Amidst the global shortage of ventilators, personal protective equipment, and diagnostics; sedatives, used to keep severe COVID-19 patients who require invasive ventilation continuously sedated, are in increasingly short supply around the United States. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for Fresenius Propoven 2% (propofol 20 mg/mL) […] Continue reading ->
As the 73rd World Health Assembly approaches, the European Union-sponsored draft resolution on the COVID-19 response is gathering steam and storm as it rolls closer to the planned opening of the Assembly on 18 May – with far less clarity about how it might actually hit the shores of the public debate.  The resolution aims […] Continue reading ->
Research into traditional medicines for COVID-19 should be welcomed, so long as it is held to the same standards as research into other drug candidates, the World Health Organization Africa Regional Office expressed in a statement issued Monday. The diplomatically-framed WHO statement came after widespread media coverage of Madagascar’s president and other African leaders over […] Continue reading ->
Routine vaccine campaigns, suspended worldwide in the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns, must be resumed immediately or else some countries could face a big surge in deaths from other preventable diseases, said Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance. Speaking at a press briefing Thursday, Berkley warned that routine immunizations for other infectious diseases such […] Continue reading ->
When the World Health Organization sounded the alarm by declaring a ‘public health emergency of international concern‘ on 30 January, “the world should have listened,” said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his strongest response to date, to repeated allegations by the United States that WHO failed to act quickly enough in the […] Continue reading ->
The UN General Assembly approved a resolution Monday night calling for accelerated scientific cooperation and global coordination to hasten the “rapid development, manufacturing and distribution of diagnostics, anti-viral medicines, personal protective equipment and vaccines” needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The resolution, approved in a virtual poll, also called on countries “to immediately take steps […] Continue reading ->