Tag: COVAX

Health officials concerned about expiry date of vaccines resulting in wastages

Frank

AFRICA – With millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses expected to be available to African countries in the coming weeks, public health officials are worried about the short expiration dates. Covax has allocated 60 million doses to 49 African countries to be shipped between July and September 2021, said Matshidiso Moeti, the Africa regional director at the World Health Organisation, at a press briefing on Thursday. This comes after wealthy nations, which have vaccinated substantial amounts of their populations, began donating doses on a broader scale. At least 820 million two-dose…

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UNICEF adds Sinovac to assortment of contracted COVID-19 vaccine suppliers

Frank

AFRICA – UNICEF has inked a long-term agreement with Sinovac for the supply of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine, the CoronaVac inactivated virus vaccine against coronavirus, on behalf of COVAX. This is the 8th supply agreement UNICEF has signed for COVID-19 vaccines. Previous agreements have been announced with the Serum Institute of India, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Human Vaccine, Moderna, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV and Sinopharm. Through the supply agreement, UNICEF will have access to up to 200 million doses of the vaccine in 2021 to supply participating countries and territories in the COVAX Facility’s Advance Market…

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World Bank to finance extra COVID-19 jabs for developing nations through COVAX

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AFRICA – The World Bank has announced a new financing mechanism which will allow developing countries to purchase COVID-19 vaccines collectively through the COVAX facility. COVAX was set up to ensure 92 developing territories could access coronavirus vaccines to fight the pandemic, with the cost covered by donors. The new mechanism will allow those countries to buy additional doses on top of the subsidized ones they will already receive via COVAX. Using money from the World Bank and other development banks, the facility says it will make advanced purchases from…

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Tanzania receives first shipment of Covid-19 vaccines since onset of the pandemic

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TANZANIA – Tanzania has welcomed a delivery of one million Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 shots as part of a USA government donation after the African nation’s late president had long resisted accepting any doses. The donation is part of the Biden administration’s commitment first announced last month to donate 25 million coronavirus shots abroad, partially through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVAX initiative. “We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic,” Donald Wright, the U.S. ambassador to Tanzania…

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UNICEF inks deal with Janssen Pharmaceutica to supply Covid-19 vaccine to AU

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AFRICA – UNICEF has signed an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica to supply up to 220 million doses of the J&J single-dose vaccine for all 55 Member States of the African Union (AU) by the end of 2022. The agreement between UNICEF and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV will help implement the Advance Purchase Commitment (APC) signed between the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and Janssen in March of this year. This agreement secured an option to order another 180 million doses, bringing the maximum access up to a total of 400 million doses by the end of…

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Global economic recovery dependent on COVID-19 vaccine equity says key global organizations

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WOLRD – The global economic recovery is at risk if vaccines are not equitably manufactured, scaled up and distributed, this is according to new data released today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Oxford. Revealed in the findings on COVID-19 vaccine equity, low-income states would add to their Gross domestic product (GDP) an estimate of US$38B for the forecasted year 2021 if they had the same vaccination rate as that of high-income countries. At a time when richer countries have…

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Ethiopia receives over 450,000 J&J COVID-19 vaccines from The United States

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ETHIOPIA – USA has announced a donation of 453,600 doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to Ethiopia as part of the US government’s global efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. This donation will help protect the Ethiopian people from the ravages of the COVID-19 virus and begin reducing barriers to building back Ethiopia’s economy. The donated vaccines, which have already arrived in Ethiopia through the COVAX facility, are part of the U.S. pledge to initially provide 25 million doses to Africa of 80 million doses globally.  Earlier on,…

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Germany pledges to support WHO’s commitment towards fighting against COVID-19

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EUROPE – Following a bilateral meeting held by WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Federal Minister of Health of Germany, Mr. Jens Spahn, Germany has pledged to back the World Health Organization (WHO) in the fight against COVID-19. During the event, Minister Spahn announced the donation of 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and signed with Dr Tedros a new funding agreement of  €260 million (US$307m)to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) through WHO’s Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. Minister Spahn reaffirmed the continued support from Germany…

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GAVI inks deal with Sinopharm and Sinovac to supply vaccines to COVAX

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AFRICA – The Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) has announced that it has signed advance purchase agreements with Sinopharm and Sinovac for immediate supply of Sinopharm’s “BBIBP-Corv” vaccine and Sinovac’s “CoronaVac” vaccine to the COVAX facility. COVAX largely ensures adequate and equitable supply of vaccines to Africa. So far, they have managed to supply 25 million cases. Nineteen countries have used more than 80% of their COVAX-supplied doses, while 31 countries have used more than 50%. In the past two weeks, more than 1.6 million doses were delivered to Africa through COVAX.…

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Tunisian healthcare system at the verge of collapsing as infections swarm the country

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TUNISIA – Tunisia has recorded 9,823 new coronavirus cases and 134 deaths, a new record since the start of the pandemic, the health ministry has said, as concerns grow that the country will not be able to control the pandemic. The total number of cases has climbed to around 465,000 and more than 15,700 deaths. Tunisia’s health care system is collapsing due to the coronavirus, with intensive care departments full and doctors overburdened by a rapid outbreak of cases and deaths, the health ministry has reported. “We are in a…

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