Patents are not the main roadblock to producing enough coronavirus vaccines for the world – rather the challenge is technology transfer with manufacturers, said a top official at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) on Wednesday.  His comments joined those of pharma voices in what seems to be a growing counter-trend to that of […] Continue reading ->
In an unusually bold step for the cautious global health agency, the World Health Organization has called upon countries to suspend the sale of captured live wild mammals in food markets as an emergency measure. The appeal follows on the publication of a report by a WHO-convened international team examining the origins of the SARS-CoV2 […] Continue reading ->
  Italian prosecutors in the city of Bergamo, the epicentre of the country’s first COVID wave, are reportedly investigating Ranieri Guerra, a senior World Health Organization advisor, for misleading testimony and his role in the suppression of a WHO report into Italy’s coronavirus response “An Unprecedented Challenge“- which contained critical material about the Italian government’s […] Continue reading ->
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has officially authorized expanded capacity in three new vaccine manufacturing facilities on the continent producing AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines – a move that the agency says should also help pharma suppliers ramp up their deliveries of now scarce vaccines to European Union bloc countries.  At the same time, a […] Continue reading ->
The European Medicines Agency’s safety committee (PRAC) on Thursday gave a resounding endorsement of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19, concluding that the vaccine’s benefits vaccine “far outweigh” any risks  –  despite a possible link between some vaccinations and rare cases of blood clotting associated with low levels of blood platelets. The EMA statement followed two […] Continue reading ->
With the European Union Medicines Agency (EMA) approval Thursday of Johnson and Johnson’s one-shot COVID-19 vaccine, it now remains to be seen which countries and regions will be the first in line for distribution of the one-jab vaccine. Along with its comparatively low-cost, and ease of storage, the one-shot vaccine could be particularly important to […] Continue reading ->