court of public opinion, said Cueni.

A polio vaccine booster campaign is being launched for almost a million children in London aged between 1 and 9 after confirmation that poliovirus is spreading in the capital for the first time since the 1980s. The UK Health Security Agency has identified 116 polioviruses from 19 sewage samples this year in London, after first sending an alert about finding the virus in June. The levels of poliovirus found and genetic diversity indicated that transmission was taking place in a number of London boroughs, the agency said on Wednesday (Aug 10). Health secretary Steve Barclay said: "I recognise parents and guardians will be concerned about the detection of polio in London, however I want to reassure people that nobody has been diagnosed with the virus and the risk to the wider population is low… "Vaccines offer the best defence to children, and those around them, so I would encourage families to ensure they are up to date with their routine jabs, and to come forward for the polio booster as soon as they are contacted by the NHS."

A community pharmacist, Viral Doshi was honoured with the British Citizen Award (BCA) on Thursday (26 January) at the Palace of Westminster for transforming his community centre into vaccination hub during Covid-19 pandemic. Viral was presented with his Medal of Honour by Liam Sargeant, Senior Company Communications Manager, from supporters P&G and TV presenter and Patron of the BCA, Nick Knowles, who hosted the event. At the height of the pandemic, Viral obtained approval to transform his community centre into a vaccination hub. Located in the heart of a multi-ethnic population, with social deprivation, surrounded by wards experiencing high rates of Covid-19. His determination to increase uptake and reduce vaccination hesitancy, led to 80,000 vaccinations being administered, the overall highest vaccination uptake in North West London. Viral is a passionate advocate for the role that GP practices and community pharmacies can play in supporting the health agenda. His objective, to provide better choice and access for the community have been fully met and appreciated by patients. His initiatives led to a dramatic increase in the clinical skills, knowledge and services offered by local community pharmacies around a variety of health topics. This enabled pharmacies to adopt a holistic health approach to working with their communities.

Health secretary Sajid Javid urged people to book a Covid-19 booster shot on Wednesday (December 1) as he said there were 22 confirmed cases of the Omicron virus variant in the country. Javid said the government believed a booster campaign would help protect against severe disease from Omicron, even if it turns out that vaccines are not as effective against the variant as previous strains of the disease. He said he hoped to know more about Omicron within two weeks, as scientists work to understand what impact the new variant will have on transmissibility and serious disease. "At this point in time the case numbers are very low," Javid told Sky News. "For the UK we've got 22 confirmed cases at the moment and that will go up, it will certainly go up." Britain plans to offer all adults a Covid-19 booster shot by the end of January. Government data shows 81 per cent of the population aged over 12 have had two doses of the vaccine while 32 per cent have had a booster shot or third dose.

British drugmaker AstraZeneca says it's confident that its new version of COVID-19 antibody treatment could protect immunocompromised patients against all known virus variants. Laboratory studies show the antibody, called AZD3152, neutralises all known variants of COVID-19 and AstraZeneca has support from regulators to make the treatment available by the end of this year, the company's vaccines head Iskra Reic said on Tuesday (April 18). AstraZeneca plans, pending more positive data and regulatory approval, to make the antibody available by the end of 2023. These types of therapies are most needed for people with compromised immune systems, either because of underlying conditions or because they are undergoing immune suppressing treatments. They account for nearly 2% of the global population. AstraZeneca's AZD3152, it new COVID-19 antibody, was acquired through a $157 million deal last year with British biotech start-up RQ Bio. The British drugmaker will likely make future investments like its current partnerships with RQ Bio but did not have any deals to announce, said Reic, a long-time AstraZeneca executive who has led the company's vaccines and immune therapies unit since it was formed in late 2021, during the pandemic.

Britain will start to roll out Merck's molnupiravir Covid-19 antiviral pill through a drug trial later this month, Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency said on Sunday (November 7). Last week Britain became the first country in the world to approve the potentially game-changing Covid-19 antiviral pill, jointly developed by US-based Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. The government said in October it had secured 480,000 courses of the Merck drug, as well as 250,000 courses of an antiviral pill developed by Pfizer Inc. Asked about the molnupiravir approval, Hopkins told BBC television: "That is great news and it will start to be rolled out through a drug trial in the end of this month/the beginning of December." Hopkins said all the trials so far had been done with the unvaccinated, so this would help understand how it will work in the wider vaccinated population.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will jointly launch a new study to gather data on COVID-19 this winter. The Winter COVID-19 Infection Study (WCIS) will run from November 2023 to March 2024, involving up to 200,000 participants, UKHSA has said on Monday (October 2). UKHSA previously commissioned the Coronavirus Infection Survey (CIS), conducted by the ONS in collaboration with scientific study leaders from Oxford University, analysing more than 11.5 million swab tests and 3 million blood tests from April 2020 to March 2023. Meanwhile, the Winter CIS study involves conducting up to 32,000 lateral flow tests weekly, providing vital insights into COVID-19 prevalence in the broader community. The sample will be structured to broadly reflect key population characteristics.