India has greenlighted Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use following a severe shortage of vaccines against the coronavirus and a massive spike in cases, and is now poised to become one of the world’s largest manufacturing hubs for the vaccine with 50 million doses produced by July. India’s aproval of a third COVID vaccine […] Continue reading ->
The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have recommended a “pause” in administration of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) single-dose COVID-19 vaccine out of an “abundance of caution” following six cases of a rare type of blood clotting among the 6.8 million US recipients of the […] Continue reading ->
Previous infection with SARS-CoV2 induces effective immunity against future infections by 84% – but reinfection rate is still 16%, found a study published in The Lancet on Friday. This suggests that infection-induced immunity is similar to, or greater than, vaccine-associated immunity, said the authors. The SARS-CoV2 Immunity and Reinfection Evaluation (SIREN) study involved 25,661 health […] Continue reading ->
The WHO and its member states must take swift action to enable a transparent, independent and rigorous investigation into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, said two dozen international scientists in their second open letter. The letter – released on Wednesday by 24 scientists and researchers across Europe, the United States, and Japan – comes […] Continue reading ->
The latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India has delayed vaccine delivery to African countries and is expected to adversely affect vaccine roll-out programs and the continent’s response efforts until the third quarter of the year. The Indian government’s decision to suspend exports of the vaccines from the Serum Institute of India (SII) to […] Continue reading ->
Fears Of Humanitarian Crisis And Healthcare System Collapse In Philippines Amid Surge In COVID Cases
New York City – While the Philippines ranks 50 out of the 155 countries that have administered the most COVID-19 vaccines, opposition leaders and health officials fear the collapse of the country’s healthcare system amid a surge in new infections. Globally, more than 704 million doses – about 4.6% of the global population – of […] Continue reading ->
In the past year, across all non-COVID conditions, routine health care has changed. GPs feel that acute care has been compromised due to their own changed focus, and because patients consult less frequently for non-COVID conditions. For HIV and TB communities, both diseases exacerbated by poverty and marginalisation, these impacts are particularly acute. The World […] Continue reading ->
Pune – Despite ramping up its coronavirus vaccination drive and amidst a deadly second wave of infections, India is wasting 6.5% of its vaccines, data released by the country’s government shows. Experts this week told Health Policy Watch that while the high vaccine wastage is also a sign of vaccine hesitancy – particularly among poor […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization on Wednesday urged governments in the Americas Region to take decisive action to slow a surge of COVID-19 cases after recording more than 1.3 million new cases and 37 000 deaths in just the past week. Describing the new rate of infections as “worrisome”, Carissa Etienne, director of the WHO’s regional […] Continue reading ->
Following a second meeting of the EMA’s safety committee in as many weeks, the European Medicines Agency said that there appears to be a link between receipt of the AstraZeneca vaccine and very rare cases of blood clots being seen in some people – mainly younger women – within two weeks of their jab. The […] Continue reading ->