Africa

Medical schemes, funds that pool member contributions to cover healthcare costs, have been in talks with the government over funding vaccines for those without access to private health cover as well as their own members.

The delivery comes eight months after the launch of the COVAX initiative, aimed at pooling funds from wealthier countries and non-profits to distribute vaccines equitably around the world.

A new systematic review analyzing drug pricing policies in sub-Saharan Africa.

The European Union has contributed an additional 500 million euros ($606 million) to the WHO-backed COVAX programme to supply COVID-19 shots to emerging economies, doubling the bloc’s initial contribution.

India, the world’s biggest maker of vaccines, has shipped over 17 million vaccine doses to more than two dozen countries - including around 6 million as gifts to partners such as Bangladesh and Nepal.

Guinea has recorded four confirmed and four probable cases, including five deaths, in the first resurgence of Ebola since the 2013-2016 outbreak that killed 11,300 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The country started rolling out the J&J vaccine in a research study targeting healthcare workers last week and hopes to receive Pfizer doses in the coming months.

The 55-member AU hopes to see 60% of the continent’s 1.3 billion people immunised over roughly the next three years.

Pressure mounts for patent waivers to allow poorer countries to develop their own manufacturing capacity to boost availability.

The country is counting on the Pfizer shot, developed with German partner BioNTech, to step up its vaccination programme after administering its first Johnson & Johnson doses on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Thursday it is sending a team of experts to Guinea and Congo to battle Ebola outbreaks there.

The 11,000 doses are being prepared in Geneva and over 8,600 more doses will be shipped from the United States to battle the outbreak, which Guinea declared over the weekend.

The first delivery of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine arrived in South Africa on the evening of 16 February 2021.

The country paused the rollout of AstraZeneca doses this month, after preliminary trial data showed they offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the country’s dominant coronavirus variant.

Guinea declared an outbreak of the virus on Sunday in the first return of the disease there since the 2013-2016 outbreak, while Congo has confirmed four new cases this month.