G20 leaders pledge to fund fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines – draft statement
Washington DC, USReuters Leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies on Sunday will pledge to pay for a fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, drugs and tests around the world so that poorer countries are not left out, and to extend debt relief to them, a draft G20 communique showed. “We will spare no effort to […]
Gates Foundation adds $US70 million more funding for COVID vaccines for poor
London, UKReuters The Gates Foundation added another $US70 million of funding on Thursday to global efforts to develop and distribute vaccines and treatments against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it hoped other international donors would now also pledge more. An extra $US50 million will go to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment led by the GAVI vaccine […]
With scant power or freezers, Pfizer vaccine brings little cheer to coronavirus-hit India
New Delhi, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Despite hopes raised by Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, it will take huge efforts for India to defeat the coronavirus, with its 1.3 billion population and the world’s second-highest caseload. Pfizer Inc’s Monday announcement that initial trials showed their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective sparked cheer across […]
Coronavirus vaccine: Can solar fridges helping vaccinate African children work for COVID-19?
As the development of COVID-19 vaccines gains pace, PEYTON FLEMING, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, looks at the challenge of providing proper refrigeration when it comes time for distribution in Africa…
World Bank seeks board approval for $US12 billion coronavirus vaccine financing plan
Washington DC, USReuters World Bank President David Malpass said on Tuesday he is seeking board approval for a $US12 billion coronavirus vaccine financing plan to help poor and developing countries secure a sufficient share of vaccine doses when they become available in the coming months. Malpass told Reuters in an exclusive interview that the initiative, […]
Nationalism “must not prevail”, Pope Francis says, addressing the United Nations
Vatican CityRNS In a video message to the United Nations, Pope Francis said the COVID-19 pandemic has put the international community at a crossroads and that it’s up to UN leaders to decide whether to choose the path of multi-lateralism and dialogue or nationalism and individualism. “We are faced, then, with a choice between two […]
AstraZeneca puts leading COVID-19 vaccine trial on hold over safety concern
Reuters AstraZeneca Plc on Tuesday said it has paused global trials, including large late-stage trials, of its experimental coronavirus vaccine because of an unexplained illness in a study participant. The vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, has been widely seen as one of the leading global candidates against the coronavirus, and the suspension of […]
WHO’s Tedros says “vaccine nationalism” would prolong pandemic
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that “vaccine nationalism” would only slow the effort to quash the pandemic and called for vaccines to be used fairly and effectively. Tedros said 78 high-income countries had now joined the “COVAX” global vaccine allocation plan, bringing the total to 170 countries, and the “number […]
Updated: Brazilian state agrees to produce Russian COVID-19 vaccine
Correction: Germany’s infectious disease body, the Robert Koch Institute, on Wednesday retracted a report posted earlier on its website that said a first vaccine against the coronavirus could be available as early as autumn. The report also said it would be dangerous to trust that a vaccination from autumn 2020 can control the pandemic. An […]