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  • WHO Denies Disqualifying Nigeria Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

    WHO Denies Disqualifying Nigeria Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

    • Nigeria Misses First Phase Of Pfizer Vaccine
    • Expects 16m Doses Of Astrazeneca Vaccine By February — NPHCDA Boss

    The World Health Organisation, (WHO), yesterday said it has not disqualified Nigeria or any African country from accessing COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility. Rather, it is supporting all countries to access vaccines as quickly as possible.

    However, Nigeria has missed out on the first phase of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, as the 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine expected to arrive the country this month has been replaced with 16 million doses of Astrazeneca vaccine.

    The global health body, through its Director, African Region, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said on Thursday that about 320,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been allocated to four African countries of Cape Verde, Rwanda, South Africa and Tunisia, with deliveries expected later in February.

    She noted that to access an initial limited volume of Pfizer vaccine, countries were invited to submit proposals. Thirteen African countries expressed interest in the initiative. Their proposals were evaluated, based on current mortality rates, new cases and trends and capacities to deliver the vaccine, including storing it at minus 70 degrees Celsius.

    Nigeria, which is expecting about 100,000 doses of the vaccine this month, was not included in the allocation. Briefing journalists on the purported disqualification of Nigeria from accessing COVID-19 vaccines, yesterday, in Abuja, WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, said the demand for the initial allocation of 1.2 million doses was exceptionally high. She explained that COVAX received interest from 72 countries, out of which 51 countries, including Nigeria, were considered ready by the review committee. Eighteen countries were finally chosen to receive the initial doses.

    Mulombo said in Africa continent, as of January 18 deadline, COVAX received 13 submissions and a multi-agency committee evaluated the proposals, out of which nine were recommended as ready to deploy the Pfizer vaccine, including Nigeria. Unfortunately, however, it was not feasible to provide each of these 51 countries with Pfizer doses, due to a number of factors, including the limited capacity for Pfizer to handle many countries at once.

    He said: “Spreading the limited doses across all the 51 countries deemed ‘ready’ could have not achieve the intended public health benefit. After epidemiological data was taken into account, the decision was taken to proportionally balance the number of self-financing and AMC participants, as well as participants across all six WHO regions.”

    Molumbo observed that currently, all countries on the continent are expected to start accessing the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines by the end of February, adding that out of the 88 million AstraZeneca doses allocated to African countries for the first phase, Nigeria has received by far the largest allocation, with 16 million doses.

    “In addition to the AstraZeneca doses, there is an initial limited volume of Pfizer vaccine available through COVAX. The vaccine is under review by WHO for Emergency Use Listing and the outcome is expected soon,” he added.

    The Executive Director, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib observed that a number of factors were considered in allocating the small quantity of the 320,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine to COVAX countries, which include the mortality rates from COVID-19, the number of new cases, the trend in the number of cases, the population and the availability of the appropriate Cold Chain equipment.

    He said, “countries such as South Africa which received the Pfizer allocation have the new strain of the COVID-19 virus, has the highest mortality rates and is struggling to contain transmission. Furthermore, giving smaller countries such as Cape Verde and Rwanda few doses of the Pfizer vaccine would have a larger public health impact considering their population. 100,000 doses to Nigeria, we have all agreed would have been a drop in the ocean, so, it is a welcome development that we are receiving 16 million doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine to replace the Pfizer vaccine in February. The ultra cold chain equipment would have been able to store about 400,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The 16 million doses will invariably help us reach more people and is suited to our existing cold chain system.”

    When asked about specific reasons Nigeria in particular was not included in the allocation for Pfizer vaccine, Shuaib said, “we were not part of the selection process; what they gave us was the criteria, South Africa has the highest mortality rate in Africa and other strains of the virus. They are struggling under the burden of this disease. If you give 100,000 doses to Nigeria that has over 200 million population, is it not a drop in the ocean? At this point, the 100,000 doses initially meant for Nigeria has been replaced with 16 million. The committee has looked at the context of different countries before coming out with their decision.”

    The NPHCDA boss noted that the first vaccine Nigeria will now get in February is the Astranzanica Covid-19 vaccine. “Health workers who are at the high risk of contracting this diseases, the elderly and those with underlying diseases will be the first to get the vaccines.

    Shuaib disclosed that the cold chain equipment at the Primary Healthcare Centres will be used and that his organization will ensure that every ward gets one cold chain equipment.

    “We want to ensure a successful roll out of the vaccines. Many of you were with us at the National Strategic Cold Store to physically see the Ultra Cold Chain equipment. These equipment can store over 400,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. So, we are ready for any type of vaccine that is allocated to us,” he assured.

