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The Belgium-based European Council (EC) announced on January 25, 2022, it adopted a recommendation on a coordinated approach 'facilitating safe free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic.'
The recommendation will enter into force on February 1, 2022.
This EC recommendation responds to the significant increase in COVID-19 vaccine uptake and the rapid roll-out of the EU digital COVID certificate.
As of January 28, 2022, Europe reported about 70% of its population were vaccinated with a 'primary course.'
And, under the new EC recommendation, COVID-19 measures should be applied, taking into account the status of the person instead of the situation at a regional level, with the exception of areas where the virus is circulating at very high levels.
This means that a traveler's COVID-19 vaccination, test, or recovery status should be the key determinant, as evidenced by a valid EU digital COVID certificate.
And could require people to receive their booster shots to keep their COVID-19 passe valid.
'A person-based approach will substantially simplify the applicable rules and will provide additional clarity and predictability to travelers.'
However, persons who do not have an EU digital COVID certificate could be required to undergo a test before or no later than 24 hours after arrival. And travelers with an essential function or need, cross-border commuters, and children under the age of 12 should be exempt from this requirement.
Located in Brussels, the EC consists of the heads of state or government of the EU's member states, together with its President and the European Commission President. It defines the EU's general political direction and priorities. However, the Council recommendation is not legally binding instruments.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that global influenza levels remained low on January 24, 2022, and appeared to be dissipating.
The WHO's Influenza Update N° 411 says, 'The current influenza surveillance data should be interpreted with caution as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has influenced to varying extents global health-seeking behaviors.'
The National Influenza Centres and other national influenza laboratories recently reported data from 99 countries, areas, or territories. These laboratories tested more than 317,198 specimens and identified 16,862 positives for influenza viruses.
This data reflects a .05% infectious rate.
From a regional perspective, the WHO reported:
- In North America, influenza detections remained low compared to similar periods in past seasons (except 2020-2021). In addition, RSV activity continued to decrease in the USA and Canada.
- Some influenza activity was reported in the Caribbean and Central American countries with influenza A(H3N2) predominating.
- Europe, influenza activity appeared to decrease.
- In East Asia, influenza activity continued on an increasing trend in China, while influenza illness indicators and activity remained low in the rest of the subregion.
- Western Asia and Northern Africa, influenza transmission has been reported in some countries.
- In Tropical Africa, overall influenza activity continued on a decreasing trend.
- South America, influenza A(H3N2) detections remained elevated. In addition, severe acute respiratory infection levels were above the epidemic threshold in some countries.
- South-East Asia, sporadic influenza detections were reported in the Philippines.
And in the temperate zones of the Southern Hemisphere, influenza activity remained low overall, although increased detections of influenza A(H3N2) were reported in some countries in temperate South America.
The WHO's Global Influenza Programme monitors influenza activity worldwide and publishes an update every two weeks.
Separately, the U.S. CDC reported on January 21, 2022, 'influenza activity declined slightly again this week. While influenza activity is difficult to predict, it is expected to continue for several more weeks.'
The percentage of outpatient visits due to respiratory illness decreased nationally again this week but remained above baseline. And the number of hospital admissions reported to HHS Protect declined slightly this week.
Influenza contributes to respiratory illness levels, but other respiratory viruses are also circulating. Therefore, the relative contribution of influenza varies by location.
'There's still time to get vaccinated,' added the CDC.
'An annual flu vaccine is the best way to protect against flu and potentially severe complications.
The CDC recommends everyone six months and older get a flu vaccine. Flu vaccines are available at many locations, including pharmacies and health departments. Visit www.vaccines.gov to find a flu vaccine near you.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila announced today all airline passengers heading to the United States ages two years and older, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status or citizenship, must provide a negative COVID-19 viral test taken within one calendar day before travel.
Alternatively, travelers to the U.S. may provide documentation from a licensed healthcare provider of having recovered from COVID-19 in the 90 days preceding travel.
And please visit the U.S. CDC webpage for more information about exceptions and the requirement for proof of a negative COVID-19 test or recovery from COVID-19 for all air passengers arriving in the U.S.
Additionally, the CDC has determined that for entry into the U.S., acceptable COVID-19 vaccines include those U.S. FDA approved/authorized and vaccines Listed by the World Health Organization.
Furthermore, to ensure the health and safety of our clients and our staff, the U.S. Embassy in Manila has rescheduled all non-emergency appointments for U.S. passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad through January 31, 2022.
For more information, see the Embassy's Health Alert issued on January 19, 2022.
And according to the Philippine Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, several locations are currently under Alert Level 3 and 4 until January 31, 2022.
The Philippine government has also mandated everyone must wear face masks in public places.
In addition, the use of face shields is mandatory in medical and quarantine facilities, as well as during Alert Level 5, Enhanced Community Quarantine, and granular lockdowns.
Moreover, a recent presidential order empowers local officials to restrict the movements of unvaccinated individuals in the Philippines.
For more information on applying for an exception through the U.S. Embassy in Manila, visit this webpage.
