The weekend of 12-13 March was a glorious time to be in the Swiss mountain resort of Villars-sur-Ollon post-pandemic. Special Olympics Switzerland had organized the regional games sporting competition with skiing, bowling, tennis and boccia, drawing dozens of keen athletes and supporters. My son joined the other 46 skiers and snowboarders from the region to […] Continue reading ->
Immunosuppressed individuals living in the United States and Israel have been among the first to receive a novel new “vaccine” that preventively boosts their defenses against COVID-19 infection with a cocktail of long-acting antibodies. The vaccine by AstraZeneca, branded as Evusheld, works on the principle of “passive immunization”, and contains two long-acting monoclonal antibodies (tixagevimab […] Continue reading ->
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Friday called on Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, and COVAX, the global COVID vaccine consortium to begin procuring African-made versions of vaccines for COVID and other diseases, as soon as a network of new African manufacturing facilities, now in the making, are in full production. He spoke in Brussels at an […] Continue reading ->
The German-based BioNTech, which co-developed with Pfizer an mRNA COVID vaccine, said on Wednesday that it will set up modular “turnkey” mRNA vaccine facilities to produce the vaccine in Rwanda and Senegal in 2022 – with a fill-and-finish collaboration in Ghana as well.  South Africa, which is the new hub for the WHO-supported mRNA vaccine […] Continue reading ->
Some 21 countries have now ratified the African Medicines Agency treaty – well beyond the 15 ratifications reached in November 2021, which allowed the AMA treaty instrument to formally take effect. Egypt, Africa’s third most populous country, is the most recent state to have both ratified and deposited the treaty – marking a significant milestone […] Continue reading ->
Unless a future pandemic ‘instrument’ is properly financed and legally binding, it will not be able to prevent health emergencies, numerous member states told the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 150th executive board meeting on Monday. Speaking on behalf of Africa’s 47 member states, Kenya’s Dr Cleopa Mailu said there should be a “radical disruption” of […] Continue reading ->
Russia’s Sputnik V demonstrated more than two times higher virus neutralizing activity against the Omicron variant in comparison to the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, according to a study of blood samples, released Thursday by the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani in Italy and Russia’s Gamaleya Center. The research was prepared by a team of […] Continue reading ->
International financial institutions need to extend widespread debt relief to developing countries, and private sector companies need to mend “social contracts” with societies, and in order to “beat climate, beat COVID” fight hunger – and global financial instability, said UN Secretary General António Guterres. He was speaking on the opening day of the World Economic […] Continue reading ->