CAPE TOWN – While much is still unknown about Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant, South African health officials are “optimistic” that the current vaccines will continue to offer protection against severe illness and death. Speaking from Gauteng province, South Africa’s economic hub and the place where Omicron was first sequenced, Dr Mary Kawonga told a […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – A new COVID-19 variant with a “very unusual constellation of mutations” – currently referred to as B.1.1.529 – has been identified in southern Africa, South Africa’s Health Ministry announced on Thursday. On Friday, WHO dubbed the variant “Omicron”, adding it to its list of variants of concern – even as the European […] Continue reading ->
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) continues to condemn COVID-19 vaccine boosters in the face of global vaccine inequity, a top official conceded that they looked increasingly likely in future. “The first priority everywhere has got to be reaching the unvaccinated, most highly vulnerable populations,” stressed Dr Bruce Aylward, special advisor to the WHO Director-General. […] Continue reading ->
Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine demonstrates an 80% efficacy six to eight months after the second dose – a higher efficacy than officially published mRNA vaccines, announced the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) in a press briefing on Wednesday. The efficacy data is based on “real-world data from the Ministry of Health of the Republic […] Continue reading ->
Other European countries may follow the example of Austria, which entered a nationwide lockdown on Monday, as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the region. New COVID-19 cases increased by over 3,5 million in a single week, and deaths by over 50,000, according to the latest report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and […] Continue reading ->
The first non-exclusive license for a COVID-19 health tool – a serological antibody test that checks for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies – has been finalised by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). The license, announced on Tuesday in partnership with the Spanish National Research […] Continue reading ->
The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) on Friday gave its greenlight to the mass rollout of both Pfizer and Moderna COVID booster shots to all adults over the age of 18, from six months after a person’s second vaccine dose. J&J vaccine boosters would be authorized after just two months of the […] Continue reading ->
While the world was focused last week on the Glasgow Climate Conference (COP26), officials from 160 countries and the European Union gathered virtually to address another urgent global crisis – the crisis in tobacco consumption that is one of the largest causes of death worldwide, year after year. Otherwise known as COP9, the ninth Conference […] Continue reading ->
Pfizer has signed a voluntary license with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to share the patents and knowledge to manufacture its new COVID-19 treatment drug, Paxlovid. According to the agreement, the MPP will be able to granting sub-licenses to qualified generic medicine manufacturers to supply the medicine in 95 countries, once regulatory authorization or approval […] Continue reading ->
It may be too late for many European countries to avoid harsh measures to try to curb the intense transmission of COVID-19, according to World Health Organization (WHO) officials on Friday. “Almost two million cases of COVID-19 were reported in Europe last week, the most in a single week in that region since the pandemic […] Continue reading ->