The head of the World Health Organization says the continuing surge of COVID-19 cases is a result of the unequal distribution of vaccines.

Speaking at the First International Conference on Public Health in Africa, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that it has been just over a year since the first COVID-19 vaccines began to be administered.

He said, “A year ago, we all hoped that by now vaccines would be helping us all emerge from the long, dark tunnel of the pandemic. Instead, as we enter the third year of the pandemic, the death toll has more than tripled, and the world remains in its grip. COVID-19 has now killed more than 5 million people. And they’re just the reported deaths.”

Tedros told the virtual conference that the rapid development of not one, but several safe and effective vaccines, is a triumph of science. But he said, “the inequitable distribution of vaccines has been a failure for humanity.”

The WHO chief said that while more than 8.5 billion doses have been administered globally – the largest vaccination campaign in history, only 8% of Africa’s eligible population is fully vaccinated.

“We have often said that as long as vaccine inequity persists, the more opportunity the virus has to spread and mutate in ways no one can prevent or predict. And so, we have omicron,” the director-general said.

Tedros noted, however, that vaccine-sharing programs are “picking up speed.” He said, “In the past 10 weeks, COVAX has shipped more vaccines than in the first nine months of the year combined.”

 
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Egyptian health authorities said they have identified the country’s first cases of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Three people were found to have the variant among 26 travelers who tested positive for coronavirus at Cairo International Airport, the Health Ministry said in a statement late Friday. It didn’t say where the three came from.

The local Masrawy news outlet reported the three were among travelers from South Africa.

The ministry said two of the people infected showed no symptoms, while the third suffered from mild symptoms. The three have been isolated in a Cairo hospital, it said.

Authorities on Friday reported more than 900 confirmed new cases of coronavirus and 43 deaths over the previous 24 hours.

Egypt has reported a total 373,500 cases, including 21,277 fatalities, since the pandemic began. 

 
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Pfizer Inc on Friday forecast that the COVID-19 pandemic would not be behind us until 2024 and said a lower-dose version of its vaccine for 2- to 4-year-olds generated a weaker immune response than expected, potentially delaying authorization.

Pfizer Chief Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten said in a presentation to investors that the company expects some regions to continue to see pandemic levels of COVID-19 cases over the next year or two. Other countries will transition to “endemic” with low, manageable caseloads during that same time period.

By 2024, the disease should be endemic around the globe, the company projected.

“When and how exactly this happens will depend on evolution of the disease, how effectively society deploys vaccines and treatments, and equitable distribution to places where vaccination rates are low,” Dolsten said. “The emergence of new variants could also impact how the pandemic continues to play out.”

Pfizer developed its COVID-19 vaccine with Germany’s BioNTech SE, and currently expects it to generate revenue of $31 billion next year. It plans to make 4 billion shots next year.

The drugmaker also has an experimental antiviral pill called Paxlovid which reduced hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk individuals by nearly 90% in a clinical trial.

Three analysts estimate sales of $15 billion to $25 billion for it next year, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Pfizer’s forecast came after the emergence of the omicron variant last month, which has more than 50 mutations compared with the original version of the virus. That has reduced the effectiveness of two doses of the vaccine against infection, and spurred fear of rapid spread around the globe.

Prior to the omicron variant, top U.S. disease doctor Anthony Fauci forecast the pandemic would end in 2022 in the United States.

Pediatric vaccine

The Pfizer vaccine is authorized in the United States for people aged 5 and older. But it said on Friday that its study in children between the ages of 2 and 4 who were given two 3-microgram doses of the vaccine found it did not create the same immune response that a larger dose of the vaccine had in older children.

The 3-microgram dose did generate a similar immune response in children aged 6 to 24 months, the company said. The company said it will now test a three-dose course in both age groups, as well as in older children. It had previously expected data from 2- to 4-year-olds this year but said it did not expect the delay would meaningfully change plans to file for emergency use authorization in the second quarter of 2022.

