Nine Biopharma Companies Sign Pledge To Safely Develop & Deploy A COVID-19 Vaccine 09/09/2020 Grace Ren The chief executive officers of nine biopharmaceutical companies at the forefront of the COVID-19 vaccine development race have signed a pledge to fully test the safety and efficacy of an investigational vaccine before rolling it out for mass use. The top executives of AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoKlineSmith, Johnson&Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, Sanofi, and Pfizer signed the […] Continue reading -> Stigma Blots Kenya’s COVID-19 War – Some Patients Fearful Of Seeking Treatment 08/09/2020 Maina Waruru Nairobi, Kenya – While banker Peter Karagu is one of the over 35,000 people who have contracted COVID-19 disease in Kenya over the past 6 months, he cannot in any way be described as an ordinary victim of the respiratory illness. Throughout his 22 days confined at an isolation ward at Kenyatta University Teaching Research […] Continue reading -> Emergency Use Approval Is A “Temporary Solution,” Countries Should Wait For Large Clinical Trials To Finish To Roll Out A COVID-19 Vaccine En Masse 07/09/2020 Grace Ren Countries would be better off waiting until Phase 3 clinical trials, which test the safety and efficacy of an experimental vaccine in tens of thousands of people, are completed before rolling out the vaccine for wider use, World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Monday. Although some countries, including China, Russia and the […] Continue reading -> The US Will Not Participate In WHO-Led Global COVID-19 Vaccine Initiative, Says White House Spokesperson 02/09/2020 Grace Ren A White House spokesperson on Tuesday said that the United States would not be joining the COVAX Facility, an initiative led by the World Health Organization and its partners to pool global demand for a COVID-19 vaccine, and ensure its equitable distribution. “The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we […] Continue reading -> Unwrapping The Biological Secrets Behind Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Technology 02/09/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna Therapeutics since 2015, which has become one of the front-runners in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, is in fact an oncologist, not a virologist by training. And so it’s perhaps no accident that the innovative “messenger RNA” (mRNA) technology upon which the company’s vaccine candidate […] Continue reading -> New COVID-19 Global Vaccine Facility Would Include Three-Track Finance Mechanism – But Finalizing Legal Structure Is Critical 31/08/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher & Svĕt Lustig Vijay The European Commission has announced that it will join the new WHO-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine facility (COVAX) with a € 400 million commitment – inching the visionary global fund much closer to reality. If the new COVAX facility becomes a reality, it would set a historic precedent of multilateral cooperation, not only on the pandemic, but […] Continue reading -> WHO Calls For Massive Scale-Up Of Mental Health Services In Wake Of COVID-19 28/08/2020 Editorial team Billions of people around the world have suffered from new or increased mental health stress as a result of COVID-19, which makes it time to redouble investments in one of the most neglected areas of public health. This was the main message of a joint call by the World Health Organization, together with a number […] Continue reading -> Can Uganda Contain Its COVID-19 Infection Spike? Reflections Of An Emergency Room Doctor 26/08/2020 Samson Wamani Part of a series of stories about how the coronavirus lockdowns and relaxations are playing out in different parts of Africa. For more on this, see our stories on South Africa and Ibadan, Nigeria. Kampala, Uganda – As Uganda’s coronavirus cases double in only two weeks, the Ministry of Health is considering a second lockdown […] Continue reading -> Evidence On Convalescent Plasma Therapy To Treat COVID-19 Patients Is “Very Low Quality”, Warns WHO 24/08/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading -> COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts
Stigma Blots Kenya’s COVID-19 War – Some Patients Fearful Of Seeking Treatment 08/09/2020 Maina Waruru Nairobi, Kenya – While banker Peter Karagu is one of the over 35,000 people who have contracted COVID-19 disease in Kenya over the past 6 months, he cannot in any way be described as an ordinary victim of the respiratory illness. Throughout his 22 days confined at an isolation ward at Kenyatta University Teaching Research […] Continue reading -> Emergency Use Approval Is A “Temporary Solution,” Countries Should Wait For Large Clinical Trials To Finish To Roll Out A COVID-19 Vaccine En Masse 07/09/2020 Grace Ren Countries would be better off waiting until Phase 3 clinical trials, which test the safety and efficacy of an experimental vaccine in tens of thousands of people, are completed before rolling out the vaccine for wider