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WHO recommends malaria vaccine that will be rolled out next year

A nurse fills a syringe with malaria vaccine before administering it to an infant at the Lumumba Sub-County hospital in Kisumu, Kenya, on 1st July, 2022

Geneva, Switzerland Reuters The World Health Organization recommended on Monday the use of a second malaria vaccine to curb the life-threatening disease spread to humans by some mosquitoes. “Almost exactly two years ago, WHO recommended the broad use of the world’s first malaria vaccine called RTS,S,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing in […]

World’s first vaccine against deadly swine fever nears approval in Vietnam

Pigs are seen at a farm outside Hanoi, Vietnam June 28, 2019. Picture taken June 28, 2019.

Hanoi, Vietnam Reuters Vaccines against African swine fever being tested in Vietnam are close to approval, global and US veterinary officials said, in what would be a major breakthrough to tackle the deadly animal disease that regularly ravages pig farms worldwide. African swine fever has for years disrupted the $US250 billion global pork market. In […]

Uganda declares itself Ebola-free after swiftly turning tide on outbreak

Uganda Kampala Ebola awareness

Kampala, Uganda Reuters Uganda on Wednesday declared the end of a nearly four-month Ebola outbreak that it briefly struggled to contain but was then able to swiftly bring under control despite the absence of a proven vaccine against the viral strain in question. “We have successfully controlled the spread of Ebola in Uganda,” Health Minister […]

WHO backs malaria vaccine rollout for Africa’s children in major breakthrough

South Sudan malaria

Nairobi, Kenya Reuters The World Health Organization said on Wednesday the only approved vaccine against malaria should be widely given to African children, potentially marking a major advance against a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people annually.  The WHO recommendation is for RTS,S – or Mosquirix – a vaccine developed by British drugmaker […]

World Bank says will boost COVID-19 vaccine funding to $US20 billion

COVID19 vaccine vial and syringe

Washington DC, US Reuters The World Bank on Wednesday pledged to boost available funding for COVID-19 vaccine purchases and deployment to $US20 billion from a previous target of $US12 billion, citing a sharp increase in overall financing demand from developing countries. World Bank President David Malpass said the global development bank had already provided more […]

EU health ministers fail to agree common guidance on AstraZeneca shot

Coronavirus Croatia vaccine

Brussels, Belgium Reuters European Union health ministers failed on Wednesday to agree a common guidance on the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, despite calls for coordination across member states to combat public hesitancy over taking the shot. Ministers held an extraordinary virtual meeting just after the European Medicines Agency changed its guidance on the […]

AstraZeneca vaccine’s global rollout faces more complications

Coronavirus vaccine Ukraine

Reuters  The rollout of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, the shot much of the world is relying on to beat the pandemic, faced further complications on Thursday as India halted exports of the vaccine and Europe discussed its own export controls. India has put a temporary hold on all major exports of the Anglo-Swedish firm’s vaccine from […]

No papers, no jab: Lebanon’s migrants face barriers to COVID-19 vaccination

Coronavirus Lebanon testing migrant worker

Beirut, Lebanon Thomson Reuters Foundation An Ethiopian who has lived in Lebanon for more than two decades, Jamal, aged 70, speaks Arabic with a near-native tongue. But like many migrants, he had no idea that he was entitled to a COVID-19 vaccination under the nation’s inoculation drive, and that due to his age, he should […]

Australian PM Morrison gets COVID-19 vaccine in “massive step” toward normal

Australia Scott Morrison Nov 2020

Sydney, Australia Reuters Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, calling the start of the nation’s vaccination program a “massive step” that will enable it to return to normal.  Scott Morrison, Australia’s Prime Minister, removes his protective face mask after arriving for a signing ceremony with Yoshihide […]