WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is now set to run for re-election as Germany’s nominee, backed by other European Union states, including France.  And as nominations for the post closed today at 6 p.m. Geneva time on Thursday, it was appearing increasingly likely that the incumbent DG may run unopposed – with no […] Continue reading ->
In a milestone moment, WHO today issued new guidelines for a range of health-harmful air pollutants – recommending a reduction by one-half in safe levels of fine particulates (PM2.5) – considered to be the benchmark indicator of health impacts that lead to some 7 million deaths a year.  The new standards put most cities of […] Continue reading ->
Vaccine equity and booster debates are shadowing the lead-up to US President Joe Biden’s planned COVID-19 Summit on Wednesday, with the US reportedly poised to donate another half a billion Pfizer vaccines to the world.  Israeli scientists reported that people over age 60 who received a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine were five times […] Continue reading ->
After months of frustrated efforts to unlock global vaccine supplies for the African continent, WHO and African Union leaders are now pinning their hopes on US President Joe Biden’s reported plan to call heads of state to a “Global Pandemic Summit” on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, which opened today, as a […] Continue reading ->
The current COVID-19 vaccines are effective enough against severe disease in the general population that boosters are “not appropriate” even for the Delta variant, according to an expert review by an international group of scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and international universities. The review, which looked […] Continue reading ->
In a milestone event that was also long-awaited, The United States Food & Drug Administration issued a final authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine – the first such vaccine to receive permanent FDA approval status – following the receipt of an Emergency Use Listing on 11 December. The definitive FDA approval is expected to bolster […] Continue reading ->
COVID cases across most countries of South America are now declining,  after months in which the region was the epicenter of the pandemic.  But in the seesawing trends that the pandemic continues to see, infections are rising again throughout central and North America – as well as the Caribbean – where earthquake torn Haiti faces […] Continue reading ->
US Health officials confirmed on Wednesday that the country will begin to offer a third COVID ‘booster’ vaccine, beginning the week of September 20, to Americans who were vaccinated earliest in the vaccination rollout. It’s now “very clear” that immunity starts to fall after the initial two doses, and with the dominance of the Delta […] Continue reading ->
This year’s 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), will be a critical moment of decision on climate policies, as the clock runs down before the more severe ravages of global warming become irreversible. Against the panoply of issues under debate, health is getting more attention from this year’s COP26 organisers as a […] Continue reading ->