Tag: COVID-19 vaccine

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EDUCATION HEADLINES

COVID-19: Obasanjo joins world leaders in call for ‘people’s vaccine’

Obasanjo Foundation wins Igbere TV award
Obasanjo

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo is among 140 current and former world leaders calling for “a people’s vaccine” against the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The call is contained in a petition they signed on Thursday in which they are urging all governments to push for a free COVID-19 vaccine for all when developed.

The petition was initiated by the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating the HIV/AIDS virus.

Obasanjo, who led Nigeria as a civilian Head of State between 1999 and 2007, is a member of the Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation.

In the petition, the leaders are demanding that when a COVID-19 vaccine is developed, it should be made available free of charge to all.

COVID-19: Obasanjo joins world leaders in call for ‘people’s vaccine’
Obasanjo

President of South Africa and Chairman of the African Union, Cyril Ramaphosa; his Senegalese and Ghanaian counterparts, Macky Sall and Nana Akufo-Addo, respectively, are among the signatories.

According to UNAIDS, the demand is the most ambitious position yet by world leaders “on what has become the most urgent quest in modern science”.

The petition came ahead of a virtual meeting of the World Health Assembly, the world’s highest health policy making body comprising health ministers from UN member states, holding on May 18.

“We are calling on Health Ministers at the World Health Assembly to rally behind a people’s vaccine against this disease urgently.

“Governments and international partners must unite around a global guarantee which ensures that, when a safe and effective vaccine is developed, it is produced rapidly at scale and made available for all people, in all countries, free of charge.

“The same applies for all treatments, diagnostics, and other technologies for COVID-19,” they said.

The petitioners noted that the world would be safer only when everyone could benefit from the science and access a vaccine, “and that is a political challenge”.

“We must heed the warning that ‘those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

“We must learn the painful lessons from a history of unequal access in dealing with disease such as HIV and Ebola.

“But we must also remember the ground-breaking victories of health movements, including AIDS activists and advocates who fought for access to affordable medicines for all,” they said.

Other signatories include former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown.

The demand comes as the world searches for a vaccine against the novel virus.

As of Thursday morning, the disease had infected no fewer than four million people and killed more than 290,000 others, according to the World Health Organisation(WHO).

On April 24, the WHO in collaboration with world leaders launched what they call Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.

ACT Accelerator seeks to speed up the development, production and equitable distribution of COVID-18 drugs, tests kits and vaccines around the world.

The petitioners called for a mandatory worldwide sharing of all COVID-19-related knowledge, data and technologies with a pool of COVID-19 licenses freely available to all countries.

“Countries should be empowered and enabled to make full use of agreed safeguards and flexibilities in the WTO Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health to protect access to medicines for all

“We call for an agreement that establishes a global and equitable rapid manufacturing and distribution plan, that is fully-funded by rich nations, for the vaccine and all COVID-19 products and technologies that guarantee transparent ‘at true cost-prices’ and supplies according to need.

“Action must start urgently to massively build capacity worldwide to manufacture billions of vaccine doses,” they demanded.

The leaders also called for urgent steps to recruit and train millions of paid and protected health workers needed to deliver them.

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NEWS & LIFE

French pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi to make COVID-19 vaccine

French pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi to make COVID-19 vaccine
Sanofi to make COVID-19 vaccine

French pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi, plans to make any vaccine it develops against the novel coronavirus available to all.

“The vaccine against COVID-19 will be made available to the public at large, regardless of nationality,” the company’s director general Paul Hudson said, according to a tweet from Sanofi France on Wednesday evening.

The message came after Hudson, in an interview with Bloomberg, said the U.S. would have priority because they were the first in line to fund the company’s research.

“The US government has the right to the largest pre-order because it’s invested in taking the risk,” Hudson told Bloomberg.

In April, Sanofi and the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline both said they wanted to work together on a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

If tests are successful, a vaccine could be available in the second half of 2021.

Sanofi said in its Wednesday tweet that its teams are making efforts to accelerate the development of a vaccine.

