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British health officials on Wednesday (September 28) warned that increased circulation of flu and a resurgence in Covid-19 could lead to a difficult winter that increases pressure on the already stretched NHS. Warnings over a possible "twindemic" of Covid-19 and flu have been issued each winter since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, but Covid restrictions that limited social contact have meant flu levels stayed low. However, the government ended coronavirus restrictions earlier this year, meaning that social contact rates have returned to near pre-pandemic norms while immunity to flu is relatively low. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that given the risk it was important those eligible took up vaccines against Covid and flu. "There are strong indications we could be facing the threat of widely circulating flu, lower levels of natural immunity due to less exposure over the last three winters and an increase in Covid-19 circulating," said Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor at UKHSA.

At times, vaccines can become a controversial topic. People often have strong opinions about where protecting society as a whole stops and an individual's rights start. With COVID-19 in the news and the potential for a vaccine, the topic is not going away any time soon. If you're a healthcare worker, vaccine requirements are likely not new to you. But can employers mandate vaccines, and can you refuse? Keep reading to find out more.

The world has never been in a better position to end the Covid-19 pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization said on September 14, his most optimistic outlook yet on the years-long health crisis which has killed over six million people. "We are not there yet. But the end is in sight," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a virtual press conference. That was the most upbeat assessment from the UN agency since it declared an international emergency in January 2020 and started describing Covid-19 as a pandemic three months later. The virus, which emerged in China in late 2019, has killed nearly 6.5 million people and infected 606 million, roiling global economies and overwhelming healthcare systems. The rollout of vaccines and therapies have helped to stem deaths and hospitalisations, and the Omicron variant which emerged late last year causes less severe disease. Deaths from Covid-19 last week were the lowest since March 2020, the U.N. agency reported.

The world's first human challenge trial in which volunteers were deliberately exposed to Covid-19 to advance research into the disease was found to be safe in healthy young adults, one of the companies running the study said on Wednesday. The data supports the safety of this model which could theoretically provide a "plug and play" platform for testing therapies and vaccines using the original Covid-19 strain as well as variants of the virus, Open Orphan, which carried out the study, said in a statement. Open Orphan is running the project, launched a year ago, with Imperial College London, the UK government's vaccines task force and the clinical company  hVIVO. The trial infected 36 healthy male and female volunteers aged 18-29 years with the original SARS-CoV-2 strain of the virus and closely monitored them in a controlled quarantined setting. They will be followed up for 12 months after discharge from the quarantine facility.

Future pandemics could be even more lethal than Covid-19 so the lessons learned from the outbreak must not be squandered and the world must ensure it is prepared for the next viral onslaught, one of the creators of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine said. "The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both," Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert said in the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, the BBC reported. "This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods." Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford, said the world should make sure it is better prepared for the next virus. "The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost," she said. Efforts to end the Covid-19 pandemic have been uneven and fragmented, marked by limited access to vaccines in low-income countries while the "healthy and wealthy" in rich countries get boosters, health experts say.

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.

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.

Pharmadoctor, a company which provides clinical service packages to pharmacists, has announced the launch of the UK's first private Covid vaccination service via its nationwide network of partner community pharmacies. For the first time, people who are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine (those aged 12 years and over) will be able to get the shots from their local independent pharmacy by paying as little as £45 per jab, the company said. The delivery of the new service is expected to start by 1st April at the latest by "thousands of pharmacists" using the Pharmadoctor eTool. To encourage pharmacists to sign up early to provide the service, the company is offering its package at half-price until 31st March.

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.

Community pharmacists in England have slammed the government's latest decision to reduce the number of people who get a free winter flu jab in the 2022-23 flu season, as concerns related to Covid-19 still exist. This follows a letter from the NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) to clinicians, which stated that the flu vaccination service in 2022-23 will be offered to patient groups eligible in line with pre-pandemic recommendations. The eligibility was widened significantly after the pandemic struck in 2020 to help reduce the death toll from the Covid-19. With the change in place people aged 50-64 and schoolchildren aged 11-15 will not be eligible to receive the free jabs on the NHS next winter, pushing millions of people to pay for their jabs privately. It further recommended that vaccination for frontline healthcare workers and social care workers should be provided by employers as part of the organisation's policy to prevent the transmission of infection.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has cautioned that measures to protect people against Covid-19 must be stepped up in the wake of discovery of the new variant, B.1.1.529. It has urged members of the public to practice 'hands, face, space and ventilation' protection measures which have become less used in the last few months. RPS director of pharmacy Robbie Turner said that though it was too early to conclude about the transmissibility or resistance of the new variant to current vaccines, quick action should be taken to protect the public. "Each one of us must take the necessary precautions of wearing a mask in higher risk situations, maintaining social distancing wherever possible, ensuring there's appropriate ventilation indoors when meeting others and washing our hands regularly." Encouraging people to take Covid vaccine, he said, it "is still our best defence against this virus".

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday (January 19) that restrictions re-imposed in England last month would be lifted by from next Thursday (January 27). In the latest development, the government has decided to end the guidance on working from home, asking employers to make adequate arrangements to return safely to work. From the start of next Thursday, mandatory certification based on vaccines and tests will end, however, organisations can still choose to use the NHS Covid Pass voluntarily. Besides, the legal mandate to wear face masks will go away from next week. Making a statement to the House of Commons on Covid-19, he said that infection levels are falling in England mainly because of the country's "extraordinary booster campaign". He noted more than 36 million Covid-19 booster jabs had been delivered, with over 90 percent of over-60s now given a third dose. "Our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally," Johnson added, while cautioning "the pandemic is not over". "I encourage everyone across the country to continue with all the cautious behaviours that we know help to keep each everybody safe."

