Delaying the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by 12 weeks could generate antibody responses in those over the age of 80 more than threefold, found a pre-print study published on Friday. The study, conducted by the University of Birmingham and Public Health England, is the first to directly compare the immune response derived […] Continue reading ->
Being vaccinated against COVID-19 this week was a “bittersweet” moment, reflecting both a “triumph of science” and a “gross distortion” in vaccine access, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyusus told the body’s media briefing on Friday. Thanking health workers at the Geneva Emergency Hospital for vaccinating him on Wednesday, Dr Tedros […] Continue reading ->
A draft “Rome Declaration” to be issued at next Friday’s G-20’s Global Health Summit, co-hosted by Italy and the European Commission (21 May), makes a series of 10 sweeping commitments to ensure equitable access to vaccines; expand medicines manufacturing capacity; assure WHO access to sites posing an outbreak risk; and invest in global health systems.  […] Continue reading ->
Though more than 114 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Americas, the WHO Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has warned that the pandemic is far from over.  Last week, the region reported more than 1.2 million new COVID-19 cases and nearly 34,000 COVID related deaths – nearly 40% of all global deaths […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – The Nigerian government has decided to move ahead with a second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the nearly 2 million citizens who already received the vaccine – despite advice from Africa CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO), that vaccine-strapped African countries could also choose to administer just one vaccine dose  – […] Continue reading ->
In a rush to jumpstart more global vaccine manufacturing capacity, the global COVAX vaccine facility is now stepping into the fray.  A new COVAX Supply Chain and Manufacturing Task Force has laid out a three-stage plan to enhance existing vaccine production capacity, as well setting up a new “vaccine manufacturing group” – to further expand […] Continue reading ->
A sweeping report on the global pandemic response has found that the World Health Organization should have taken a more “precautionary’ approach to the emerging SARS-COV2 virus in the early days of the pandemic, advising countries earlier on that it could be transmitted person-to-person — rather than only warning of such a “possibility”. The report […] Continue reading ->
Limitations in COVID-19 testing capacity and surveillance—as well as uneven demand for testing—are likely masking the true severity of COVID-19 on the African continent, fueling the dangerous myth that much of Africa has been unscathed by COVID-19. Test positivity rates were above 10% across many African Union (AU) member states during the second wave—substantially higher […] Continue reading ->
In a far-reaching statement, WHO and the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) called on the pharma industry to provide much wider access to clinical data for all new medicines and vaccines approved, or under review, and even those that had been rejected.  “Clinical trial reports should be published without redaction of confidential information […] Continue reading ->