The World Health Organization and UNICEF have sounded the alarm on the largest sustained decline in global childhood vaccinations in approximately 30 years, with 25 million infants missing out on lifesaving routine vaccines. The percentage of children who received three doses of vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) – a marker for immunization coverage […] Continue reading ->
With a surge in cases and the rapid rise of new subvariants, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a global health emergency posing significant risks to public health, a WHO committee of public health experts has concluded. The statement by the COVID-19 Emergency Committee, was published Tuesday, four days after experts gathered for their 12th […] Continue reading ->
Some 1.1 billion COVID-19 vaccines are likely to have been wasted since the global rollout began, according to new findings by Airfinity, a global health surveillance firm. Airfinity’s analysis, released Monday, assumed a 10% wastage rate from June 2021 when global dose sharing began. This rate is taken from confirmed wastage in the United States […] Continue reading ->
With cases of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 soaring in Europe and around the world, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommends everyone 60 and older get a second COVID-19 booster shot. EMA’s recommendation came shortly before WHO reconvened its COVID Emergency Committee on Friday to reconsider its global recommendations for the pandemic – and if the […] Continue reading ->
Organizers say they have no plans to “sunset” the support they offer countries through the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, the global partnership to facilitate equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. The ACT-A, however, will undergo a “transition” when its strategic plan and budget ends in September, according to the World Health […] Continue reading ->
Children infected with COVID-19 maintained strong immunity against the virus for at least 18 months, according to a preprint study that was released on Wednesday. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, was conducted by Kahn-Sagol-Maccabi (KSM), the research and innovation center of Maccabi Healthcare Services in Israel, and was released on the preprint server […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19 vaccines prevented almost 20 million deaths worldwide in the first year of the vaccine programme, according to a modelling study published in The Lancet on Friday. The first modelling study to quantify the global impact of COVID-19 vaccines estimates that 19.8 million out of a potential 31.4 million deaths were prevented in the first […] Continue reading ->
One year since the establishment of the mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer Hub, a collaboration between two leading biotech companies – Afrigen Biologics and the Univercells group – was announced on Tuesday, paving the way for the development of the first-ever African-owned COVID-19 vaccine through open-access intellectual property. Using intellectual property from partners, the collaboration between […] Continue reading ->
Limited IP waiver text says WTO members “will decide” on inclusion of COVID-19 tests and treatments within six months. The World Trade Organization’s first ministerial conference in four and a half years reached agreement early Friday morning on what officials described as “an unprecedented outcome” of six agreements, including a deal to curb some fishing […] Continue reading ->
A new sublicense agreement for a COVID-19 antibody test has been announced Thursday by the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) on behalf of the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and South African company Biotech Africa. The new agreement builds on the first non-exclusive licensing agreement announced by WHO and MPP last year with […] Continue reading ->