use, World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Monday. Although some countries, including China, Russia and the […] Continue reading -> The US Will Not Participate In WHO-Led Global COVID-19 Vaccine Initiative, Says White House Spokesperson 02/09/2020 Grace Ren A White House spokesperson on Tuesday said that the United States would not be joining the COVAX Facility, an initiative led by the World Health Organization and its partners to pool global demand for a COVID-19 vaccine, and ensure its equitable distribution. “The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we […] Continue reading -> Unwrapping The Biological Secrets Behind Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Technology 02/09/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna Therapeutics since 2015, which has become one of the front-runners in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, is in fact an oncologist, not a virologist by training. And so it’s perhaps no accident that the innovative “messenger RNA” (mRNA) technology upon which the company’s vaccine candidate […] Continue reading -> New COVID-19 Global Vaccine Facility Would Include Three-Track Finance Mechanism – But Finalizing Legal Structure Is Critical 31/08/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher & Svĕt Lustig Vijay The European Commission has announced that it will join the new WHO-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine facility (COVAX) with a € 400 million commitment – inching the visionary global fund much closer to reality. If the new COVAX facility becomes a reality, it would set a historic precedent of multilateral cooperation, not only on the pandemic, but […] Continue reading -> WHO Calls For Massive Scale-Up Of Mental Health Services In Wake Of COVID-19 28/08/2020 Editorial team Billions of people around the world have suffered from new or increased mental health stress as a result of COVID-19, which makes it time to redouble investments in one of the most neglected areas of public health. This was the main message of a joint call by the World Health Organization, together with a number […] Continue reading -> Can Uganda Contain Its COVID-19 Infection Spike? Reflections Of An Emergency Room Doctor 26/08/2020 Samson Wamani Part of a series of stories about how the coronavirus lockdowns and relaxations are playing out in different parts of Africa. For more on this, see our stories on South Africa and Ibadan, Nigeria. Kampala, Uganda – As Uganda’s coronavirus cases double in only two weeks, the Ministry of Health is considering a second lockdown […] Continue reading -> Evidence On Convalescent Plasma Therapy To Treat COVID-19 Patients Is “Very Low Quality”, Warns WHO 24/08/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading -> COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts
Emergency Use Approval Is A “Temporary Solution,” Countries Should Wait For Large Clinical Trials To Finish To Roll Out A COVID-19 Vaccine En Masse 07/09/2020 Grace Ren Countries would be better off waiting until Phase 3 clinical trials, which test the safety and efficacy of an experimental vaccine in tens of thousands of people, are completed before rolling out the vaccine for wider use, World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Monday. Although some countries, including China, Russia and the […] Continue reading -> The US Will Not Participate In WHO-Led Global COVID-19 Vaccine Initiative, Says White House Spokesperson 02/09/2020 Grace Ren A White House spokesperson on Tuesday said that the United States would not be joining the COVAX Facility, an initiative led by the World Health Organization and its partners to pool global demand for a COVID-19 vaccine, and ensure its equitable distribution. “The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we […] Continue reading -> Unwrapping The Biological Secrets Behind Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Technology 02/09/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna Therapeutics since 2015, which has become one of the front-runners in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, is in fact an oncologist, not a virologist by training. And so it’s perhaps no accident that the innovative “messenger RNA” (mRNA) technology upon which the company’s vaccine candidate […] Continue reading -> New COVID-19 Global Vaccine Facility Would Include Three-Track Finance Mechanism – But Finalizing Legal Structure Is Critical 31/08/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher & Svĕt Lustig Vijay The European Commission has announced that it will join the new WHO-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine facility (COVAX) with a € 400 million commitment – inching the visionary global fund much closer to reality. If the new COVAX facility becomes a reality, it would set a historic precedent of multilateral cooperation, not only on the pandemic, but […] Continue reading -> WHO Calls For Massive Scale-Up Of Mental Health Services In Wake Of COVID-19 28/08/2020 Editorial team Billions of people around the world have suffered