HEALTH - The African Mirror

Feb

09

2021

South Africa now looks to J&J vaccine

COVID-19

JOHNSON & Johnson will speed up deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine to South Africa, a senior government official yesteray, after the country suspended plans to roll out AstraZeneca shots due to disappointing trial data. Health ministry Deputy Director-General Anban Pillay told public broadcaster SABC that the first J&J doses could arrive around the end of the week, whereas officials had previously said deliveries would start in the second quarter. J&J said it was in advanced discussions with South Africa about "potential additional collaborations" to combat COVID-19. "We hope to be able to share more details in the coming days," it…

Feb

09

2021

By The African Mirror

S.A. issues vaccine tender

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa's health ministry yesterday called for bids from service providers to import, store and distribute COVID-19 vaccines for the second and subsequent phases of the country's vaccination programme. In the first phase of vaccination, which was due to start this week but has been suspended temporarily, healthcare workers are to be vaccinated. The government said on Sunday it was putting on hold use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine after data showed it gave minimal protection against mild-to-moderate infection caused by South Africa's dominant coronavirus variant. The country is now waiting to receive deliveries of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, possibly by…

Feb

09

2021

By The African Mirror

Alzheimer’s disease: obesity may worsen its effects – new research

HEALTH

BEING overweight increases the risk of many serious health conditions, including strokes, cancer, diabetes and hypertension. Less well known, perhaps, is the link between being overweight or obese and the health of our brain. Research has shown that a higher body mass index and mid-life obesity are both linked to increased risk of dementia. Some evidence also indicates that obesity and Alzheimer’s disease cause similar brain dysfunctions. MATTEO DE MARCO, Lecturer, Neuroscience of Dementia, University of Sheffield ANNALENA VENNERI, Chair Professor, Translational Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Sheffield Our latest research has now shown that being overweight or obese negatively affects…

Feb

08

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa suspends use of AstraZeneca vaccine

COVID-19

South Africa will suspend use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot in its vaccination programme after data showed it gave minimal protection against mild to moderate infection caused by the country's dominant coronavirus variant. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Sunday the government would await advice from scientists on how best to proceed, after disappointing results in a trial conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand. The government had intended to roll the AstraZeneca shot out to healthcare workers soon, after receiving 1 million doses produced by the Serum Institute of India on Monday. Instead, it will offer vaccines developed by Johnson…

Feb

08

2021

By The African Mirror

Shot can stop severe disease from variant

COVID-19

BRITISH drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Saturday it believed its COVID-19 vaccine developed with the University of Oxford could protect against severe disease caused by the South African variant of the virus. AstraZeneca confirmed that early data from a small trial, first reported by the Financial Times, had shown limited efficacy for the vaccine against mild disease primarily due to this variant. "We do believe our vaccine could protect against severe disease, as neutralising antibody activity is equivalent to that of other COVID-19 vaccines that have demonstrated activity against more severe disease, particularly when the dosing interval is optimised to 8-12…

Feb

07

2021

By The African Mirror

Vatican urges U.N. Security Council meeting on COVID vaccine access

COVID-19

PHILLIP PULLELLA THE charity arm of the Vatican and Roman Catholic Church has urged the United Nations to hold a Security Council meeting to designate the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines as a global security issue. An appeal by two senior Vatican cardinals and the secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis (CI) said rich nations had a moral obligation to see that vaccines reach the poor, refugees and minorities. "(We) call for a Security Council meeting to address the issue of access to the vaccines as a global security problem with firm political decisions based on multilateralism," the appeal text said. "This…

Feb

07

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria lifts Emirates flight suspension

COVID-19

LIBBY GEORGE and ALEXIS AKWAGYIRAM NIGERIA has lifted its suspension of Emirates airlines flights imposed after the carrier sought additional COVID-19 tests for passengers from Nigeria, a spokesman for the country's aviation regulator has said. "The suspension has just been lifted, because they have complied with what we want," said the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) spokesman in a phone call. He said further details would soon be made public in a statement. An Emirates spokesperson said the company "can confirm that we will continue to operate services to Abuja and Lagos." An aviation ministry spokesman on Monday told a…

Feb

07

2021

By The African Mirror

“Share vaccine-making capacity”

COVID-19

WORLD Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on more pharmaceutical companies to share manufacturing facilities to help ramp up the production of COVID-19 vaccines. The WHO also said its technical advisers would meet next week to assess versions of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII), the largest vaccine maker, and from South Korea's SK Bioscience ahead of a possible WHO emergency listing. Speaking at an online news briefing from Geneva, Tedros said almost 130 countries with a combined population of 2.5 billion people were yet to administer any vaccines, and repeated his plea for…

Feb

06

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa looks to curb TB infections amid COVID-19 disruptions

HEALTH

SOUTH Africa will ramp up home delivery of medicines to patients and expand the use of chest X-rays for tuberculosis (TB) screening in communities as it looks to contain new infections since the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted health services, the health minister said yesterday. Designated by the World Health Organization as a high burden country, South Africa registers around 60,000 deaths from TB each year, making it the country's leading infectious disease killer closely intertwined with one of the world's highest rates of HIV/Aids. As COVID-19 pummelled South Africa since first being detected in March last year, many TB clinics…

Feb

06

2021

By The African Mirror

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…