The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a moratorium on COVID-19 vaccine boosters until at least the end of September to enable a minimum of 10% of the population of every country to be vaccinated. Making the appeal at the WHO’s COVID-19 media briefing on Wednesday, Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Gheybreysus said support for […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – On Sunday 1 August, two planes carrying four million doses of the Moderna vaccine from the US touched down in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. With the arrival of the new doses, Nigeria will be able to resume its COVID-19 vaccination programme which was suspended on 22 July when the Nigeria Primary Healthcare Development […] Continue reading ->
Sixteen countries have pledged more than 610 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for 2021-2022 through COVAX, the global vaccine sharing facility, and low and middle income countries have already received 37.7 million donated doses. The United States under President Joe Biden is leading the pack with a total pledge of 260 million doses, followed by […] Continue reading ->
This article is the second in a three-part series on COVID-19 booster vaccines, which is an evolving discussion as more evidence emerges about the performance of vaccines against variants. Despite heated debates about doling out booster jabs in healthy people who are already fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, there seems to be consensus that at least […] Continue reading ->
#COVIDReporting: For the past 18 months, Health Policy Watch reporters have covered the COVID-19 pandemic. But they have not been immune from its impacts on their personal lives as the virus has wreaked havoc with their lives. Over the next few weeks, we will bring you their stories. DELHI – Despite the utmost care, bordering […] Continue reading ->
This article is the first in a series on COVID-19 booster vaccines, which is an evolving discussion as more evidence emerges about the performance of vaccines against variants. A vigorous debate is underway in the global health community over the potential benefits of COVID booster vaccines for healthy people who have already received a full […] Continue reading ->
As more high income countries adopt COVID-19 passes for entry to venues like sporting and cultural events, restaurants and even workplaces, public opposition to the use of the public health tool is also growing – despite the fact that these same countries enjoy very widespread access to vaccines and rapid COVID tests. However, countries like […] Continue reading ->
Tanzania has finally started to administer COVID-19 vaccinations, amid a 16-fold increase in vaccine deliveries to Africa in this week alone in comparison to the whole of June. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu publicly received the vaccine on Wednesday, a sharp contrast to her predecessor, John Magufuli, who died in March after months of denying the […] Continue reading ->
A billion COVID-19 vaccine doses should be reallocated from high-income countries to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by September, and of another billion by mid-next year, former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark, told United Nations member states on Wednesday. The pair, who co-chaired the […] Continue reading ->
Vaccine access advocates issued increasingly desperate, last minute calls upon the World Trade Organization to take action over a stalled initiative to impose a temporary waiver on intellectual property for COVID medicines, tests and vaccines – even as the initiative appeared doomed to a stalemate for the rest of the summer. Ahead of the opening […] Continue reading ->