The World Health Organization (WHO) and its COVAX partners are hosting a summit next week with governments and pharmaceutical companies to address the bottlenecks in COVID-19 vaccine production and delivery. This follows a spectacular start in the past week for COVAX, the global vaccine delivery platform, which delivered more than 20 million doses of COVID-19 […] Continue reading ->
Women in Africa account for a slightly smaller proportion of Covid-19 infections and deaths than men although a health expert cautions that access to testing and reluctance to being treated in hospitals could mean that women’s cases are undercounted. Unveiling findings of a preliminary analysis of COVID-19 gender-specific epidemiological data in 28 African countries, the […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN & KAMPALA – From Asia to the Americas, vaccines are fast becoming the new currency by which nations and geopolitical blocs wield influence and buy political favours – with more value than oil or bitcoin. But nowhere is this more apparent, perhaps, than in Africa, Latin America and south Asia, where both Russia […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – Nigeria has received the largest single shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the WHO global COVAX initiative to date – with initial delivery of some 3.92 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines out of a total of 16 million doses that have been allocated to the country through the platform for the first phase […] Continue reading ->
The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine can reduce severe COVID-19 in older adults by up to 70%, says a new Public Health England (PHE) study – which offers the first real-world evidence of the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing serious disease among older adults, following its approval by UK and European regulatory agencies. Findings about the efficacy […] Continue reading ->
JERUSALEM – A three-way collaboration between Israel, Austria and Denmark to expand COVID vaccine manufacturing capacity may be taking shape – just as Moderna gears up for a major global manufacturing expansion and the Israeli-based firm, Teva Pharmaceuticals, negotiates with vaccine manufacturers about ways to support more vaccine production and distribution. Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz […] Continue reading ->
As a deaf child in India, Sneha Das Gupta struggled to make friends and to learn during classes at school. Fortunately, in her earliest years, she was able to do well because she had access to a hearing aid, as well as speech therapy and support from her teachers at school. Today, she is a […] Continue reading ->
The global vaccine platform, COVAX, aims to distribute 237 million doses of the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine to 142 countries by the end of May 2021, its managing partners told the media on Tuesday. Eleven million doses will be delivered this week alone, with Angola, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria getting their vaccines on […] Continue reading ->
Despite a groundswell of growing support, a South African and Indian proposal to the World Trade Organization to suspend patents and other intellectual property on vital COVID-19 vaccines and other health products was put on hold by WTO’s General Council in its session on Monday – with the next debate likely to occur in May. […] Continue reading ->
Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have become the first countries in the world to start vaccinating their health workers against COVID-19 with a supply of doses from the WHO co-sponsored global COVAX facility. But it is “regrettable” that this milestone has come almost three months after vaccine campaigns already began in rich countries, World Health Organisation’s […] Continue reading ->