HEALTH - The African Mirror

Sep

15

2021

EXCLUSIVE: WHO-backed vaccine hub for Africa to copy Moderna COVID-19 shot

COVID-19

WENDELL ROELF EFFORTS to develop an African base for COVID-19 vaccine production will focus on trying to replicate Moderna's shot, but a lack of progress in talks with the U.S. company means the project will take time, a senior WHO official told Reuters. The drive to produce vaccines in Africa is designed to help more developing countries access COVID-19 shots after rich nations bought up most of this year's supply. Moderna said last October it would not enforce patents related to its shot during the pandemic, raising hopes that other companies might be able to copy it and help boost…

Jan

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Pfizer vaccine only slightly less effective against key S.African mutations

COVID-19

PFIZER Inc and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine appeared to lose only a small bit of effectiveness against an engineered virus with three key mutations from the new coronavirus variant found in South Africa, according to a laboratory study conducted by the U.S. drugmaker. The study by Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), which has not yet been peer-reviewed, showed a less than two-fold reduction in antibody titer levels, indicating the vaccine would likely be effective in neutralizing a virus with the so-called E484K and N501Y mutations found in the South African variant. The study was conducted…

Sep

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Less than 3.5 % of Africans vaccinated against COVID

COVID-19

LESS than 3.5% of Africans are vaccinated against COVID-19, far short of its official target of 60%, John Nkengasong, director of Africa's Centers for Disease Control, said on Tuesday. World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the same briefing that the continent was being "left behind by the rest of the world" and that this would allow the coronavirus to keep circulating.

Jan

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa secures 400 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses

COVID-19

GEORGE OBULUTSA THE African Union (AU) has secured another 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, a regional health leader said, in a push to immunize 60% of the continent's population over three years. As richer nations race ahead with mass immunisation campaigns, Africa is scrambling to obtain supplies for its 1.3 billion people. Only a handful of African nations have begun giving doses. John Nkengasong, director of the AU's disease control and prevention body, told an online briefing that in addition to 270 million doses previously secured, the bloc would get 400 million shots from the Serum Institute…

Jan

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal confirms presence of UK coronavirus variant

COVID-19

DIADIE BA A more contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain has now been detected in Senegal, its health institute said on Thursday, just as measures to contain the spread of the virus appeared to have stalled a recent surge. British scientists say the UK variant, known as B.1.1.7, may be up to 70% more transmissible and also more lethal - with a mortality risk around 30% higher. "Due to the fact that these variants are transmitted more rapidly, which could explain the speed of spread of the disease in some countries, it is imperative that individual and…

Jan

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Algeria to start COVID-19 vaccinations on Saturday

COVID-19

ALGERIA will receive its first shipment of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine today and plans to start its vaccination campaign tomorrow, according to Communication Minister Ammar Belhimer. The vaccine will be given first to healthcare workers, the elderly and people with chronic diseases, state media cited him as saying, without giving details on the number of doses. "More shipments will arrive from China, India and other countries," he said on Thursday. The North African country has 106,610 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 2,881 deaths.

Jan

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Budget woes mean South African doctors jobless while hospitals battle COVID-19

COVID-19

KIRTHANA PILLAY WHILE Michelle Cerfontyne was completing her medical training last year, the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed South Africa's understaffed public hospitals, so the young doctor thought she would get a job easily. But when she started applying for posts prospectively in September, there seemed to be no vacancies. Since then, a second wave of the coronavirus in Africa's most industrialised country has far outstripped the first, hitting 20,000 daily cases earlier this month and bringing hospitals closer to breaking point. Yet Cerfontyne's 10 job applications have all been rejected. Nine did not give her an interview. Cerfontyne is one of…

Sep

14

2021

By The African Mirror

Marburg in Guinea: the value of lessons from managing other haemorrhagic outbreaks

HEALTH

AS the COVID-19 pandemic rages on in Africa amid insufficient vaccination rollout, viral haemorrhagic fever has again raised its head. This adds to public health turmoil on the continent where resources to respond to emerging and re-emerging epidemic-prone zoonotic diseases remain limited. MICHELLE J. GROOME, Head of the Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response, National Institute for Communicable Diseases JANUSZ PAWESKA, Head of the Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases In the first week of August 2021, a Marburg virus disease outbreak was declared in south-western Guinea. This was the same area in which…

Sep

14

2021

By The African Mirror

After long delay, Congo’s Tshisekedi receives COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19

HEREWARD HOLLAND CONGO’S President Felix Tshisekedi has received his first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, after a six-month wait caused by his unwillingness to take the AstraZeneca shot, the government has said. The Democratic Republic of Congo has officially reported 56,000 cases and 1,066 deaths from the coronavirus, though test rates are low in the country of 90 million. The virus has ripped through its ruling elite, killing prominent lawmakers and members of the president's entourage. Help came in March with the delivery of 1.7 million AstraZeneca doses from the COVAX vaccine sharing scheme co-run by the World Health…

Jan

28

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa expects first vaccine doses February 1

COVID-19

ALEXANDER WINNING SOUTH Africa expects the flight carrying its first 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to arrive on February 1, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said yesterday, boosting efforts to curb a second wave of COVID-19 driven by a more contagious variant. The AstraZeneca shots, produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), are destined for the country's sorely stretched frontline healthcare workers. South Africa has recorded the most coronavirus infections and deaths on the African continent, at more than 1.4 million cases and over 41,000 deaths to date, and has been battling a second wave of infections dominated by a…