US President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday announced support for a global waiver on patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines, offering hope to poor nations that have struggled to access the life-saving doses.

India, where the death toll hit a new daily record amid fears the peak is still to come, has been leading the fight within the World Trade Organization (WTO) to allow more drugmakers to manufacture the vaccines—a move pharma giants opposed.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that while intellectual property rights for businesses are important, Washington “supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines” in order to end the pandemic.

“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” she said in a statement.

Biden had been under intense pressure to waive protections for vaccine manufacturers, especially amid criticism that rich nations were hoarding Covid-19 vaccines.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), called the US decision “historic” and marked “a monumental moment in the fight against COVID19.”

Tai cautioned said that negotiations “will take time given the consensus-based nature” of the WTO.

The aim “is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible,” she said.

With supplies for Americans secured, the Biden administration will continue efforts “to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution,” and will work to “increase the raw materials needed to produce those vaccines.”

For months the WTO has been facing calls to temporarily remove the intellectual property protections on Covid-19 vaccines, known as a TRIPS waiver in reference to the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property.

WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday described as the “moral and economic issue of our time.”

But that notion has been fiercely opposed by pharmaceutical giants and their host countries, which insist the patents are not the main roadblocks to scaling up production, and warned the move could hamper innovation.

“A waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem,” the Geneva-based International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations lobby group said, describing the US move as “disappointing.”

Tai in recent weeks has met with executives from all the major US vaccine producers—Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson—to discuss the issue.

Devastating surge

While the United States has reached the point of offering donuts and beer to vaccine holdouts, India reported 3,780 new pandemic deaths and not enough doses to inoculate its people.

India has in recent weeks endured a devastating surge in coronavirus cases, with more than 380,000 infections reported on Wednesday.

K Vijay Raghavan, the Indian government’s principal scientific advisor, said the country of 1.3 billion people had to prepare for a new wave of infections even after beating down the current wave, which has taken the country’s caseload above 20 million infections.

In an effort to boost the country’s collapsing health system, India’s reserve bank announced $6.7 billion in cheap financing for vaccine makers, hospitals and health firms.

India’s crisis has been partly fueled by a lack of vaccines. This has in turn exacerbated the global shortage as India is the world’s biggest producer of Covid shots.

In London, foreign ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies committed to financially support the vaccine-sharing program, Covax.

But there was no immediate announcement on fresh funding.

Though his country is not a group member, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was in London for the G7 talks but had to hold his meetings virtually after possible exposure to virus cases.

Vaccine inequity

The pandemic has claimed more than 3.2 million lives worldwide since it first emerged in late 2019, but many wealthy nations have made progress in suppressing the virus as mass vaccination campaigns gather steam.

More than 1.2 billion doses have been administered globally, but fewer than one percent in the least developed countries.

Vaccine shortages are not an issue in the United States, which could soon be sitting on as many as 300 million extra doses—nearly equivalent to its entire population.

Biden on Tuesday said he wanted 70 percent of US adults to have received at least one shot by the July 4 Independence Day holiday.

He also said his administration was “ready to move immediately” if regulators authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.

Experts question the wisdom of devoting limited vaccine supplies to a low-risk group instead of sharing them with high-risk groups abroad.

“Vaccinating more people in the US is not going to help us if the variants in India, Nepal and South Asia get out of control and hit our shores,” said Priya Sampathkumar, chair of Infection Prevention & Control at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

UCSF physician and epidemiologist Vinay Prasad slammed the idea of vaccinating low-risk American adolescents before 70-year-olds globally as “a terrible error.”

In the Middle East, Egypt announced a partial shutdown of malls and restaurants and called off festivities for the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Fitr to curb rising coronavirus cases.

Serbia’s president meanwhile said his country would pay each citizen around $30 to get vaccinated, in what could be the world’s first cash-for-jabs scheme.

(AFP)

As the COVID-19 pandemic tore through Western Europe and the USA, many infectious disease experts warned that when the pandemic eventually reached Africa, the consequences would be devastating.

In addition, the experts warned that as many African countries had poor healthcare infrastructure, there would not be enough oxygen ventilators available to those who would need them.

The ‘do-nothing policy’ adopted by many African countries on many issues has been the approach of these countries even as this pandemic spreads across the entire continent.

Such is the case with Cameroon now as workers at two major mortuaries in Yaoundé have told Cameroon Concord News Group that they have never seen so many dead bodies before.

One of the sources who have worked at a morgue for over 30 years said, “the government is playing politics by hiding the devasting effects of COVID-19 pandemic from the public.”

He added that “what is annoying to us is the climate that we are working in, many COVID-19-related are not recorded due to the government’s obsession with keeping the official death toll low”.

