WHO director-general states Vaccine nationalism must be prevented

World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned against vaccine nationalism, as countries across the world secure early access to promising COVID-19 vaccines. The WHO director-general called on all countries to work collectively to end the pandemic, by sharing finites supplies “strategically and globally”. “No one country has access to research and development, manufacturing and

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NHS programme to recruit “digital pioneers” to help transform services during pandemic

A fellowship programme is looking for digital pioneers to design and lead service transformation projects in England’s NHS as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. DigitalHealth.London opens applications to its Digital Pioneer Fellowship programme, supporting change makers employed by NHS organisations in London to design and lead transformation projects underpinned by digital innovation. Sponsored this year by Boehringer

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Study results show radiotherapy in fewer but larger doses is safe for early breast cancer

According to findings of the FAST trial, five larger radiotherapy doses after surgery, once-a-week sessions for five weeks instead of daily radiotherapy over the same time, totalling 25 doses, cause similarly low rates of side-effects in women with early-stage breast cancer in the long run. Fewer treatment sessions would particularly benefit patients at low risk

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Vertex and NHS reach agreement for “Landmark” CF therapy deal

Vertex has achieved an agreement with NHS England to reimburse its triple combination therapy Kaftrio (ivacaftor/tezacaftor/elexacaftor) in combination with Kalydeco (ivacaftor), should the medicine win European approval. The new expanded agreement includes reimbursed access to Vertex’ currently licensed medicines – Kalydeco (ivacaftor), Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) and Symkevi (tezacaftor/ivacaftor), as well as the triple combination therapy if

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NHS and Microsoft sign significant deal for digital tools

NHSX, NHS Digital and Microsoft have signed a ‘landmark’ deal which will save the NHS ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ and enable all eligible organisations in England to access Microsoft 365 digital tools. According to NHS Digital, the agreement ‘guarantees significant cost savings for both individual NHS organisations and the NHS as a whole’, and

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