WHO Rolling Out Emergency Aid in Afghanistan – Stresses Importance of Retaining Women Health Workers
WHO has affirmed that it is staying in Afghanistan and providing emergency aid to the tens of thousands of recent victims of conflict and displacement – even as staff in some NGOs go into hiding or desperately seek to leave the country for fear of their lives. “The World Health Organization (WHO) is committed to […] Continue reading ->
With more COVID-19 cases reported in the first half of 2021 than in the whole of 2020, despite high vaccination rates in some countries, the WHO-led Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator) has mounted a US $11.5 billion appeal to stem the surge of dangerous variants and save lives. Called the Rapid ACT-Accelerator Delta Response […] Continue reading ->
The Kenyan government’s decision to compel its workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 has received the support of Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC). “I support policies that get citizens of Africa to go out there and get vaccinated whenever they have an opportunity to have access to vaccines. […] Continue reading ->
Eleven African countries will this weekend start receiving their portion of the first batch of 400 million COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson and Johnson (J&J), the Africa CDC announced on Thursday. Recipients include Togo, Lesotho, Ghana, Tunisia, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Botswana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Mauritius, and they are part of pool purchasing facilitated by the African […] Continue reading ->
Sixteen countries have pledged more than 610 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for 2021-2022 through COVAX, the global vaccine sharing facility, and low and middle income countries have already received 37.7 million donated doses. The United States under President Joe Biden is leading the pack with a total pledge of 260 million doses, followed by […] Continue reading ->
#COVIDReporting: For the past 18 months, Health Policy Watch reporters have covered the COVID-19 pandemic. But they have not been immune from its impacts on their personal lives as the virus has wreaked havoc with their lives. Over the next few weeks, we will bring you their stories. DELHI – Despite the utmost care, bordering […] Continue reading ->
The war against COVID-19 has changed with the emergence of the highly transmissible and deadly Delta variant, said an internal US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) slide presentation. The document, which has not yet been released, was obtained by the Washington Post and calls for a new and more aggressive masking and vaccination […] Continue reading ->
This article is the first in a series on COVID-19 booster vaccines, which is an evolving discussion as more evidence emerges about the performance of vaccines against variants. A vigorous debate is underway in the global health community over the potential benefits of COVID booster vaccines for healthy people who have already received a full […] Continue reading ->
As more high income countries adopt COVID-19 passes for entry to venues like sporting and cultural events, restaurants and even workplaces, public opposition to the use of the public health tool is also growing – despite the fact that these same countries enjoy very widespread access to vaccines and rapid COVID tests. However, countries like […] Continue reading ->
Tanzania has finally started to administer COVID-19 vaccinations, amid a 16-fold increase in vaccine deliveries to Africa in this week alone in comparison to the whole of June. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu publicly received the vaccine on Wednesday, a sharp contrast to her predecessor, John Magufuli, who died in March after months of denying the […] Continue reading ->