Pfizer and BioNTech have also been developing a version of their vaccine tailored to combat the quick-spreading omicron variant, although they have not decided whether it will be needed. They expect to start a clinical trial for the updated vaccine in January, Pfizer executives said.

Variant-specific shots, if needed, could boost sales in 2022. The highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus has been det

ected in over 77 countries and has spread to about one-third of U.S. states.The vaccine was around 95% effective in the adult clinical trial, but Pfizer has said that immunity wanes some months after the second dose. Early data suggests that three doses of the shot may be necessary to protect against the omicron variant. 

 
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New York state reported Friday that just over 21,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day, the highest single-day total for new cases since testing became widely available.

Just under half of the positive results were in the city, where lines were growing at testing stations, the Rockettes Christmas show was canceled for the season and some Broadway shows nixed performances because of outbreaks among cast members.

One-day snapshots of virus statistics can be an unreliable way to measure trends, but the new record punctuated a steady increase that started in the western part of the state in late October and has taken off in New York City in the past week as the omicron variant spreads.

“This is changing so quickly. The numbers are going up exponentially by day,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a Friday appearance on CNN.

The steep rise in infections should be of great concern, but it was inevitable, given the quick spread of the newest variant, said Dr. Denis Nash, the executive director of the Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health at the City University of New York.

“We were already headed for a winter surge with delta, which is a very concerning thing in its own right,” Nash said.

“But then you layer on top of that the new omicron variant, which is more transmissible from an infection standpoint,” he said, noting that current vaccines may be unable to contain the “more invasive” new variant.

Statewide, New York averaged 13,257 positive tests per day over the seven-day period that ended Thursday. That is up 71% from two weeks ago.

The state’s previous one-day high for positive tests came on Jan. 14, 2021, when just under 20,000 people tested positive.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has warned that omicron is in “full force,” but said the city’s hospitals are “very strong and stable right now” and far better able to handle COVID-19 than when the pandemic began. Treatments have improved, and more than 70% of eligible city residents are fully vaccinated, he noted. 
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday issued guidelines for keeping children in school even if they are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

During a virtual briefing by the White House COVID-19 response team, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the test-to-stay protocol involves testing twice in a seven-day period anyone who has had close contact with someone infected with COVID-19. She said if exposed children meet certain criteria and continue to test negative, they can stay in school instead of quarantining at home.

Walensky said numerous jurisdictions have been experimenting with test-to-stay strategies. Some were testing every day, some every other day, and some twice a week. From those experiments, she said, the CDC will recommend no less than twice-weekly testing to adequately adhere to test-to-stay protocols.

The CDC also published studies conducted in the United States and internationally that looked at how COVID-19 is spread in schools, which helped form the basis for test-to-stay recommendations.

Walensky reported at least 39 U.S. states have more than 75 confirmed cases involving the omicron variant. She said the delta variant continues to circulate widely and remains the dominant strain in the United States, but omicron is spreading rapidly and is expected to become the dominant strain in the coming weeks.

The CDC director said omicron has been found among those who are vaccinated and boosted, and health officials believe these cases are milder or asymptomatic because of vaccine protection. “What we do know is we have the tools to protect ourselves against COVID-19,” she said.

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said the U.S. is fully prepared to confront the variant, with ample supplies of vaccines and boosters.

“This is not a moment to panic, because we know how to protect people,” Zients said. “And we have the tools to do it.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters,
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday his government is seeking to accelerate its COVID-19 booster shots campaign and has reached out to the head of U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer to secure additional vaccines.

Kishida told reporters the government has been negotiating to receive 120 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine ahead of schedule. He said during his call with the company’s CEO, Albert Bourla, he also agreed to purchase two million doses of Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 treatment, Paxlovid.

The government started arrangements Thursday to adjust the timeframe for workers and patients in elder-care facilities to receive booster shots to six months after their second shots. Health officials shortened the original eight-month timeline between initial vaccinations and booster shots after the discovery of the new omicron variant of coronavirus, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Japan has confirmed a handful of omicron variant cases. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed on Friday that a man in his 20s who attended a soccer match near the capital was found positive for omicron.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno also confirmed 70 coronavirus cases have been found at the U.S. Camp Hansen military base in the southern island prefecture of Okinawa.

