The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how crucial journalism is to counter the rapid spread of inaccurate information and to hold governments accountable, a diverse panel of leading journalists noted on Thursday, a few days after World Press Freedom Day. Sometimes that story-telling saves lives, but it can also come at a high personal cost to […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – The city is planning a vaccine outreach campaign aimed at encouraging an estimated 530,000 homeless people and migrants to get vaccinated. Cape Town is one of 18 cities that has been chosen by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ ‘Healthy Cities’ initiative for a grant of up to $50,000 to support vaccine distribution to reach high-risk […] Continue reading ->
KAMPALA – Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda have suspended passenger flights from India amid that country’s surge in COVID-19 cases and fears that a number of African countries are on the brink of their own surges. “All flights from India and all passengers originating from India are suspended from 1 May,” the Uganda Ministry of Health […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) appears to be inching towards the approval of the Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines as it struggles to fill a looming vaccine vacuum left by India’s Serum Institute – which has halted exports as the country continues to reel from a tragic coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, the WHO declared the latest […] Continue reading ->
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa received its first batch of 325,260 Pfizer vaccine doses late on Sunday night, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced. This follows lengthy negotiations between the South African government and Pfizer, during which the company made “difficult and sometimes unreasonable” terms including at one stage that the country put up sovereign assets as […] Continue reading ->
Africa’s brutal experiences battling Ebola and a range of other deadly diseases helped prepare health systems to deal with COVID-19. And by the time the SARS-CoV2 virus landed on the continent, its Centre for Disease Control (CDC) had already “established regional coordinating centres, increased lab capacity and unified surveillance networks”. The lessons in emergency response […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – South Africans are consuming fewer sugary drinks since their government introduced a tax on these in 2018 – but powerful multinational food and beverage companies are inhibiting neighbouring countries from following suit, according to research published on Tuesday. South Africa was the first African country to impose a tax of approximately 10% […] Continue reading ->
Six weeks after receiving 1.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from COVAX, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) finally started to vaccinate people on Monday. The delay followed concerns about the safety of the vaccine amid reports about possible links between the vaccine and blood clotting. In a bid to build public confidence, […] Continue reading ->
NAIROBI – Kenya has developed an ambitious COVID-19 vaccination rollout plan – but it has only received enough doses for a million of its 50 million citizens, and dispensed slightly more than half of these – 565,000 – to health workers. Kenya is currently in the third wave of the pandemic and estimates that 4 […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – The Africa CDC has expressed concerns over the disruption of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in Africa saying it was preventing many Africans who have received the first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine may not be able to receive the second dose 12 weeks after the first dose as recommended in the vaccination guideline. […] Continue reading ->