Speaking during a tour by WHO’s Director General of Cape Town’s new mRNA vaccine R&D hub that replicated the Moderna COVID vaccine, South Africa’s Health Minister affirms support for the continental-wide medicines regulatory authority.  CAPE TOWN  – South Africa’s Health Minister signalled that his country intends to join the African Medicines Agency – but that […] Continue reading ->
  Signatories to the new African Medicines Agency Treaty have now reached 28 countries – more than half of the African Union’s 55 member states – with the balance tipping as Uganda signed the treaty instrument last week.   On Friday, 5 November, after more than a decade of preparations, the African Medicine Agency (AMA) treaty […] 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 ->
Travellers who are fully vaccinated with vaccines authorised in the European Union (EU) “should” be allowed entry for non-essential travel – even if these vaccines were not “produced in facilities covered by the marketing authorisation in the EU”, a European Commission spokesperson for health, food safety and transport told Health Policy Watch on Wednesday.   At […] Continue reading ->
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has officially authorized expanded capacity in three new vaccine manufacturing facilities on the continent producing AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines – a move that the agency says should also help pharma suppliers ramp up their deliveries of now scarce vaccines to European Union bloc countries.  At the same time, a […] Continue reading ->
The European Medicines Agency’s safety committee (PRAC) on Thursday gave a resounding endorsement of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19, concluding that the vaccine’s benefits vaccine “far outweigh” any risks  –  despite a possible link between some vaccinations and rare cases of blood clotting associated with low levels of blood platelets. The EMA statement followed two […] Continue reading ->