COVID-19 UPDATE: Ondo to step up sensitisation and 10 African countries get vaccines
UNICEF says about $1 billion is needed to help poor countries get COVID-19 vaccines. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Thursday.
First participants have received COVID-19 vaccine boosters
Moderna, vaccine maker, says first participants have received its modified COVID-19 vaccine designed as boosters to address emerging virus variants.
As part of its phase 2 study, 60 participants who were already vaccinated with Moderna’s original COVID-19 vaccine will be given a booster dose of the modified vaccine the company is testing.
Moderna says it is developing a strategy to address these emerging variants out of an abundance of caution.
Ten countries in Africa receive COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX
Angola on Wednesday began vaccinating its citizens against COVID-19.
Last week, the country received its first batch of 624,000 AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX.
Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria were the first, second and third African countries respectively to get vaccines from COVAX.
According to the World Health Organisation, 10 countries in Africa have now received vaccines from COVAX and have begun vaccinating their populace.
According to Worldometers, global statistics platform, over 4 million COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Africa with 106,883 deaths.
UNICEF seeks more funding for COVAX vaccine rollout
UNICEF says about $1 billion is needed to help poor countries get COVID-19 vaccines.
UNICEF is part of the World Health Organisation-backed COVAX programme to ensure that low and middle-income countries have equitable access to vaccines.
“We have been asking the world for more funding for UNICEF and our distribution to countries we still need about 1 billion dollars,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive-director, said at a summit.
According to her, the funding could be used to strengthen health systems in poorer nations and support vaccine distribution.
Ondo to step up intensive sensitisation
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo, has asked local government officials, traditional rulers and religious leaders to “step up intensive sensitisation” about the COVID-19 vaccine.
The state received 73,570 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the federal government on Tuesday.
Speaking at the launch of COVID-19 vaccination in the state on Wednesday, the governor asked citizens to shun the rumour about the vaccine.
“While it is true that you are not 100 percent prevented from getting infected after vaccination, you are less likely to get seriously sick or die of COVID-19, and also less likely to infect others,” Akeredolu said.
“So, I charge all our local government chairmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders and health workers to step up intensive sensitisation for the good people of Ondo state to register and get themselves vaccinated.”
Ukraine approves Sinovac vaccine for emergency use
Ukraine has authorised the use of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine.
In a statement on Wednesday, Igor Ivashchenko, the county’s deputy health minister, said the “decision was made by the Ministry of Health on the basis of a study of registration certificates, materials on clinical trials on safety and efficacy and benefit/risk analysis”.
The approval now brings to three, the number of vaccines authorised for emergency use in Ukraine after AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines were registered.
The country started its vaccination campaign in February, and has reportedly witnessed a spike in infections and hospitalisations.
