COVID-19 - The African Mirror

Dec

07

2020

Britain gets ready for roll-out world-first COVID-19 vaccine this week

COVID-19

ALISTAIR SMOUT and ESTELLE SHIRBON BRITAIN is preparing to become the first country to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors' clinics, the government said on Sunday. The first doses are set to be administered on Tuesday, with the National Health Service (NHS) giving top priority to vaccinating the over-80s, frontline healthcare workers and care home staff and residents. Britain gave emergency use approval for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech last week - jumping ahead in the global race to begin the most crucial mass…

Dec

06

2020

By The African Mirror

Vaccinating the world: Lessons learned from India, Haiti and Sierra Leone

COVID-19

ANASTASIA MOLONEY ROLLING out COVID-19 vaccines to billions of people across the world means managing the most complex supply chains the world has ever seen. But valuable lessons are there to be learned including from India where hundreds of millions of children are vaccinated against diseases every year and Sierra Leone where people received Ebola shots after the deadly disease outbreak in 2014. We asked public health experts and a community health worker who survived Ebola how they ensure vaccines reach those most in need. INCLUDE WOMEN Globally about 70% of health workers are female, and women are often the…

Sep

20

2021

By The African Mirror

UAE central bank sees COVID-19 increasing money-laundering risks

COVID-19

THE United Arab Emirates central bank sees increased risks of illicit financial flows emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, including money-laundering and terrorism financing, it said in a report. The use of unlicensed money service providers for money laundering has increased during the coronavirus crisis last year, the report said, as well as the use of e-commerce to launder money. "Widespread lockdowns have resulted in a significant surge in e-commerce. Due to limited ability to move funds and goods during the pandemic, illicit actors are turning to e-commerce as a money-laundering tool", it said. The number of so-called "money mules" -…

Dec

06

2020

By The African Mirror

Why is COVID-19 pushing up extreme poverty and can it be reversed?

COVID-19

SONIA ELKS COVID-19 could push a billion people - almost one in nine of the earth's inhabitants - into extreme poverty by 2030. The alarming statistic laid out in a United Nations report this week is the latest warning of the generational impact the pandemic is having on the world's most vulnerable. How did the coronavirus unleash an economic storm risking so many livelihoods and what can be done to shield those most at risk? What is extreme poverty? Anyone living on less than $1.90 per day is defined as being in extreme poverty by the World Bank, which says…

Dec

06

2020

By The African Mirror

WHO hopes to have 500 mln vaccine doses via COVAX scheme in Q1 2021 -chief scientist

COVID-19

THE World Health Organization hopes to have half a billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines available for distribution by the global COVAX initiative in the first quarter of 2021, its chief scientist has said. To date 189 countries have joined the COVAX programme, which is backed by the WHO and seeks to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines. The United States is not among them, having secured bilateral deals. The initial COVAX plan is to vaccinate the 20% of populations at highest risk, including health workers and people aged over 65. "The goal is to get at least 2 billion doses by…

Dec

05

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa expects first vaccines from COVAX scheme in Q2 2021

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa expects to receive its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines from the global vaccine distribution scheme co-led by the World Health Organization in the second quarter of next year, the health ministry said. The ministry added in a statement that it was on track to sign an agreement with the COVAX program by December 15, by which date it would also make the first tranche of payment. South Africa has recorded more than 800,000 coronavirus infections and over 21,000 deaths related to COVID-19, the most on the African continent. The country is seeking to buy vaccines for 10% of…

Jan

31

2021

By The African Mirror

Algeria launches coronavirus vaccination campaign

COVID-19

ALGERIA yesterday launched a coronavirus vaccination campaign, a day after receiving its first shipment of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, the government said. The campaign started in the Blida province, 40 km (25 miles) southwest of the capital, Algiers, where the country's first confirmed cases of the coronavirus were reported last March. Algeria received 50,000 doses of Sputnik V on Friday, said Djamel Fourar, head of the Scientific Committee in charge of dealing with the pandemic. The North African country will receive a shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday, Communication Minister Ammar Belhimer said, without providing the number of doses.…

Jan

31

2021

By The African Mirror

Novavax to produce 150 million vaccine doses per month

COVID-19

LUDWIG BURGER NOVAVAX expects to produce up to 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses monthly by May or June, its chief executive told Reuters, after reporting interim data that showed its shot to be 89% effective in a UK trial. Novavax expects to complete the clinical trial for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in the next few weeks, but is already working on manufacturing to be able to reach full production capacity quickly, Chief Executive Officer Stanley Erck said. "We should be at full capacity starting in May or June, maybe as much as one hundred and fifty million doses per month…

Sep

17

2021

By The African Mirror

How will the COVID pandemic end?

COVID-19

AFTER over 18 months of this pandemic, with the social distancing, mask-wearing and on-off lockdowns, what we all want to know more than anything else is when it will all be over and how it will end. While nothing is certain, we have a lot of evidence on which to build some realistic expectations about how the pandemic will progress over the next year or so. PAUL HUNTER, Professor of Medicine, University of East Anglia COVID-19 may not be the first time a coronavirus has caused a dreadful global pandemic. It’s been hypothesised that the “Russian flu”, which emerged in…

Jan

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya aims to vaccinate 16 million people by June 2022

COVID-19

DUNCAN MIRIRI KENYA is seeking an extra 11 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, on top of 24 million already ordered, and hopes to have 16 million people inoculated by June next year. Sourced from major pharmaceutical manufacturers like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, the extra doses will be acquired through the African Union's disease control and prevention body. The country will obtain supplies from manufacturers directly if needed, it said. The East African nation of more than 50 million people aims to vaccinate 1.25 million in phase one of the campaign by June this year, senior health ministry official Mercy…