from new or increased mental health stress as a result of COVID-19, which makes it time to redouble investments in one of the most neglected areas of public health. This was the main message of a joint call by the World Health Organization, together with a number […] Continue reading -> Can Uganda Contain Its COVID-19 Infection Spike? Reflections Of An Emergency Room Doctor 26/08/2020 Samson Wamani Part of a series of stories about how the coronavirus lockdowns and relaxations are playing out in different parts of Africa. For more on this, see our stories on South Africa and Ibadan, Nigeria. Kampala, Uganda – As Uganda’s coronavirus cases double in only two weeks, the Ministry of Health is considering a second lockdown […] Continue reading -> Evidence On Convalescent Plasma Therapy To Treat COVID-19 Patients Is “Very Low Quality”, Warns WHO 24/08/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading -> COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts
The US Will Not Participate In WHO-Led Global COVID-19 Vaccine Initiative, Says White House Spokesperson 02/09/2020 Grace Ren A White House spokesperson on Tuesday said that the United States would not be joining the COVAX Facility, an initiative led by the World Health Organization and its partners to pool global demand for a COVID-19 vaccine, and ensure its equitable distribution. “The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we […] Continue reading -> Unwrapping The Biological Secrets Behind Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Technology 02/09/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna Therapeutics since 2015, which has become one of the front-runners in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, is in fact an oncologist, not a virologist by training. And so it’s perhaps no accident that the innovative “messenger RNA” (mRNA) technology upon which the company’s vaccine candidate […] Continue reading -> New COVID-19 Global Vaccine Facility Would Include Three-Track Finance Mechanism – But Finalizing Legal Structure Is Critical 31/08/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher & Svĕt Lustig Vijay The European Commission has announced that it will join the new WHO-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine facility (COVAX) with a € 400 million commitment – inching the visionary global fund much closer to reality. If the new COVAX facility becomes a reality, it would set a historic precedent of multilateral cooperation, not only on the pandemic, but […] Continue reading -> WHO Calls For Massive Scale-Up Of Mental Health Services In Wake Of COVID-19 28/08/2020 Editorial team Billions of people around the world have suffered from new or increased mental health stress as a result of COVID-19, which makes it time to redouble investments in one of the most neglected areas of public health. This was the main message of a joint call by the World Health Organization, together with a number […] Continue reading -> Can Uganda Contain Its COVID-19 Infection Spike? Reflections Of An Emergency Room Doctor 26/08/2020 Samson Wamani Part of a series of stories about how the coronavirus lockdowns and relaxations are playing out in different parts of Africa. For more on this, see our stories on South Africa and Ibadan, Nigeria. Kampala, Uganda – As Uganda’s coronavirus cases double in only two weeks, the Ministry of Health is considering a second lockdown […] Continue reading -> Evidence On Convalescent Plasma Therapy To Treat COVID-19 Patients Is “Very Low Quality”, Warns WHO 24/08/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading -> COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts
Unwrapping The Biological Secrets Behind Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Technology 02/09/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna Therapeutics since 2015, which has become one of the front-runners in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, is in fact an oncologist, not a virologist by training. And so it’s perhaps no accident that the innovative “messenger RNA” (mRNA) technology upon which the company’s vaccine candidate […] Continue reading -> New COVID-19 Global Vaccine Facility Would Include Three-Track Finance Mechanism – But Finalizing Legal Structure Is Critical 31/08/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher & Svĕt Lustig Vijay The European Commission has announced that it will join the new WHO-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine facility (COVAX) with a € 400 million commitment – inching the visionary global fund much closer to reality. If the new COVAX facility becomes a reality, it would set a historic precedent of multilateral cooperation, not only on the pandemic, but […] Continue reading -> WHO Calls For Massive Scale-Up Of Mental Health Services In Wake Of COVID-19 28/08/2020 Editorial team Billions of people around the world have suffered from new or increased mental health stress as a result of COVID-19, which makes it time to redouble investments in one of the most neglected areas of public health. This