HEALTH - The African Mirror

Apr

01

2021

Nigeria aims to get 70 million vaccines

COVID-19

ALEIXIS AKWAGYIRAM NIGERIA hopes to receive up to 70 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this year through the African Union (AU), its primary healthcare chief told Reuters, amid concerns about delayed deliveries of AstraZeneca shots. Rolling out vaccines in developing nations such as Nigeria, whose 200 million-strong population is Africa's biggest, is seen as key to stemming the global spread of the new coronavirus. Nigeria, which has recorded 2,049 deaths from COVID-19 and began vaccinations this month, plans to inoculate 40% of its people this year and another 30% in 2022. Last week, India - the…

Apr

01

2021

By The African Mirror

T cells induced by COVID-19 infection respond to new virus variants

COVID-19

JULIE STEENHUYSEN A critical component of the immune system known as T cells that respond to fight infection from the original version of the novel coronavirus appears to also protect against three of the most concerning new virus variants, according to a U.S. laboratory study released. Several recent studies have shown that certain variants of the novel coronavirus can undermine immune protection from antibodies and vaccines. But antibodies - which block the coronavirus from attaching to human cells - may not tell the whole story, according to the study by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases…

Apr

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Data withheld from WHO team

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY and JOHN MILLER DATA was withheld from World Health Organization investigators who travelled to China to research the origins of the coronavirus epidemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. The United States, the European Union and other Western countries immediately called for China to give "full access" to independent experts to all data about the original outbreak in late 2019. In its final report, written jointly with Chinese scientists, a WHO-led team that spent four weeks in and around Wuhan in January and February said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another…

Jan

08

2021

By The African Mirror

S.A set to be 1st African country to produce COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19

PROMIT MUKHERJEE SOUTH Africa is set to become the first African country to produce COVID-19 vaccine. Aspen Pharmacare has announced that it could start production of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa by late March or early April if all approvals are in place. All the vaccines produced will be exported to J&J and will be a part of its global supply inventory, Stavros Nicolaou, Group Senior Executive, Strategic Trade at Aspen, added. "We are going to receive a tech transfer to contract manufacture for them (J&J)... Aspen has current capacity to manufacture up to 300 million doses…

Jan

08

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal seeking vaccines beyond WHO-backed COVAX scheme

COVID-19

SENEGAL is trying to acquire coronavirus vaccines to complement those it will get through the World Health Organization-backed global COVAX scheme, Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr has told reporters. Senegalese President Macky Sall this week announced a state of emergency to deal with a surge in infections. Senegalese President Macky Sall Unlike Europe, the United States and China, where large-scale vaccination campaigns are underway, most African countries have so far been unable to secure vaccine supply deals with drug companies. That has left some of the world's poorest countries relying on the COVAX alliance, which says it has reached agreements…

Jan

08

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa aims to vaccinate for herd immunity

COVID-19

TIM COCKS SOUTH Africa will vaccinate 40 million people, or two-thirds of its population, against COVID-19 in order to achieve herd immunity, its health minister has said, as a mutant variant drove daily new cases above 21,000 for the first time. He spoke as the government said it would receive 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca's shot from the Serum Institute of India (SII), spread over January and February. Health workers have voiced concern that authorities have not acted fast enough to secure enough vaccines. A more contagious coronavirus variant, first found on South Africa's east coast late last year, is…

Jan

08

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya expects 24 million vaccine doses

COVID-19

KENYA has ordered 24 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and expects them to start arriving in the second week of February, its health minister said. The East African nation of around 47 million people has so far reported 97,398 cases of COVID-19 and 1,694 deaths. Its economy is also reeling from pandemic-related disruptions. Mutahi Kagwe, the health minister, was quoted by the local Standard newspaper on Thursday as saying the vaccines would start landing next month. A public communications official at the ministry told Reuters the report was accurate. AstraZeneca and its partner Oxford University tested…

Jan

08

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisia reports daily coronavirus record of 2,820 cases

COVID-19

TUNISIA recorded 2,820 new confirmed coronavirus cases, a record since the start of the pandemic last year, the health ministry has announced. Seventy more deaths were reported, taking the death toll to more than 5,000, the ministry added. The total number of cases has jumped to around 150,000. Tunisia banned travel between the country's regions, and extended a curfew in October, as it tried to contain a rapid surge of COVID-19 cases with hospitals nearly full.

Jan

07

2021

By The African Mirror

South African medical schemes to fund COVID-19 vaccines for 30% of adults

COVID-19

ALEXANDER WINNING MILLIONS of South Africans will have their COVID-19 vaccinations subsidised by medical schemes that pool health insurance premiums through an agreement with the government, a top medical scheme administrator said. Under the arrangement, medical schemes will pay above cost for doses for their members - roughly 7 million adults over the age of 15 - subsidising procurement for another 7 million adults who are without private medical cover, Ryan Noach, chief executive of the country's largest medical scheme administrator, Discovery Health, said. In all, vaccines for around 30% of the country's adult population would be financed by the…

Jan

07

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal imposes new state of emergency

COVID-19

SENEGAL’S President Macky Sall has announced a new state of emergency in response to record cases of coronavirus sweeping parts of the West African nation. Starting today, a nighttime curfew will be enforced in the regions of Dakar and Thies, which Sall said are home to more than 90% of cases. Mask-wearing will be mandatory and large gatherings banned. The new measures come six months after the first state of emergency was lifted in an attempt to bolster an economy hit hard by restrictions on movement during the first wave of the virus. Senegal has reported 19,964 COVID-19 infections and…