Medicine
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Europe’s Vaping Policy Needs Education, Not Heavy-Handed Bans
Europe’s vaping crackdown is about to backfire spectacularly. As countries across the continent gear up to ban disposable vapes and puff devices in an...
EU Institutions
Facing mounting challenges, new EU Commission takes office
Amidst global geopolitical turmoil, the European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen officially took office on December 1 with the President pledging that over...
Medicine
Global mobilization for mpox emergency begins to take shape
Days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared this summer’s mpox (formerly called monkeypox when discovered in 1958) outbreaks in Africa a global emergency...
Disinformation & Propaganda
Kremlin disinformation efforts in Africa illuminated
The U.S. State Department released a report detailing Kremlin disinformation activities and operatives in Africa on February 12 entitled “The Kremlin’s Efforts to Spread...
Medicine
World Health Organization highlights Kazakhstan’s historic role
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) held a major regional conference and celebration in Astana, Kazakhstan October 23-26 on the subject of Primary...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
How countries prepare for population growth and decline
Early this year, India surpassed China as the most populous country in the world, with the latter having 850,000 fewer people by the end...
Medicine
Strong US support for Minnesota’s 2027 Expo bid
The next General Assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions, better known by its acronym ‘BIE’, will take place June 20-21 in Paris where...
Medicine
Research, tech advancements in tobacco and nicotine products provide harm reduction options to smokers, but who’s listening?
If a large majority of tobacco smokers, who are unable or unwilling to quit, would switch without delay to using an alternative source of nicotine with lower health risks, and eventually stop using it, this would represent a significant contemporary public health achievement.
Medicine
The cure for COVID-19 has been worse than the disease
The American entrepreneur Jim Rohn once said that it is important to count the cost first before doing anything. This watchword has not been...
Belgium
EU says COVID pass sufficient for bloc travel
Updating the rules to facilitate safe and free movement in the EU during the pandemic, EU ministers reconfirmed on January 25 the possession of...
Archive
Serbia, Rosatom ink deal to build a Center for Nuclear Science and Technology in Serbia
The Serbian government and Russia’s state atomic corporation Rosatom signed a General Framework Agreement to construct a Center for Nuclear Science and Technology (CNST)...
Archive
Support for frontline staff and volunteers is key to overcoming Europe’s fresh COVID onslaught
In many ways, Europe is far better placed to withstand its second pandemic winter. Though cases are surging across the continent and the new...
Medicine
Global powers need to stand up for sexual and reproductive health
The current health and economic crisis has taken a severe toll on gender equality and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) across the...
Archive
Learning from COVID to tackle the tobacco epidemic
For the better part of two years, the attention of policymakers and health experts across Europe and North America has been focused on the...
Albania
Mid-East turmoil eclipses Greece’s latest Balkan initiatives
Greek officials found time to engage in several rounds of Balkan diplomacy this week, once again taking advantage of the presence in Greece of...
Albania
COVID-19 vaccine supplies trickle into Southeast Europe
In line with global trends, deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Southeast Europe increased in April, but the record to-date shows it was anything...
Malta
Listen to those with mental ill-health; end coercion in mental healthcare
I spent eight days in Mount Carmel Hospital. The psychiatric hospital is in Malta, the European island state south of Italy. It was founded...
Albania
Southeast Europe begins to tackle COVID-19 immunization delays
In terms of Covid-19 vaccinations, the gap between Europe’s haves and have nots finally appears to be narrowing, after many months where much of...
Archive
EU medicine regulator finds possible link between AstraZeneca jab and blood clots
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it has found a possible link between the Coronavirus jab, developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca and the Oxford...
Archive
INTERVIEW with Matteo Salvini: The European Union needs to reinvent itself and find a new soul
On two separate occasions prior to the Easter holiday, New Europe had the opportunity to meet with Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy's Lega...
Archive
INTERVIEW: Professor Giorgio Palu, President of Italy’s medicines agency
New Europe spoke with Professor Giorgio Palu, President of AIFA (the Italian Medicines Agency) and a newly appointed member of the Scientific Technical Committee,...
Archive
EU leaders’ summit to be held virtually amid spike in COVID-19 cases
A European Union summit due to take place on March 25-26 in Brussels will now be held virtually due a spike in COVID-19 cases...
Archive
Europe’s medicine regulator backs WHO assessment, says AstraZeneca vaccine is safe
Europe's drug regulator, namely the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has defended the use of the Coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca/Oxford University, despite growing fears...
Archive
Europe’s pharmaceutical regulator recommends use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday greenlighted the Coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson for use across the EU in people from...
Archive
EMA to start review of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine
Europe's medicines watchdog, namely the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday said it will start reviewing the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine for Coronavirus, The decision...