Matsuno said the Japanese government has urged U.S. officials there to thoroughly quarantine infected persons, identify close contacts at an early stage, and strengthen measures to prevent the spread of infection.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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The U.S. government on Thursday permanently eased some restrictions on a pill used to terminate early pregnancies, allowing the drug to be sent by mail rather than requiring it to be dispensed in person.

The decision by the Food and Drug Administration comes as the right to obtain an abortion, established in the 1973 Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade hangs in the balance.

The medication, generically known as mifepristone, is approved for use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy and is also sometimes prescribed to treat women who are having miscarriages.

“The FDA’s decision will come as a tremendous relief for countless abortion and miscarriage patients,” said Georgeanne Usova, senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union.

The restrictions on the pill had been in place since the FDA approved the drug in 2000 and were lifted temporarily by the government earlier this year because of the pandemic. That enabled women to consult health care providers by telemedicine and receive the pills by mail. The FDA’s decision makes that temporary change permanent.

As a result of the FDA rule change, many patients will not need to go to a clinic, medical office or hospital in person to receive the medication but can opt to receive the pill through the mail from a certified prescriber or pharmacy.

The decision will increase access to medication abortion for women in remote and rural areas without providers nearby.

Low-income women who face obstacles reaching clinics such as lack of transportation and inability to take time off work will also gain greater access to the drug.

However, 19 states including Texas have laws that supersede the FDA decision by barring telehealth consultations or the mailing of abortion pills. Women in those states would not be able to make use of the rule change at home but could potentially travel to other states to obtain medication abortion.

States such as California and New York that have sought to strengthen access to abortion may make the drug available to women from other states.

The change is likely to add to the intense U.S. political debate over abortion. Conservative Supreme Court justices indicated in December 1 oral arguments over an abortion ban in Mississippi at 15 weeks of pregnancy that they were open to either gutting Roe or overturning it entirely. A decision is due by the end of June.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute and Susan B. Anthony List, which advocate against abortion, said in a statement that the FDA decision ignored data on complications and put women at risk.

The groups called on the FDA to restore the in-person dispensing requirement and add restrictions.

FDA records show that of the 3.7 million women who took Mifeprex, the branded version of the drug, to terminate a pregnancy between September 2000 and December 2018, 24 died from complications.

Some restrictions remain

The FDA left in place some restrictions, such as the need to use a certified pharmacy and requiring the prescribers to be certified. The ACLU said it was “disappointing that the FDA fell short of repealing all of its medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, and these remaining obstacles should also be lifted.”

The organization sued the U.S. government on behalf of a Hawaii doctor and several professional health care associations in 2017, challenging the restrictions that it said limited access to medication abortion.

Medication abortion involves two drugs, taken over a day or two. The first, mifepristone, blocks the pregnancy-sustaining hormone progesterone. The second, misoprostol, induces uterine contractions.
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A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday voted to recommend that Americans choose one of the other two authorized COVID-19 vaccines over Johnson & Johnson’s shot because of the rare but sometimes fatal cases of blood clotting.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously on the recommendation. The regulator still needs to sign off on the guidance.

Cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), which involves blood clots accompanied by a low level of platelets, have previously been reported in recipients of the J&J vaccine. The highest reporting rates are in women under 50.

The CDC said that the rate of such incidents is higher than previously estimated in both women and men.

At least nine people have died following the blood clotting incidents in the United States, the CDC has said.

Members of the panel also said J&J’s vaccine is less effective in preventing COVID-19 than the other two authorized vaccines.

In a presentation to the committee, a leading J&J vaccine scientist said the vaccine generates a strong and long-lasting immune response with just a single shot.

“In the setting where many people do not return for a second dose or a booster, the durability of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine as a primary regimen could make a crucial difference in saving lives in the U.S. and around the globe,” J&J’s Dr. Penny Heaton said in the presentation.

