Despite a series of controversies, Bharat Biotech, which produces Indian homegrown vaccine Covaxin, hopes for World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use listing (EUL) soon, following last week’s publication of its promising Phase 3 results. The vaccine was given emergency authorisation by the Indian government in early January – even before it had concluded a Phase […] Continue reading ->
Countries as diverse as Russia, Portugal, South Africa and Sydney have imposed new lockdown regulations as they attempt to control the spread of Delta, the SARS-CoV-2 variant that is more deadly and infectious than any other variant. By last Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant had been detected in […] Continue reading ->
ISLAMABAD – Thousands of Pakistani migrant labourers fear that they might lose their jobs after the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) banned entry for Pakistanis vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines produced in China. Meanwhile, Europe’s digital ‘Green Pass’ is not available to those vaccinated by the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the […] Continue reading ->
KAMPALA – As Uganda battles its worst COVID-19 outbreak, the government has called on a researcher who is selling a herbal remedy to treat COVID-19 to provide clinical proof that it works. Professor Patrick Engeu Ogwang is a renowned researcher in herbal medicines, head of pharmacy at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) and […] Continue reading ->
Africa could start producing its own cutting-edge COVID-19 vaccines within a year via an mRNA technology transfer hub that is being set up in South Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday. But the speed at which the new hub may be able to swing into full-scale vaccine production depends on whether pharmaceutical […] Continue reading ->
From Indonesia and the Seychelles, to Chile and China itself, there are some worrisome indications that the Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac COVID vaccines sold by the hundreds of millions to vaccine-strapped low- and middle-income countries may not be performing as well as expected – particularly against rapidly spreading variants of SARS-CoV-2. At the same time, […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday that the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa was expected to get worse, as 22 countries are facing surges and less than 1% of the continent’s population is vaccinated against the virus. “Cases have increased by 52% just in the past week, and deaths have increased by 32%, and […] Continue reading ->
Twenty-two African countries are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 infections, yet the vaccination rollouts on the continent have ground to a halt because of lack of supply. African vaccination figures, as recorded by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are dismal. Apart from the tiny island state of Seychelles, only Morocco’s vaccination rate […] Continue reading ->
Biotech manufacturer Novavax announced on Monday it would be able to manufacture 100 million doses of its two-dose COVID-19 vaccine every month by the end of the third quarter of 2021 and 150 million doses per month by the end of the year – once it has secured regulatory approval for its vaccine. This follows […] Continue reading ->
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorised the release of two batches of the Janssen/ Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine – about 10 million doses – manufactured at the Emergent BioSolutions facility in Baltimore, according to a statement on Friday. However, it also “determined several other batches are not suitable for use” while […] Continue reading ->