At another mortuary, an insider said, “We are expected to wash corpses of people who died of COVID-19 without the appropriate protective equipment. Our lives and those of our families are at risk. When we ask for proper protective gear, we are blackmailed as being unpatriotic and ungrateful.”

“The pandemic is going through Cameroon like a hot knife through butter. In a country where superstition, illiteracy and poverty provide a deadly cocktail, the population is still not adhering to the guidelines outlined by the WHO,” he said.

In dealing with the pandemic, Cameroonian authorities are woefully out of their depth,” he added.

Like many things in the country, the authorities are now hoping for divine intervention. At the General Hospital in Douala, an overwhelmed doctor said that “this is simply appalling. Our government is committing genocide by neglect. People are partying, and no one is wearing a mask. When you break the sad news that people are dying or died of COVID-19, their families say you are lying as they insist that they died of witchcraft. It’s a pity.”

With the second wave of the virus rolling many people into an early grave in Cameroon, the government must start taking real and appropriate measures that would help stem the tide of death that is destroying lives across the country.

The government must stop performing its mincing dance around the truth. The virus is decimating communities in urban areas. Lawyers, law-makers, magistrates and other professionals are all being rolled into an early grave by a virus that is no respecter of persons.

By Asu Vera Eyere

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus — who has become the face of the agency’s battle against the pandemic — will run for a second term, Stat News reported Monday.

The 56-year-old former Ethiopian health minister and minister of foreign affairs has not said publicly whether or not he plans to seek another term.

But an unnamed source close to Tedros told the US health news site that the director-general intends to stand for re-election when his term expires next year.

When contacted by AFP, the WHO did not say whether Tedros would indeed run for a second term, only that the nomination period opened last month.

“Member states may nominate candidates between now and September,” the agency said in an email.

“All proposals are sent in sealed envelopes to the Chair of the Executive Board and are strictly confidential until opened in due course,” it added.

Tedros was elected as the head of WHO in 2017, becoming the first African to ever take the helm of the UN health agency.

WHO director-generals may serve a maximum of two five-year terms, and must be elected by WHO member states each time.

Tedros was thrust onto the global stage with a number of high-profile health emergencies — most notably the Covid pandemic, but also several fresh Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in West Africa.

The WHO has found itself at the heart of efforts to coordinate the global pandemic response.

Its handling of the crisis has been widely praised, but has also met harsh criticism from some quarters, and in particular from the administration of former US president Donald Trump.

Trump accused the organisation of being a puppet to China and began withdrawing the United States from the organisation in protest — a decision immediately rescinded by President Joe Biden when he took office in January.

Source: AFP

The vaccination campaign against COVID-19 has been launched in the North-West and South-West.

All the health districts in the North-West and South-West have reported a positive case.

Distribution of vaccines to all the health districts in the North-West and SouthWest.

Briefing of health personnel in the NorthWest and South-West on the available vaccines by the central level.

First consignment of medical equipment (ventilators) and office equipment for the North-West and South-West received by WHO.

Source: UN

SAMUEL ETO’O has proved just what the doctor ordered for his fellow countrymen… by donating 10 AMBULANCES to Cameroon’s health service.

The former Chelsea and Everton striker has been dismayed by the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on his home country.

Big-hearted Eto’o, 40, has now paid 400 million West African francs – £530,000 – to fund the fleet of emergency vehicles.

The ex-Barcelona and Inter Milan star presented them to Cameroon’s public health ministry last week.

He wrote on social media: “Donating 10 ambulances to the Ministry of Health in Cameroon.

“Was such an honour to be able to do this for my country, so more people can be helped in emergency situations.”

Eto’o donated almost £1million to build a children’s wing at the Laquintinie hospital in his home town Douala four years ago.

His charity foundation also provided face masks and food supplies last year.

Chelsea signed Eto’o from Russian club Anzhi in 2013. He scored a dozen goals in 35 Blues appearances.

The Cameroon international moved to Everton a year later, but struck just four times in 20 games.

He hung up his boots in 2019 following spells in Italy, Turkey and Qatar.

Last year, he was hospitalised with a head injury after being involved in a car crash that reportedly saw his 4×4 vehicle hit a bus.

Source: The Sun.co.uk

Progress against the mosquito-borne infection remains fragile and African countries suffering an unprecedented epidemic of coronavirus are particularly at risk of seeing a resurgence of malaria. But a researcher from Cameroon, a country that carries a high burden of malaria, claims she has invented “atypical larvicide” to fight the deadly disease in her country.

In 2020, UNESCO and the L’Oréal Foundation listed Antoinette Ntoumba among the 20 young female scientists in Africa in recognition of her efforts to combat malaria. There are an average of 4,000 deaths from the disease reported in Cameroon yearly.

