CAPE TOWN – Johnson & Johnson (J&J) will deliver its COVID-19 vaccine to Africa from October after reaching an agreement with the African Union to supply the continent with up to 400 million doses over the next two years.  However, Africa may still be struggling to obtain vaccine supplies for some months following last week’s decision […] Continue reading ->
ISLAMABAD – (EXCLUSIVE) A controversial plan to sell Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to wealthy citizens in Pakistan has been put on hold following a dispute between the government and the private pharmaceutical company involved over the vaccines’ sale price, Health Policy Watch has learned. Meanwhile, Transparency International – Pakistan appealed to Prime Minister Imran […] Continue reading ->
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has officially authorized expanded capacity in three new vaccine manufacturing facilities on the continent producing AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines – a move that the agency says should also help pharma suppliers ramp up their deliveries of now scarce vaccines to European Union bloc countries.  At the same time, a […] Continue reading ->
COVAX has run out of COVID-19 vaccines to supply the last 20 countries in the world that have not yet started vaccinations, and it urgently needs a donation of 10 million doses from either manufacturers or countries that have piiled up surplus doses, according to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. While […] Continue reading ->
European Parliament members (MEPs) expressed overwhelming support for a coronavirus-related “Digital Green Certificate” to ease travel within the European Union, voting by a more than two-thirds majority to accelerate approval by the summer.   But parliamentarians also warned that all efforts to recover from COVID-19 will be void unless Europeans are vaccinated more quickly.  “We need […] Continue reading ->
NEW DELHI – Scientists have sequenced a new “double variant” of the coronavirus first identified  in India – along with a handful of other variants of concern that are appearing during the second biggest wave of the virus since the pandemic began. The new double variant, bearing two significant mutations in the coronavirus spike protein, […] Continue reading ->
NEW DELHI – Reversing decades of negative messages, the World Health Organisation is once again endorsing the use of X-rays as a TB screening tool  in lower-income countries – this time in conjunction with the use of new artificial intelligence programmes that can read digital x-rays and identify suspected TB cases more accurately.  For community-level […] Continue reading ->
Syria needs $US 78-million to vaccinate 20% of its population against COVID-19 by the end of this year, and its pandemic response is being challenged by a worsening humanitarian crises in the country, including continued attacks on health care facilities. This is according to Akjemal Magtymova, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Syria, who […] Continue reading ->