HEALTH - The African Mirror

Sep

12

2021

S.A approves vaccine for children 12 and up

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa's health regulator has approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for use by children aged 12 and older, paving the way for the government to offer vaccinations to teenagers. The South African Health Products Authority (SAPHRA) said the decision came after a review of updated safety and efficacy information submitted in March this year. After a bumpy start, South Africa's vaccination campaign has ramped up in recent months with a solid supply of shots secured and just over 12% of its more than 60 million people vaccinated. That puts the country well ahead of others on the continent. However, health insurers…

Jan

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Enthusiasm over COVID-19 vaccines tempered by talk of protectionism and hoarding

COVID-19

ANDRIUS SYTAS EUROPE has urged pharmaceutical companies to honour their commitments to supply coronavirus vaccines, as delivery cuts and delays dim hopes of a quick fix to COVID-19 and increase talk of protectionism and hoarding. Countries around the world, anxious to reboot economies and restart travel by the European summer, hailed the rapid development of vaccines as the great escape from the year-long pandemic, which has killed more than 2.1 million people. But vaccine roll-outs in the European Union have been slow compared with countries in some other regions and fraught with problems, not least interruptions to supply chains. AstraZeneca,…

Jan

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Gambia to name and shame quarantine cheats

COVID-19

FORTY people in Gambia confirmed as coronavirus positive in the past week have refused to self-isolate or escaped treatment centres, the health ministry has said, promising to reveal the identities of those flouting health regulations. It also said large numbers of recent arrivals to the former British colony from COVID-19 hotspots had failed to follow health protocols or report for a mandatory test. The non-compliance will have strained efforts to contain the virus in the small West African nation, which earlier in January recorded its first two cases of the highly infectious variant first found in Britain. All those concerned…

Jan

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Saudi in talks with COVID vaccine makers to supply Yemen, African states

COVID-19

SAUDI Arabia's finance minister said his country was talking to manufacturers to provide COVID-19 vaccines to low-income countries including Yemen and African states. "We are negotiating with a lot of the vaccination companies to provide more vaccinations particularly to low income countries," Mohammed al-Jadaan told the virtual World Economic Forum in Davos. Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition that has been fighting the Iran-aligned Houthi group in Yemen since early 2015, in a war that has pushed Yemen into a humanitarian crisis. Jadaan said Yemen and some African nations would not be able to get enough vaccines through the COVAX…

Jan

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Morocco to launch vaccination programme

COVID-19

MOROCCO’S health ministry has started distributing COVID-19 vaccines across the country as it prepares to become the first African state to roll out a mass immunisation programme this week. Appointments have been made for health workers and citizens are registering online to receive the vaccine in 3,000 locations, said Ben Azouz Mohammed, head of the ministry's vaccination programme. Morocco on Friday received 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by India's Serum Institute and it expects to get 500,000 doses of vaccine from China's Sinopharm on Wednesday. The virus has hit Morocco hard, shrinking the economy by 7.2% last…

Sep

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Sinovac in talks about setting up S.Africa vaccine production

COVID-19

CHINA’S Sinovac Biotech is in talks about setting up a vaccine production facility in South Africa with its local partner, the chief executive of Numolux said on Friday. Hilton Klein made the comments at the launch of the South African leg of a global Phase III trial of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine in children and adolescents. "This clinical trial is a precursor to the establishment of a South African vaccine manufacturing facility partnered by Sinovac and Numolux Group that will cover the entire spectrum of vaccinations beyond just the COVID-19 response," Klein told a news conference. "We are in talks with…

Jan

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Risk of severe COVID established early in infection – new study

HEALTH

WHY most people who get COVID have mild symptoms or none at all while some become severely ill is still a mystery – a mystery that scientists are urgently trying to solve. REBECCA AICHELER, Senior Lecturer in Immunology, Cardiff Metropolitan University Being obese or having existing health problems, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, are known to increase the risk of severe COVID. But this is not the whole story. Some seemingly healthy people can suffer from severe disease, too. Early in 2020, scientists discovered that people with severe COVID had unusual levels of certain immune cells in their…

Jan

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine appears to be effective against new variants

COVID-19

MORDENA Inc says ita COVID-19 vaccine produced virus-neutralizing antibodies in laboratory tests against new coronavirus variants found in the UK and South Africa. A two-dose regimen of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be protective against emerging strains detected to date, the company said. Moderna, however, said it would test a vaccine booster against the South Africa variant in pre-clinical trials to see if that would be more effective in boosting antibodies against the variant and other future variants. Although all viruses mutate constantly, scientists are concerned about the mutations discovered in Britain and South Africa because they are…

Jan

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe gets vaccine offers from Russia, China

COVID-19

RUSSIA and China have approached Zimbabwe about supplying vaccines to tackle its escalating COVID-19 outbreak amid concern about Harare's ability to afford the shots, with plans for meetings with business leaders who have offered to pay for them. Authorities in the impoverished southern African nation are scrambling to contain the accelerating spread of the coronavirus. Infections have doubled in just the past few weeks and three government ministers have died in the last 10 days. Zimbabwe doctors' groups say that hospitals are quickly filling up with COVID-19 patients and cite an increase in the number of infected people dying at…

Jan

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisia’s foreign minister tests positive for COVID-19

COVID-19

TUNISIA’S foreign minister, Othman Jerandi, has tested positive for COVID-19, saying in a tweet that the symptoms are severe, according to an official statement by the Foreign Ministry. "Today, my tests confirmed that I have COVID-19, despite taking all the necessary precautions and respecting the health protocol. Severe symptoms, I ask God the safety for everyone," Jerandi said in his tweet.