Governments and pharmaceutical companies alike must work together in combating the ‘virus of intellectual property (IP) monopolies over COVID-19 vaccines – which  further exacerbates inequality and lack of access to vaccines for vulnerable groups.  That was the uptake of a group of experts speaking at a webinar Wednesday on “The Virus of IP Monopoly Capitalism”’ […] Continue reading ->
Malawi on Wednesday burned nearly 20,000 doses of expired AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines. The government move happened shortly after the Serum Institute of India (SII) announced that it would only resume its export of the precious vaccines to the rest of the world at the end of 2021 – due to the still burning pandemic crisis […] Continue reading ->
PUNE: India’s second wave is devastating the country’s rural areas where health infrastructure is rickety and a lack of trained healthcare workers, government support and access to healthcare is likely to worsen the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health experts believe the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths are vastly underreported and that strict […] Continue reading ->
Researchers have quickly developed an outstanding arsenal of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics to counter COVID-19. But closer global coordination of diverse clinical trials testing the same or similar treatments, extending even to a global platform to pool anonymized patient data, could strengthen and accelerate research findings – especially as emerging variants threaten to unwind gains. […] Continue reading ->
Delaying the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by 12 weeks could generate antibody responses in those over the age of 80 more than threefold, found a pre-print study published on Friday. The study, conducted by the University of Birmingham and Public Health England, is the first to directly compare the immune response derived […] Continue reading ->
Being vaccinated against COVID-19 this week was a “bittersweet” moment, reflecting both a “triumph of science” and a “gross distortion” in vaccine access, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyusus told the body’s media briefing on Friday. Thanking health workers at the Geneva Emergency Hospital for vaccinating him on Wednesday, Dr Tedros […] Continue reading ->