THE IMPACT of the global pandemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), “has been harshest on those communities which were already vulnerable, who are more exposed to the disease, less likely to have access to quality healthcare services and more likely to experience adverse consequences as a result of measures implemented to contain the pandemic.”

MANY OF US are looking forward to a summer of relative freedom, with road-mapped milestones that will grant us more opportunities to see our friends and family. But we’ll be carrying the effects of months of isolation into those meetings, including a sense that our social skills will need dusting off, and our wits will need sharpening.

In a previous column, we talked about the four types of COVID-19 vaccines and how they work (“No one is safe unless everyone is safe,” BusinessWorld, Feb. 24, 2021). In today’s column, we will discuss how vaccine manufacturers and regulatory agencies work together to make these all-important vaccines safe and effective.

New COVID variants have changed the game, vaccines will not be enough At the end of 2020, there was a strong hope that high levels...

THERE IS “low quality of evidence” that ivermectin can be used to prevent or treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to recommendations from the University of the Philippines Manila’s Institute of Clinical Epidemiology, the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (PSMID), and the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development.

THE PHILIPPINES is unlikely to meet United Nations adult obesity targets for 2025 and was given a national obesity risk score of 6/10 (moderate risk) by the World Obesity Federation (WOF).

Across the globe, people have been working around the clock to develop and manufacture the vaccines that will help protect us from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). They don’t just want the vaccines for their families, they want them for the world. People who work within the biopharmaceutical industry have been affected by the global pandemic in many of the same ways that everyone else has. They’ve had to deal with loss, balancing work, and homeschooling while also supporting family members, parents, and friends in unexpected ways. All the while working to help advance science and bring COVID-19 vaccines into the world. In today’s column, I want to share some of their stories.

NEW DELHI - A World Health Organization (WHO)-backed programme to supply coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries expects that the Serum Institute of India (SII)...

A YEAR into the pandemic, the Philippines is facing another surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, registering new all-time highs in infections. Safety and health concerns commingle with uncertainty, increasing levels of stress and anxiety, as everyone tries to cope with protracted lockdowns.

The government has made strides towards achieving Universal Health Care (UHC) in the Philippines. It was an achievement indeed when President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed the UHC Law in February 2019. The UHC Act is an integrated and comprehensive law which seeks to provide all Filipinos access to a set of quality and cost-effective care without causing financial hardship. The law also prioritizes the needs of the people who, by economic status, may not be able to afford healthcare services. 

JERUSALEM/WELLINGTON — Israel and New Zealand have given interim approval for the sale of biotech firm SaNOtize Research and Development’s Nitric Oxide Nasal Spray (NONS) which could help prevent transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the company said on Monday.

Canada's health department on Thursday joined its European counterparts in backing AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine, saying the shots were not associated with an overall...