JOHANNESBURG – Violent unrest in South Africa has had a disastrous impact on the country’s healthcare and emergency services and has brought the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out to a near standstill in at least two provinces, as the country continues to battle with a third wave of the pandemic. On Tuesday, the national health department temporarily […] Continue reading ->
Pharmaceutical companies continue to develop COVID-19 vaccine boosters amid condemnation of people in wealthy countries getting additional shots when much of the world is unvaccinated. The US Health and Human Services Department reiterated on Monday that booster shots were not necessary for fully vaccinated Americans after meeting with Pfizer, which is conducting a booster trial. […] Continue reading ->
The single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine could lead to an increased risk of a rare neurological condition, warned the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday, adding it to the list of possible side effects. This comes along with a series of new reports on the side effects associated with the leading COVID-19 […] Continue reading ->
Connection, community, stability – these are not the usual terms associated with video games. Yet a groundbreaking new study from Oxford Internet Institute (OII) found that playing video games may also be beneficial to mental health – particularly in the context of pandemic lockdowns and social gathering restrictions that have been a common feature in […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus slammed plans by Pfizer and Moderna, as well as a handful of rich countries, to begin offering ‘booster’ COVID vaccines to some groups of people – saying that the world has evolved a “dangerous” two-tiered system of vaccinations, driven by greed instead of enlightened self-interest. “It’s becoming a […] Continue reading ->
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has signed advanced purchase agreements (APAs) with Sinopharm and Sinovac, Chinese biotech firms, to immediately begin supplying the global COVAX Facility with 110 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the agency announced on Monday. The agreements come as the Delta variant, first identified in India and classified as a WHO variant of […] Continue reading ->
The Lambda variant has now been found in 29 different countries, seven of them in Latin America and it is the dominant strain in Peru. The Lambda variant, or the C.37 strain, designated a variant of interest by the WHO on 15 June 2021, was first identified in Peru in August 2020. It is widespread […] Continue reading ->
Nearly half of the 31 European nations using the European Union’s new digital COVID travel certificate have recognized the India-made version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Covishield, alongside its European-made counterpart, Vaxzevria, an analysis by Health Policy Watch has revealed. But other major countries, including France, Poland, and Italy, seem to be holding out, authorizing only […] Continue reading ->
As Africa recorded its worst pandemic week, the COVAX Facility announced on Thursday that it has taken steps to quickly resume the delivery of vaccines to African countries including diversifying its portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines. Aurélia Nguyen, Managing Director of the COVAX Facility based at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said the COVAX portfolio now consists […] Continue reading ->
Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has suspended its patent rights on the medication tocilizumab in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for the duration of the pandemic, the company announced Tuesday. This follows the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation on Monday for interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor blockers to be given to patients hospitalised with severe or critical […] Continue reading ->