  • COVID-19: Nigeria not disqualified from accessing vaccines- WHO

    COVID-19: Nigeria not disqualified from accessing vaccines- WHO

    …only  black country  to receive largest allocation of 16m doses of AstraZeneca vaccines

    By Joyce Remi-Babayeju

    The World Health Organization, WHO, Representative in Nigeria Dr Walter Kazadi Mulomboo has denied rumours that Nigeria  has been  disqualified from access COVID 19 vaccines.

    This was revealed today at a meeting held in Abuja

    Mulumbo said, “WHO has not disqualified any country in Africa from accessing COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility, but rather is supporting all countries to access vaccines as quickly as possible.”

    According to him, presently  all  African countries including Nigeria  are expected to start accessing the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines by the end of February, stressing that the vaccine is under review by WHO for Emergency Use Listing and the outcome is expected soon.

    Meanwhile out of the 88 million AstraZeneca doses allocated to African countries for the first phase, Nigeria has received by far the largest allocation, with 16 million doses, WHO revealed.

    Explaining  further , Mulumbo said that in addition to this Nigeria  was among 18 countries considered to  finally get an  initial Pfizer doses.

    On the Africa continent, as of the 18 January deadline, COVAX received 13 submissions and a multi-agency committee evaluated the proposals of which 9 were recommended as ready to deploy the Pfizer vaccine including Nigeria, the WHO representative explained

  • COVID-19: WHO excludes Nigeria from African countries to get vaccine

    COVID-19: WHO excludes Nigeria from African countries to get vaccine

    The World Health Organisation-led COVAX global initiative has failed to shortlist Nigeria for the Pfizer vaccines following the country’s inability to meet the standard requirement of being able to store the vaccines at the required -70 degrees Celsius.

    The Nigerian government had stated that it was expected to receive 100,000 doses through the COVAX initiative, which was set up to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level.

    Speaking at a virtual press conference, the Director, WHO, African Region, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said only four African countries were shortlisted for the Pfizer vaccine out of the 13 that applied.

    Moeti said WHO could not risk the Pfizer vaccines being wasted.

    She said, “Around 320,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been allocated to four African countries – Cape Verde, Rwanda, South Africa and Tunisia. This vaccine has received WHO Emergency Use Listing but requires countries to be able to store and distribute doses at minus 70 degrees Celsius.

    “To access an initial limited volume of Pfizer vaccine, countries were invited to submit proposals. Thirteen African countries submitted proposals and were evaluated by a multi-agency committee based on current mortality rates, new cases and trends, and the capacity to handle the ultra-cold chain needs of the vaccine.

    “This announcement allows countries to fine-tune their planning for COVID-19 immunisation campaigns. We urge African nations to ramp up readiness and finalise their national vaccine deployment plans. Regulatory processes, cold chain systems and distribution plans need to be in place to ensure vaccines are safely expedited from ports of entry to delivery. We can’t afford to waste a single dose.”

  • African region records 846,000 Cancer cases- WHO

    African region records 846,000 Cancer cases- WHO

    By Joyce Remi-Babayeju

     As the world commemorates the 2021 World Cancer Day, WHO  has announced that the African region has recorded a double figure of 846,000 cases of cancer from  338,000 çases reported in 2002.

    This was announced in a message by WHO  Regional Director, Dr Mathsidiso Moeti to commemorate the day today with the theme, ” I am and I will “.

    Moeti said, ” Over 20 years , new cancer cases have more than doubled in the African Region from 338,000 cases reported in 2002 to almost 846,000 cases in 2020.”

    According to her the most common forms are cancers of the breast, cervix, prostate, bowel, colon, rectum and liver. With  risk factors including older age and family history, use of tobacco and alcohol, a diet high in sugar, salt and fat, physical inactivity, being overweight, and exposure to specific chemicals, among others. 

    WHO also decries industry interference contributing to the growing challenge of cancer such as  promotion and marketing of known cancer-causing products, such as tobacco.

    As a way out of the cancer burden in the region, fourth -four countries have so far ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control towards reducing tobacco use and 29 countries have ratified the WHO Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, WHO announced.

    WHO further noted that many African communities  bear high burden of cervical cancer where people have limited access to cancer screening and early detection, diagnosis and treatment, adding that challenges to treatment are further compounded particularly with the current COVID-19 pandemic.

    To accelerated the elimination of cervical cancer in Africa, Moeti said that some countries like Eswatini, Guinea, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia are scaling – up comprehensive cervical cancer programmes through the World Health Assembly  Global strategy.

