COVID-19 vaccination in Africa may be shifting from a supply challenge – to one of effective vaccine distribution, declared a senior World Health Organization official in the African Region on Thursday. African countries will have adequate access to COVID-19 vaccine supplies in 2022, said Dr Abdou Salam Gueye, Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, WHO […] Continue reading ->
People with disabilities have been some of the biggest silent sufferers in the COVID-19 pandemic, according to speakers at the Pre-Summit of the Global Disability Summit 2022 on Wednesday. “Now, more than ever, if we want to be ready for a new pandemic, we need to ensure that disability inclusion in the health sector becomes […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – A locally produced COVID-19 rapid antigen test that was recently approved by South Africa’s medicines regulator is able to detect Omicron, according to its developer. This follows some controversy about whether antigen tests were able to detect Omicron, and suggestions that throat swabs might be more effective than nasal swabs as Omicron […] Continue reading ->
The European Union (EU) has described India’s call for an urgent meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference to discuss the body’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a proposed waiver of relevant intellectual property protections, as “premature”. Addressing the WTO General Council informal meeting on Monday, EU Ambassador João Aguiar Machado said […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – Shortly before New Year’s eve, the South African government lifted the country’s curfew and allowed indoor gatherings of up to 1000 people – despite the prevalence of the highly infectious Omicron variant. The Cabinet-level decision was taken after considering “the trajectory of the pandemic, the levels of vaccination in the country and […] Continue reading ->
Women who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 had a slight but not clinically significant change in the length of their menstrual cycles compared to unvaccinated women, according to a new study published by researchers from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland in Obstetrics & Gynecology. Specifically, vaccinated women experienced a less than one-day (0.71-day) […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – COVID-19 could become “endemic” in Africa if the continent is unable to fully vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of 2022, warned Africa Centers for Disease Control Director, Dr John Nkengasong in a press conference on Thursday. An endemic disease is a disease that is always present in a certain population […] Continue reading ->
A global grassroots movement of scientists based on crowdsourcing ideas, expertise, and goodwill has already generated – and freely released – more than half of the known structural information on the main protease of SARS-CoV-2. Based on this, they are now on a quest for an open-source drug that can block the virus from replicating. […] Continue reading ->
WASHINGTON D.C. (ENDPOINTS News) – The FDA on Thursday authorized another new pill to treat the Omicron variant, this time from Merck. The FDA decision follows upon a decision Wednesday authorizing Pfizer’s Paxlovid oral treatment, which the company said had proved to reduce the relative risk of hospitalization or death by 89% (within three days […] Continue reading ->
WHO has issued new advice to countries supporting booster campaigns for “high risk groups” but still opposing “blanket” campaigns – or vaccines for children and adolescents under the age of 18. The latter, top WHO officials contend, could divert too many vaccines from low-and-middle member states that have low vaccination coverage rates – leading to […] Continue reading ->