The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts in fighting hunger in a year when food supplies for millions of people have been disrupted by COVID-19, destroyed by flooding and devoured by unprecedented locust swarms spreading across Africa and beyond. In Friday’s announcement, the Oslo-based […] Continue reading ->
Moderna, Inc., developer of one of the four front-running COVID-19 vaccine candidates, announced on Thursday that the the company would “not enforce” its COVID-19-related patents against other companies making vaccines to combat the pandemic – and would also be willing to license intellectual property for their COVID-19 vaccines for the post pandemic period.  “We feel […] Continue reading ->
Acting on the advice of experts, the United States Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued new safety-focused guidelines for approval of new COVID-19 vaccines, that would almost certainly delay their emergency approval until after the November Presidential elections. Just hours after the rules were issued, United States President Donald Trump accused the FDA of […] Continue reading ->
The United States on Tuesday gave conditional praise for the “progress made” by an independent oversight committee examining the response of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme to the COVID-19 pandemic – asking for more updates in November and early 2021. The report by the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee (IOAC) to WHO’s Health Emergencies operations […] 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 ->
Moderna intends to seek US Food and Drug Administration emergency authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate for frontline medical workers by November 25th at the earliest, and only in late January for use in the general population.  That means that the vaccine, if approved on schedule, would only be available for widespread distribution to the […] Continue reading ->
Political leaders should find a way to collaborate and “follow the science,” taking a page from researchers, public health practitioners, and healthcare workers who have learned to work together during the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO Health Emergencies Executive Director Mike Ryan said on Friday. “The people have found a way to cooperate, leaders need to find […] 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 ->