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INTERNATIONAL

Australian ‘healing church’ fined $151,200 for promoting fake Covid-19 cure

Women less likely to die from COVID-19 than men in Africa – WHO
COVID-19

A “healing church” that promoted an industrial bleach solution as a cure for Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been fined 151,200 dollars by the Australian drugs regulator.

MMS Australia, part of an international church group that wrote to U.S. President Donald Trump promoting bleach as COVID-19 cure, was fined for selling products that pose serious health risks, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said on Wednesday.

The regulator said it had issued 12 infringement notices “for the alleged unlawful advertising’’ of the Miracle Mineral Supplement or Solution (MMS) on the church’s website.

The church group has claimed that chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleach it sells as MMS, is a “miracle cure” for Covid-19, as well as autism, acne, cancer, diabetes and other ailments.

The solution has since been removed from the Australian website.

TGA said in the statement it was concerned about the harmful effects that can be caused by the ingestion of MMS.

It also published an updated safety alert to warn consumers about untrue claims made online about the solution for the treatment, cure, prevention or alleviation of diseases.

“There is no clinical, scientifically-accepted evidence showing that MMS can cure or alleviate any disease.

“The use of MMS can result in nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and severe dehydration, which in some cases can result in hospitalisation,’’ TGA said.

The infringement notices were issued due to alleged contraventions subject to TGA rules and regulation because MMS Australia had promoted several products as being for therapeutic uses.

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INTERNATIONAL

Clinical tests begin for German-U.S. coronavirus vaccine

COVID-19 vaccination to end May 14 in FCT
COVID-19 Vaccine

A German-U.S. coronavirus vaccine has been administered to human test subjects in the U.S., the companies involved reported on Tuesday.

After preliminary tests in Germany, Biontech of Mainz and U.S.-based Pfizer are advancing the clinical trial of BNT162, an mRNA vaccine, in the U.S.

As many as 360 healthy volunteers will be vaccinated in U.S. study — initially only with test subjects between ages 18 and 55 but later also with older participants.

The next round of tests in Germany will involve 200 healthy volunteers age 18 to 55, overseen by Paul Ehrlich Institute, Germany’s federal institute for vaccines.

The first results should be available in June.

If initial tests show a positive result, the tests will continue with more healthy participants as well as high-risk people.

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EDUCATION HEADLINES NEWS & LIFE

COVID-19: 40 countries pledge €7.4bn for vaccine development

NUTAG urges ECOWAS to prioritise COVID-19 vaccines in sub region
COVID-19 vaccine

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of World Health Organisation (WHO), says leaders from 40 countries have pledged to support research and development for vaccine, diagnostics and therapeutics with 7.4 billion euros.

Ghebreyesus disclosed this at a news conference on Monday in Geneva, explaining that the fund would be used to carry out activities for COVID -19 research and development.

In a speech posted on WHO website, Ghebreyesus was quoted as saying: “ACT Accelerator, to support the development, production and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics against COVID-19 was inaugurated 10 days ago.

“Today, leaders from 40 countries all over the world came together to support the ACT Accelerator through the COVID-19 Global Response International Pledging Event, hosted by the European Commission.

WHO
WHO

“During today’s event, some 7.4 billion euros was pledged for research and development for vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.

“This was a powerful and inspiring demonstration of global solidarity.

“Today, countries came together not only to pledge their financial support, but also to pledge their commitment to ensuring all people can access life-saving tools for COVID-19; accelerating development of products, but at the same time, access for all.’’

According to him, recent advances in science are enabling the world to move at incredible speed to develop these tools.

“But the true measure of success will not only be how fast we can develop safe and effective tools – it will be how equally we can distribute them.

“None of us can accept a world in which some people are protected while others are not. Everybody should be protected.

“None of us are safe until all of us are safe.

“The potential for continued waves of infection of COVID-19 across the globe demands that every single person on the planet be protected from this disease,’’ he said.

Ghebreyesus said WHO remained committed to working with all countries and partners to accelerate the development and production of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, and to ensure their equitable distribution.

