COVID-19 - The African Mirror

Apr

15

2021

FACTBOX- Some countries limit AstraZeneca vaccine use, US pauses J&J shot

COVID-19

SOME countries are restricting the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to certain age groups or suspending use after European and British regulators confirmed possible links to rare blood clots. Denmark became the first country to stop using the vaccine altogether, as it said results of investigations showed "real and serious side-effects". Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine has also been hit by concerns over blood clots, with European regulators reviewing such cases and U.S. federal health agencies recommending pausing its use for a few days. J&J noted no clear causal relationship had been established between the clots and its vaccine.…

Jun

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana’s “miracle” COVID-19 unit

COVID-19

PEARL AKANYA OFORI THE man behind Ghana's "COVID-19 miracle facility" reflects on what it took to build and how the effort showed that a sense of civic duty is alive and kicking across Africa, a year after Ghanaian civil society came together in unprecedented fashion to deliver the state of the art COVID-19 facility to the nation in record time Building a 100-bed hospital in 91 days may seem unrealistic, but faced with unprecedented healthcare challenges, "ordinary" Ghanaians not only built the country’s first Infectious Disease Isolation and Treatment Centre but did so in record time, a feat that makes…

Apr

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine show protection 6 months on

COVID-19

MICHAEL ERMAN MODERNA Inc said on Tuesday that its COVID-19 vaccine still showed strong protection against the illness six months after people received their second shot, with efficacy of more than 90 percent against all cases of COVID-19 and more than 95 percent against severe COVID-19. The vaccine maker, which will be updating investors on the progress of its vaccines at an event on Wednesday, said the six-month follow-up of its original late-stage study of the vaccine showed that vaccine efficacy remained consistent with its previous updates. The company has also started testing new versions of the vaccine that target…

Jun

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Delta variant starting to dominate in S.Africa, scientists say

COVID-19

THE Delta coronavirus variant, first identified in India, appears to be dominating new infections in South Africa, local scientists told a news conference yesterday. South Africa is the worst-hit country on the African continent in terms of confirmed COVID-19 infections and deaths. It is in the middle of a "third wave" of infections, recording more than 18,000 new cases on Friday. Acting health minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane (pictured left) told the same news conference that it was now likely that the peak of the third wave would surpass the peak of the second wave in January.

Jun

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Namibia to suspend first doses as COVID-19 vaccine supplies run low – memo

COVID-19

NAMIBIA will from Tuesday temporarily suspend administering first doses of COVID-19 vaccines as supplies run low, a health ministry memo seen by Reuters showed. The southern African nation, in the midst of a deadly "third wave" of infections, recorded more than 2,500 new cases on Thursday, the highest daily tally since the virus was first detected in the country in March last year. The memo seen by Reuters said vaccine stocks had almost been depleted due to delays in the delivery of procured doses. It said remaining doses of the AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines should be reserved for people getting…

Jun

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Just give us the vaccines, WHO pleads, as poor countries go wanting

COVID-19

MICHAEL SHIELDS and STEPHANIE NEBEHAY RICH countries are opening up societies and vaccinating young people who are not at great risk from COVID-19, while the poorest countries cruelly lack doses, the World Health Organization said yesterday, condemning a global failure. The situation in Africa, where new infections and deaths jumped by nearly 40% last week compared to the previous week, is "so dangerous" as the Delta variant spreads globally, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "Our world is failing, as the global community we are failing," he told a news conference. Tedros, who is Ethiopian, chastised unnamed countries for reluctance…

Jun

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisian PM contracts COVID-19

COVID-19

TUNISIA’S Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has been infected with the coronavirus, the government has announced. Mechichi received a COVID-19 vaccine last month. The prime minister will cancel his meetings and continue to work remotely, the government statement added. Tunisia is seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, with intensive care wards almost full, health authorities said adding that the situation is catastrophic. After successfully containing the virus in the first wave last year, Tunisia is grappling with a rise in infections. The positive cases rate now is 36%. In total, Tunisia has recorded 395,000 coronavirus cases and about 14,406 deaths.

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa overwhelmed by vaccine challenge

COVID-19

EDWARD McALLISTER WHEN Ghana received 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from India last month, it hit a frustrating roadblock: it had not trained enough staff to distribute them. The country was still rolling out shots received in late February from the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, and didn't have the capacity to expand that operation, according to the head of Ghana's immunisation programme. Rather than going straight into the arms of health workers, the additional doses were put in cold storage in the capital Accra, Kwame Amponsa-Achiano told Reuters, adding that his team had received two days' notice about the shipment. "We…

Jun

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Tanzania’s president warns of third wave

COVID-19

TANZANIA’S President Samia Suluhu Hassan has urged the public not to ignore a third wave of COVID-19, after her predecessor, the late John Magufuli, alarmed the world with his sceptical approach to the pandemic. Since Hassan took office after the death of Magufuli in March, the government has changed tack from downplaying the crisis to calling for social distancing and emphasising mask-wearing in public. There is currently no COVID-19 vaccination programme in Tanzania, but the country has applied to join COVAX vaccine-sharing facility and officials there are working with health partners to develop a deployment plan, the World Health Organization…

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

SA to resume J&J vaccination study

COVID-19

SOUTH African researchers hope to next week resume a study using Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine to immunise healthcare workers, one of the scientists leading the programme said yesterday. South Africa suspended the study last week after U.S. federal health agencies recommended pausing the use of J&J's vaccine because of rare cases of blood clots. "We do hope to start again next week," South African Medical Research Council President Glenda Gray, co-principal investigator of the Sisonke study, said during a webinar on Wednesday. So far around 290,000 health workers have been given J&J's vaccine in the study, which is further…