COVID-19 vaccine - The African Mirror

Jul

2021

‘Data shows J&J vaccine works well against Delta variant’

DATA from laboratory studies show Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine works well against the Delta variant that now dominates new infections in South Africa, the head of the country's Medical Research Council has said. "All the data that we see indicate good immediate and sustained immune response against Delta, and we see surprising durability in the immune response for the single dose J&J right up to eight months," Glenda Gray told a news conference. South Africa is using the J&J and Pfizer vaccines in its immunisation campaign.

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya to receive 13 million J&J shots

COVID-19

DUNCAN MIRIRI KENYA will receive the first batch of 13 million COVID-19 vaccine shots from Johnson & Johnson in August, President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced, helping to accelerate the country's vaccination drive. Like other nations on the continent, the East African country has struggled to secure vaccines for its citizens, to allow it to fully lift restrictions aimed at containing the pandemic. Only 1 million Kenyans, out of 47 million, have had a first jab and only 300,000 are fully vaccinated, according to the health ministry. As a result of the deal for the J&J shots and other initiatives, the…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

US to share millions of vaccines

COVID-19

JEFF MASON THE White House has laid out a plan to share 55 million U.S. COVID-19 vaccine doses globally, with roughly 75% of the doses allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa through the COVAX international vaccine-sharing program. The plan fulfils President Joe Biden's commitment to share 80 million U.S.-made vaccines with countries around the world. The president sketched out his priorities for the first 25 million doses from that pledge earlier this month. "As we continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic at home and work to end the pandemic worldwide, President Biden has promised that the…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

African universities ramp up COVID-19 vaccine development

COVID-19

COVIDHQ and bird AS a new wave of COVID-19 infections sweeps Africa, health authorities across the continent are hurrying to get populations vaccinated. The vaccines have all been imported from India, China, Europe or the United States. African academics and academic institutions are looking to ensure that this changes, now and in the future. An African Covid vaccine? Pillared and imposing, the neo-classical great hall of the University of the Witwatersrand, situated on a ridge overlooking what was, at the time of construction, the richest gold seam the world had ever seen, is nothing if not a bold statement on…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Wealthy residents and workers jump vaccine queue in India’s financial hub

WORLD

ROLI SRIVASTAVA BETWEEN taking orders and handing over parcels of sushi and papaya-mango salad to delivery boys, Indian restaurant manager Padam Vibhushan has fruitlessly hunted online and in hospitals for a COVID-19 vaccine slot since he became eligible on May 1. The 43-year-old is among many in Mumbai who are stuck at the back of the vaccination queue because they do not have a fancy address or a corporate employer to help protect them from a pandemic that has killed some 380,000 Indians. Life is easier for the residents of sprawling apartment block complexes and staff at major banks and…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

J&J to send two million doses to S.A

COVID-19

SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that Johnson & Johnson would send 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the country by the end of the month, making up for the amount lost due to contamination at a U.S. ingredient supplier. Aspen Pharmacare, J&J's local producer, had to destroy 2 million doses of the vaccine after the contamination at a plant in Baltimore, Maryland, was discovered, the latest blow to South Africa's struggling vaccination campaign. "We have received an indication from Johnson & Johnson that it expects to deliver around 2 million vaccines to South Africa by the end of…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Africa to be a priority for G7’s vaccines’

COVID-19

AFRICA will get priority treatment for the Group of Seven's pledged 870 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, a senior World Health Organization adviser has said. "You will see that Africa is one of the most vulnerable, under-served (areas), so the priority would be for doses to go... to the African continent writ large. Those numbers will be sorted out in the coming weeks," Bruce Aylward, a senior WHO adviser and coordinator of the ACT (Access to COVID-19 Tools) Accelerator, told an online news briefing from Geneva. The WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has welcomed the G7's weekend pledge of 870…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

G20 leaders to back COVID-19 vaccine voluntary licensing, no patent waiver

WORLD

FRANCESCO GUARASCIO LEADERS of the world's largest economies will today adopt a declaration recommending voluntary actions to boost COVID-19 vaccine production, snubbing a push from the United States and other nations on patent waivers, the final text shows. Several G20 leaders will speak at the summit, one of this year's major events to coordinate global actions against the pandemic. U.S. President Joe Biden is not listed among the speakers, with Vice President Kamala Harris representing the United States at the meeting, an EU Commission spokesman said. The White House did not immediately comment. The EU executive, which co-hosts the summit…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

‘It’s going to change our country’: South Africa starts vaccinating over-60s

COVID-19

AKHONA MATSHOBA and SHAFIEK TASSIEM HOPE and excitement gripped the Munsieville care home in the South African mining city of Krugersdorp yesterday when people over the age of 60 were called to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for the first time. "It's going to change our country for the better," Caroline Nicholls, 64, a judge, told Reuters while waiting to get her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. "I am very excited to finally be here today," said Ellen Segope, 65, a pensioner who lives nearby. In Cape Town, celebrated anti-apartheid activist and cleric Desmond Tutu was among those vaccinated. South…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 vaccine for life: Health or profit motive?

COVID-19

JULIE STEENHUYSEN and KATE KELLAND COVID-19 vaccine developers are making ever bolder assertions that the world will need yearly booster shots or new vaccines to tackle concerning coronavirus variants, but some scientists question when, or whether, such shots will be needed. In interviews with Reuters, more than a dozen influential infectious disease and vaccine development experts said there is growing evidence that a first round of global vaccinations may offer enduring protection against the coronavirus and its most worrisome variants discovered to date. Some of these scientists expressed concern that public expectations around COVID-19 boosters are being set by pharmaceutical…