Prepare for new waves
India has been leading the fight to allow more drugmakers to manufacture the vaccines, as it faces a surge that has seen patients die in streets outside hospitals due to bed and medical oxygen shortages.
The country Thursday reported almost 4,000 Covid-19 deaths and more than 412,000 infections, both new records, dashing hopes that the catastrophic recent surge may have been easing following several days of falling case numbers.
A top Indian official Wednesday warned that the worst could still be to come, describing a third wave as inevitable given the high levels of circulating virus and saying the country badly needs more oxygen from other countries.
African Union hails US for remarkable leadership on vaccine waiver The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the US government decision will be remembered by history as making the right move at the right time in a bid to help poor countries to gain access to coronavirus vaccine doses. A vaccinator preparing the COVID-19 vaccine. Picture: Abigail Javier/Eyewitness News.
7 hours ago
NAIROBI - The Africa Union s health watchdog on Thursday praised the United States support for a waiver on patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines as a remarkable expression of leadership . History will remember the move taken by the US government as doing the right thing at the right time to fight a terrible challenge which is unprecedented in our contemporary history, Dr John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a press conference.
Vaccine campaigners praise Biden’s “watershed” vaccine IP waiver and warn Boris Johnson “has no more excuses” for blocking the move
Vaccine campaigners praise Biden’s “watershed” vaccine IP waiver and warn Boris Johnson “has no more excuses” for blocking the move
Vaccine campaigners praise Biden’s “watershed” vaccine IP waiver and warn Boris Johnson “has no more excuses” for blocking the move
Date: 5 May 2021
Reacting to the statement from President Biden’s Trade Representative Katherine Tai that the US is backing an intellectual property waiver on Covid-19 vaccines this evening,
Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now, said:
“This seismic decision from the Biden administration is a watershed moment. It could be the beginning of the end of vaccine apartheid, if other leaders like Boris Johnson stop standing in the way.
The United States and Russia have backed proposals for a waiver on patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines as India Thursday posted record deaths and infections from a catastrophic wave swamping the country.
Rich nations have faced accusations of hoarding shots while poor countries struggle to get inoculation programs off the ground, with the virus surging across the developing world in contrast to the easing of restrictions in Europe and the United States.
Under intense pressure to ease protections for vaccine manufacturers, Washington s Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Wednesday the country supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines . The extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures, she said in a statement.