Rich countries need to cough up 1 billion vaccine doses by September, and big pharma should significantly expand its network of voluntary license sharing and manufacturing – in order to avoid a vote by World Trade Organization members on a controversial proposal to waive all COVID-related intellectual property for the duration of the pandemic. That […] Continue reading ->
The G20 Global Health Summit on Friday elicited more promises from wealthy nations to share COVID-19 vaccines, an undertaking by drug companies to make over a billion doses available by year-end – and an indication by the European Union that it would propose an alternative to the TRIPS waiver at the next World Trade Organization […] Continue reading ->
Johnson & Johnson will supply COVAX 200 million of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the year, according to a statement on Friday by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, announcing the advance purchase agreement. The vaccine will be available to both COVAX members who buy their own vaccines and the COVAX AMC members. “Today’s […] Continue reading ->
The hostilities between Israel and Hamas over the past 10 days have caused significant damage to the health system in Gaza, putting the Palestinian population at risk of increased spread of COVID-19 – after six weeks in which new cases had been in sharp decline. The health system in Gaza is now facing severe shortages […] Continue reading ->
With an agenda that is more packed than ever – and razor sharp political crises from Gaza to Taiwan to Myanmar also coming to the fore – will the upcoming World Health Assembly prove to be the decisive moment that it should be for global health? Now, more than ever perhaps, huge tensions and inequalities […] Continue reading ->
A new international expert panel launched by four international organisations on Thursday aims to blunt the emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases through better understanding of human, animal, and environmental interactions that enable animal-borne diseases to break into human populations. The One Health High Level Expert Panel will advise the World Health Organization (WHO), […] Continue reading ->
Conquering the COVID-19 pandemic will inevitably be the main topic for discussion at the impending 74th session of the World Health Assembly, which begins Monday, 24 May. Global health experts weighed in this week at a series of briefings on what to expect from at the upcoming event. Geneva Solution’s Pokuaa Oduro Bonsrah reports: The […] Continue reading ->
Governments and pharmaceutical companies alike must work together in combating the ‘virus of intellectual property (IP) monopolies over COVID-19 vaccines – which further exacerbates inequality and lack of access to vaccines for vulnerable groups. That was the uptake of a group of experts speaking at a webinar Wednesday on “The Virus of IP Monopoly Capitalism”’ […] Continue reading ->
Major global vaccine manufacturers and biotech companies have committed to a five-point plan to “advance COVID-19 vaccine equity”, focusing on “responsible dose-sharing” and “maximizing production”. They pointed out that, within a few months, vaccine doses had gone from “zero to 2.2 billion” and were predicted to reach 11 billion doses by the end of 2021 […] Continue reading ->
Sanofi and GSK will test their two-dose SARS-CoV2 vaccine candidate as a booster for other vaccines during its phase 3 trial, following a phase 2 trial that showed that it triggered a strong neutralizing antibody response in people previously vaccinated. Those who had already been vaccinated showed a strong response after one jab, indicating that […] Continue reading ->