The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted on Wednesday to remove cannabis and cannabis-derived substances from its “Schedule IV” list of the world’s most dangerous narcotics. The move comes nearly two years after the WHO recommended to the UN Secretary General that cannabis and cannabis resin be removed from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention […] Continue reading ->
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, a cutting edge mRNA technology produced jointly with the German firm BioNTech, was authorized for use on Wednesday by the United Kingdom – making it the vaccine the first to be rolled out for commercial public use as early as next week.  The vaccine was authorised Wednesday morning for emergency use by […] Continue reading ->
Moderna on Monday announced that it would immediately request emergency authorization today for its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate from both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA)  and the European Medicines Agency – as well as asking the World Health Organization for an emergency use listing.  The announcement came in a week that will […] Continue reading ->
In a politically charged series of exchanges at a Friday press briefing, World Health Organization officials pushed back against queries by a representative of China’s state-controlled CCTV, asking about whether the SARS-CoV2 virus discovered in Wuhan, China in December of 2019 could have been circulating in humans “outside of China before the outbreak in Wuhan, […] Continue reading ->
The vaccine zero hour is approaching. As Norway’s Minister of International Development Dag Ulstein and South Africa’s Minister of Health Zweili Mkhize made yet another urgent plea Monday for some US$4.3 billion right now and another $US23.9 billion in 2021 to massively roll out new COVID19 vaccines, drugs and tests that are now coming on […] Continue reading ->
BREAKING – World Health Organization Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has proposed the creation of a Swiss-based global repository for sharing pathogen materials and clinical samples related to potential outbreak threats – allowing for the more rapid development of medical interventions.  The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the urgent need for this kind of system, said […] Continue reading ->
A series of new COVID-19 drug and vaccine funding commitments worth just over US$300 million were announced on Thursday by the Gates Foundation, France and the European Commission – amidst a quickening pace of anticipation that at least one, if not two, COVID-19 vaccines may soon become available.  Appearing at the Paris Peace Forum, Melinda […] Continue reading ->
World Health Assembly members set aside the contentious issue of restoring Taiwan’s observer status at the member state forum – to focus on the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and linked to that WHO reform.  That was despite a growing push by the United States, backed by Europe and their western Pacific allies for […] Continue reading ->
This year’s 73rd edition of the World Health Assembly resumes virtually on Monday, after a two-day emergency huddle in May – against sharply rising COVID-19 infection rates in Europe and the United States, deep geopolitical divides – and calls for reform of the WHO that could strengthen its mandate but also may be resisted by […] Continue reading ->