HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jul

22

2021

SA aims to vaccinate 35 million by Christmas

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa aims to have given at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 35 million of its 60 million people by Christmas, a senior health official has disclosed. The Department of Health's Nicholas Crisp added during a briefing to a parliamentary committee that roughly 25,000 vaccine doses had been either stolen or destroyed during riots last week. The country is the worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic on the African continent in terms of recorded infections and deaths, and is experiencing a "third wave" of infections. Its vaccination campaign started slowly due to a mix of bureaucratic failures, bad…

Feb

24

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccines for “immediate use” in S.A.

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa's health minister said yesterday that government advisers had grouped COVID-19 vaccines into three groups and those considered for "immediate use" were the Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Pfizer and Moderna shots. The country started rolling out the J&J vaccine in a research study targeting healthcare workers last week and hopes to receive Pfizer doses in the coming months. It has paused AstraZeneca vaccinations because of a small trial showing the British company's shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness caused by the dominant local coronavirus variant. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the government had placed "huge orders…

Feb

24

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 passports: What you need to know

COVID-19

UMBERTO BACCHI AS Britain announces its roadmap out of lockdown, vaccine certificates have once again come into the spotlight. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there would be a review into the issue although he added some form of vaccine passport would be "going to come on the international stage whatever" for foreign travel. Governments and developers around the world are exploring how certificates and passports could help to reopen economies by identifying those protected against COVID-19. Proponents say identifying people who are immune to the novel coronavirus or at lower risk of spreading it could help open up travel…

Feb

24

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal begins vaccinating

COVID-19

DIADE BA and NGOUDA DIONE SENEGAL began its coronavirus vaccination campaign yesterday, with 200,000 doses that it purchased from China's Sinopharm, which it received last week. The first shots were given to government ministers and health workers at the health ministry in the capital, Dakar. The West African country is one of the first in the region to start vaccinating its population against COVID-19. It has so far recorded 33,242 cases and 832 deaths from the disease. "We are going to continue so that all the Senegalese who must be vaccinated can be," said Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr in…

Feb

24

2021

By The African Mirror

India sends vaccine to Africa

COVID-19

INDIA has made its first shipment of a locally made COVID-19 shot to the WHO-backed equitable vaccine distribution network COVAX, the government said. "Fulfilling our commitment to help the world with COVID-19 vaccines, supplies of Made-in-India vaccine commence today for Africa under COVAX facility," Anurag Srivastava, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, said on Twitter. The World Health Organization this month paved the way for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine's global roll-out by approving emergency use of the product produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker, and SK Bioscience of South Korea. SII will…

Jul

22

2021

By The African Mirror

TB prevention has relied on the same vaccine for 100 years. It’s time for innovation

HEALTH

TB is one of the oldest infectious diseases in recorded history. Most of the people who are ill with TB live in low- and middle-income countries where this disease is one of the leading causes of death. This is particularly distressing given the fact that TB is preventable, treatable and curable. But there’s currently only one vaccine approved against TB. And it is 100 years old. The first dose of the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was administered on July 18 1921. The Conversation Africa’s Ina Skosana poses key questions to Bavesh Kana, one of South Africa’s leading TB researchers. BAVESH…

Jul

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal’s COVID-19 surge forces difficult Eid al-Adha decisions

COVID-19

NGOUDA DIONE and COOPER INVEEN WITH COVID-19 cases surging across Senegal, Pape Gueye made the difficult decision to spend the first Eid al-Adha of his life apart from his 88-year-old mother. "I know a lot of people who had it," said Gueye, 43, mixing a cup of green tea as he sat with masked friends in front of his flat in the capital, Dakar. "Some of them got through it, and some of them died," he said on Monday, the day before the Muslim holiday to mark the feast of sacrifice, known in Senegal as Tabaski when families gather together…

Jul

21

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Kenya plan to help poor plagued by irregularities’

COVID-19

GEORGE OBULUTSA A Kenyan government programme intended to help the capital's poorest citizens weather the pandemic was crippled by irregularities including cronyism and benefited just a fraction of those in need, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the 10 billion-shilling ($92.51 million) cash transfer programme in May 2020, two months after the East African nation entered a strict lockdown. A report by the U.S.-based rights group found that officials in charge of enrolment frequently ignored eligibility criteria "and directed benefits to their relatives or friends, even in cases where they did not meet the criteria".…

Jul

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe orders COVID-19 vaccination for all civil servants

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE’S government has ordered that all its workers should receive a COVID-19 vaccine and only 10% of civil servants report for duty, with the rest working from home in a bid to curb the spread of the pandemic. The head of the public commission, Jonathan Wutawunashe, said in a circular to government departments that all civil servants - about 250,000 - were considered frontline workers who should get COVID-19 shots. More than 1.1 million people have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Zimbabwe has recorded 85,732 infections, a quarter of them since the end of June and 2,697…

Jul

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisian health minister sacked

COVID-19

THE Tunisian prime minister has sacked the Health Minister Faouzi Mehdi, amid an exchange of accusations over performance in the fight against a COVID surge and the slow pace of the vaccination campaign. A government statement said the minister of social affairs will serve as an acting minister of health.