He said this is an opportunity for the world to come together to confront a common threat as well as to forge a common future; a future in which all people enjoy the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the products that deliver that right.

“That’s what we mean by health for all. We have been saying it for more than 70 years, since WHO was created.

“But I think given the experience we have now and the difficulties we’re going through, it’s time to make it happen: health for all.

“But one of the best tools is also one of the most basic: clean hands.’’ he said.

The director general said the simple act of cleaning hands could be the difference between life and death.

He added that it remained one of the most important public health measures for protecting individuals, families and communities against COVID-19 and many other diseases.

“Tomorrow is Hand Hygiene Day; a reminder of the importance of clean hands for health workers, and for all of us.

“At the same time, we must remember that millions of people around the world are not able to practice this most basic of precautions.

“Around the world, less than two-thirds of health care facilities are equipped with hand hygiene stations, and 3 billion people lack soap and water at home.

“This is an old problem that requires new and vastly increased attention.

“If we are to stop COVID-19 or any other source of infection, and keep health workers safe, we must dramatically increase investments in soap, access to water, and alcohol-based hand rubs,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Tuesday also coincides with the International Day of the Midwife.

Ghebreyesus said the Day also provides an opportunity to remember the vital role that midwives play all over the world in providing safe and effective care for women and newborns.

“Research shows that interventions delivered by midwives can avert over 80 per cent of all maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths.

“The service of midwives is actually a lifeline for many.

“Childbirth can be one of the most precious moments in a woman’s life, but it can also be one of the most dangerous.

“Midwives are essential for guiding and caring for women through their entire pregnancy, and for the critical moment of childbirth.

“But we need more midwives in all countries, especially low-resource countries,’’ he said.

To mark Hand Hygiene Day and the International Day of the Midwife, Ghebreyesus called people to stop what they’re doing at noon on Tuesday to clap for nurses and midwives.

“ To thank them for their role in delivering safe and effective care – especially during this pandemic; they’re risking their lives to give lives to others,’’ he said.

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INTERNATIONAL

Coronavirus vaccine must be public property – Macron

Macron, Guterres host int’l aid conference for Lebanon
France President, Emmanuel Macron

Any vaccine against the new coronavirus must be considered a “global public good,” French President, Emmanuel Macron, said at a pledging conference for international efforts to develop the medicine.

The vaccine should be “given to the entire planet by the organisation we choose,” Macron said.

He warned that the world is in a “race against time” to save lives.

“Faced with COVID-19, ‘everyone for themselves’ would be a major mistake,” Macron warned.

“We can only come out the other side of this together,” he added.

Macron promises 500 million euros (536 million dollars) to help fund the vaccine effort.

This is in addition to ramped-up funding for the World Health Organisation, while Germany meanwhile offers 525 million.

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NEWS & LIFE

EU to raise 7.5bn euros for global coronavirus vaccine

Women less likely to die from COVID-19 than men in Africa – WHO
COVID-19

The European Commission hopes to raise at least 7.5 billion euros (8.2 billion dollars) at an international pledging conference on Monday to help develop a coronavirus vaccine to be used globally.

Monday’s target is seen as the start of a global campaign to make the medical progress and health care investment needed to combat the deadly virus, in what commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called a “marathon.”

The aim is to bring countries together to fight Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by coronavirus, rather than see them compete in a race to develop a vaccine.

Making treatment available only to those who can afford it “won’t work biologically, it won’t work in terms of public health, it won’t end the pandemic,” Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust research foundation, said ahead of the conference.

The world needs at least 8 billion dollars to fund research and to develop tests, treatments and vaccines, as well as to ensure these can be manufactured and delivered globally, the Wellcome Trust has calculated.

EU
EU

The funding initiative, which begins at 1300 GMT on Monday, is co-chaired by countries including Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan and current G20 chair Saudi Arabia.

Leaders from around the world, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, are to participate in the video conference.

The U.S. is a notable exception in the list of speakers, published ahead of the conference.

