As the WHO Executive Board resumes talks this week on a much-discussed Pandemic Accord, and other preparedness measures, three noted infectious disease experts chart a course for “eliminating” SARS-COV2 – warning that will take more sustained global coordination and determination than what has been seen so far. At the outbreak of World War 1 in […] Continue reading ->
IDABAN, Nigeria – The decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to drop its opposition for COVID-19 vaccination booster shots has raised concerns in Africa about the potential depletion of COVID-19 vaccine doses available to African countries. On Friday, Health Policy Watch reported WHO recommended the wider administration of a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech […] Continue reading ->
UN Secretary General António Guterres Calls for ‘New Global Deal’ on Debt Relief, Climate and Health
International financial institutions need to extend widespread debt relief to developing countries, and private sector companies need to mend “social contracts” with societies, and in order to “beat climate, beat COVID” fight hunger – and global financial instability, said UN Secretary General António Guterres. He was speaking on the opening day of the World Economic […] Continue reading ->
France’s newest measure to tackle COVID-19 – requiring a certificate of vaccination at public places such as restaurants, cafes, cinemas, and long-distance trains – was approved by its parliament on Sunday. With lawmakers in the lower house of parliament voting 215 to 58 in favour, the law is set to be enforced in coming days. […] Continue reading ->
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, monitoring sewage for evidence of disease – in this case COVID-19 – may be on the verge of becoming mainstream. At least that is what some trend-setting researchers are hoping to detect rising SARS-CoV2 infections early and set policies based on data even before swab testing can provide it. […] Continue reading ->
The leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO) has slammed Ethiopia’s “complete blockade” on health and humanitarian aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, saying it has been unable to deliver life-saving medications for nearly six months – in a situation that is “unprecedented” even in comparison to conflict-wracked Syria or Yemen. “Humanitarian access even in conflict […] Continue reading ->
China wants to delete language supporting rapid World Health Organization (WHO) access to outbreak sites in future pandemics from a critical document that maps out a way forward in future pandemics, a diplomatic source has told Health Policy Watch. This emerged at Monday’s start of a three-day meeting in Geneva of the global body’s Working […] Continue reading ->
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to order the arrest of Filipinos who refuse to receive COVID-19 vaccinations – in one of the most extreme vaccine mandate edicts to be made by any government worldwide. “Because it is a national emergency, it is my position that we can restrain [unvaccinated people],” said Duterte in a […] Continue reading ->
Mass Omicron infection could lead to the formation of new and potentially even more dangerous coronavirus variants, officials from the World Health Organization warned on Thursday. That is despite the fact that the Omicron variant is proving less lethal than its SARS-CoV2 predecessors, such as Alpha, Beta and Delta – which swept through India and […] Continue reading ->
Two new large scale reviews of the effects of the two-dose Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine in children aged 5-11 shows fewer severe effects than in older groups. Tuesday’s report, by the Israeli Health Fund Maccabi covering more than 20,000 children, comes on the heels of a similar US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study […] Continue reading ->