COVID-19 - The African Mirror

Feb

06

2021

South Africa secures vaccines for 26 million people

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa has secured enough COVID-19 vaccines for at least 26 million people, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize disclosed yesterday. Africa's most industrialised economy aims to vaccinate 40 million people, or two-thirds of its population, to reach herd immunity. It has recorded the most coronavirus infections and deaths on the African continent, and received its first shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India this week. A health ministry presentation said the government had signed a term sheet for 9 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine at $10 a dose. One of the conditions for J&J's vaccine was the establishment of…

Feb

13

2021

By The African Mirror

Gabon tightens COVID-19 restrictions

COVID-19

GABON has restricted travel in and out of its capital city, and expanded curfew hours to limit travel and slow the spread of coronavirus infections, Interior Minister Lambert Noel Matha said yesterday. Matha told a news conference that curfew hours have been extended by two hours, now starting at 6 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) until 0500 GMT. He said travellers in and out of Libreville and neighbouring municipalities are now required to present a negative COVID-19 test because of the rising number of cases. Coronavirus cases in Gabon are at 73% of peak and rising, according to Reuters data.…

Feb

13

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal purchases 200 000 vaccines

COVID-19

DIADIE BA SENEGAL has paid a little over 2 billion CFA francs ($3.72 million) - or nearly $19 per shot - for 200,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinopharm, a finance ministry spokesman told Reuters yesterday. African nations are struggling to source vaccines in the face of a global scramble for doses. Coverage secured through African Union (AU) and World Health Organization-backed (WHO) schemes so far falls short of the continent's needs. Senegal said in January it was in talks to buy the Chinese vaccine. Finance ministry spokesman Balle Preira confirmed the cost of the shots, which…

Feb

13

2021

By The African Mirror

Variant-modified vaccines on track

COVID-19

EMILIO PARODI EUROPE's medicines regulator is planning to speed up assessments of any COVID-19 vaccines that are modified to protect against variants of the virus, the head of the agency's COVID-19 task-force told Reuters yesterday. Marco Cavaleri, chair of the vaccine evaluation team at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said there should be no need for lengthy large-scale trials like those needed to evaluate the first COVID-19 vaccines, since tweaks for new variants can be tested on smaller groups. "We are working on updated guidelines, assuming that we cannot ask for large Phase III trials. This will allow us to…

Aug

06

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa’s COVID vaccine project takes a step forward with bottling agreement

COVID-19

FRANCESCO GUARASCIO SENEGAL’S Institut Pasteur of Dakar (IPD) has reached a deal with U.S. company MedInstill for the bottling of COVID-19 shots, an EU document shows, marking a step to becoming a fully-fledged maker of coronavirus vaccines for Africa. The European Union is a major financial backer of the project which aims to enable IPD to manufacture 300 million COVID-19 vaccines a year and reduce Africa's reliance on imported vaccines. IPD, however, has yet to secure a partnership with a COVID vaccine patent holder to produce shots. African countries have so far received a tiny portion of COVID-19 shots produced…

Aug

06

2021

By The African Mirror

Moderna says its shot remains 93% effective

COVID-19

MICHAEL ERMAN MODERNA Inc has revealed that its COVID-19 shot was about 93% effective four to six months after the second dose, showing hardly any change from the 94% efficacy reported in its original clinical trial. That compares favourably to data released by rivals Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE last week in which they suggested their vaccine's efficacy waned around 6% every two months, declining to around 84% six months after the second shot. Both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. "We are very pleased that our COVID-19 vaccine efficacy is stable at 93%…

Aug

06

2021

By The African Mirror

African Union’s J&J vaccine shipments begin

COVID-19

MAGGIE FICK AFRICAN Union officials have revealed that the body had begun shipping COVID-19 vaccine doses acquired from Johnson & Johnson, but they raised alarm at the pace of total deliveries to a region where only 1.5% of people are fully vaccinated. The AU's COVID special envoy Strive Masiyiwa said the start of the J&J shipments marked a step forward for the continent of more than 1.3 billion people, but in a news conference, he called Africa's situation regarding vaccine deliveries a "crisis". Africa remains in the grip of a third wave of the pandemic, and in the past four…

Feb

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa CDC’s guide AstraZeneca vaccine

COVID-19

AFRICAN countries that have not reported the circulation of the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa should proceed with the rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the African Union's disease control body said on Thursday. For countries that have reported circulation of the 501Y.V2 variant, they should accelerate their preparedness to introduce all vaccines that have received emergency use authorisation, Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong told a news conference. "Consideration should be given to the effectiveness of the vaccine against the 501Y.V2 variant," Nkengasong said.

Feb

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe buys 600,000 vaccines

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE has purchased 600,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses from China's Sinopharm, in addition to 200,000 China has donated, its information minister said yesterday, adding these were due to arrive in Zimbabwe by the start of March. Monica Mutsvangwa also said Zimbabwe was negotiating with Russia over the procurement of its Sputnik vaccines and was expecting more doses from India and COVAX. A total of 800,000 Sinopharm doses will be in the country by the start of March, Mutsvangwa said in a video posted on the information ministry's Twitter feed on Wednesday, with aircraft heading to China to collect the shots no…

Feb

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Morocco receives four million vaccines

COVID-19

MOROCCO received a second batch of four million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine yesterday, having begun Africa's first national vaccination campaign two weeks ago, health ministry sources said. The shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines manufacturd by India's Serum Institute arrived at Casablanca airport yesterday afternoon. "This new batch would enable a steady continuation of Morocco's national vaccination campaign," said Said Afif, a member of the health ministry's scientific committee. The latest batch of AstraZeneca vaccines follows 2 million doses received last month and 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinopharm. By Wednesday Morocco had vaccinated 746,116 people and…