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Congo shares expiring vaccines with other African countries

Congo shares expiring vaccines with other African countries

THE Democratic Republic of Congo has begun re-deploying hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines to other African nations which it says it won't be able to administer before they expire at the end of June, its health minister has said. Yesterday, afternoon a plane from Angola picked up almost half a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which had been supplied to Congo through the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility on March 2. Congo delayed its rollout after several European countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca shot in response to reports of rare blood clots. Ghana, Togo, Central African Republic and Madagascar…
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Moderna targets up to 3-billion shots in 2022

Moderna targets up to 3-billion shots in 2022

CARL O’DONNELL and JULIE STEENHUYSEN  MODERNA Inc said on Thursday it is boosting manufacturing capacity for its COVID-19 vaccine and expects to make up to 3 billion doses in 2022, more than twice its previous forecast. It also said it is increasing its expectations for 2021 vaccine production to between 800 million and 1 billion shots, raising the bottom of its range from 700 million. The final number of inoculations will depend on how many are lower-dose formulations for boosters and immunizations for children. Moderna shots currently deploy 100 micrograms of vaccine substance but some future shots may use only…
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Tunisian hospitals buckle under COVID crisis

Tunisian hospitals buckle under COVID crisis

THE medics at Abderahmen Mami hospital in Tunis are part of a health system pushed to its limit, with intensive care wards filled by a new surge in COVID-19 cases that has outstripped a vaccination campaign limited by short supplies. Last week one of the government's scientific advisers warned the health system was on the brink of collapse, with between 90-110 new patients in need of hospitalisation each day. Tunisia has only about 500 intensive care beds. Dressed in a full protective suit, with only the band of her face between her mask and hair cap exposed, nurse Soumaya Ben…
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Donate $7 to save lives – WHO

Donate $7 to save lives – WHO

PEOPLE  across the world are being encouraged to donate $7 a dose in a World Health Organization-led push to raise extra funds for the COVAX international COVID-19 vaccine-sharing programme. Launching the "Go Give One" campaign yesterday, the WHO's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it would allow anyone who wants to "to play their part in vaccinating the world with a simple donation" and, in time, help end the pandemic. The WHO estimates that $7 would cover the cost of buying and delivering a vaccine dose for someone in a low income country. The campaign also will seek matching funds from…
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AU special envoy succumbs to COVID-19

AU special envoy succumbs to COVID-19

ABDERRAHMANE Benkhalfa, one of Africa’s leading politicians and a special envoy of the African Union has succumbed to COVID-19. Benkhalfa succumbed to COVID-19 on 23 April 2021 in a military hospital in Algiers. He was 71. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the immediate past chairperson of the AU, has expressed deep sadness at the passing of Benkhalfa, a financial expert and former Algerian Minister of Finance. During Ramaphosa’s year-long term as Chairperson of the African Union (AU), the President appointed Benkhalfa as one of five AU COVID-19 Special Envoys to mobilise international financial and other support for the African continental…
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Botswana president in self-quarantine

Botswana president in self-quarantine

BOTSWANA's president will miss a Southern African regional meeting he had been due to chair to discuss recent attacks on Mozambique after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19, prompting him to self-quarantine, his office has said. Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique will be attending a summit of a division of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), where they will receive a report on how they can help Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province following Islamic State-linked attacks there. Botswana is the current chair of that division, which is tasked with promoting peace and security in the region. Vice President Slumber…
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Kenyan tour guides take COVID-19 vaccine in hopes of tourism revival

Kenyan tour guides take COVID-19 vaccine in hopes of tourism revival

AROUND 250 tour guides from Kenya's famed national parks lined up in downtown Nairobi yesterday to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, as part of a government effort to revive the tourism sector that has been battered by the pandemic. The vaccination drive comes ahead of the annual wildebeest migration across the Maasai Mara National Reserve. The migration typically draws several hundred thousand international visitors but last year drew a far smaller number of local tourists. Kenya's tourism sector lost close to $1 billion in revenue between January and October of last year, when the number of foreign visitors plunged by two…
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Congo to lose 1.3-million shots

Congo to lose 1.3-million shots

HEALTH authorities are reallocating around 75% of Democratic Republic of Congo's 1.7 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses to other African countries to make sure they're used before they expire, a UNICEF representative has said. Congo received the doses from the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility on March 2, but delayed the rollout after several European countries suspended the use of the AstraZeneca shot in response to reports of rare blood clots. The country began its vaccination campaign on April 19, but had administered doses to just 1,265 people out of its population of over 85 million as of Saturday, according to the…
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