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Malawi: Malawi Burns Expired Covid-19 Vaccine Amid Concerns of Low Uptake
VOA, 19 May 2021
Malawi has burned nearly 20,000 doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after slow uptake led to their expiration. Malawi authorities are struggling to administer more doses… Read more »
WHO Africa Offers Clarity on 'Expired' Covid-19 Vaccines
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa has provided clarification on the issue of expiry dates of Covid-19 vaccines in general, and specifically on AstraZeneca vaccine doses produced by the Serum Institute of India - referred to as Covishield, that were delivered to several African countries and have since expired.
According to the global health body, vaccines, like all other medicinal products, come with a date of expiry and shelf-life determined by the manufacturer and approved by regulatory authorities. Given the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic, initial emergency use authorisation on a number of Covid-19 vaccines, including the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine, was given by regulators when only six months worth of data for assignment of the expiration date was available.
The WHO's statement comes after 4,706,345 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed across the continent, of which 126,892 proved fatal and 4,255,182 resulted in recovery. Total vaccinations as of May 19, 2021 amount to 17,762,154.
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19 May 2021
WHO’s Science in 5 on Covid-19 - Update on Virus Variants
- Publisher:
- World Health Organization
- Publication Date:
What are the variants circulating at this time? How are variants classified as variants of interest or concern? What does this mean for the public? ... see more »
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WHO-AFRO, 19 May 2021
The WHO Regional Office for Africa wishes to provide clarification and guidance on the issue of expiry dates of COVID-19 vaccines in general, and specifically on AstraZeneca… Read more »
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Africa: Rapid Tests Up Zimbabwe's Covid-19 Diagnosis
WHO-AFRO, 19 May 2021
Zimbabwe has upscaled the use of antigen rapid diagnostic tests to reinforce its COVID-19 response, hitting a daily rate of 4000 tests – a fourfold increase reached within… Read more »
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Africa: Less than 2% of world's COVID-19 vaccines administered in Africa
WHO, 8 April 2021
Less than 2% of the 690 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to date globally have been in Africa, where most countries received vaccines only five weeks ago and in small… Read more »
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Africa: WHO lists additional COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use and issues interim policy recommendations
WHO, 7 May 2021
WHO today listed the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally. The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing… Read more »
InFocus
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As of August 21, 2022, confirmed cases of Covid-19 from 55 African countries reached 12,126,067 while 373,195,217 vaccinations have been administered across ... Read more »
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Professor Salim Abdool Karim has been appointed to the newly formed World Health Organisation (WHO) Science Council. According to the South African Medical Research Council ... Read more »
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World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus has said that efforts need to be made to understand the long-term effects of Covid-19 on patients that recovered ... Read more »
Fewer than 2% of world’s COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Africa (file photo).