The U.S. Embassy in Manila is located at 1201 Roxas Boulevard, Manila, Philippines 1000. Phone: (632) 5301-2000.
Note: before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of visitors to the U.S. from the Philippines exceeded 310,000 annually.
Cancer Research UK announced on January 24, 2022, it intends to invest £100 million over five years into Cancer Research UK Centres in Cambridge, City of London, Convergence Science, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, and Scotland.
'The seven funded Centres are central to our ambition to beat cancer, providing a key link between laboratory research and patient-focused studies,' commented Michelle Mitchell, CEO, Cancer Research UK.
'We award Centre status to locations that perform the highest quality cancer research.'
'Our funding supports essential research infrastructure including technical staff, equipment, pump-priming grants, and training, to further develop the breadth and depth of research at each of these Centres.'
'Our Centres bring together a network of research teams from local universities, NHS hospitals, and other research organizations.'
'They seek to understand the impact and efficacy of treatments to initiate new research ideas and programs, translating cutting-edge discoveries from the laboratory into direct benefits for patients.'
'Standards were particularly high, in part, because our investment of £100 million is a reduction of around a third compared to the last funding round in 2017.'
'While the COVID-19 pandemic has required us to reshape our research model and make tough decisions about the research we fund, this investment continues to provide vital infrastructure for the bench to bedside research, as well as creating opportunities for the next generation of scientists.'
In response to a rapid rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, the U.S. Embassy in Japan announced today the Japanese government had extended the quasi-state of emergency for an additional 18 prefectures that will remain in effect through February 20, 2022.
These measures will prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Hokkaido, Aomori, Yamagata, Fukushima, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Nagano, Shizuoka, Ishikawa, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Okayama, Shimane, Fukuoka, Oita, Saga, and Kagoshima.
Additionally, the previously declared quasi-state of emergency for Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Gunma, Niigata, Kagawa, Aichi, Mie, Gifu, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, and Miyazaki prefectures will remain in effect through February 13.
And Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, and Okinawa prefectures have been extended and will remain in place until February 20.
Furthermore, the number of prefectures in Japan under a quasi-state of emergency may change with little or no notice.
The quasi-state of emergency will allow prefectural governments to impose targeted measures to slow the spread of COVID-19.
These measures may include, but are not limited to, shortened business hours for eateries and other establishments, restrictions on the sale of alcohol in restaurants and bars, and/or limits on the number of customers in enclosed spaces.
U.S. citizens in Japan are urged to follow all national and prefectural COVID-related guidance to protect their health.
Furthermore, U.S. citizens and foreign nationals who are fully vaccinated should travel with proof of their COVID-19 vaccination status to provide to their airline before departure to the U.S.
Proof of vaccination should be a paper or digital record issued by an official source. It should include the COVID-19 vaccine product and date(s) of administration for all doses received.
And the U.S. CDC has determined that for purposes of travel to the U.S., COVID-19 vaccines accepted will include FDA approved/authorized and World Health Organization Listed vaccines.
See this link for FAQ information.
U.S. citizens needing assistance should contact the U.S. Embassy Tokyo; Telephone: 03-3224-5000; after-hours: 03-3224-5000; Email: TokyoACS@state.gov; https://jp.usembassy.gov/services/.
Japan-based Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. announced on January 21, 2022, that it obtained regulatory approval from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare for the Actemra® humanized anti-human IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody (mAbs).
Actemra has already obtained regulatory approval for various indications in more than 110 countries.
Japan's approval came one month after the application for the additional indication of Actemra Intravenous Infusion 80 mg, 200 mg, and 400 mg for the additional indication of the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, limited to patients requiring oxygen intervention.
"Clinical studies demonstrated that Actemra reduced the mortality rate in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection," Chugai's President and CEO, Dr. Osamu Okuda, commented in a related press statement.
"We hope that Actemra will play a role for the better prognosis of patients with severe, potentially life-threatening pneumonia."
This COVID-19 treatment approval is based on the results from clinical studies evaluating Actemra in hospitalized patients, including an investigator-initiated, randomized, open-label, platform overseas study (RECOVERY study), three placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind, multicenter, global phase III studies conducted by Roche (COVACTA study, EMPACTA study, REMDACTA study), and a single-arm, multicenter phase III study in Japan (J-COVACTA study).
Actemra has been approved in the European Union, authorized for emergency use in the United States, and recommended by the World Health Organization to treat COVID-19.
Actemra is designed to block the activity of IL-6, a type of inflammatory cytokine. First launched in June 2005, the intravenous injection is approved for six indications in Japan: Castleman's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, cytokine release syndrome induced by tumor-specific T cell infusion therapy, and adult Still's disease.
In addition, Actemra subcutaneous injection is approved for three indications in Japan: rheumatoid arthritis, Takayasu arteritis, giant cell arteritis.
