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African countries to get mRNA vaccine technology in WHO project

African countries to get mRNA vaccine technology in WHO project

WENDELL ROELF and ALEXANDER WINNING THE World Health Organization said six African countries - Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia - would be the first on the continent to receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines. The technology transfer project, launched last year in Cape Town, aims to help low- and middle-income countries manufacture mRNA vaccines at scale and according to international standards. mRNA is the advanced technology used by companies such as Pfizer-BioNTech, and Moderna for their COVID-19 shots. The WHO established its global mRNA technology transfer hub after large-scale vaccine purchases by wealthy countries and companies prioritising…
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South Africa’s Biovac to start making Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in early 2022 – exec

South Africa’s Biovac to start making Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in early 2022 – exec

SOUTH Africa's Biovac Institute will start making Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine early next year after receiving the drug substance from Europe, according to a Pfizer executive. Biovac's "fill and finish" deal with Pfizer, announced in July, will make it one of the few companies processing COVID-19 shots in Africa, where many countries have struggled to access sufficient doses during the pandemic. "We expect that the Cape Town facility will be incorporated into our supply chain by the end of this year," Patrick van der Loo, Pfizer regional president for Africa and the Middle East, told a conference in Kigali on vaccine…
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Brazil official wants a halt to teen COVID-19 shots after death

Brazil official wants a halt to teen COVID-19 shots after death

LISANDRA PARAGUASSU BRAZIL’S federal government wants to halt COVID-19 vaccinations for most adolescents, citing a death under investigation and adverse events after some 3.5 million teens have already been immunized, but several state governments vowed to press on. At a news conference, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga criticized states and cities for jumping the gun by vaccinating 12- to 17-year-olds without health issues that put them at risk of severe COVID-19, which he said was only supposed to start on Wednesday. Queiroga said healthy adolescents who have already taken one shot should not take a second - effectively seeking to halt…
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Zimbabwe orders COVID-19 vaccination for all civil servants

Zimbabwe orders COVID-19 vaccination for all civil servants

ZIMBABWE’S government has ordered that all its workers should receive a COVID-19 vaccine and only 10% of civil servants report for duty, with the rest working from home in a bid to curb the spread of the pandemic. The head of the public commission, Jonathan Wutawunashe, said in a circular to government departments that all civil servants - about 250,000 - were considered frontline workers who should get COVID-19 shots. More than 1.1 million people have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Zimbabwe has recorded 85,732 infections, a quarter of them since the end of June and 2,697…
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Nigeria to reopen vaccination

Nigeria to reopen vaccination

NIGERIA is expecting a second shipment of nearly 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by early August and plans to resume giving out first doses, which had been halted to save its supply for second doses. Africa's most population has so far given a first dose to only around 2 million of its 200 million people. Fewer than 700,000 having received a second dose. Nigeria has been rationing 3.92 million doses it received through the COVAX global vaccine sharing programme in March, with its future supplies put in doubt by an export ban from India. In April, the government told…
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COVID fight could return ‘to square one’

COVID fight could return ‘to square one’

KATE KELLAND INDIA’S export ban on COVID-19 shots risks dragging the battle against the pandemic "back to square one" unless wealthy nations step in to plug a gaping hole in the COVAX global vaccine-sharing scheme, health specialists have said. COVAX, which is critical for poorer countries, relies on AstraZeneca shots made by the Serum Institute of India, the world's biggest maker of vaccines. It was already around 100 million doses short of where it had planned to be when India halted exports a month ago amid a surge in infections there. Rich countries with plentiful COVID-19 vaccine stocks must now…
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South Africa warns of ‘vaccine apartheid’ if rich countries hog shots

South Africa warns of ‘vaccine apartheid’ if rich countries hog shots

ALEXANDER WINNING  SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday that if wealthy nations hogged COVID-19 shots while millions in poor countries died waiting for them it would amount to "vaccine apartheid". South Africa and India have been pushing for a waiver on some intellectual property (IP) rights for vaccines and medicines at the World Trade Organization. U.S. President Joe Biden backed the proposal last week, though it may still take months to reach a deal. Ramaphosa called on South Africans to support the waiver in a weekly newsletter, saying vaccines should be "a global public good". "It is about affirming…
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Concerns mount over rival vaccines

Concerns mount over rival vaccines

CARL O’DONNELL WEALTHY governments are looking to COVID-19 shots from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc to keep their vaccination programs on track, as safety concerns and production problems sideline vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson, public health experts and industry analysts say. Countries in Europe and Asia, as well as South Africa, are limiting or halting use of AstraZeneca's shot over safety concerns. Rollout of J&J's one-shot vaccine was paused in the United States and Europe this week over a handful of cases of very rare but dangerous blood clots in the brain, much like AstraZeneca's safety issue.…
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European countries may have to mix COVID-19 shots amid AstraZeneca crisis

European countries may have to mix COVID-19 shots amid AstraZeneca crisis

MATTHIAS BLAMONT, GWLADYS FOUCHE and ESSI LOHTO  SEVERAL European countries are considering mixing up COVID-19 vaccines for citizens who received a first dose of AstraZeneca's shot, an unprecedented move that highlights challenges for governments struggling to tame fresh rises in infections. Vaccination programmes have been upset after a small number of reports that recipients of the AstraZeneca inoculation have suffered extremely rare blood clots, leading some countries worldwide to suspend its use out of caution. A senior official for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in an interview published on Tuesday there was a link between the vaccine and rare…
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1.8 billion vaccine doses for the poor

1.8 billion vaccine doses for the poor

KATE KELLAND  THE COVAX vaccine sharing platform designed to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 shots said it aimed to deliver 1.8 billion doses to poorer countries in 2021 and hoped to fulfil supply deals for wealthier ones in the second half of the year. But COVAX, which is co-led by the GAVI vaccine alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and others, said there were many uncertainties affecting the procurement and supply of COVID-19 vaccines, and terms of the deals were "subject to change". The 1.8 billion doses would be supplied via an advance market commitment (AMC) to 92 eligible countries…
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