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May
16
2021
By The African Mirror
COVID-19 vaccine for life: Health or profit motive?

COVID-19 vaccine for life: Health or profit motive?

COVID-19
JULIE STEENHUYSEN and KATE KELLAND COVID-19 vaccine developers are making ever bolder assertions that the world will need yearly booster shots or new vaccines to tackle concerning coronavirus variants, but some scientists question when, or whether, such shots will be needed. In interviews with Reuters, more than a dozen influential infectious disease and vaccine development experts said there is growing evidence that a first round of global vaccinations may offer enduring protection against the coronavirus and its most worrisome variants discovered to date. Some of these scientists expressed concern that public expectations around COVID-19 boosters are being set by pharmaceutical…
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May
15
2021
By The African Mirror
Where are the women? How pandemic decisions are ingraining global gender bias

Where are the women? How pandemic decisions are ingraining global gender bias

COVID-19
RAQUEL LAGUNAS THERE are teams of experts around the world right now tackling the coronavirus pandemic, providing pathways to put an end to this deadly global scourge and charting the course for recovery. These task forces comprise health experts, economic leaders, policymakers, and more to ensure the best holistic solutions are put forward. But what they don’t have is gender balance and, in some cases, any women at all. There are three men to every woman on national COVID-19 task forces around the world, according to recent data from the United Nations Development Programme, UN Women and the University of Pittsburgh. The…
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May
15
2021
By The African Mirror
WHO urges rich countries to donate

WHO urges rich countries to donate

COVID-19
THE World Health Organization has urged rich countries to reconsider plans to vaccinate children and instead donate COVID-19 shots to the COVAX scheme for poorer countries. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said the second year of the pandemic was set to be more deadly than the first, with India a huge concern. "I understand why some countries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents, but right now I urge them to reconsider and to instead donate vaccines to #COVAX," he told a virtual meeting in Geneva. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the alarm over the rapid spread of…
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May
14
2021
By The African Mirror
Americans shed their masks

Americans shed their masks

COVID-19
DAVID SHEPARDSON THE U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places, updated guidance the agency said will allow life to begin to return to normal. The CDC, which hopes the guidance will prod more Americans to get vaccinated, also said fully immunized people will not need to physically distance in most places. The turnaround came just 16 days since CDC issued revised guidance that left many restrictions in place for vaccinated people. The agency came under fire in…
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May
14
2021
By The African Mirror
Booster shots: Who decides?

Booster shots: Who decides?

COVID-19
JULIE STEENHUYSEN and KATE KELLAND VACCINE makers Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc, with their German partner BioNTech, have been vocal in their view that the world will soon need COVID-19 booster shots to maintain high levels of immunity. What is less clear, however, is who should make that decision - and based on what evidence. THE MODEL FOR FLU VACCINES Public health officials have a well-coordinated mechanism, first established in 1952, for determining when seasonal flu vaccines should be updated to cope with fast-mutating strains of influenza. The World Health Organization's Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System gathers data collected…
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May
14
2021
By The African Mirror
S.A’s death toll much higher than official tally

S.A’s death toll much higher than official tally

COVID-19
A South African report into excess deaths over the past year suggests more than 133,000 people in the country have died from COVID-19, far more than the official tally of nearly 55,000. The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has been monitoring excess deaths since May 2020. In its latest report, published on Wednesday, the SAMRC said South Africa had seen 157,000 excess deaths in the past 12 months and estimated that 85% of them were caused by COVID-19, which means just over 133,000 people have died from the disease. This compares to an official death toll of 54,968 since…
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May
14
2021
By The African Mirror
US, SA discuss vaccine waiver

US, SA discuss vaccine waiver

COVID-19
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai yesterday expressed her support for a waiver of intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines in a call with South African Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel, one of the initial proponents of the waiver at the World Trade Organization. USTR said in a statement after the call that Tai "acknowledged the WTO members who have expressed support for negotiations and welcomed an update from Minister Patel about efforts to revise and resubmit South Africa's waiver proposal." Tai earlier on Thursday told U.S. lawmakers the vaccine IP waiver negotiations can help the embattled WTO to "show its relevance…
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Apr
30
2021
By The African Mirror
Congo shares expiring vaccines with other African countries

Congo shares expiring vaccines with other African countries

COVID-19
THE Democratic Republic of Congo has begun re-deploying hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines to other African nations which it says it won't be able to administer before they expire at the end of June, its health minister has said. Yesterday, afternoon a plane from Angola picked up almost half a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which had been supplied to Congo through the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility on March 2. Congo delayed its rollout after several European countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca shot in response to reports of rare blood clots. Ghana, Togo, Central African Republic and Madagascar…
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Apr
30
2021
By The African Mirror
Moderna targets up to 3-billion shots in 2022

Moderna targets up to 3-billion shots in 2022

COVID-19
CARL O’DONNELL and JULIE STEENHUYSEN  MODERNA Inc said on Thursday it is boosting manufacturing capacity for its COVID-19 vaccine and expects to make up to 3 billion doses in 2022, more than twice its previous forecast. It also said it is increasing its expectations for 2021 vaccine production to between 800 million and 1 billion shots, raising the bottom of its range from 700 million. The final number of inoculations will depend on how many are lower-dose formulations for boosters and immunizations for children. Moderna shots currently deploy 100 micrograms of vaccine substance but some future shots may use only…
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Apr
29
2021
By The African Mirror
Tunisian hospitals buckle under COVID crisis

Tunisian hospitals buckle under COVID crisis

COVID-19
THE medics at Abderahmen Mami hospital in Tunis are part of a health system pushed to its limit, with intensive care wards filled by a new surge in COVID-19 cases that has outstripped a vaccination campaign limited by short supplies. Last week one of the government's scientific advisers warned the health system was on the brink of collapse, with between 90-110 new patients in need of hospitalisation each day. Tunisia has only about 500 intensive care beds. Dressed in a full protective suit, with only the band of her face between her mask and hair cap exposed, nurse Soumaya Ben…
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