was the main message of a joint call by the World Health Organization, together with a number […] Continue reading -> Can Uganda Contain Its COVID-19 Infection Spike? Reflections Of An Emergency Room Doctor 26/08/2020 Samson Wamani Part of a series of stories about how the coronavirus lockdowns and relaxations are playing out in different parts of Africa. For more on this, see our stories on South Africa and Ibadan, Nigeria. Kampala, Uganda – As Uganda’s coronavirus cases double in only two weeks, the Ministry of Health is considering a second lockdown […] Continue reading -> Evidence On Convalescent Plasma Therapy To Treat COVID-19 Patients Is “Very Low Quality”, Warns WHO 24/08/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading -> COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts
New COVID-19 Global Vaccine Facility Would Include Three-Track Finance Mechanism – But Finalizing Legal Structure Is Critical 31/08/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher & Svĕt Lustig Vijay The European Commission has announced that it will join the new WHO-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine facility (COVAX) with a € 400 million commitment – inching the visionary global fund much closer to reality. If the new COVAX facility becomes a reality, it would set a historic precedent of multilateral cooperation, not only on the pandemic, but […] Continue reading -> WHO Calls For Massive Scale-Up Of Mental Health Services In Wake Of COVID-19 28/08/2020 Editorial team Billions of people around the world have suffered from new or increased mental health stress as a result of COVID-19, which makes it time to redouble investments in one of the most neglected areas of public health. This was the main message of a joint call by the World Health Organization, together with a number […] Continue reading -> Can Uganda Contain Its COVID-19 Infection Spike? Reflections Of An Emergency Room Doctor 26/08/2020 Samson Wamani Part of a series of stories about how the coronavirus lockdowns and relaxations are playing out in different parts of Africa. For more on this, see our stories on South Africa and Ibadan, Nigeria. Kampala, Uganda – As Uganda’s coronavirus cases double in only two weeks, the Ministry of Health is considering a second lockdown […] Continue reading -> Evidence On Convalescent Plasma Therapy To Treat COVID-19 Patients Is “Very Low Quality”, Warns WHO 24/08/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading -> COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts
WHO Calls For Massive Scale-Up Of Mental Health Services In Wake Of COVID-19 28/08/2020 Editorial team Billions of people around the world have suffered from new or increased mental health stress as a result of COVID-19, which makes it time to redouble investments in one of the most neglected areas of public health. This was the main message of a joint call by the World Health Organization, together with a number […] Continue reading -> Can Uganda Contain Its COVID-19 Infection Spike? Reflections Of An Emergency Room Doctor 26/08/2020 Samson Wamani Part of a series of stories about how the coronavirus lockdowns and relaxations are playing out in different parts of Africa. For more on this, see our stories on South Africa and Ibadan, Nigeria. Kampala, Uganda – As Uganda’s coronavirus cases double in only two weeks, the Ministry of Health is considering a second lockdown […] Continue reading -> Evidence On Convalescent Plasma Therapy To Treat COVID-19 Patients Is “Very Low Quality”, Warns WHO 24/08/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading -> COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts
Can Uganda Contain Its COVID-19 Infection Spike? Reflections Of An Emergency Room Doctor 26/08/2020 Samson Wamani Part of a series of stories about how the coronavirus lockdowns and relaxations are playing out in different parts of Africa. For more on this, see our stories on South Africa and Ibadan, Nigeria. Kampala, Uganda – As Uganda’s coronavirus cases double in only two weeks, the Ministry of Health is considering a second lockdown […] Continue reading -> Evidence On Convalescent Plasma Therapy To Treat COVID-19 Patients Is “Very Low Quality”, Warns WHO 24/08/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading -> COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts
Evidence On Convalescent Plasma Therapy To Treat COVID-19 Patients Is “Very Low Quality”, Warns WHO 24/08/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading -> COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts
COVID-19 May Be Linked To New Onset Type I Diabetes In Children 18/08/2020 Grace Ren COVID-19 infection may be associated with an increased risk of Type I diabetes in children, according to a new study published by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Diabetes emerged as a high risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease in the early days of the pandemic. But the new study, published in the Diabetes […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older postsNewer posts