    WHO  finally called on countries to integrate cancer services such as pain relief into their Universal Health Coverage, and particularly that all countries have a role to play in reducing stigma around cancer, improving understanding of this disease and encouraging people to seek early screening and care.

  • WHO Slams Critics Of COVID-19 Origins Probe

    WHO Slams Critics Of COVID-19 Origins Probe

    The World Health Organization on Monday blasted critics of its investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and challenged those claiming to know better to come forward with the smoking gun.

    A WHO investigative team is in Wuhan, China — where the first cases were discovered in December 2019 — trying to piece together how the virus jumped from animals to humans before going on to kill more than two million people.

    The UN agency’s emergencies director Michael Ryan hit out at those sniping at the mission and said people claiming they have information on how the pandemic broke out should emerge from the shadows.

    Ryan said many critics were saying they “won’t accept the report when it comes out”, or that there is “other intelligence available that may show different findings” on how the virus broke out.

    “If you have the answers… please let us know,” Ryan told a press conference from the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva.

    He asked how responsible it was “to say you won’t accept a report before it’s even written? To say that you have intelligence that has not been provided?”

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    The WHO mission comes with heavy political baggage — China refused the team access until mid-January and there are question marks over what the experts can hope to find, one year on.

    Beijing is keen to put the focus on its recovery from the outbreak. The team toured a propaganda exhibition celebrating China’s recovery from the pandemic in Wuhan on Saturday.

    Ryan was responding to a question which referenced new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who earlier Monday told NBC that China was falling “far short of the mark”.

    “China has to step up and make sure that it is being transparent, that it is providing information and sharing information, that it is giving access to international experts and inspectors,” Blinken said.

    “Its failure to do that is a real problem.”

    Ryan said the team in the field deserved international support, and in the meantime, “it’s time for people who say and think they have information to start providing it”.

    He added that all infectious disease investigations find information that then throws up further questions.

    “It’s a detective story,” he said.

    – Virology lab visit –
    The expert team in Wuhan has now started investigations on the ground, notably visiting the Huanan seafood market where one of the first reported clusters of infections emerged, and the hospital where early patients were treated.

    Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, said the team would be visiting the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

    Former US president Donald Trump pushed an unsubstantiated theory that the virus escaped from the facility.

    The team are having “very productive discussions with Chinese counterparts, visiting different hospitals around Wuhan”, Van Kerkhove said.

    “They had a very good visit to the market, seeing first-hand the stalls and walking through.”

    Van Kerkhove said they had also met with counterparts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “They will visit the Institute of Virology. That is being planned,” she added.

    Meanwhile WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “encouraging” that the global number of new coronavirus cases had fallen for the third week in a row.

    “It shows this virus can be controlled, even with the new variants in circulation,” he said.

    However, “we have been here before”, he warned.

    “Over the past year, there have been moments in almost all countries when cases declined, and governments opened up too quickly and individuals let down their guard, only for the virus to come roaring back.”

    AFP

  • WHO Team Visits Wuhan Hospital That Received First COVID-19 Patients

    WHO Team Visits Wuhan Hospital That Received First COVID-19 Patients

    The team of World Health Organization experts investigating the origins of the coronavirus met staff Saturday at the Wuhan hospital that received the first confirmed Covid-19 cases, before a scheduled tour of a propaganda exhibition celebrating China’s recovery from the pandemic.

    The group was driven to the Jinyintan Hospital, the first hospital to receive officially diagnosed Covid-19 patients in late 2019, as the horrors of the virus emerged in the central Chinese city.

    Details of the trip have been scant so far, with the media kept at arm’s length and information on the itinerary dribbling out via tweets from the WHO experts instead of China’s communist authorities.

    In a tweet, team member Peter Daszak welcomed the hospital visit as an “Important opportunity to talk directly w/ medics who were on the ground at that critical time-fighting COVID!”

    On Saturday afternoon, the team is scheduled to visit a cavernous exhibition that applauds the emergency response of Wuhan health authorities in the chaotic, terrifying early stages of the virus — as well as the agility of the Communist leadership to control a crisis without precedent.

    The WHO mission comes with heavy political baggage.

    It has been beset by delays, with China refusing access until mid-January, while there are question marks over what the experts can hope to find a year after the virus first emerged.

    On Friday, the WHO’s emergencies director Micheal Ryan sought to manage expectations.

    Success “is not measured necessarily in absolutely finding a source on the first mission”, he told a news conference in Geneva.

    “This is a complicated business, but what we need to do is gather all of the data… and come to an assessment as to how much more we know about the origins of the disease and what further studies may be needed to elucidate that.”

