COVID-19 vaccines - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

Just give us the vaccines, WHO pleads, as poor countries go wanting

MICHAEL SHIELDS and STEPHANIE NEBEHAY RICH countries are opening up societies and vaccinating young people who are not at great risk from COVID-19, while the poorest countries cruelly lack doses, the World Health Organization said yesterday, condemning a global failure. The situation in Africa, where new infections and deaths jumped by nearly 40% last week compared to the previous week, is "so dangerous" as the Delta variant spreads globally, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "Our world is failing, as the global community we are failing," he told a news conference. Tedros, who is Ethiopian, chastised unnamed countries for reluctance…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt to allow vaccinated travellers

COVID-19

EGYPT will allow travellers who have taken full doses of approved novel coronavirus vaccines to enter without taking a PCR test, the health ministry has announced. Travellers must present QR-coded certificates that they have received their full doses of one of six COVID-19 vaccines approved by Egypt and the WHO at least two weeks before their arrival. Those from countries impacted by coronavirus variants will be subject to a rapid test upon arrival, while all non-vaccinated travellers must present a PCR test. On Thursday, Egypt reported 466 new coronavirus cases, bringing its total to 278,761. However, officials and experts say…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria president asks lawmakers for funds for COVID-19 vaccines, military

BUSINESS

Nigeria's president has asked parliament to approve 895.8 billion naira ($2.18 billion) as an extra-budgetary provision to fund the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines and military equipment, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The government in February said it will draw up a supplementary budget to cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations, for which no provision was made in the 2021 finance bill adopted in December. Nigeria had planned to spend 13.6 trillion naira ($33.10 billion) in 2021, a 21% rise from the previous year. "The availability of COVID-19 vaccines and the procurement terms were still uncertain at the time…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe expects 2.5 million vaccines

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE expects to receive 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccines from China by the end of this month as it seeks to boost its vaccination drive after several centres ran out of doses, which caused panic, the information minister has said. The southern African nation has faced shortages of vaccines at major centres in Harare and Bulawayo, forcing authorities to prioritise inoculating those seeking second doses. "Arrangements are currently in progress to procure 2 million doses of vaccines from China. These are expected in the country by end of month. Furthermore 500,000 doses of vaccines are expected to be delivered this Saturday,"…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa to make own COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19

THE World Health Organization (WHO) is setting up a technology transfer hub for producing mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa, which could start manufacturing doses in 9 to 12 months. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the announcement aimed at boosting access to vaccines across the African continent, where cases and deaths had increased by almost 40% over the past week. "Today I am delighted to announce that WHO is in discussions with a consortium of companies and institutions to establish a technology transfer hub in South Africa," Tedros told a news conference. "The consortium involves a company Afrigen Biologics…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Ramaphosa accuses Big Pharma of ‘selfish, unjust’ vaccine policy

COVID-19

TIM COCKS THE "selfish, unjust" refusal of pharmaceutical companies and allied Western governments to entertain emergency patent waivers on COVID-19 vaccines was endangering the entire world, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has said. In unusually impassioned remarks, Ramaphosa lambasted a resistance to calls by India and South Africa for temporary patent waivers to ramp up production. "It is selfish, it is unjust, it is wholly unfair," Ramaphosa, proponent of the waiver, told the opening virtual session of the Qatar Economic Forum, a day after South Africa registered 13,000 new cases in a third COVID-19 wave. "We are facing an emergency…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria to reopen vaccination

COVID-19

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…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

J&J to send S.A 300,000 vaccine doses

COVID-19

PROMIT MUKHERJEE JOHNSON & Johnson (J&J) will export more ready-to-administer COVID-19 vaccines to South Africa beyond the 300,000 doses already pledged, the CEO of Aspen Pharmacare has announced. South African regulator SAHPRA on Sunday said that J&J would supply the country with 300,000 finished doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in the next few days as a means to compensate for a loss of 2 million ready doses that Aspen, J&J's local contract manufacturer, will have to destroy. The watchdog's statement came a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) asked the global pharmaceuticals giant to destroy millions of…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

SA to analyse J&J vaccines made in U.S.

COVID-19

SOUTH African health inspectors will carry out further checks on a batch of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines following a contamination error earlier this year at the U.S. plant where the doses were produced, the health ministry said. As fears of a third COVID-19 wave grow in the hard-hit country, the ministry said late on Friday that officials from the health products regulator would assess the vaccines to ensure they are suitable for use. "There is now a real possibility that they may not be, however this is for the regulator to rule on," a ministry statement said. The ministry…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

World Bank opposes vaccine intellectual property waiver as WTO talks resume

BUSINESS

DAVID LAWDER WORLD Bank President David Malpass has revealed that the bank does not support waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization out of concern that it would hamper innovation in the pharmaceuticals sector. His comments on the subject, made during a call with reporters on World Bank economic forecasts, came as WTO negotiations over the proposed waiver resumed in Geneva. Asked whether he backs a WTO vaccine IP waiver, which India, South Africa and other emerging market countries argue is needed to expand vaccine access, Malpass said: "We don't support that, for the reason…