South Africa will lead the way in the effort to begin manufacturing COVID vaccines on the African continent, beginning with an mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub supported by the World Health Organization. WHO said it will work with its COVAX partners, a South African consortium of biotech firms, a network…
African nations can expect 5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the United States, according to U.S. President Joe Biden. The commitment was announced Thursday as part of a U.S. plan to send vaccines to low-income nations still waiting for the lifesaving medicine. Biden described an allocation of the…
As with so many other facets of global wealth (and health) inequality, the rollout of the four Covid-19 vaccines produced by Western pharmaceutical companies and approved by American and European health officials – the “Big Four” of Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson – has quickly became yet another…
Top African health officials are calling for more equitable vaccine distribution, noting that less than 2 percent of the vaccines delivered to date have been for people on the continent and most of that is in just 10 nations. “Although progress is being made, many African countries have barely moved…
The head of Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that ongoing delays in receiving Astra Zeneca vaccines from India pose a threat to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic in the face of emerging variants. John Nkengasong says any interruption would definitely impact the ability to continue vaccinating people….
Ghana on Wednesday became the first nation to receive coronavirus vaccines through the global COVAX initiative, a partnership supported by UNICEF in West Africa. “The shipments also represent the beginning of what should be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history,” said UNICEF in a statement. “The COVAX…
African nations may have a better idea of what COVID-19 vaccination products to expect with an update from the global COVAX Facility issued Wednesday. COVAX, led by the Gavi vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization, provided a country-by-country breakdown in a detailed…