CAPE TOWN – South Africa’s Health Minister was somewhat embarrassed that his government’s decision to procure pneumococcal vaccines from an Indian company rather than local company Biovac became public during a high-level international meeting on the local production of mRNA vaccines in his country. South Africa’s procurement decision coincided with a meeting in Cape Town […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it is poised to begin clinical trials of three Marburg disease vaccine candidates if Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, both struggling with outbreaks of the deadly disease, give the green light.  About 2000 finished doses are available from vaccine developers and could be administered to the identified contacts of […] Continue reading ->
Following a first-ever outbreak of deadly Marburg virus disease in Equatorial Guinea, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday called an emergency meeting of the Marburg virus vaccine consortium (MARVAC) to receive an urgent update on possible vaccine candidates for the filovirus that can have an 80% fatality rate.   At the meeting, the agency received […] Continue reading ->
After three years of its “Zero COVID” policy, the Chinese government allowed a return to relative normalcy for its citizens in early December 2022. Due to the ongoing transmission of Omicron and its numerous COVID subvariants in China, the sudden policy shift was accompanied by rapid community transmission across the country and high numbers of […] Continue reading ->