HEALTH - The African Mirror

Feb

01

2021

Ghana aims to get 17.6 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccine by June

COVID-19

GHANA plans to procure 17.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of June with the first doses arriving in March, President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Sunday. Like other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana is battling a second wave of the novel coronavirus. Its daily infection rate is rising and is close to record levels, data compiled by Reuters shows. So far it has recorded over 63,000 cases and 416 deaths. "Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people," Akufo-Addo said in a speech to the West African nation of around…

Feb

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe has $100 million to buy vaccines

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE has set aside $100 million to acquire COVID-19 vaccines but the government is still waiting for its scientists to recommend which type to buy, a state-owned newspaper has reported. President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government, which is grappling with an economic crisis and acute shortages of foreign exchange, has been criticised for being too slow to announce its vaccination plans. George Guvamatanga, the ministry of finance secretary, told the Sunday Mail that the government would use funds from a 2020 budget surplus and reallocate some of this year's budget to buy the vaccines. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in November that…

Feb

05

2021

By The African Mirror

Sixteen African nations show interest in AU vaccine plan

COVID-19

GEORGE OBULUTSA and OMAR MOHAMMED SIXTEEN African countries have shown interest in securing COVID-19 vaccines under an African Union (AU) plan, and allocations could be announced in the next three weeks, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday. While many rich nations have already begun mass vaccination drives, only a few African countries have started vaccination, and the 55-member African Union hopes to see 60% of the continent's 1.3 billion people immunised in the next three years. The AU has so far secured around 670 million doses for its member states. Africa CDC…

Feb

05

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe to get 200,000 COVID-19 doses from China

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE will receive 200,000 free doses of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said yesterday, after China and Russia offered shots against the coronavirus to the impoverished southern African nation. Mnangagwa, in a nationally televised address, also said there were plans to vaccinate at least 60% of the population using government and private sector funding. The coronavirus pandemic has increased rapidly in Zimbabwe over the past few weeks, with about 70% of its known 33,964 infections and more than two thirds of the 1,269 deaths recorded since the beginning of January. The Sinopharm vaccine is approved in China for…

Feb

05

2021

By The African Mirror

World faces around 4,000 COVID-19 variants as researchers explore mixed vaccine shots

COVID-19

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE and ALISTAIR SMOUT THE world faces around 4,000 variants of the virus that causes COVID-19, prompting a race to improve vaccines, Britain said on Thursday, as researchers began to explore mixing doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots. Thousands of variants have been documented as the virus mutates, including the so-called British, South African and Brazilian variants which appear to spread more swiftly than others. British Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was very unlikely that the current vaccines would not work against the new variants. "Its very unlikely that the current vaccine won't be effective on…

Feb

10

2021

By The African Mirror

India backs AstraZeneca shot despite South Africa halt

COVID-19

KRISHNA N DAS and ANURON KUMAR MITRA INDIA has no concerns over the efficacy of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine despite South Africa putting it on hold, and ordered 10 million more doses of the shot for its own huge immunisation campaign. South Africa delayed use of the vaccine after researchers found it offered minimal protection against mild-to-moderate COVID-19 disease caused by the country's dominant coronavirus variant. India, with the highest number of infections after the United States, has yet to detect the South African variant and will continue to use the vaccine in an inoculation drive that has covered 6.3…

Feb

10

2021

By The African Mirror

Europe’s oldest person, 117-year-old French nun, survives COVID-19

COVID-19

EUROPE's oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, has survived COVID-19 and will celebrate her 117th birthday this week, her caregivers said. Lucile Randon, who took the name of Sister Andre when she joined a Catholic charitable order in 1944, tested positive for coronavirus in her retirement home in Toulon, southern France, on January 16. She was isolated from other residents, but displayed no symptoms. Asked if she was scared to have COVID, Sister Andre told France's BFM television, "No, I wasn't scared because I wasn't scared to die... I'm happy to be with you, but I would wish to be…

Feb

10

2021

By The African Mirror

How changing blood pressure targets in South Africa could save costs and lives

HEALTH

HIGH blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a serious public health threat globally. If uncontrolled it substantially increases the risk of disability and death from stroke, heart attacks and other cardiovascular conditions. It’s also a huge problem in South Africa – an estimated 35% of people in the country older than 15 have high blood pressure. This is expected to increase as the country’s population rapidly ages over the coming decades. NIKKIL SUDHARSANAN, Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University of Heidelberg JUSTINE INA DAVIES, Professor of Global Health, Institute for Applied Research, University…

Feb

09

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa to roll out AstraZeneca vaccine in steps to assess efficacy

COVID-19

JOHN REVILL SOUTH Africa will roll out AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine in a "stepped manner" to assess its ability to prevent severe illness, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, co-chair of South Africa's Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19, said yesterday. South Africa said on Sunday it would put on hold its use of the AstraZeneca shot after research showing it was only minimally effective in preventing mild-to-moderate illness against a variant of the coronavirus now dominant in the country. Professor Salim Abdool Karim Speaking to a briefing of the World Health Organization (WHO), Abdool Karim said it was too early to say whether…

Feb

09

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria to stick with AstraZeneca vaccine

COVID-19

NIGERIA has not yet found the South African variant of COVID-19 in its population and will continue with plans to distribute the AstraZeneca vaccine, the head of the country's primary healthcare agency said yesterday. On Sunday, South Africa said it would put its use of the AstraZeneca shot on hold after research showed it was only minimally effective in preventing mild illness against the coronavirus variant dominant in the country. Faisal Shuaib, director of Nigeria's national primary healthcare development agency, said authorities were diligently searching test samples for the South African strain, and subjecting samples from travellers returning from the…