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 ->
In a rush to jumpstart more global vaccine manufacturing capacity, the global COVAX vaccine facility is now stepping into the fray.  A new COVAX Supply Chain and Manufacturing Task Force has laid out a three-stage plan to enhance existing vaccine production capacity, as well setting up a new “vaccine manufacturing group” – to further expand […] Continue reading ->
A sweeping report on the global pandemic response has found that the World Health Organization should have taken a more “precautionary’ approach to the emerging SARS-COV2 virus in the early days of the pandemic, advising countries earlier on that it could be transmitted person-to-person — rather than only warning of such a “possibility”. The report […] Continue reading ->
Limitations in COVID-19 testing capacity and surveillance—as well as uneven demand for testing—are likely masking the true severity of COVID-19 on the African continent, fueling the dangerous myth that much of Africa has been unscathed by COVID-19. Test positivity rates were above 10% across many African Union (AU) member states during the second wave—substantially higher […] Continue reading ->
In a far-reaching statement, WHO and the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) called on the pharma industry to provide much wider access to clinical data for all new medicines and vaccines approved, or under review, and even those that had been rejected.  “Clinical trial reports should be published without redaction of confidential information […] Continue reading ->
The Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine became the latest COVID-19 vaccine to receive an Emergency Use Listing from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday; experts said the vaccine showed an overall efficacy rate of 79% in preventing symptomatic and serious disease.  The WHO approval positions Sinopharm to become a major player in the COVAX global facility. […] Continue reading ->
Low-and-middle-income countries have made significantly less progress than high-income countries in implementing hand hygiene and infection prevention programmes that can stop deadly diseases, from diarrhoea to COVID-19, according to a recent A World Health Organization survey of 88 countries.  And one in four health care facilities in poorer countries do not have basic water services […] Continue reading ->