The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorization on Saturday, clearing the way for it to become the third COVID vaccine to be administered in the US starting on Tuesday.  Initial supplies to the US market, however, are likely to be limited for at least […] Continue reading ->
A new COVID-19 virus variant recently detected in New York is “surging alarmingly,” according to the authors of two new pre-print studies by two teams of US researchers, from Columbia University and the California Institute of Technology.  Even worse, the new variant, dubbed B.1.526, shares some key mutations in its “spike” protein structure with several […] Continue reading ->
WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Gheyebresus on Friday issued his strongest call to date for a waiver on intellectual property related to COVID vaccines, medicines and other health products – which is due to be considered next week by the World Trade Organization’s General Council. While welcoming a new UN Security Council resolution also […] Continue reading ->
Vaccinating all of Africa’s health workers would need half a percent of all the doses that the G-7 countries have purchased, according to Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans. On Tuesday, Global Citizen launched a five-point ‘Recover Better Together’ plan for the world, aimed at getting millions of citizens behind ending COVID-19 for all, ending the […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization is set to deploy over 100 experts to Guinea – to respond to a widening circle of Ebola virus cases in a country that was also at the epicenter of the historic 2013-2016 West African Ebola outbreak, officials said at twin press events in Brazzaville and Geneva on Thursday.      […] Continue reading ->
As low- and middle-income countries begin receiving their first batches of vaccines and commence their vaccination campaigns, at least 40 countries across Africa are seeing a second wave and record case numbers are being reported in the southern African region, where the B.1.351 variant is spreading. Rwanda has become the first country in East Africa […] Continue reading ->
A World Health Organization (WHO) Special Envoy for COVID-19 has suggested that ‘vaccine passports’ could prove to be an important part of future international travel regulations to stop the spread of COVID-19 and its variants. A growing number of countries around the world are in fact already racing ahead to create vaccine passport systems – […] Continue reading ->
The United States government has now secured enough COVID-19 vaccines to vaccinate every American adult after purchasing an additional 100 million doses each from Pfizer and Moderna, President Joe Biden said Thursday However, currently vaccines are in short supply across the country and logistic challenges abound.  Biden used the option in the contracts negotiated last year […] Continue reading ->