As the hotly contested proposal for an IP waiver on COVID-related health products comes up again for debate on Friday, 30 April at the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Council, legal expert Hyo Yoon Kang looks at the foundations of IP law to challenge “TRIPS waiver” naysayers. Geneva Health Files [GHF]: You have argued that IP […] Continue reading ->
World Malaria Day is a reminder that, as the world battles with COVID-19, we still haven’t beaten a much older pandemic. Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease that has plagued humanity for millennia and still kills over 400,000 people per year – mainly children under five. In fact, that grim number will almost certainly have increased […] Continue reading ->
A group of leading pharmaceutical industry executives called upon global health leaders to work together to unlock export barriers, open up supply chain bottlenecks, and encourage high-income countries that are hoarding vaccines to redirect their excess doses to the WHO co-sponsored COVAX global vaccine facility – as ways to rapidly scale up equitable vaccine access […] Continue reading ->
One of the few silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic is the unprecedented collaboration of every sector of society to overcome it – best demonstrated by the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator), which celebrated its first anniversary on Friday. The ACT-Accelerator’s most famous pillar is the vaccine facility, COVAX, which has distributed almost 40 […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19 infections fell significantly – by 65% percent – after a first dose of either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in a study of more than 373,000 British residents who received one of the two jabs. The first in a series of two new studies, published by the University of Oxford, found that the […] Continue reading ->
The African Union Commission (AUC) is developing a COVID-19 Disaster Recovery Framework to guide its member states on how to respond effectively and in a timely manner to future pandemics – as well as other health emergency risks. The framework, still in the initial stages of development, will soon be shared with the AUC’s 55 […] Continue reading ->
Encouraged by how fast vaccines have been developed for COVID-19, tuberculosis advocates launched a “TB vaccine roadmap” on Tuesday and aim to use lessons from the pandemic to jumpstart the quest for a TB vaccine. The purpose of the roadmap, said Frank Cobelens of the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, is to provide […] Continue reading ->
DELHI – In a twin bid to get ahead of a surging COVID-19 epidemic, the Indian government said that it will make “advance payments” totally some US$ 550 million to domestic COVID-19 vaccine makers – as well as opening up the market to private sector import and sales of other approved COVID-19 vaccines. Under the […] Continue reading ->
The European Union (EU) today pledged €100 million towards a humanitarian fund that will assist with COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in Africa. The initiative was announced today at a press briefing addressed by Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa CDC and Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management. According to the EU, the new fund […] Continue reading ->
New COVID-19 cases climbed again globally last week for the eighth week in a row – while only 1% of the 100 million vaccine doses administered last week were in low- and middle-income countries – said senior WHO officials on Monday, citing two key barometers of pandemic policies. Meanwhile, speaking at a WHO press conference […] Continue reading ->