COVAX has a shortfall of 190 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, and the few manufacturers that have reached agreements with the facility will only deliver later in the year or even in 2022, World Health Organization (WHO) Director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday. “Pfizer has committed to providing 40 million doses of vaccines to […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN- South Africa finally started to vaccinate people over the age of 60 on Monday, but it’s roll-out is being severely hampered by a hold-up in the verification of millions of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccines by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Although Monday marks the official start of the country’s vaccination […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – A deal to supply 400 million doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to African countries hangs in the balance as most countries are reluctant to make upfront deposits and borrow money to get the supplies. With a looming deadline to express interest and complete the funding applications, Africa CDC John Nkengasong on […] Continue reading ->
In preparation for the next pandemic, the COVAX global vaccine facility “needs a pot of money, where they can be early movers” in competing for, and securing, vaccine doses. That could help scenarios like the ones seen recently, in which rich countries cornered the market on the first available COVID-19 vaccines, leading to severe shortages […] Continue reading ->
PUNE: India’s second wave is devastating the country’s rural areas where health infrastructure is rickety and a lack of trained healthcare workers, government support and access to healthcare is likely to worsen the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health experts believe the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths are vastly underreported and that strict […] Continue reading ->
Researchers have quickly developed an outstanding arsenal of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics to counter COVID-19. But closer global coordination of diverse clinical trials testing the same or similar treatments, extending even to a global platform to pool anonymized patient data, could strengthen and accelerate research findings – especially as emerging variants threaten to unwind gains. […] Continue reading ->
Delaying the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by 12 weeks could generate antibody responses in those over the age of 80 more than threefold, found a pre-print study published on Friday. The study, conducted by the University of Birmingham and Public Health England, is the first to directly compare the immune response derived […] Continue reading ->
A group of 18 prominent scientists, primarily based in the United States, have called for further investigations into the origins of the SARS-CoV2 virus, including that it could have been created in the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab, in a letter published on Thursday in the journal Science. The letter, organised by David Relman, Professor […] Continue reading ->
A draft “Rome Declaration” to be issued at next Friday’s G-20’s Global Health Summit, co-hosted by Italy and the European Commission (21 May), makes a series of 10 sweeping commitments to ensure equitable access to vaccines; expand medicines manufacturing capacity; assure WHO access to sites posing an outbreak risk; and invest in global health systems. […] Continue reading ->
Though more than 114 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Americas, the WHO Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has warned that the pandemic is far from over. Last week, the region reported more than 1.2 million new COVID-19 cases and nearly 34,000 COVID related deaths – nearly 40% of all global deaths […] Continue reading ->