J&J’s vaccine uses a technology based on a modified version of an adenovirus to spur immunity in recipients, while the other two authorized vaccines use messenger RNA technology.

J&J’s one-dose vaccine received emergency use authorization in March. In April, U.S. regulators paused administering the vaccine for 10 days to investigate the blood clotting.

A CDC scientist said on Thursday that the rate of deaths from TTS did not decrease after the pause in April.

Fewer Americans have received the J&J shot than the other two vaccines — by a significant margin. Out of more than 200 million fully vaccinated people in the United States, around 16 million received J&J’s vaccine, according to CDC data.
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NASA touches the sun and looks to the future by traveling back through time. Plus, Japanese tourists visit the ISS, and a space-travel pioneer’s daughter follows in her father’s flying footsteps. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.
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Scientists in Hong Kong say the omicron variant of the coronavirus multiplies much faster in the airway passages, which could explain how the variant is spreading so fast around the globe.

A preliminary report by a team of researchers at the University of Hong Kong says laboratory experiments on tissue samples show omicron grows about 70 times faster than delta in the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs.

The study also found that omicron grows 10 times slower in lung tissues than the original version, which could indicate a lower chance of a severe illness.

Lead researcher Michael Chan Chi-wai cautions that the severity of disease is not only determined by how quickly the virus replicates, but also by each person’s immune response to the infection, which could evolve into a life-threatening illness.

Dr. Chan adds that “by infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic.”

He says along with recent studies showing omicron can “partially escape immunity” from vaccines and previous infection, “the overall threat from the omicron variant is likely to be very significant.”

Omicron has now been detected in nearly 80 countries since it was first identified in southern Africa back in November.  Indonesia and New Zealand are the latest countries to report their first confirmed case of the virus.

On the vaccine front, an advisory panel with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet Thursday to discuss imposing limits on the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of continued side effects.

The vaccine has been linked to a rare yet serious blood clotting disorder that occurs predominantly among women. At least six women out of the 16 million U.S. citizens who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been diagnosed with the disorder, including one woman who died.

The blood clotting disorder first emerged in April, soon after the vaccine began to be administered across the U.S., prompting federal health officials to suspend its use for several days while a safety review was conducted. Regulators added a warning about the potential for blood clots on the vaccine’s label, but concluded that its benefits outweighed the risks.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine trails well behind the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in terms of demand, both as an initial dose or a booster shot.

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
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The Israeli government on Wednesday said it was donating 1 million coronavirus vaccines to the U.N.-backed COVAX program.

The Foreign Ministry said the AstraZeneca vaccines would be transferred in the coming weeks, a decision that was part of Israel’s strengthening ties with the African countries.

“I am delighted that Israel can contribute and be a partner in eradicating the pandemic around the world,” said Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

The announcement said the vaccines would reach close to a quarter of African countries, though it did not provide a list. Israel has close ties with a number of African nations, including Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Israel also established relations with Sudan last year as part of a series of U.S.-brokered accords.

COVAX is a global initiative that aims to provide coronavirus vaccines to poorer nations. Wealthier countries have acquired the most of the world’s vaccine supplies, causing vast inequality in access to jabs.

Israel was one of the first countries to vaccinate its population. Early this year, it came under criticism for not sharing enough of its supplies with the Palestinians.

Since then, Israel has vaccinated tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel and its settlements, and the Palestinians have procured vaccines from COVAX and other sources. 

 
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The White House COVID-19 Response team Wednesday said early data indicates the omicron coronavirus variant is spreading in the U.S., but current vaccine boosters appear to be effective in fighting it.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the variant is in 36 U.S. states and accounts for 3% of all U.S. COVID-19 cases, though it is higher in some areas, such as New York and New Jersey, where it may account for as much 13% of cases.

Walensky said while the vast majority — 96% — of U.S. cases are still caused by the delta variant, she said early data show the omicron variant spreads faster than delta, with cases doubling in about two days.

