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News summaries are information only, not medical advice. Each story links to its original sources.
The 2026 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change was published on 28 October 2026, ahead of the COP31 UN climate conference. It is the tenth annual report, produced by an international collaboration led by University College London (UCL) in strategic collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), and it tracks 54 indicators linking climate change and health.
The first participant in Tumaini, a Phase 2/3 clinical trial of vaccine candidates against Bundibugyo virus, was vaccinated on 23 October 2026 in Bunia, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp. Tumaini means 'hope' in Swahili.
Read the full story: Ebola outbreak: first vaccine trial against Bundibugyo virus begins in DR Congo
The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee published a report on 23 October 2026, 'Food and Weight Management: Modernising obesity treatment'. It calls for wider NHS access to GLP-1 weight-loss injections such as Mounjaro, and for obesity to be treated as a long-term, managed condition, like diabetes.
Read the full story: Mounjaro and weight-loss jabs: MPs call for much wider access on the NHS
More than 10 million NHS flu vaccinations have been given in England since bookings opened in August and vaccinations began in September, including 2.7 million in a single week, according to figures released by the Department of Health and Social Care on 22 October 2026.
Read the full story: NHS flu jab 2026: more than 10 million vaccinations given in England so far
On 19 October 2026 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the immunotherapy dostarlimab (Jemperli, made by GSK) for adults with previously untreated stage II or stage III locally advanced rectal cancer whose tumours are mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H), as determined by an FDA-authorised test.