Prime minister Boris Johnson has said he is cautious about rising cases of Covid in Europe, warning of gathering "storm clouds" of a new wave of coronavirus infections. He made the statement during a visit today (November 12) to a vaccination centre at a community pharmacy in Sidcup, London while encouraging people to come forward for Covid-19 boosters. The UK has had much higher rates of Covid-19 than the rest of Western Europe since the summer when Johnson scrapped coronavirus restrictions in England. However, rates in Britain are now coming down just as they are rising sharply in countries such as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Parts of Eastern Europe have also seen a sharp rise in cases.

Polio has been detected in sewage samples in London, the first sign since the 1980s that the virus could be spreading in the UK, but no cases have been found, authorities said. The risk of infection from the disease, which causes paralysis in children in under one per cent of cases, was also low because of high vaccination rates, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. The agency nevertheless encouraged parents to make sure their children were vaccinated after the discovery of the virus during routine wastewater surveillance - particularly those who may have missed shots during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nationwide vaccination levels are above the 90 per cent needed to prevent outbreaks, but London's coverage rates among the under-twos has dipped below that in recent years. NHS England will begin contacting parents of children under five who are not immunised. Polio, spread mainly through contamination by faecal matter, used to kill and paralyse thousands of children annually worldwide. There is no cure, but vaccination brought the world close to ending the wild, or naturally occurring, form of the disease.

Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has asked the government and the NHS to give more support to all community pharmacies as they gear up for "an extremely challenging winter period." During talks with NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) last week, PSNC highlighted that contractors are already under pressure because of workforce crisis, capacity issues and escalated staffing costs. all these factors could pose a bigger challenge during the busy winter season, it said. Though PSNC supported the government's aim on booster vaccinations and approval of more pharmacy sites, it expressed concerns over the impact of the vaccination drive on all community pharmacies. To ease the pressure on pharmacies, the negotiator has sought additional support through regulatory measures, the removal of administrative burdens and changes to the current Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS).

Covid-19 vaccine maker Novavax on Wednesday said it expects revenue this year to be flat or lower as it works to improve its commercial performance and pick up market share from much larger rivals, Pfizer and Moderna. The company posted a larger-than-expected fourth-quarter loss as revenue lagged analysts' estimates. Chief executive John Jacobs said Novavax claimed just a low-single-digit percentage market share in the US during the most recent vaccination campaign, as demand for Covid vaccines was smaller than hoped and the company got its protein-based shot to market later than its messenger RNA-based rivals. "We were disappointed with that US performance," Jacobs said in an interview. He said the company's sales force was not targeted enough toward retail pharmacy chains, and that its 5-dose vials were not as convenient for use as rivals' pre-filled syringes.

Health and social care workers in England, including those working in community pharmacy, will no longer have to have a Covid jab as a condition of employment from later this month, the government said on Tuesday (March 1). The government had announced on January 31 that it intended to revoke the regulations that made vaccination compulsory, subject to the results of a public consultation. The decision was taken because the Omicron strain of the virus was less severe than the Delta variant, and due to high rates of vaccination of people in the UK. Health secretary Sajid Javid told parliament in a written statement that more than 90,000 health and social care workers and members of the public responded to the consultation.

Britain on Tuesday (January 4) faced warnings of an impending hospital crisis due to staff shortages caused by a wave of Omicron infections, as the country returned to work after Christmas. However, Britain's vaccine minister said hospitalised Covid-19 patients were showing less severe symptoms than before, adding that there was no need for further restrictions at this stage. Prime minister Boris Johnson resisted imposing stringent lockdown measures in England ahead of New Year as Omicron fuelled a spike in cases to record highs. While hospitalisations are rising they have not tracked the trajectory of daily cases, possibly reflecting the impact of vaccines and booster shots, the likely lower severity of Omicron and the time lag in people going into hospital. "At the moment, if you look at the people who have been hospitalised, they are going in with less severe conditions than before," minister for Vaccines and Public Health Maggie Throup told Sky News, adding that the "Plan B" Johnson brought in in December was working. "The numbers that are in hospital beds is about half what it was a year ago - and that just shows the power of the vaccine."

The University of Oxford on Tuesday said there was no evidence that vaccines would not prevent severe disease from Omicron, but that it was ready to rapidly develop an updated version of its vaccine developed with AstraZeneca if necessary. Earlier on Tuesday, the head of drugmaker Moderna said that Covid-19 shots were unlikely to be as effective against the variant, jolting global markets. The University of Oxford said that there was limited data on Omicron so far, and that it would carefully evaluate the impact of the variant on its shot, echoing an AstraZeneca statement last week. "Despite the appearance of new variants over the past year, vaccines have continued to provide very high levels of protection against severe disease and there is no evidence so far that Omicron is any different," it said in a statement.

The British scientists behind one of the major therapeutic Covid-19 trials have turned their focus to treatments for monkeypox, a viral disease that has been labelled a global health emergency by the World Health Organization. The team from Oxford University behind the so-called RECOVERY trial - which honed in on four effective Covid treatments - on Tuesday unveiled a new trial, dubbed PLATINUM, to confirm whether Siga Technologies' tecovirimat is an effective treatment for monkeypox. Although there are vaccines developed for the closely related smallpox that can reduce the risk of catching monkeypox, there are currently no treatments that have been proven to help hasten recovery in those who develop the disease. The UK has over 3,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox. The virus is transmitted chiefly through close contact with an infected person. It typically causes mild symptoms including fever, rash, swollen lymph nodes and pus-filled skin lesions. Severe cases can occur, though people tend to recover within two to four weeks. Siga's drug, branded Tpoxx, has been cleared to treat diseases caused by the family of orthopoxvirus that includes smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox by the European Union and United Kingdom, but due to limited trial data it is generally only used in severe cases in Britain.