    Last week, China warned the United States against “political interference” during the trip, after the White House demanded a “robust and clear” investigation.

    The WHO insists the probe will stick tightly to the science behind how the virus jumped from animals — believed to be bats — to humans.

    The team is also expected to visit the Huanan market believed to have been the first major cluster of infections, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other labs, in what the WHO’s Ryan described as a “very busy, busy schedule”.

    Beijing is desperate to defang criticism of its handling of the chaotic early stages of the outbreak.

    It has refocused attention at home — and abroad — on its handling of and recovery from the outbreak.

    Since seeping beyond China’s borders, the pandemic has ripped across the world killing more than two million people and wrecking economies.

    China, with a relatively low reported death toll of 4,636, has bounced back. It has swiftly locked down areas where any cases are found, tested millions, and restricted travel to snuff out the crisis.

    The Chinese economy grew by 2.3 percent despite the outbreak last year and its leadership misses few chances to boast of the country’s resilience and renewal.

    A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman on Friday flagged the WHO visit as “a part of global research” into the pandemic.

    “It is not an investigation,” Zhao Lijian told reporters.

    -AFP

  • COVID-19: One Third Of Africa Will Be Vaccinated This Year – WHO

    COVID-19: One Third Of Africa Will Be Vaccinated This Year – WHO

    Africa can expect to see at least 30 percent of its population immunised against coronavirus by the end of 2021, the World Health Organization said Thursday, as vaccines begin trickling into the continent.

    It is estimated Africa will need 1.5 billion vaccine doses to immunise 60 percent of its 1.3 billion inhabitants, the threshold for herd immunity against Covid-19.

    But the continent has fallen behind in the global vaccine scramble, as wealthier nations have been accused of bulk-buying excess doses directly from manufacturers.

    Most African countries are relying on the World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union (AU) to shoulder at least part of their innoculation campaigns — providing vaccines and helping to finance their roll out.

    WHO Africa’s immunisation coordinator Richard Mihigo said the WHO-backed Covax vaccine sharing facility and the AU’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) would jointly deliver enough doses to vaccinate between 30 to 35 percent of the continent’s population this year.

    “Given the latest developments within the Covax facility, there is a very good prospect that the objective to supply 600 million doses by the end of 2021 will definitely be reached,” Mihigo told a virtual press briefing.

    The Covax vaccines will cover at least 20 percent of the population, with the rest “complemented” by AVATT, he added.

    While the AU has so far secured 270 million doses through AVATT, Mihigo warned “some of those may not become available soon” and that the initiative could “realistically” only expect to reach between 10 and 15 percent of the continent in 2021.

    The bulk of Covax and AVATT provisions will be shots of Oxford/AstraZeneca’s vaccine, followed by a few million Pfizer-BioNTech jabs.

    Mihigo said the WHO was exploring “additional candidates”, with particularly high hopes for Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine.

    So far only a small handful of African countries have started vaccinating their populations, including Guinea, Mauritius and the Seychelles.

    Morocco is expected to begin administering the shots this week, while South Africa announced on Wednesday that a first batch of 1.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines would arrive on February 1.

    Mihigo said the first Covax doses were likely to reach the continent by mid-February, and that “by March we will definitely see most of the countries start vaccinating”.

    “It is a slow start but we are expecting that in the coming months things are going to ramp up.”

    To date Africa has recorded close to 3.5 million coronavirus cases and 88,000 deaths, according to a tally compiled by AFP.

    A new virus variant first detected in South Africa that is thought to be more contagious has cropped up in at least six African countries and 24 worldwide, according to the WHO.

  • WHO Experts To Begin Probe Into COVID-19 Origins

    WHO Experts To Begin Probe Into COVID-19 Origins

    A team of World Health Organization experts left a two-week quarantine in Wuhan Thursday to start a delayed, closely watched probe into the origins of the coronavirus.

    Members of the group, all wearing face masks, got onto a bus which zipped them away from the hotel where they had spent their mandatory quarantine, according to AFP reporters at the scene.

    Wearing masks, they peered at the ranks of waiting media from the window of a bus which whisked them from the quarantine hotel — although it was not immediately clear when and where their investigation will start.

    The virus is believed to have come from bats and to have initially spread from a wet market in Wuhan where wild animals were sold as food.

    The WHO insists the visit will be tightly tethered to the science of how the virus — which has killed more than two million people and laid waste to the global economy — jumped from animals to humans.

    But in a sign of the political baggage attached to their mission, US President Joe Biden’s new administration weighed in before the experts had even left their hotel.

    Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, new White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said it was “imperative we get to the bottom” of how the virus appeared and spread worldwide.

    Psaki voiced concern over “misinformation” from “some sources in China” and urged a “robust and clear” probe.

    In a mission dogged by delays and obfuscation from their Chinese hosts, it was not clear what the expert team will be allowed to see in Wuhan — or what useful evidence remains a year after the outbreak in a country which has vigorously controlled the narrative of how the pandemic began.

    The early days of the outbreak remain among the most sensitive topics in China today, with the Communist leadership seeking to stamp out any discussion that shows its governance in a poor light.

    Beijing has also sought to seed doubt into the origin story, floating the unsubstantiated theory that the virus emerged elsewhere.

    Another theory, amplified by former US President Donald Trump, is that it leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan where researchers were studying coronaviruses.

    Relatives of Wuhan’s coronavirus dead have called for a meeting with the team from the UN health agency, saying they have been facing new levels of official obstruction since the WHO team arrived.

    They accuse the Chinese government of taking down a WeChat group used by scores of next-of-kin to discuss the outbreak shortly after the WHO team arrived.

    “This shows that (Chinese authorities) are very nervous. They are afraid that these families will get in touch with the WHO experts,” said Zhang Hai, 51, whose father died early in the pandemic of suspected Covid-19.

    Relatives accuse the Wuhan city and Hubei provincial governments of allowing Covid-19 to burst beyond control by trying to conceal the outbreak when it first emerged in the city in December 2019, then failing to alert the public and bungling the response.

    According to official Chinese figures, it killed nearly 3,900 in Wuhan, accounting for the vast majority of the 4,636 dead China has reported.

    A panel of independent experts concluded this month that China and the WHO could have acted more quickly to avert catastrophe during the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak.

    -AFP

  • WHO/NCDC Inspects Adamawa NYSC Orientation Camp

    WHO/NCDC Inspects Adamawa NYSC Orientation Camp

    By Musa Isa Ahmed

    The World Health Organization (WHO) and NCDC visited the Adamawa NYSC Orientation Camp to assess the camp building capacity and level of preparedness for the hosting of the 2020 Batch B Stream II Orientation Course.

     Speaking on behalf of the team, the State Covid-19 Incident Manager, Dr. Stephen John, commended the NYSC State Coordinator, Mal. Ibrahim M. Tukur, for putting all the necessary Covid-19 safety measures in place for the smooth conduct of the Orientation course. 

    The State Coordinator on his part appreciated the WHO and NCDC team for their critical support particularly with the testing of all prospective corps members, camp officials and camp market operators, in addition to any necessary visitor. 

    The team inspected the critical camp facilities particularly the camp clinic and Covid-19 holding centre.

    Other members on he team included Dr. Adrel Apaga of WHO, Dr. Anas Ibrahim of NCDC, Dr. Bosler Lazarus as well as Dr. Joseph Dika.

  • African region to gulp 600 m doses of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021- WHO

    African region to gulp 600 m doses of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021- WHO

    By Joyce Remi-Babayeju

    As the African region gears up to commence the use of the new COVID19 vaccine, the COVAX facility, the Regional Representative of WHO, Dr Matshidiso Meoti has said that 600 million doses of the vaccines is needed to stop the spread of the virus in the continent. Moeti who spoke at the first COVID-19 press briefing in 2021 stated that so far the vaccines distribution is inequitable around countries.

    She said, “The Covax Facility aims to provide around 600 million doses for Africa in 2021. We expect the first doses to arrive by the end of March, with a larger roll-out by June.

    600 million doses of Covax vaccine can only cover 20% of the African population adding that aside there is need for African union to secure a provisional 270 million doses by end of 2021,” she said.

    “Together we will deliver nearly 900 million doses for this year.” Unexpectedly, Africa has recorded an average daily new case count of more than 25 000 in the last 14 days, making the continent to experience a second wave which is higher than the peak experienced last July.

    These numbers are likely to grow as the impact of holiday season travel and get-togethers become evident.

    The continent has now topped 3 million cases with over 72 000 lives lost, Moeti explained. “While in 2020, Africa was spared much of the worst of COVID-19 with relatively fewer infections compared to other regions of the world, we start the new year facing new threats from the virus.”

    “However , a virus that can spread more easily will put further strain on hospitals and health workers who are in many cases already over-worked.”

    The Regional Representative disclosed that WHO in collaboration with African CDC has supported countries to step up genome sequencing through a network of specialized laboratories. “We are also helping in shipping samples, providing laboratory supplies as well as technical guidance and mobilizing funds.”