The commission, the European Union’s executive, rallied around German vaccine manufacturer CureVac in March, following reports that the U.S. had offered 1 billion dollars for exclusive rights to a vaccine that it was developing.

Washington has since organised a project to develop a coronavirus vaccine dubbed “Operation Warp Speed” – raising concerns in Europe that this would primarily benefit the U.S. and not the rest of the world.

The funds raised on Monday are to be mainly allocated to established international health organisations and research networks.

The fundraising drive aims to pool resources worldwide to develop a vaccine and effective treatment as quickly as possible and to make them universally available at affordable prices.

However, questions have been raised about how the money will be spent.

Conference organisers must ensure that life-saving aid not be allocated via “monopolies, protectionism or national unilateralism” but according to medical needs, said Marco Alves, of Doctors Without Borders in Germany. “Unfortunately we are sceptical,” he added.

Britain will pledge 388 million pounds (482 million dollars) to fund research into vaccines, tests and treatments, the government said, adding that the sum is part of a 744-million-pound “existing UK aid commitment to help end the pandemic and support the global economy.”

“To win this battle, we must work together to build an impregnable shield around all our people, and that can only be achieved by developing and mass-producing a vaccine,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, in advance remarks from his speech to the conference.

“The race to discover the vaccine to defeat this virus is not a competition between countries, but the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes,” Johnson said. “It’s humanity against the virus.”

Germany will make a “significant financial contribution,” Merkel promised at the weekend – a figure that, dpa understands, will likely lie somewhere in the hundreds of millions.

Pope Francis also backed the conference objectives on Sunday.

In spite of recent promising developments, many researchers do not expect the vaccine to be ready for use at scale until at least next year.

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EDUCATION HEADLINES NEWS & LIFE

Unilorin to produce COVID-19 vaccine

Unilorin to host 2021 National Youth Games
Unilorin

The University of Ilorin (Unilorin) says it will soon produce a vaccine for Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The institution said this in a Bulletin issued on Monday that a team of medical experts and scientists led by a Professor of Medical Virology, Prof. Mathew Kolawole, is working on the project.

It stated the research team had developed three viable proposals for research on various aspects of the contagious disease.

Kolawole, who is the Director of the University’s Institute of Molecular Science and Biotechnology (IMSB), assured that his team of researchers had prepared proposals for the development of vaccines.

Singapore
COVID-19 vaccine

The don said this include the molecular epidemiology surveillance for COVID-19 as well as a prototype for the detection of COVID-19.

The virologist added, however, that the only impediment is funding to support the research, said the bulletin.

This development comes as policy makers in the nation’s health sector continue to grapple with the challenge of finding effective medication to curb the raging pandemic.

Kolawole said: “Proposals have been written by me and some of my research team.

“One is on the development of a vaccine; another has to do with molecular epidemiology surveillance for COVID-19, and the third has to do with developing a prototype for case detection.

“The prototype will hopefully be ready by next week for a pre-test. Once it is ready and fine, we will be seeking for funds.”

The IMSB Director pointed out that to develop the prototype for case detection, he and his team of researchers had been using their personal funds.

“I have used my personal funds; and members of my team have also contributed personal funds to develop the prototype and this is the bane of research in Nigeria.

“Ideas are there but when you don’t have funds you can do nothing.

“I want to use this channel to appeal to the government to give us money, as there is capacity to do more if research is funded,” he said.

According to the expert in Viral diseases ASUU is on strike and they are yet to receive salary for February and March, adding that he has been working and spending his money on research.

“If I can do this it shows the passion and level of commitment I have for research,” he said.

Kolawole recalled that he was the first to report the Coronavirus in Nigeria in 2017, adding that if his work had been taken seriously, Nigeria would have been better prepared to combat COVID-19.

“I was the first to report Coronavirus – OC229E/NL63 in Nigeria in 2017, and it is a srain of the Coronavirus family – not COVID-19.

“If the Nigerian government had taken heed at that time they would have put much in place before COVID-19 came.

“The research was funded with international partners in the U.S. with a grant from the National Science Foundation; but I was the one that did the local research,” he said.