The World Health Organization has “pre-qualified” a new Ebola vaccine in record time, just a day after the vaccine, Ervebo, received European regulatory approval. “This is the fastest vaccine prequalification process ever conducted by WHO,” said the organization in press release Tuesday evening. The WHO approval was described as a “critical step that will help […] Continue reading ->
Trauma surgeon and veteran field worker, Christos Christou, has taken over the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reins as International President, following his election by the organization’s International General Assembly last June. Christou, former president of the MSF Greece Board of Directors, will be faced with the leadership challenges of an organization that has grown from […] Continue reading ->
Against the background of increased cross-border infection risks, the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – a decision that may help increase aid flows to the disease epicentre but also threaten free-wheeling patterns of […] Continue reading ->
In a little-publicised move, the WHA last week agreed to close a critical loophole in the WHO Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework that could have allowed commercial vaccine manufacturers to indirectly make use of biological information about flu strains from another country – without providing that country with any benefits from the vaccines or antivirals […] Continue reading ->
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an innovative collaboration of governments, UN agencies, foundations and the private sector, has reaffirmed its commitment to safeguard and promote equitable access to new vaccines under development to head off the risk of disease outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics that threaten global health. Image Credits: CEPI / CureVac. Continue reading ->