Walensky, along with White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci and COVID-19 Response coordinator Jeff Zients, cited data showing being fully vaccinated along with a booster shot is the best way to fight off the new variant.

“Our booster vaccine regimens work against omicron,” Fauci said. “At this point, there is no need for a variant-specific booster.”

Walensky cited recent data from U.S. nursing homes showing unvaccinated or fully vaccinated residents without boosters were 10 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than residents fully vaccinated with boosters. Fauci cited the most real-world studies showing boosters can increase anti-body protection against omicron by as much as 35 times.

Zients cited CDC statistics showing an unvaccinated person is eight times more likely to be hospitalized and 14 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than a fully vaccinated person. He said a new study from the Yale University of Public Health shows the U.S. vaccination program prevented 10.3 million hospitalizations and saved 1.1 million lives.

The COVID-19 response coordinator said 14 million people received booster shots in the first two weeks of December, with 26 million total shots in arms during the same period. In total, the team reports more than 200 million U.S. residents are now fully vaccinated, and more than 55 million have received booster shots.

Some information in this report was provided by the Reuters news agency.
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The head of the South African Medical Association says there is a major difference between the delta and omicron variants of the coronavirus and warns politicians against hyping the threat from the new strain.

Dr. Angelique Coetzee criticized Tuesday what she described as the “over-reaction” to the heavily mutated omicron variant by some European governments and cited Britain’s Boris Johnson, who she accused of creating “hysteria” about the new strain.

On Tuesday, the House of Commons approved the reimposition of pandemic restrictions, and the introduction of some new ones, because of rising omicron cases in the country, although Johnson faced a major rebellion by a third of his parliamentary party and relied on opposition parties for the vote.

Coetzee was one of the first medical practitioners in the world to raise the alarm about the new variant. Its genomic data was sequenced last month by scientists in Hong Kong, Botswana as well as South Africa. The emergence has contributed to pandemic alarm in Europe, where governments are already battling the delta strain and are racing to reimpose restrictions.

Coetzee told Britain’s Sky News that delta was heart-breaking and that her patients who contracted it were “extremely, extremely sick” and when opening the door to them “you just knew they were in trouble,” she explained.

But nearly a month into the omicron wave in South Africa, she says she has not seen similar grim scenes and that her omicron patients are suffering much milder symptoms. Apart from one, who had HIV and other comorbidities, none have died.

The British government’s medical advisers are predicting one million omicron infections by the end of the month, and although South Africa is seeing tens of thousands of new cases daily.

Coetzee cautions calm, saying Britain and other European countries are much better vaccinated than South Africa and in a better position to battle it. “Even if you get breakthrough infections, it’s mild cases,” she added, saying she understands the need to take precautionary measures but says, “don’t hype it up.”

Some scientists disagree with Coetzee.

The chief executive of Britain’s Health Security Agency told lawmakers Wednesday that omicron “is probably the most significant threat since the start of the pandemic.”

Dr. Jenny Harries said the new variant was much more transmissible than delta and the rapid spread of omicron would lead to a “staggering” number of COVID cases over the next few days. She delivered a series of dire warnings about the country’s health care system, although she added it was probably too early to tell how serious the scale of increasing infections across the world would turn out to be.

“The difficulty is that the growth of this virus, it has a doubling time which is shortening, i.e., it’s doubling faster, growing faster,” she said.

Governments across Europe are closely observing events unfolding in Britain for a sense of what may lie ahead for them as omicron spreads, and they are worried that reinfection rates from omicron are much higher than has been seen with earlier variants.

Restrictions and penalties 

More countries are adopting restrictions. Italy this week required negative tests from vaccinated visitors to the country. Portugal has a similar measure in place. Many European countries have a virtual lockdown for the unvaccinated and are scrambling to increase vaccine booster programs. And more governments, including Germany’s, are proposing or considering mandatory vaccines.

Austria and Italy already plan to impose hefty fines on eligible people who do not get vaccinated. 

People over 65 years old in France will be under effective lockdown from Wednesday, if they have not received a third vaccine booster dose.

