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 ->
WHO issued a stiff warning to Covid-skeptics who have been saying that in the absence of a vaccine, policies that let the SARS-CoV-2 virus spread freely would lead to eventual “herd immunity” , and that might be preferable to continued containment and social-distancing measures.  “Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination, in which a […] Continue reading ->
The United States appears to be walking back on threats to withdraw from the World Health Organization – just as US President Donald Trump is reported to be recovering from a bout with COVID-19 in Washington, DC.  Speaking at the first formal meeting of WHO’s Executive Board governing body to be convened since May, US […] Continue reading ->
The CEO of Pfizer, one of the frontrunners in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, has lambasted US President Donald Trump’s politicization of the vaccine approval timeline, declaring in an open letter that the company is “moving at the speed of science” and will not “succumb to political pressure” to prematurely rush its product […] Continue reading ->
WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus joined the chorus of world leaders wishing United States President Donald Trump and his wife a speedy recovery from COVID-19 – while the US presidential campaign entered uncharted waters, with the cancellation of campaign rallies and fears that other White House Staff and political allies who had accompanied […] Continue reading ->
The ‘infodemic’ is one of the “most concerning” governance challenges of our time, undermining trust in science in the midst of the pandemic, and threatening people’s physical and mental health, warned United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Administrator Achim Steimer.  While the overabundance of misinformation – or ‘infodemic – is not new, it has blown out […] Continue reading ->
Against the backdrop of Thursday’s G-20 Health and Finance Ministers meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic, UN and Global health leaders were escalating their pleas to the world’s industrialized countries and global financial institutions for billions of dollars in immediate funding to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The calls echoed statements issued earlier this week by the […] Continue reading ->