HEALTH - The African Mirror

Apr

20

2021

WHO against travel restrictions

COVID-19

THE World Health Organization's Emergency Committee has recommended that proof of vaccination not be required as a condition of international travel, maintaining its stance on the issue under growing debate. The independent experts, in a statement issued yesterday, cited limited evidence on whether vaccination against COVID-19 reduces people's ability to transmit the virus and "the persistent inequity in global vaccine distribution". States should recognise that requiring proof of vaccination deepens inequities and promotes unequal freedom of movement, the panel said.

Apr

20

2021

By The African Mirror

FACTBOX: How countries use vaccines

COVID-19

SOME countries are restricting the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to certain age groups, or suspending use, after European and British regulators confirmed possible links to rare blood clots. Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine has also been hit by concerns over blood clots. European regulators are reviewing such cases and are expected to issue findings on April 20. U.S. federal health agencies recommended pausing its use temporarily on April 13 and a U.S. health advisory panel will meet on April 23 to discuss whether the pause should continue. J&J has stated that no clear causal relationship has been established…

Apr

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Medical schools need to prepare doctors for revolutionary advances in genetics

HEALTH

HUMAN diversity did not appear to matter to modern medicine. At the time, the state of medical practice ignored the differences between individuals and between men and women. RAMA SHANKAR SINGH, Professor of Biology, McMaster University This practice was reflected in how doctors were trained. They took courses in basic biology, biochemistry, anatomy and physiology. But genetics, the science of variation, was not a required course until recently. Advances in genetics research have slowly transformed the practice of medicine. There has been a slow accumulation of a long list of diseases caused by variations in a single gene. Since the…

Jul

01

2021

By The African Mirror

World Bank pledges $20 billion for vaccines

COVID-19

ANDREA SHALAL and DAVID LAWDER THE World Bank has pledged to boost available funding for COVID-19 vaccine purchases and deployment to $20 billion from a previous target of $12 billion, citing a sharp increase in overall financing demand from developing countries. World Bank President David Malpass said the global development bank had already provided more than $4 billion to 51 developing countries for the purchase and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, and would add billions for 25 more countries soon. "Much more will follow in coming weeks," Malpass told reporters, noting that a total of 41 requests had been received from…

Apr

19

2021

By The African Mirror

Lifting of J&J vaccine pause recommended

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa's health regulator has recommended that the government lift the pause on administering drugmaker Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccines, given that certain conditions are met. "These conditions include, but are not limited to, strengthened screening and monitoring of participants who are at high risk of a blood clotting disorder," the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) said. "In addition, measures are to be implemented to ensure the safe management of any participants who develop vaccine-induced thrombosis and thrombocytopenia (VITT)," the statement added. SAHPRA said on Wednesday that it had recently reviewed data from Johnson & Johnson's local research…

Apr

19

2021

By The African Mirror

Senior Muslim cleric contracts COVID-19

COVID-19

SENIOR Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar and is a spiritual leader for the Muslim Brotherhood, has contracted COVID-19, his official Twitter account said. The tweet said the cleric, who is in his 90s, was receiving medical care and doing well. Qaradawi, an Egyptian scholar who has Qatari citizenship, was sentenced to death by an Egyptian court in absentia in 2015 along with other Egyptians affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in a case relating to a 2011 mass jail break. Qaradawi had rejected the ruling and denied any involvement. His presence in Qatar and criticism of…

Apr

19

2021

By The African Mirror

Guinea receives 300 000 vaccines

COVID-19

GUINEA yesterday received a shipment of 300,000 Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines purchased from China and is also set to receive a donation of 200,000 Sinopharm shots, Guinean Foreign Minister Ibrahima Khalil Kaba said. Kaba gave no further details on the Sinopharm donation. Guinea is reporting 93 new coronavirus infections on average each day, 59% of the peak in March. There have been 21,460 infections and 138 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. The West African country has administered at least 109,296 doses of COVID vaccines so far, according to government data compiled by Reuters. Assuming every person…

Jun

30

2021

By The African Mirror

‘African vaccine hubs could be revolutionary’

COVID-19

EMMA FARGE PLANS for Africa's first independent COVID-19 vaccine production hubs could revolutionise the global vaccine industry but will depend on the willingness of pharmaceutical companies to share their technology, the World Health Organization has said. The Geneva-based health agency said last week it is setting up a hub with South Africa to give poorer countries the tools to produce their own COVID-19 vaccines using mRNA technology currently used in Moderna and Pfizer's COVID shots. WHO's Agnès Buzyn, the WHO head's envoy for multilateral affairs, said that several other African and Asian countries had also applied and discussions with Senegal…

Jun

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya to receive 13 million J&J shots

COVID-19

DUNCAN MIRIRI KENYA will receive the first batch of 13 million COVID-19 vaccine shots from Johnson & Johnson in August, President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced, helping to accelerate the country's vaccination drive. Like other nations on the continent, the East African country has struggled to secure vaccines for its citizens, to allow it to fully lift restrictions aimed at containing the pandemic. Only 1 million Kenyans, out of 47 million, have had a first jab and only 300,000 are fully vaccinated, according to the health ministry. As a result of the deal for the J&J shots and other initiatives, the…

Jun

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Namibian rescues ravaged economy

COVID-19

NAMIBIAN President Hage Geingob has appointed an 11-member Business Rescue Task Force to review business and insolvency legislation with the aim of rescuing businesses in financial distress. The Southern African nation, whose mining and tourism-dependent economy has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, is in the midst of a deadly third wave of infections that is threatening to take more businesses under. The task force, which consists of individuals with skills and experience in corporate management, banking, legal and insolvency laws, legal drafting and entrepreneurship, will start work on July 1 for a period of eight months, the president's office…