Boris Johnson, UK’s Prime Minister, called upon the leaders of high-income countries to commit to vaccinating the world by 2022 – ahead of Friday’s Group of 7 (G7) meeting of most industrialised nations. His appeal came as 230 prominent figures, including 100 former prime ministers, presidents, and foreign ministers penned a letter urging G7 nations […] Continue reading ->
Humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has criticised the European Union’s (EU) opposition to the TRIPS waiver, labelling its counter-proposal published on Friday as a “manoeuvre” to replace a concrete legal solution to COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing. Ahead of next week’s TRIPS council meeting scheduled for 8-9 June, Senior Legal and Policy Advisor at MSF’s Access […] Continue reading ->
A deal is in the works for the global COVAX vaccine facility to procure two Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines recently approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use – greatly expanding vaccine choices for low- and middle income countries, Africa Centers for Disease Control Director John Nkengasong, told Health Policy Watch on Thursday. “The good […] Continue reading ->
United States President Joe Biden on Thusday unveiled a detailed strategy for sharing 80 million surplus US COVID-19 vaccine doses with other countries in need by the end of June. A detailed allocation plan for the first 25 million of those vaccine doses calls for sharing 75% through the WHO-cosponsored COVAX global vaccine facility – […] Continue reading ->
The WHO-sponsored COVAX facility raised another US $2.4 billion on Wednesday from donors to fund more COVID vaccines for low- and middle-income countries – exceeding their total funding target and bringing the total pledged to the COVAX AMC to US $9.6 billion, following a GAVI COVAX AMC Summit “One World Protected” virtual event. But the […] Continue reading ->
A $50-billion plan to end the COVID-19 pandemic developed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), would generate an additional $9 trillion in global economic returns by 2025, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday. The plan is supported by the World Bank Group, World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and […] Continue reading ->
Six low-and middle-income countries in the Pacific region are set to receive the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the government of New Zealand in response to global supply constraints. Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga and Tuvalu will in the coming months benefit from the dose-sharing agreement, signed on Tuesday […] Continue reading ->
“Mass trauma” from COVID-19 has worsened mental health worldwide, WHO officials said at the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday. The long neglected issue received special attention on the Assembly’s closing day, with member states expressing broad support for more action – after a year that saw new mental health issues emerge even while […] Continue reading ->
Debate Over WHO Investigation of SARS-CoV2 Virus Origins Heads For Showdown in World Health Assembly
The debate over the future direction of WHO’s investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV2 appeared to be heading for a showdown in the closing days of the World Health Assembly – following another sharp statement from the United States on the issue – this time directed squarely at WHO and WHA member states. The terse […] Continue reading ->
Amidst fresh calls from US President Joe Biden ordering the science and intelligence community to come up with a more detailed account of how the SARS-CoV2 virus emerged – it’s unclear how much action the World Health Assembly will really see on the issue. Language in the the final-agreed draft of a WHA resolution, Strengthening […] Continue reading ->