Ntoumba has spent the last seven years inventing a groundbreaking larvicide made from a secret selection of plants. This pesticide is intended to kill the larvae of mosquitos that carry malaria. She collects material for her research in the bush outside Douala.

The scientist says that her work offers a unique solution to the problem of mosquitoes’ increasing resistance to chemical pesticides. Her natural insecticide is also cheaper than many alternatives.

“What we are proposing today is innovation, because we are using plants and we are not using just one plant,” says Ntoumba, speaking with FRANCE 24. “What we are proposing will increase mosquitoes’ resistance to pesticides and create a natural, cheap product.”

Source: France 24

Less than half the women in 57 developing countries are denied the right to say “no” to sex with their partners, to decide whether to use contraception, or to seek health care, a U.N. report said Wednesday.

The report by the U.N. Population Fund said the data covers only about one-quarter of the world’s countries, over half in Africa. But the findings “paint an alarming picture of the state of bodily autonomy for millions of women and girls” who don’t have the power to make choices about their bodies and their futures without fear or violence, it said.

The fund said only 55% of girls and women in the 57 countries are able to decide whether to have sex, whether to use contraception and when to seek health care such as sexual and reproductive health services.

“The denial of bodily autonomy is a violation of women and girls’ fundamental human rights that reinforces inequalities and perpetuates violence arising from gender discrimination,“ said the fund’s executive director, Dr. Natalia Kanem. “The fact that nearly half of women still cannot make their own decisions about whether or not to have sex, use contraception or seek health care should outrage us all.”

According to the report, “My Body Is My Own,” percentages vary across region.

While 76% of adolescent girls and women in east and southeast Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean can make decisions on sex, contraception and health care, less than 50% can in sub-Saharan Africa and central and south Asia, the report said.

There are also differences within regions. Citing one example, the report said that in three countries in sub-Saharan Africa — Mali, Niger and Senegal — less than 10% of adolescent girls and women control all three of those decisions.

Regional difference between countries on the three decisions are less pronounced elsewhere but still vary widely, ranging from 33% to 77% in central and south Asia, from 40% to 81% in east and southeast Asia, and from 59% to 87% in Latin America and the Caribbean, the report said.

The fund, which now calls itself the U.N.’s sexual and reproductive health agency, also cited inconsistencies within countries.

In Mali, for example, 77% of women take independent or joint decisions on contraception but just 22% are able to do the same when it comes to health care, the report said. In Ethiopia only 53% of women can say “no” to sex, while 94% can independently or jointly make decisions about contraception.

Kanem said in the forward to the report that many women are also denied the right to choose the person they marry, or the right time to have a child “because of race, sex, sexual orientation, age or ability.”

“Real, sustained progress largely depends on uprooting gender inequality and all forms of discrimination, and transforming the social and economic structures that maintain them,” she said. “In this, men must become allies.”

Source: Toronto Star

While Denmark in Europe has given up using the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Biya regime instead announced the acquisition of 400 thousand doses of the dangerous British vaccine.

Prime Minister Dion Ngute recently received 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from the Chinese government and now his Minister of Public Health has told the nation that 400,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine will be arriving on April 17.

The Danish government said it was abandoning the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 because of its “rare” but “serious” side effects. Denmark became the first EU member state to drop the British solution to the coronavirus.

Despite well informed opinions from the European Health regulator and the WHO in favour of AstraZeneca, the vaccination campaign in Denmark is continuing without the AstraZeneca vaccine, observed the director of the Danish National Health Agency, Søren Brostrøm, during a press conference.

However, Yaoundé which of late has been signing doggy business deals with UK authorities all in a bid to please the British and attract sympathy and cover-ups for crimes being committed by Cameroon government army soldiers in English speaking Cameroon had pleaded for the Russian vaccine before receiving 200,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm.

Yaoundé Covid-19 politics is indeed to please China, Russia and their British partner at the same time!

Thus, after the 200 thousand doses of Sinopharm vaccine, the Biya regime has now made it public that 400 thousand additional doses of the British vaccine is en route to Yaoundé. In May, at least one million doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik will also be in Cameroon.

Last Monday, the Francophone Minister of Public Health launched the vaccination campaign in front of the media in order to convince the most reluctant.

The suspension of AstraZeneca in Denmark adds to the reluctance of Cameroonians both in La Republique and in Southern Cameroons who are already mostly opposed to vaccination against Covid-19.

Citizens of the two Cameroons believe that it is necessary to return to natural plant-based treatments that have proven their worth, particularly traditional pharmacopoeia or African solutions.

According to a majority opinion in the divided country, the epidemiological situation of Covid-19 is not so alarming as to create any panic.

