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 ->
BREAKING – The United States on Tuesday gave formal notice to the United Nations and the US Congress that it intends to withdraw from the World Health Organization as of  6 July 2021, following President Donald Trump’s announcement after the World Health Assembly on 18 May. The administration first notified the United Nations, and sent […] Continue reading ->
Germany has pledged an unprecedented € 500 million to the World Health Organization for 2020, making this the “highest amount” ever provided by the country, said Jens Spahn, German Minister of Health at an impromptu WHO press briefing on Thursday.  The German contribution, equal to about 20% of WHO’s annual budget, plugs the major funding […] Continue reading ->
A novel study published in preprint form by Harvard University suggests that cases of the novel SARS-COV-2 virus that has caused a global pandemic may have begun appearing in Wuhan hospitals as early as August 2019 – several months before China officially admitted that a new coronavirus was circulating. The study Tuesday found an unusual […] Continue reading ->
A day ahead of a major pledging event, Gavi-the Vaccine Alliance has received some US $70 million in pledges from a broad range of corporations, foundations, initiatives and individual philanthropists to modernise, streamline and strengthen its delivery of vaccines to children in the world’s poorest countries over the next 15 years. Meanwhile, Médecins sans Frontières […] Continue reading ->
“I can’t breathe” could have been a slogan for those suffering the worst effects of COVID-19. But now it has become the battle cry of Americans angered over the police killing by strangulation of a Minneapolis man, George Floyd, last week.  While this is the latest in a years-long series of violent events involving African […] Continue reading ->