Archive
EU countries agree to mutually recognise rapid antigen tests
The EU's Health Security committee agreed on Thursday on a list of rapid antigen tests, which will be mutually recognised by member states, as...
Archive
EU orders extra 200 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine
German drugmaker BioNTech on Wednesday announced that the European Union will buy an additional 200 million doses of its Coronavirus vaccine, that will be...
Archive
Croatia in talks with Russia over Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine
Budapest is negotiating with Moscow the possibility of buying the Russian-made Coronavirus vaccine, namely Sputnik V, Reuters reported on Wednesday. "Each government must take...
Medicine
Making peace with nature is possible if we start now
Even amid a pandemic, 2021 can go down as the year we made peace with nature and set the planet to healing.As COVID-19 upends...
Archive
European Commission secures 300 million extra doses of Moderna vaccine
The European Union has approved a second contract with the US pharmaceutical company Moderna for an additional purchase of 300 million doses of its...
Archive
Johnson & Johnson applies for EU vaccine approval
Belgian-based company Janssen Pharmaceutica, owned by US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday submitted its COVID-19 vaccine to Europe's medicines watchdog for conditional...
Albania
Serbia leading Southeast Europe in COVID-19 immunizations
According to the most recent data, Serbia’s COVID-19 vaccination program, initially using a Chinese vaccine and symbolic quantities from third country suppliers, now leads...
Archive
EU tells Turkey pandemic not an excuse to ‘silence critical voices’
Efforts to curb the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic should not be used as an excuse to "silence critical voices", Europe's top diplomat, Josep...
Archive
EU Council President announces double summit in late February
Europe's leaders are set to convene for a double online summit in February 25-26, EU Council President Charles Michel announced on Wednesday."On 25 February...
Archive
British PM says EU ‘undermined’ Northern Ireland Protocol
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the European Union undermined the Northern Ireland Protocol by triggering an emerging provision in the Brexit Protocol in...
Archive
Pfizer/BioNTech pledge up to 75 million extra vaccine doses to the EU
US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have pledged to provide up to 75 million more doses of their vaccine to the EU...
Archive
German Health Minister says Chinese, Russian vaccines could be used in the EU if EMA approves them
Germany could use the vaccines developed by China and Russia if Europe's medicines watchdog approves them, the country's Health Minister Jens Spahn said on...
Archive
Von der Leyen says AstraZeneca to deliver 9 million more COVID vaccine doses
British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca will deliver 9 million more doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the European Union in the first quarter of this...
Archive
Germany wants EU export restrictions on vaccine after supply shortage
Germany's Health Minister Jens Spahn has backed European proposals for the introduction of export limits on vaccines amid delivery delays of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot...
Albania
Out in the cold: SE Europe in dire need of vaccine supplies
With the COVID-19 pandemic steadily worsening across much of Europe, the citizens of the continent’s Southeast European region have been left out of much...
Archive
Europe’s foreign policy chief tells Biden to lead the global fight against COVID
The world needs the US to lead the global fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said, urging President-elect Joe Biden...
Archive
Brussels says vaccinations will remain voluntary
The European Commission has reassured citizens that vaccinations against Coronavirus will remain voluntary, after Greece suggested the use of vaccination certificates to salvage the...
Archive
EMA says leaked COVID documents ‘manipulated’ to undermine trust in vaccines
The European Union's Medicines Agency (EMA) has said that COVID-19 vaccine information stolen in a cyberattack last December and leaked online last week were "manipulated"...
Archive
Johnson & Johnson could apply for EMA approval in February
US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson could submit an official application for its vaccine against COVID-19 to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in February,...
Archive
AstraZeneca/Oxford apply for EU approval of COVID vaccine
British-Swedish pharmaceutical company along with the Oxford University have applied for a market approval of their COVID-19 vaccine in the EU, the European Medicines...
Archive
EMA says conclusion on AstraZeneca vaccine possibly by end of January
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Friday that a decision to authorise the use of the AstraZeneca/Oxford coronavirus vaccine could be made by...
Archive
EU medicines watchdog greenlights Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Wednesday gave the nod to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, paving the way for its final authorisation by the European...
Archive
Netanyahu, Mossad chief under quarantine after Health Minister tests positive
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has re-entered a precautionary quarantine, after the country's Health Minister Yaakov Litzman tested positive for Covid-19.
The wife of the...
Archive
Fake pharmaceuticals trade worth €4 billion, study says
The trade of counterfeit pharmaceuticals worldwide is estimated to be worth up to €4 billion, with India and China identified to be the largest...
Asia & Pacific
Could bad data be to blame for high coronavirus death toll
European countries saw some of the highest death told for coronavirus over the last month. Deaths in Italy have surpassed those in China many...