COVID-19 - The African Mirror

Feb

14

2021

Global ranks of child soldiers swell

COVID-19

EMELINE WUILBERCQ MORE children could be pushed into joining armed groups in conflict zones as families face increasing poverty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a top U.N. official warned. The exact number of child soldiers is unknown, but in 2019 alone about 7,740 children - some as young as six - were recruited and used as fighters or in other roles by mostly non-state armed groups, according to United Nations data. Speaking on International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers - or Red Hand Day - the U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba said that number was…

Jul

24

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 SCIENCE: J&J shot recipients may need a booster, new advice on infected kids

COVID-19

NANCY LAPID THE following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. Johnson & Johnson shot may need boosting People who received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine may need a booster shot to fend off some of the worrisome coronavirus variants now spreading worldwide, a study suggests.A "significant fraction" of blood samples from recipients of the J&J shot had low neutralizing antibody levels against the Delta, Delta Plus, Beta and Lambda variants, according to a report posted on Wednesday on the medical website…

Feb

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Trials show vaccine is effective against variants

COVID-19

CUREVAC’S chief Franz-Werner Haas disclosed yesterday that preliminary trials on animals of the company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate show it is effective against the UK and South African variants. Haas told EU lawmakers that the results of the preliminary trials on the vaccine's effects on variants would be published soon. He also said that the company expected its vaccine to be approved in the European Union by June.

Feb

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya’s vaccines to arrive in March

COVID-19

KENYA’S first batch of COVID-19 vaccines will arrive in the first week of March, the presidency announced yesterday, with healthcare workers, frontline workers and vulnerable population groups to be given priority. "Cabinet ratified the distribution framework for the vaccines; with first priority being given to Health Care Workers, Frontline Workers including Security Personnel and Teachers, vulnerable persons and groups and Hospitality Sector Workers," the presidency said in a press release.

Feb

26

2021

By The African Mirror

“Waive intellectual property rights on drugs”

COVID-19

THE African Union is backing calls for drugmakers to waive some intellectual property rights on COVID-19 medicines and vaccines to speed up their rollout to poor countries, the head of its disease control body said yesterday. South Africa and India, which both manufacture drugs and vaccines, made the proposal at the World Trade Organization last year, saying intellectual property (IP) rules were hindering the urgent scale-up of vaccine production and provision of medical products to some patients. They have faced opposition from some developed nations, but the backing of the African Union may give renewed impetus for the push to…

Feb

26

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa aims to vaccinate 1.1 million

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa aims to vaccinate around 1.1 million people against COVID-19 by the end of March as it ramps up its immunisation programme, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said yesterday. Addressing parliament, Mkhize also said authorities might have to inoculate more than their original target of 40 million people to reach herd immunity. The country, hit far harder by the pandemic than any other in Africa, started rolling out Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) vaccine last week in a research study targeting healthcare workers. It hopes to receive doses of the Pfizer vaccine soon. Mkhize said so far more than 32,000 health…

Feb

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s plan to pay for COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19

FELIX ONUAH NIGERIA will draw up a supplementary budget in March to cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations, for which no provision was made in the 2021 finance bill adopted in December, finance minister Zainab Ahmed said on Thursday. The government has said it plans to inoculate 40% of Nigeria's 200 million people this year and another 30% in 2022. The country, Africa's most populous, has been hit by a second wave of infections in recent weeks. "There will be a supplementary budget, the first one will be in March relating to the COVID-19 pandemic," Ahmed told reporters, without giving…

Jul

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa demands local production of vaccines

COVID-19

DUNCAN MIRIRI and GEORGE OBULUTSA GLOBAL pharmaceutical firms should license the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa rather than just do piecemeal contract deals, an African Union special envoy has said. AU coronavirus envoy Strive Masiyiwa was speaking a day after Pfizer and BioNTech announced a "fill and finish" deal with South Africa's Biovac Institute under which it will carry out the final stages of vaccine manufacturing where the product is processed and put into vials. Pfizer and BioNTech will handle drug substance production at their facilities in Europe. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has called the arrangement "restrictive" and said…

Jul

26

2021

By The African Mirror

SA’s 18-35 year-olds to get vaccine

COVID-19

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER AFTER a slow start, South Africa has made strides in its COVID-19 vaccination programme, notching the 6.3-million vaccinations, and has plans to radically improve the numbers, the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced. In a special address to the nation, Ramaphosa also announced that South Africans between the ages of 18 and 35 will soon be able to register for vaccinations. Ramaphosa said: “As we have always said, our most effective weapon in the fight against COVID-19 is an effective and comprehensive vaccination programme. In the last few weeks, our vaccination campaign has made huge strides. We…

Jul

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Guinea takes part in Olympics

COVID-19

GUINEA’S five athletes will participate in the Tokyo Olympics after all, a statement from the West African nation's sports ministry has said, reversing the previous day's decision to suspend its participation in the Games citing the pandemic. On Wednesday, Sports Minister Sanoussy Bantama Sow said in a letter to the country's National Olympic Committee that the government had cancelled Guinea's participation to "preserve the health of its athletes" due to a surge in COVID-19 variants. Daily coronavirus infections in Tokyo rose to 1,979 cases on Thursday, the city said, the highest level since January. The July 21 letter seen by…