More than 5 million people have officially died from COVID-19 less than two years into the global pandemic. COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death, after heart disease and stroke. There have been 5,003,021 COVID-19 related deaths as of 1 November, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard. In the United States, 746,021 […] Continue reading ->
There will be no airlifting of COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries struggling to get their immunisation figures into double digits. There are also no concrete plans for wealthy countries to make good on their earlier dose promises to COVAX by giving actual delivery dates. And, there is no date for wealthy countries to phase out […] Continue reading ->
A “Zero Draft” report by a WHO Working Group gives cautious endorsement to advancing negotiations over a new “Pandemic Treaty” among WHO’s 194 member states. That endorsement by the Working Group of member states remains couched in highly nuanced, diplomatic language that makes it clear how big the lift may be to actually negotiate a […] Continue reading ->
Ahead of a critical G20 meeting this weekend, WHO and its partners are asking the world’s leading industrialized nations to come up with another US$ 23.4 billion over the course of the coming year to address stark shortages in COVID vaccines, tests and treatments remain dismally low in Africa and other parts of the developing […] Continue reading ->
Only five African countries are likely to reach a WHO global goal of vaccinating 40% of their populations by the end of the year, and the continent’s roll-outs may be slowed further by a global shortage of the syringes need to administer vaccines. UNICEF has reported an imminent shortfall of up to 2.2 billion syringes […] Continue reading ->
The US government has enabled Africa to get access to 50 million Moderna COVID-19 vaccines by giving the continent its place in the vaccine queue, Strive Masiyiwa, head of the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) said on Tuesday. “This is a time swap arrangement whereby the United States government basically stood aside for the next […] Continue reading ->
Amid soaring COVID-19 cases in the UK, the government is prioritising giving third booster shots to people as it banks on the country’s high COVID-19 vaccination rate being able to prevent severe illness and death. Over the past week, COVID-19 cases in the UK increased by almost 18% – with 52,000 new cases confirmed on Thursday […] Continue reading ->
Surging fossil fuel use to feed a COVID economic recovery and record numbers of heat-wave days for older groups and agricultural workers; these are just a few of the sobering messages contained in the new Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, just 10 days before the start of the Glasgow Climate Conference. The report, […] Continue reading ->
Health activists have appealed to the European Council (EUCO) to discuss a waiver on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) on all health goods necessary to address the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is no indication that this is on the agenda of the meeting which started in Brussels on Thursday afternoon. While COVID-19 is on […] Continue reading ->
The global vaccine facility, COVAX, is on the cusp of delivering large amounts of vaccines to countries that need them the most – but will poorer countries have the ability to properly absorb these? And how can COVAX ensure that it has the trust of low and middle-income countries (LMICs) who need the vaccines most, […] Continue reading ->