The US decision to join COVAX “is likely to mean resources” to be able to get vaccines for people, Dr Tony Fauci, US President Joe Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor, told the International AIDS Society’s COVID-19 conference this week. Fauci also told the conference that scientists were taking the SARS-COV2 variant identified in South Africa so […] Continue reading ->
COVAX aims to start shipping nearly 90 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the continent this month – in what will be Africa’s largest ever mass vaccination campaign, said WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti at a press briefing Thursday. COVAX has notified countries in Africa of the estimated dose allocation for the first phase of […] Continue reading ->
The world’s first mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccine trial, sponsored by Oxford University, is currently recruiting volunteers to investigate the efficacy of alternating between Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. Meanwhile, the British GlaxoSmithKline and CureVac, a German pharmaceutical company, announced their new €150 million agreement to jointly develop a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, attempting to address multiple emerging variants in […] Continue reading ->
AstraZeneca has agreed to increase its COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to the European Union by 30% after a week of feuding over a shortfall in vaccine deliveries, announced by the pharma company after its manufacturing plants hit a number of snags. By April or June, a series of manufacturing foul-ups reported by Pfizer as well as […] Continue reading ->
The International AIDS Society (IAS) has welcomed US President Joe Biden’s repeal of the Mexico City Policy, known as the global “gag rule”, which prevented non-US organisations from getting US aid if they offered abortion services, referrals or advocacy. But the IAS urged the US administration “to consider legislation preventing the global gag rule from […] Continue reading ->
For the second time in as many years, WHO member states have voted down a proposal by Israel to remove a standalone item from the agenda of the 74th World Health Assembly – devoted exclusively to a report on health conditions in the Occupied Palestinian territories – and consider it as part of WHO’s overall […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) aims to make its engagement with non-state actors (non-state actors) more meaningful and efficient with a new proposal to establish a number of NSA fora that would allow exchange with WHO and member state representatives outside of official meetings. The new proposal — which will be tested during the 74th […] Continue reading ->
Five people have died in a major fire at the Serum Institute’s manufacturing facility, charged with producing India’s supply of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – just days after the country’s national vaccine campaign got underway. Serum Institute Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla was quick to say that the fire at its main complex in Pune, would not […] Continue reading ->
Past COVID-19 infection may provide immunity for several months, but still leaves risk of transmission to others, a Public Health England (PHE) study has found. “This means even if you believe you already had the disease and are protected, you can be reassured it is highly unlikely you will develop severe infections but there is […] Continue reading ->
After months of delay, a pared-down WHO research team charged with investigating the origins of the SARS-CoV2 virus finally arrived in China on Thursday – but two members of the team were left behind in Singapore after they tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, WHO said. In the 24 hours since, one of these two members […] Continue reading ->