The world is “on the brink of a catastrophe and moral failure – and the price of this failure will be paid with the lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries,” declared WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his harshest rebuke to date of both countries and the pharma industry for failing […] Continue reading ->
Many areas of Brazil, particularly Manaus, are experiencing worsening COVID-19 outbreaks and extremely high levels of infections, amidst news of a new variant that is spreading in the country. Brazil joins countries around the world – including those in Europe, the Americas, and some parts of Africa – that are seeing spikes in cases and […] Continue reading ->
The Philippines is expecting to receive its first batch of China’s Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine next month — but one leading Filipino senator is questioning the government’s preference for the candidate as new data indicates a lower efficacy rate than western competitors. Earlier this week, developer Sinovac Biotech reported an efficacy rate of only 50.38% […] Continue reading ->
Deliveries of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to all European Union (EU) states will be reduced for an undisclosed period starting from next week, Norway’s National Institute of Public Health has said. The sudden change to delivery schedules, Pfizer announced on Friday, is due to a reorganization of the company’s production capacity. It did not say how […] Continue reading ->
DELHI, INDIA – In the last week of December 2020, Chanda Devi heard a truck roll into her neighborhood in North Bhopal, Central India. Residents were called outside by a voice, booming through loudspeakers. They were eligible to collect Rs 750 (about US$10) to receive a “corona vaccine”. The people said that they were recruiters, […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN, NIGERIA – So far the continent has been obliged to look on as developed countries vaccinate millions of their citizens against SARS-CoV-2, but now African countries may also soon gain access to COVID-19 vaccines. In a striking show of political unity, the African Union (AU) has secured provisional commitments to procure some 270 million […] Continue reading ->
Johnson & Johnson is set to release its Phase 3 COVID-19 clinical trial results in two weeks and immediately file for emergency authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – an announcement that is likely a harbinger of positive results.  This news on the development of the first one-shot COVID-19 vaccine, accompanied by […] Continue reading ->