CAPE TOWN – The failure of the Oxford/ AstraZeneca SARS-COV2 vaccine to protect against the COVID-19 variant identified in South Africa has serious implications for massive African vaccine rollouts planned by both the WHO co-sponsored COVAX vaccine facility as well as the African Union’s dedicated African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT). The bulk of Africa’s […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) expects to make a decision next week on whether to issue emergency use licenses for the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine being produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and South Korea’s SK Bioscience on 15 February, according to Dr Mariangela Simão, the organisation’s assistant director general of Drug Access, Vaccines […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) investigative team in Wuhan, China, visited the biosafety laboratory that has been at the centre of numerous conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday, making it the most controversial site for the team’s fieldwork so far.  The team of 13 experts spent three-and-a-half hours at the Wuhan Institute of […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN, NIGERIA — A new fixed-dose combination (FDC) tuberculosis (TB) treatment could improve the ease of treatment regimes, increase the availability of treatments, and get the world back on track to achieve the goal of ending TB.  The short-course preventative treatment, consisting of two drugs – rifapentine and isoniazid – will reduce the pill burden […] Continue reading ->
News of the successful trial results of the Russian Sputnik vaccine, published on Wednesday by The Lancet has shored up the prospects of quick vaccine access for dozens of countries that have pinned their hopes on Russian or Chinese vaccine alternatives – as rich countries buy up the bulk of supplies of high-tech vaccines and […] Continue reading ->

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Switzerland has become the first European country to reject an application by AstraZeneca for regulatory approval. Meanwhile, half a dozen other European countries have now said that data on the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine so far is insufficient to permit its use among people over the age of 65 – with Belgium being the latest.  “The data […] Continue reading ->
KAMPALA, UGANDA – Responding to a swell of global criticism, a senior Ugandan health official told Health Policy Watch that Uganda’s government is not paying unreasonably higher prices for it’s AstraZeneca vaccines, in comparison to other African countries – or Europe.  “You cannot compare prices directly between countries because there are many factors to consider. […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – Despite battling against a more infectious variant, South Africa seems to have ridden out its second and deadliest wave of COVID-19 infections.  And with new case counts declining, the government relaxed its most recent set of lockdown restrictions on Tuesday – reopening beaches, and easing night-time curfews and a ban on alcohol […] Continue reading ->
Some 50% of countries surveyed by WHO have had cancer services partially or completely disruptive because of the pandemic, according to new WHO data released just ahead of World Cancer Day on Thursday. There have also been significant reductions in cancer-related research and clinical trials, said Andre Ilbawi, speaking at a press briefing in Geneva […] Continue reading ->