COVID-19 vaccination - The African Mirror

Jan

2021

WHO advices on COVID-19 travel

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY and MICHAEL SHIELDS THE World Health Organization has refrained from advising proof of COVID-19 vaccination or immunity as a condition for international travel, citing "critical unknowns" regarding their efficacy in reducing transmission and limited availability. The WHO's Emergency Committee, composed of 19 independent experts, held its sixth meeting in a year as the global death toll from the pandemic reached two million among more than 90 million cases. The experts issued a series of recommendations, which WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accepted and sent to the U.N. agency's 194 member states, a statement said. "At the present time,…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Microsoft, Cigna form coalition for digital records of COVID-19 vaccination

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

MANAS MISHRA and AMRUTA KHANDEKAR MICROSOFT Corp, health insurer Cigna Corp and Mayo Clinic are part of a coalition pushing for digital records of people who get vaccinated against COVID-19. A key aim of the project, called Vaccination Credential Initiative, is to help people store encrypted digital copies of their immunization records in a digital wallet of their choice, the companies said in a joint statement. These records could eventually be used, with an individual's consent, by colleges that are trying to re-open or even for entry into concerts in the future, Joan Harvey, an executive at Cigna unit Evernorth…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

1st African country to roll out vaccine

COVID-19

SEYCHELLES has started vaccinating its population against COVID-19 with doses from China's Sinopharm vaccine, President Wavel Ramkalawan said. Seychelles President Wavel Ramkalawan Ramkalawan's office said in a statement seen by Reuters on Monday that the initial target was for the vaccine to reach 25,000 people and first priority was for healthcare workers. The statement said the Indian Ocean archipelago had received 50,000 doses of the vaccine as a donation from the United Arab Emirates. Ramkalawan's office said he and former president Danny Faure and other senior government officials were vaccinated as part of efforts to bolster confidence among the population…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Vatican City plans swift COVID-19 vaccination drive for residents

RELIGION

VATICAN City, the world's smallest sovereign state, expects to receive enough COVID-19 vaccine doses in the coming days to inoculate all of its workers and residents, it has announced in a statement said. The Vatican is home to about 450 people, including Pope Francis, while several hundred of its employees live in Rome, which surrounds the city-state. "It is likely that the vaccines could arrive in the state in the second week of January in sufficient quantity to cover the needs of the Holy See and the Vatican City State," the statement said. The Holy See is the Roman Catholic…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Africa faces wait for mass COVID-19 vaccination

NEWS

MASS vaccination against COVID-19 is unlikely to start in Africa until midway through next year and keeping vaccines cold could be a big challenge, according to the continent's disease control group. Some European countries expect to start rolling out vaccination campaigns as early as January. But health campaigners are worried that Africa will find itself near the back of the queue for COVID-19 vaccines after wealthier nations signed a raft of bilateral vaccine supply deals with pharmaceutical companies. "We are very concerned as a continent that we will not have access to vaccines in a timely fashion," said John Nkengasong,…