HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jun

13

2021

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…

Jun

12

2021

By The African Mirror

SA officially enters third wave

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa has entered its third wave of COVID-19 infections, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NCID) has disclosed, as the continent's worst-hit country registered 9,149 new cases. The NCID said South Africa had exceeded the national 7-day moving average incidence of 5,959 cases as defined by the ministerial advisory committee (MAC). The MAC advisory reported the latest wave of cases had a 7-day moving average threshold that was 30% of the peak incidence of the previous wave, which reached around 10,000 infections driven by a new variant. "South Africa technically entered the third wave today," the NCID said in…

Jun

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Ending HIV in children is way off target: where to focus action now

HEALTH

WORLD leaders have recently, under the auspices of the United Nations, renewed their commitment to ending AIDS. The new phase offers much-needed hope for the future, provided the commitments made are fulfilled. KAYMARLIN GOVENDER, Research Director at The Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of KwaZulu-Natal LINDA-GAIL BEKKER, Professor of medicine and deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town The adopted political declaration and its recommendations offer strategies for ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV and paediatric AIDS. They also address inequalities faced…

Jun

11

2021

By The African Mirror

9 in 10 countries to miss vaccination goal

COVID-19

ABOUT 90% of African countries will miss a September target to vaccinate at least 10% of their populations against COVID-19 as a third wave of the pandemic looms on the continent, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said yesterday. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said the continent required an extra 225 million doses to be able to vaccinate a tenth of its people by September this year. Africa has hit 5 million COVID-19 cases, with the southern Africa region the worst affected, accounting for 37% of total cases, according to a Reuters tally. South Africa is the worst…

Jun

11

2021

By The African Mirror

France, SA to increase vaccines access

COVID-19

FRANCE has decided to work with South Africa to help African countries to get access to vaccines, French President Emmanuel Macron told a news conference on Thursday ahead of a G7 summit. Macron also said that having access to vaccines should not be blocked by disputes over intellectual property rights.

Apr

24

2021

By The African Mirror

Five vaccine stories from Kenya, London to Mumbai

COVID-19

DRAW the dose up into a syringe, expose the upper arm, administer the jab: it takes a few seconds to give someone a COVID-19 vaccination. But securing a dose in the first place, and getting in front of a nurse with a needle and a freezer full of vaccines, varies widely depending on where you live and what you do for a living. In Britain, a global frontrunner in the vaccination race, registering online for the jab has been no more complicated than booking a dentist appointment, while in India, where COVID-19 cases are surging, some people have roamed city hospitals…