HEALTH - The African Mirror

May

01

2021

‘J&J shot can be given to pregnant women’

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa's drug regulator has said that Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine can be given to pregnant women with co-morbidities or at high risk of contracting the coronavirus. The South African health ministry said SAHPRA had previously said pregnant and breastfeeding women should be excluded from a local research study evaluating the J&J vaccine's efficacy. That research study, which aims to immunize 500,000 health workers, resumed on Wednesday after it was temporarily suspended over extremely rare cases of blood clots in people given J&J's vaccine in the United States. But in recommendations posted on its website on Thursday, the regulator…

May

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Assessment of vaccines to be finalised

COVID-19

THE World Health Organization expects to release its assessments for emergency use listing of the two main Chinese vaccines for COVID-19 as well as the Moderna shot by the end of next week, according to WHO Assistant Director-General Mariangela Simao. Simao said the WHO's independent panel was assessing the Moderna vaccine and a vaccine from China's Sinopharm on Friday and was due to look at China's other main vaccine, made by Sinovac Biotech, next week. "So, by the beginning of next week or the end of next week we will have the final assessment of these three vaccines out," she…

May

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Tanzania installs oxygen production plants

COVID-19

TANZANIA has installed medical oxygen production plants in its biggest national hospitals to serve intensive care wards treating coronavirus patients, its health ministry said yesterday. The ministry statement said the plants installed in each hospital will produce 200 medical oxygen cylinders a day. The announcement that the plants had been installed in seven referral hospitals in a World Bank-backed project was another change of COVID-19 policies since the death of President John Magufuli in March. Earlier this month, President Samia Suluhu Hassan shifted the country's approach to COVID-19 from the controversial stances of her predecessor by announcing she was forming…

Jun

13

2021

By The African Mirror

Kinshasa hospitals ‘overwhelmed’

COVID-19

HOSPITALS in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa are "overwhelmed" by a rise in COVID-19 infections, President Felix Tshisekedi said yesterday, as the country was hit by a third wave of the disease. Like many African countries, Congo has officially registered relatively few cases. But the virus has killed a number of prominent politicians, and low vaccination rates have left the country vulnerable to more contagious variants. Health officials recorded 254 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday, one of the highest daily totals since the pandemic began. In all, Congo has registered 35,000 cases and 830 deaths. "I am going…

Jun

13

2021

By The African Mirror

SA to analyse J&J vaccines made in U.S.

COVID-19

SOUTH African health inspectors will carry out further checks on a batch of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines following a contamination error earlier this year at the U.S. plant where the doses were produced, the health ministry said. As fears of a third COVID-19 wave grow in the hard-hit country, the ministry said late on Friday that officials from the health products regulator would assess the vaccines to ensure they are suitable for use. "There is now a real possibility that they may not be, however this is for the regulator to rule on," a ministry statement said. The ministry…

Jun

13

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine shows immune response

COVID-19

NOVAVAX Inc says its experimental COVID-19 vaccine showed immune response and protection against the highly contagious coronavirus variant originally identified in South Africa in a clinical trial. The vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, is being tested in multiple trials but has yet to be authorized for use in any country. Novavax also said studies in mice and baboons found that a different vaccine specifically targeting the South African variant now known as Beta produced immune response and protection, and that it expected to conduct further clinical testing of the Beta-focused vaccine in the fall. The company said testing of blood serum of thirty…

Jun

13

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID SCIENCE: The latest

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. Vaccines protect against variants despite diminished antibodies The one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and the two-dose vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech appear to protect against worrisome coronavirus variants despite diminished levels of antibodies that can neutralize the newer versions of the virus, two studies in the journal Nature suggest. The authors of both studies said other immune responses may be compensating. In one study, published on…

May

01

2021

By The African Mirror

‘End is in sight’: tackling a rare disease in a global pandemic

HEALTH

EMELINE WUILBERCQ OKELLO Aballa Ognum regularly has to walk deep into the jungles of southwest Ethiopia to treat the water ponds that harbour a debilitating parasitic disease. Painstakingly, he measures the water volume to determine how much chemical treatment to use against copepods, the tiny water fleas that carry the Guinea worm larvae. If ingested by humans, the larvae can grow up to a meter long before emerging through the skin, leading to serious disability and amputation in the worst cases. Killing them is only part of Okello's job - he also teaches the community about the dangers of drinking…

May

02

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s daunting COVID-19 vaccine rollout

HEALTH

GUY OLIVER IN May, South Africa begins its mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign, aimed at reaching 40 million people – the minimum to reach herd immunity – by the beginning of next year. As even wealthy nations are struggling with their rollouts, the South African campaign will be keenly watched by other developing countries. Like much of the Global South, South Africa is dealing with issues around procuring enough vaccines; the logistical hurdles of delivering them; and the communication challenges in overcoming vaccine hesitancy. The campaign will be rolled out into one of the world’s most unequal societies. About one in five…

Apr

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt’s Sisi receives coronavirus vaccine

COVID-19

EGYPTIAN President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has received a coronavirus vaccination under a nationwide vaccination drive, his office said yesterday. The statement from the presidency did not give details on the type of vaccine Sisi received. Egypt has started administering doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine under the global COVAX agreement to provide vaccines for lower-income countries, as well as jabs produced by China's Sinopharm. Awad Tag el-Din, Sisi's adviser for health affairs, told a local news channel on Friday that around half a million people in Egypt had been vaccinated so far. The number of coronavirus cases has been steadily rising…