Without urgent action to boost supply and ensure equitable access to vaccines across every country, COVID-19 vaccine inequity will profoundly impact and impede socio-economic recovery in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This is according to the Global Dashboard for COVID-19 Vaccine Equity, a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, has officially exhausted all the doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine it received in March from COVAX, according to Dr Faisal Shuaib, CEO of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA). Twenty-one African countries have seen COVID-19 cases rise by over 20% for at least two weeks running, […] Continue reading ->
Biodiversity sits at the heart of the simultaneous fight against both COVID-19 and the climate crisis, said experts during a Wednesday event hosted by the Society for International Development (SID).  At the event, ‘The Vaccine for Biodiversity’, panelists discussed re-focusing attention on the current health and climate crisis, and how new pandemics should and can […] Continue reading ->
The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) remains deadlocked on the “fundamental question” of whether a waiver on intellectual property rights of COVID-related products is the best way to address equitable vaccine access during the pandemic. This is according to a draft oral status report adopted at Tuesday’s […] Continue reading ->
In a milestone deal for Africa, Pfizer/BioNTech announced Wednesday that it would partner with the Cape Town-based pharma firm Biovac to produce over 100 million doses annually of it’s cutting edge mRNA vaccine – for distribution within the African Union.   The deal was quickly hailed as a major breakthrough on a continent that is desperately […] Continue reading ->
An estimated 1.5 million children worldwide have lost a parent, grandparent, or caregiver due to COVID-19, according to a new study published in The Lancet on Tuesday.  The study, which was conducted by international researchers, including scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the University of […] Continue reading ->
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat has issued a list of bottlenecks and trade-facilitating measures on critical COVID-19 products, ahead of Wednesday’s  High-Level Dialogue between itself and the World Health Organization (WHO) on how to expand COVID-19 vaccines manufacturing to ensure equitable access. “One common theme that emerges from the list is that essential goods […] Continue reading ->