As at 9 April 2021, French Cameroun had 3386 active cases. Out of some 61,731 cumulative cases, 56,926 were cured and 919 died.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon on Monday launched the vaccination campaign against COVID-19, a day after receiving its first batch of vaccines donated by China.

The campaign started at the Specialized Covid-19 Care Centre in the capital Yaounde, with the country’s Minister of Public Health Malachie Manaouda being the first to take the vaccine.

“I feel good. There is no problem,” Manaouda said shortly after he received the first shot with the presence of many local officials and health professionals.

“The vaccine is safe,” he added.

The vaccination campaign will prioritise health workers in the first round of the campaign, the minister said.

The vaccines should be “available all over the national territory by latest tomorrow,” he added.

The first batch of China’s Sinopharm vaccines arrived in Cameroon Sunday evening as the country is struggling with a new surge of COVID-19 infections.

It is the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines arriving from outside the central African country, where the pandemic broke out in March last year.

Source: Xinhuanet

Europe passed the grim milestone of one million coronavirus deaths on Monday, as the World Health Organization warned that infections are rising exponentially despite widespread efforts aimed at stopping them.

The death toll across Europe’s 52 countries, compiled by AFP from official sources, totalled at least 1,000,288 by 1830 GMT.

“We are in a critical point of the pandemic right now,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19.

“The trajectory of this pandemic is growing… exponentially.

“This is not the situation we want to be in 16 months into a pandemic, when we have proven control measures,” she told reporters.

The coronavirus has already killed more than 2.9 million people and infected nearly 136 million across the world.

But despite the sombre news in Europe — the world’s worst-hit region — Britain eased curbs for the first time in months on Monday, allowing Britons to enjoy a taste of freedom with a pint and a haircut.

The changes illustrate how fast-vaccinating countries are leaving other — mostly poorer — nations behind.

In South Africa, the president called for African-made vaccines as the continent lags behind, struggling with inadequate supplies as well as a lack of financing and logistical problems.

“Africa needs to harness its own continental capabilities and identify opportunities for collaboration,” Cyril Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa suggested India or Brazil could help after successfully developing their own generic pharmaceutical industries.

But both giants are battling severe Covid outbreaks, with India overtaking Brazil on Monday as the country with the second-highest number of infections after logging more than 168,000 new cases in a day.

Muslims prepare for second Covid Ramadan

Experts have warned that huge, mostly maskless crowds at political rallies and religious festivals have fuelled India’s caseload.

In the Himalayan city Haridwar, maskless Hindu pilgrims on Monday squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder on the banks of the Ganges River for a dip during the Kumbh Mela ritual.

Several Indian regions have tightened their coronavirus measures, with Maharashtra — India’s wealthiest state and current epicentre of its epidemic — imposing a weekend lockdown and night curfew.

Neighbouring Bangladesh has announced it will virtually seal itself off, shutting down both international and domestic transport starting Wednesday while shutting offices in an attempt to staunch its own spiralling outbreak.

Across the Muslim world, worshippers are gearing up for the start of their second Ramadan of the pandemic, with the holy fasting month due to kick off in many countries on Tuesday.

In Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, the sanitary measures are less strict than a year ago when mosques were shut completely and a curfew was in force.

The mood in Cairo was relatively cheerful as the city prepared for special prayers on Monday night, with bright lights festooning the streets. Many of those rushing around the city shopping for last-minute supplies were maskless, however.

Saudi authorities have meanwhile said that only people immunised against Covid-19 will be allowed to perform the year-round umrah pilgrimage from the start of Ramadan.

Glimmers of hope

In Britain, despite one of the world’s highest Covid-19 death tolls, there were glimmers of hope Monday as pubs and restaurants were allowed to serve people outside — a move welcomed by the hard-hit hospitality sector, despite wintry temperatures.

“It’ll be great to see everybody again and see all the locals,” Louise Porter, landlady of The Crown Inn in Askrigg, northern England, told AFP.

“Our lives have just been turned upside down, just like everybody else’s,” she said, adding: “We’re still here to tell the tale.”

England’s hairdressers, indoor gyms and swimming pools also got the green light to reopen.

Once the worst-affected country in Europe, Britain launched a successful vaccination campaign coupled with lockdown measures that cut deaths by 95 percent and cases by 90 percent from January.

Italy has also been one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries, and on Monday, Rome saw the latest in a series of anti-lockdown demonstrations, with several hundred people turning out in protest against weeks of restaurant closures.

In France, now the European country with the most infections, an expansion of the vaccine rollout has buoyed optimism among lockdown-weary residents. Everyone aged over 55 years old is now eligible for a Covid vaccination.

And in other positive news, clinical trial results indicated that the Regeneron antibody treatment used to treat Covid-19 patients also helps prevent infections.

(AFP)