The upcoming Global Fund Replenishment drive, 19-21 September, will be critical to holding onto and advancing progress against infectious diseases in multiple ways – among them ensuring the flow of quality-assured medicines to low-income countries and fighting falsified and substandard medicines that can comprise up to 70% of drugs on the market in some parts […] Continue reading ->
In an effort to prevent the spread of monkeypox, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) signed an agreement with Bavarian Nordic to obtain 100,000 vaccine doses for Latin America and the Caribbean. That will allow PAHO to start delivering the doses to the 12 countries that requested them in September. The agreement will make the […] Continue reading ->
The fraction of monkeypox cases with no recent contact with men who have sex with men (MSM) continues to rise in the US – accounting for one-third of cases – suggesting a silent spread of the virus to other communities. Men with recent MSM contact accounted for 65.78% of cases as of 20 August, according […] Continue reading ->
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to two Omicron-targeting booster vaccines on Wednesday as it anticipates the potential rise of COVID-19 cases in its fall and spring. The boosters, one by Moderna and the other by Pfizer-BioNTech, are bivalent vaccines, or “updated boosters”, that are designed to protect against […] Continue reading ->
Some of the biggest obstacles to expanded vaccines coverage in the world’s poorest and most conflict-ridden nations are lack of cold chain storage, unpredictable supply chains, and transport barriers, not claims of “vaccine hesitancy” in the Global South, according to a new report. The picture of the steep challenges faced by 14 nations during the […] Continue reading ->
Kenyan manufacturer Universal Corporation LTD (UCL) has become the first African manufacturer to be issued a World Health Organization quality certification of a key antimalarial drug used to prevent infection in pregnant women and children. This certification, known as prequalification, will enable UCL to support regional efforts to combat malaria through local production of high-quality […] Continue reading ->
Another COVID rerun: WHO and Africa CDC officials lament the complete lack of access to monkeypox vaccines on the continent where the virus is endemic – as well as often more deadly than elsewhere. Meanwhile, Mozambique and Malawi have seen a total of six wild poliovirus cases, although WHO officials continue to insist that since […] Continue reading ->
Pfizer’s COVID-19 oral antiviral Paxlovid was found to reduce the mortality rate among people over the age of 65 by 81% in a new Israeli study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, the study also found no significant benefit of the drug in patients aged 64 and younger. It is the […] Continue reading ->
The Omicron-targeted boosters are coming. Almost 250 days since Omicron became the dominant variant in the US, Pfizer and BioNTech on Monday officially announced that they’ve requested an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration for their booster dose of an Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine for those 12 and older. The […] Continue reading ->
A first-of-its-kind survey examining the side effects of the monkeypox vaccine in Israel found that the majority of recipients had no general symptoms. “Most of the side effects reported by the vaccinated are local and mild, which in most cases pass within one to three days,” said Miri Mizrahi Reuveni, Deputy CEO and Head of […] Continue reading ->