Against the backdrop of Thursday’s G-20 Health and Finance Ministers meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic, UN and Global health leaders were escalating their pleas to the world’s industrialized countries and global financial institutions for billions of dollars in immediate funding to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The calls echoed statements issued earlier this week by the […] Continue reading ->
As the 75th United Nations General Assembly opened in an unprecedented virtual session on 15 September, WHO issued a plea to the world’s leaders for funding to fight the COVID-19 pandemic – saying that US$ 35 billion is needed to fast-track development, procurement and distribution of 2 billion vaccine doses, treatments and tests over the […] Continue reading ->
The European Commission has announced that it will join the new WHO-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine facility (COVAX) with a  € 400 million commitment – inching the visionary global fund much closer to reality.   If the new COVAX facility becomes a reality, it would set a historic precedent of multilateral cooperation, not only on the pandemic, but […] Continue reading ->
There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday.  Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday.  She spoke […] Continue reading ->
Russia’s speedy approval of a COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday has drawn widespread criticism from Health Ministers, researchers, and even a Russian pharma industry group.  However, it has also spurred interest and offers to collaborate on testing the new vaccine in other countries, including from quarters as farflung as Israel and the Philippines. The Russian COVID-19 […] Continue reading ->
More than US $100 billion will be required just to scale-up manufacturing and ensure worldwide distribution of a coronavirus vaccine, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in prepared remarks at a WHO press conference on Monday. He said that the World Health Organization’s ACT Accelerator consortium has received only 10% of the funding that […] Continue reading ->
It is still too early to tell how long immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may last after infection, the World Health Organization’s Technical Lead for COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove said at Monday press briefing. Van Kerkhove’s comments came just after the publication of a new study by researchers from Kings College, London, […] Continue reading ->