JERUSALEM – As the countries around the globe watch Israel’s massive COVID-19 vaccine rollout to see if it can really beat back the virus, once soaring hopes that vaccines, on their own, could offer an easy way out of the pandemic are now coming back down to ground. On the positive side, the vaccine itself […] Continue reading ->
The Indian government began the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination program this weekend aiming to vaccinate more than 300 million people, beginning with 10 million health workers, but in the three days since, it appears there has been low uptake among that key demographic. Based on Health Policy Watch’s estimate, only slightly more than half of […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-19 vaccine access platform, COVAX, is geared up to deliver vaccines to “far more” than 20% of member states’ populations beyond 2021, Dr Kate O’Brien, the body’s director of vaccines, told its Executive Board meeting on Tuesday. She was responding to concerns and criticisms expressed by member states at the […] Continue reading ->
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 ->
Past COVID-19 infection may provide immunity for several months, but still leaves risk of transmission to others, a Public Health England (PHE) study has found. “This means even if you believe you already had the disease and are protected, you can be reassured it is highly unlikely you will develop severe infections but there is […] Continue reading ->
After months of delay, a pared-down WHO research team charged with investigating the origins of the SARS-CoV2 virus finally arrived in China on Thursday – but two members of the team were left behind in Singapore after they tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, WHO said. In the 24 hours since, one of these two members […] 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 ->