HEALTH - The African Mirror

Feb

28

2021

Vaccines face hurdles if shots become annual affair

COVID-19

JOHN MILLER and LUDWIG BURGER VACCINES from AstraZeneca, Russia's Gamaleya Institute and Johnson & Johnson fight the coronavirus with another virus, leaving scientists concerned the shots may lose potency if annual inoculations become necessary to fight new variants. So-called viral vector shots - also used by several Chinese COVID-19 vaccine developers - use harmless modified viruses as vehicles, or vectors, to carry genetic information that helps the body build immunity against future infections. However, there is a risk that the body also develops immunity to the vector itself, recognising it as an intruder and trying to destroy it. Most vector-vaccine…

Feb

28

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 SCIENCE: Warning for lung transplant and ICU patients

COVID-19

NANCY LAPID THE following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. COVID-19 can be transmitted via lung transplant The coronavirus can linger in the lungs even when swab tests of the back of the nose and throat are negative, doctors reported after unknowingly transplanting infected lungs into a patient who later died of COVID-19. University of Michigan surgeons obtained the lungs from a deceased donor who had tested negative for the virus and had reportedly never been exposed…

Feb

28

2021

By The African Mirror

W.H.O warns vaccine selfish countries

COVID-19

COUNTRIES seeking their own vaccine doses are making deals with drug companies that threaten the supply for the global COVAX programme for poor and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization has warned. "Now countries are still pursuing deals that will compromise the COVAX supply," WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward told a briefing. "Without a doubt." The World Health Organization has long called upon rich countries to ensure that vaccines are shared equitably. It is one of the leaders of COVAX, a programme to supply hundreds of millions of vaccine doses to poor and middle income countries. But so far, COVAX…

Jul

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa needs fairness and vaccines to revive its tourism sector – minister

COVID-19

DUNCAN MIRIRI AFRICAN countries need to get equal access to COVID-19 vaccines so they can start rebuilding their devastated tourism industries, Kenya's tourism minister said on Friday. About 21 million jobs have been lost in the sector across the continent since the start of the pandemic, Najib Balala said on the sidelines of a meeting of his African counterparts, called by the United Nations to discuss the crisis. "Without the vaccination of hospitality workers, Africa will be isolated," he said. Africa has essentially had to pause its rollout of COVID-19 vaccines because of supply problems - and only 18 million…

Jul

18

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisia reports daily record 205 COVID-19 deaths

COVID-19

TUNISIA recorded 205 deaths in the last 24 hours, a daily record since the start of the pandemic, according to the health ministry said. The ministry reported 6,787 new cases, raising new concerns about the country's ability to fight the pandemic, with intensive care departments completely filled and a lack of oxygen supplies. The vaccination campaign is very slow. The World Health Organization says that the daily death rate in Tunisia is the highest in Africa and the Arab world. The total number of cases has climbed to around 530,000 and more than 17,200 deaths. Tunisia health authorities have called…

Feb

27

2021

By The African Mirror

2 people had severe allergic reactions after shot

COVID-19

A Johnson & Johnson scientist said yesterday that the company has received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one case of anaphylaxis, in people who had received the company's COVID-19 vaccine. Dr Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development and medical affairs at J&J unit Janssen Pharmaceuticals, said the case of anaphylaxis was observed in an ongoing trial of healthcare workers in South Africa. There had not been any previously reported cases of anaphylaxis, Douoguih said. She was speaking to a panel of expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which will vote later on…

Feb

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria expects first 4 million vaccine doses

COVID-19

NIGERIA is expecting its first 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines next week from the global COVAX vaccine programme for poor and middle-income countries, the head of the World Health Organization mission in Nigeria said yesterday. Chikwe Ihekweazu Walter Kazadi Mulombo, WHO representative in Nigeria, told a briefing by video link that Nigeria was expecting 14 million doses in total. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, said the situation in Nigeria was so far much better than had been widely predicted early in the outbreak. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with some 200 million people,…

Feb

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast gets 500 000 COVAX vaccines

COVID-19

IVORY Coast received a shipment of COVID-19 doses from the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility yesterday, becoming the second country to benefit from a programme meant to ensure fairer distribution amid a global scramble. A plane carrying 504 000 doses touched down in the commercial capital Abidjan, paving the way for the West African nation to launch a vaccination campaign. By the end of this year, COVAX plans to deliver nearly 2 billion doses to over 90 low- and middle-income countries, hoping to level a playing field that has seen wealthier nations vaccinate millions while comparatively few have received shots in poorer…

Jul

18

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal threatens to close borders

COVID-19

SENEGAL’S President Macky Sall has threatened to close the borders and re-impose a state of emergency after the country registered a new record number of daily COVID-19 cases for the third time in a week. While Senegal has seen relatively few coronavirus cases and deaths so far, it does not have enough doses to vaccinate widely as it experiences a third wave of the virus. The health ministry reported 738 new cases on Friday, more than the previous records of 733 on Wednesday and 529 on Sunday. "I would like to say very clearly that if the numbers continue to…

Jul

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine-starved Namibia receives boost

COVID-19

NAMIBIA, whose COVID-19 inoculation programme was halted by a lack of vaccines, has received a boost with the arrival of 250,000 Sinopharm doses bought from China. Namibia has temporarily suspended delivering shots at major vaccination centres across the country after supplies ran low. It is classified as an upper-middle-income country and had to pay to participate in the global vaccine distribution scheme COVAX. But it has only received 67,200 doses out of 108,000 allocated by the facility. It has also received donations of 100,000 Sinopharm doses from China and 30,000 AstraZeneca doses from India. Out of a population of 2.5…