A global grassroots movement of scientists based on crowdsourcing ideas, expertise, and goodwill has already generated – and freely released – more than half of the known structural information on the main protease of SARS-CoV-2. Based on this, they are now on a quest for an open-source drug that can block the virus from replicating. […] Continue reading ->
WASHINGTON D.C. (ENDPOINTS News) – The FDA on Thursday authorized another new pill to treat the Omicron variant, this time from Merck. The FDA decision follows upon a decision Wednesday authorizing Pfizer’s Paxlovid oral treatment, which the company said had proved to reduce the relative risk of hospitalization or death by 89% (within three days […] Continue reading ->
WHO has issued new advice to countries supporting booster campaigns for “high risk groups” but still opposing “blanket” campaigns – or vaccines for children and adolescents under the age of 18. The latter, top WHO officials contend, could divert too many vaccines from low-and-middle member states that have low vaccination coverage rates – leading to […] Continue reading ->
Driven by Omicron, Africa is facing a steep wave of new COVID infections – last week reporting the fourth highest number of cases ever recorded in a single week, said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday. He was speaking at an exclusive media briefing in Geneva behind closed doors to a handful […] Continue reading ->
In what should be reassuring news for health systems the world over, preliminary lab results suggest that Moderna’s authorised COVID booster dose of 50 µg offers 37-fold more protection against Omicron than the first two vaccine jabs after 29 days. And a 100 µg booster -comparable to the dose received in the first two shots […] Continue reading ->
As more vaccine supplies finally become available to the world’s low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), the latent challenges that should have been addressed long before have emerged. Those include vaccine hesitancy and the ability of weak health systems to mount mass vaccination campaigns amidst other pressing health needs. Global policymakers need to shift their attention from […] Continue reading ->
An overwhelming majority of people in Africa – 78% of people surveyed across 19 countries in the African Union – are willing to get vaccinated, according to new research from the Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC). PERC – a public-private partnership consisting of organizations and institutions such as the African Union, Africa Centres […] Continue reading ->
Rapidly Spreading Omicron is Now in 77 Countries and WHO Warns Against Assuming its Effects are Mild
Omicron is now in 77 countries, spreading at a rate not seen by other COVID-19 variants and countries should not assume that it is mild, warned World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday. Even if people get milder symptoms from Omicron, the sheer number of cases could overcome health systems that […] Continue reading ->
The virus reproduction number of the Omicron variant in Gauteng province – the epicentre of South Africa’s pandemic – is 3 – meaning that one infected person will infect three others on average. That is the highest seen so far in the country’s COVID-19 pandemic history – and testimony to the highly infectious nature of […] Continue reading ->
The newly constituted African Medicines Agency (AMA) will be key in assisting the African Union (AU) to achieve its aim of producing 60% of vaccines on its own soil by 2040. This emerged at a two-day meeting of the Partnership for Africa Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) hosted by Rwanda this week. The PAVM was set up […] Continue reading ->