WHO is launching a collaboration with R&B Vocalist Kim Sledge of “We Are Family” fame to reproduce her signature album in a campaign aimed to promote global solidarity for COVID-19, and raise funds to battle COVID-19. The campaign, which will be coordinated by The World We Want Foundation, is to feature a special edition cover […] Continue reading ->
Along with recording the most deaths from COVID-19 of any country in the world, the US has ranked highest among leading OECD countries in deaths per capita from the infectious disease, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by researchers from Harvard University and the University of […] Continue reading ->
As the northern hemisphere enters winter, “COVID-19 cases are accelerating, particularly in Europe and North America,” said WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking at a Monday press briefing. In words that echoed warnings from European officials last week, Dr Tedros and WHO’s health emergencies team stressed that governments need to double down on […] Continue reading ->
Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, announced Friday in an open letter that the pharmaceutical company developing a COVID-19 vaccine will not request an emergency authorization before mid-November – meaning that the file of the vaccine candidate that is regarded as the front-runner in the global race to get a vaccine to market would only be reviewed […] Continue reading ->
Two more experimental COVID-19 drugs, including the much-touted Remdesivir, appear to have fallen by the wayside, failing to show significant reductions in mortality among seriously ill patients. Interim results on Remdesivir and three other drug treatments being studied as part of the WHO Solidarity Therapeutics Trial, the world’s largest randomized controlled trial of COVID-19 drugs, […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN, Nigeria – Nearly two years after the Assembly of the African Union, adopted a milestone treaty establishing an African Medicines Agency (AMA) that could provide a more unified approach to regulatory approval of new medicines and vaccines, the AMA treaty is yet to enter into force – because it has not been ratified by […] Continue reading ->
A new study published in The Lancet on Thursday found that an inactivated vaccine candidate, called BBIBP-CorV, was safe and provoked an immune response in healthy individuals. This is the first study of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine to include participants over 60 years of age. The BBIBP-CorV vaccine is being developed by the Beijing Institute of […] Continue reading ->
A significant surge in COVID-19 cases is currently taking place across Europe, something that Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, described as the “fall/winter surge” in a press briefing Thursday. Europe has reported its highest weekly number of COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with nearly 700,000 cases. Even though mortality rates […] Continue reading ->
A safe, proven vaccine for COVID-19 doesn’t yet exist. But the battle for access is heating up. Even as the world struggles to come up with a viable COVID-19 vaccine as well as new treatments, the debate over how to ensure that people around the world can get access to whatever products are available, now […] Continue reading ->
A sweeping proposal by India and South Africa to suspend the protection of intellectual property (IP) related to COVID-19 health products is set to come before the The World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Council this week. The closed door discussion lays the groundwork for what could prove to be the most significant public debate over […] Continue reading ->