A two-day summit of the world’s top pharma and public health sector players to address COVID-19 vaccine supply chain and manufacturing bottlenecks ended on Tuesday with agreement that large vaccine manufacturing scale up potential exists – even in 2021 – but the route is complex and there are no easy fixes.  And most immediately, there […] Continue reading ->
The structural barriers to a faster and more equitable COVID-19 vaccine roll-out go far beyond the issue of patents, declared two of the world’s leading vaccine researchers and pharma execs at a WHO event on Monday evening.  Sarah Gilbert, developer of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and Özlem Türeci, chief medical officer of BioNTech, the developer of […] Continue reading ->
The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine can reduce severe COVID-19 in older adults by up to 70%, says a new Public Health England (PHE) study – which offers the first real-world evidence of the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing serious disease among older adults, following its approval by UK and European regulatory agencies.  Findings about the efficacy […] Continue reading ->
JERUSALEM – A three-way collaboration between Israel, Austria and Denmark to expand COVID vaccine manufacturing capacity may be taking shape – just as Moderna gears up for a major global manufacturing expansion and the Israeli-based firm, Teva Pharmaceuticals, negotiates with vaccine manufacturers about ways to support more vaccine production and distribution.   Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz […] Continue reading ->
Despite a groundswell of growing support, a South African and Indian proposal to the World Trade Organization to suspend patents and other intellectual property on vital COVID-19 vaccines and other health products was put on hold by WTO’s General Council in its session on Monday – with the next debate likely to occur in May.  […] Continue reading ->
Over 400 US organisations and 115 Members of the European Parliament declared their support this week for a waiver on intellectual property rights for COVID-19 products, due to be discussed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) General Council. Even so, WTO insiders said that consensus was more likely to build around a “third way” approach […] Continue reading ->
The largest peer reviewed study to date of some 1.193 million Israelis – half of whom received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine – confirms the vaccine’s efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 as well as serious cases and deaths – even after the first dose is administered. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, […] Continue reading ->
Under cloudy skies, Ghana’s first precious doses of Covid-19 vaccines arrived Wednesday morning at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport. They are also the first supplies to be distributed by the WHO co-sponsored COVAX facility on the African continent. The arrival of some 600,000 vaccines marks a milestone in months of effort by WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and […] Continue reading ->
The WHO head of the international expert mission to China to investigate the origins of the SARS-CoV2 virus, told a press briefing Thursday that the international expert group is not seriously considering the Chinese theory that the virus outbreak in Wuhan, first infected Wuhan residents through imported frozen foods.  The theory that imported frozen foods […] Continue reading ->
The United Kingdom, Norway and UNICEF on Wednesday appealed to world leaders to give stronger backing to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ call in March 2020 for a “global cease-fire” in order to beat the COVID-19 pandemic and get vaccines to tens of millions of undocumented migrants and refugees, as well as people living in […] Continue reading ->