Florida-based AIM ImmunoTech Inc. today announced the publication of positive data from a Phase 1/2 clinical study of intraperitoneal chemo-immunotherapy in advanced, recurrent ovarian cancer. The chemokine-modulating IP chemo-immunotherapy combination was demonstrated to be well-tolerated and associated with interferon-stimulated gene changes that favor cytotoxic T lymphocytes chemoattraction and function.
"These results represent an important extension of prior studies using human tumor explants that showed Ampligen's potentially important role as a TLR3 agonist acting synergistically with high-dose IFNα and celecoxib to selectively enhance Teff cell-attractants while suppressing Treg-attractants in the tumor microenvironment with a concomitant increase in the Teff/Treg ratio," stated David Strayer, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Officer of the Company, and Board Certified in Medical Oncology, in a press release issued on January 24, 2022.
"This current study shows that similar findings are seen combining Ampligen with chemokine-targeting and chemo-immunotherapy in patients being treated for recurrent ovarian cancer."
"The importance of boosting the Teff/Treg ratio in the tumor microenvironment is that it is associated with the conversion of 'cold' tumors into 'hot' tumors, which have an increased sensitivity to chemo-immunotherapy and an improved chance of showing tumor regression."
"This, of course, creates the potential for a positive survival advantage,"
A phase 2 clinical study will be conducted to evaluate the immunologic and clinical efficacy of tumor loaded αDC1 vaccine in conjunction with the cisplatin/chemokine modulatory combination regimen.
The Phase 1/2 study being conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is designed to evaluate the immunologic and potential clinical effectiveness of intensive loco-regional sequential intraperitoneal (IP) cisplatin (IPC) with intravenous (iv) paclitaxel followed by peritoneal infusion of a chemokine modulatory (CKM) regimen composed of a cocktail of IP rintatolimod and interferon-alpha (IFNα) for patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer (III-IV) at primary neoadjuvant setting. AIM ImmunoTech provided rintatolimod (Ampligen®, a dsRNA acting as TLR3 agonist) for the Phase 1/2 study.
The manuscript titled, "Phase I trial combining chemokine-targeting with loco-regional chemo-immunotherapy for recurrent, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer shows induction of CXCR3 ligands and markers of type 1 immunity1" was published in the American Association for Cancer Research publication, Clinical Cancer Research, on January 19, 2022.
The U.S. CDC says 'ovarian cancer is the second most common gynecologic cancer in the United States. Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system.
And the U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool makes it easy to explore the latest cancer data from United States Cancer Statistics.
AIM ImmunoTech Inc. is an immuno-pharma company located in Ocala, FL, focused on the research and development of therapeutics to treat multiple types of cancers, immune disorders, and viral diseases, including COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) COVID-19 task force highlighted growing evidence on January 18, 2022, indicating that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines do not cause pregnancy complications for expectant mothers and their babies.
The task force undertook a detailed review of several clinical studies involving around 65,000 pregnancies at different stages.
The review did not find any sign of an increased risk of pregnancy complications, miscarriages, preterm births, or adverse effects on unborn babies following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.
The most common side effects of mRNA vaccines in pregnant women also match those in the overall vaccinated population. However, these side effects are usually mild or moderate and improve within a few days of vaccination.
Most of the information for this EMA review came from mRNA vaccines (Comirnaty and Spikevax).
Initial clinical trials do not generally include pregnant people. As a result, data on the use of vaccines, as any other medicines during pregnancy, are not usually available at the time of the authorization but are obtained afterward.
Furthermore, the review of real-world evidence suggests that the benefits of receiving mRNA COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy outweigh any possible risks for expectant mothers and unborn babies.
The EMA confirmed the human medicines committee would consider the latest data from the manufacturers of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy to update the recommendations in the product information for the vaccines where applicable.
In addition to COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations, the U.S. CDC suggests women get the Tdap vaccine to protect their baby against whooping cough, which can have similar symptoms to COVID-19.
The CDC recommends all pregnant women receive a Tdap vaccine during each pregnancy.
In addition, everyone who is around the baby should be up to date with their whooping cough vaccine.
Texas-based American Airlines (AA) announced very positive news on January 20, 2022. During 2021, American achieved its best performance in on-time arrivals, on-time departures, and completion factor since the COVID-19 pandemic while flying significantly more than any other airline.
For example, AA's on-time performance in December 2021 was better than any previous December.
"We're very proud of the way our team delivered throughout 2021," said American's President and incoming CEO Robert Isom in a press statement.
"Looking forward, our focus in 2022 will be to continue running a reliable airline."
AA recently introduced a redesign of the AAdvantage loyalty program, effective in 2022, that removes complicated elite qualifying metrics in favor of an easy-to-understand point system that provides members with multiple ways to earn status.
Starting in 2022, AAdvantage members can earn status by flying, using an AAdvantage credit card for purchases, or spending with an AAdvantage partner.
And, AA reopened some airport lounges with food and drink service changes to meet state and city rules.
Furthermore, if you're traveling in Flagship® First, passengers have access to a sit-down dining experience located inside select Flagship® Lounges.
