The WHO-convened international investigation into the origin of the SARS-CoV2 virus is too politically limited by China and lacks the mandate to yield fully independent conclusions about how the novel coronavirus emerged and infected humans, according to a group of prominent international scientists – who have called for a new, independent and “unrestricted” probe into […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) and its COVAX partners are hosting a summit next week with governments and pharmaceutical companies to address the bottlenecks in COVID-19 vaccine production and delivery. This follows a spectacular start in the past week for COVAX, the global vaccine delivery platform, which delivered more than 20 million doses of COVID-19 […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK CITY – Although North America is experiencing an overall decline in new COVID-19 cases and deaths, Brazil and other localized hotspots in South America are experiencing a dramatic spike in infection and hospitalization rates, said WHO officials in the region’s Washington DC-based Americas office.  In a Wednesday briefing, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – Nigeria has received the largest single shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the WHO global COVAX initiative to date – with initial delivery of some 3.92 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines out of a total of 16 million doses that have been allocated to the country through the platform for the first phase […] Continue reading ->
Leaders of the 27 European Union member states are moving closer to a consensus on an EU-wide system of vaccine certificates for travel between countries in the bloc. Within three months a system will be introduced, EU officials announced on Thursday, the first day of the two-day virtual summit of the European Council. Several EU […] Continue reading ->
A new COVID-19 virus variant recently detected in New York is “surging alarmingly,” according to the authors of two new pre-print studies by two teams of US researchers, from Columbia University and the California Institute of Technology.  Even worse, the new variant, dubbed B.1.526, shares some key mutations in its “spike” protein structure with several […] Continue reading ->
Over 400 US organisations and 115 Members of the European Parliament declared their support this week for a waiver on intellectual property rights for COVID-19 products, due to be discussed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) General Council. Even so, WTO insiders said that consensus was more likely to build around a “third way” approach […] Continue reading ->
Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo, will be publicly vaccinated with the Oxford/AstraZeneca SARS-CoV2 vaccine on 2 March, signifying the start of the West African country’s vaccine rollout. On Wednesday, Ghana became the first country in the world to receive vaccines via the global vaccine access platform, COVAX, according to Health Policy Watch. The Ivory Coast is expected […] Continue reading ->
A new COVID-19 Oxygen Emergency Taskforce has been created in response to the dearth of sustainable oxygen supplies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) – and its critical importance for treatment of COVID-19.  Co-created by Unitaid and Wellcome Trust in partnership with the WHO and a range of other global public health agencies, the taskforce, […] Continue reading ->