As more vaccine supplies finally become available to the world’s low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), the latent challenges that should have been addressed long before have emerged. Those include vaccine hesitancy and the ability of weak health systems to mount mass vaccination campaigns amidst other pressing health needs. Global policymakers need to shift their attention from […] Continue reading ->
An overwhelming majority of people in Africa – 78% of people surveyed across 19 countries in the African Union – are willing to get vaccinated, according to new research from the Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC). PERC – a public-private partnership consisting of organizations and institutions such as the African Union, Africa Centres […] Continue reading ->
  The African Union has made steady progress to manufacture vaccines on the continent, but this is a complicated, expensive endeavour that required long-term commitment, Big Pharma companies warned. Welcoming delegates to the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) reportback six months after it was set up, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said building pharmaceutical manufacturing […] Continue reading ->
A special session of the World Health Assembly is under way this week with just one item under consideration – Pandemic Treaty. Will a pandemic treaty be able to help address deficiencies in global solidarity, and improve access to essential lifesaving medicines, vaccines, and tools? The short answer is no. Not without the political will […] Continue reading ->
As pandemic treaty negotiations kick off again at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva this week, countries face a stark choice. Will they decide to move ahead on a new system that vests an independent entity with greater powers to monitor their own national alert and responses – in the name of faster pandemic […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – A new COVID-19 variant with a “very unusual constellation of mutations” – currently referred to as B.1.1.529 – has been identified in southern Africa, South Africa’s Health Ministry announced on Thursday. On Friday, WHO dubbed the variant “Omicron”, adding it to its list of variants of concern – even as the European […] Continue reading ->
The first non-exclusive license for a COVID-19 health tool – a serological antibody test that checks for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies – has been finalised by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).   The license, announced on Tuesday in partnership with the Spanish National Research […] Continue reading ->