France’s health pass will no longer be valid for the elderly who have not received a third dose, barring those who have not been boosted from visiting restaurants or cafes or taking intercity trains. They will also be prohibited from visiting cultural venues like cinemas or museums.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned Wednesday the European Union faces a double challenge, with a massive increase of delta cases in recent weeks and the threat of omicron looming. “We’re seeing an increasing number of people falling ill, a greater burden on hospitals and unfortunately, an increase in the number of deaths,” she told European Parliament lawmakers. 

“And what I’m concerned about is that we now [are] seeing the new variant omicron on the horizon, which is apparently even more infectious,” she added.

But as governments go into overdrive, some epidemiologists and virologists are echoing Angelique Coetzee. Professor Tim Spector, the head of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College, London, says the “majority of symptoms are just like a common cold, so we’re talking about headaches, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, and things like sneezing.” He added: “So, things like fever and cough and loss of smell are now actually in the minority of the symptoms that we’re seeing.”

Earlier this week, the first major study published into the new variant also suggested illness from omicron is less severe than from delta. The study of 78,000 omicron cases in South Africa found the risk of hospitalization is 29% lower compared with the Wuhan strain, and 23% lower than with delta. Far fewer people have been needing intensive care. Just 5% of omicron cases have been admitted to intensive care units compared to 22% of delta patients, the study shows.

The data for the study was compiled by Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest private health insurer, and the South Africa Medical Research Council. It noted omicron can evade vaccines more than earlier strains, but the study found vaccines are still holding up well, although there were high numbers of breakthrough infections in people who had been vaccinated.

Vaccine effectiveness against infection dropped from 80% to 33%, according to the study, but offered 70% protection against hospital admission. Boosters may also mitigate the reduction in vaccine effectiveness, according to the study. Some European scientists have cautioned, though, against reading too much into the South African study, saying that South Africa’s population is much younger and that demographic differences could alter medical outcomes.
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African leaders have called on governments across the continent to invest more in healthcare to fight the coronavirus and future pandemics. The appeal came as the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the African Union this week held the first Conference on Public Health in Africa.

Addressing the virtual meeting of African health workers and experts, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said governments could no longer ignore public health investment as the continent grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“There needs to be renewed commitment by government and national parliaments to increase domestic financing for health in Africa. This has been a priority for the African Union for several years but progress has not been fast enough. We cannot continue to rely on external funding for something so important for our future,” he said.

Twenty years ago in Abuja, Nigeria, African governments agreed to allocate 15% of their budgets to health care. Only two countries, Rwanda and South Africa, met the target. 

Africa has seen economic growth in the past few years but spending by governments on health has rarely increased. 

Health experts blame the lack of healthcare spending on low GDP growth, tax collections, and competing priorities. 

An Afrobarometer survey showed 46% of African citizens across 36 countries opposed paying more taxes to be used to improve healthcare. 

Across Africa, most health facilities are concentrated in urban areas, effectively cutting off millions from accessing advanced medical assistance. 

John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the continent needs a new approach to raise health investment. 

“You all heard from our various leaders, political leaders, call for a new public health order that hinges on four things: strengthening public health institutions, workforce, expanding manufacturing on both vaccines, diagnostic and therapeutic, a respectful action-oriented partnership, which is all underpinned by the need to invest ourselves in supporting this domestic financing so that we can achieve these four goals,” he said.

African Union Commission Chairman Mousa Faki Mahamat pledged to support the development of health care systems that can deal with future challenges. 

“I would like to assure you today that African Union Commission stands firm in our resolve to bolster manufacturing capacity for the vaccine, diagnostic and therapeutics to build resilient health systems capable of detecting future health threats, and to build a finance mechanism that allows member states to respond efficiently and effectively to health needs of the continent,” he said.

According to the Brookings Institute, Africa needs funding models that encourage domestic resource mobilization and prioritization of health. 

For example, in 2019 Nigeria signed a $75 million financing agreement with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to strengthen the country’s primary health care provision fund. 

Africa’s virtual conference on public health ends Thursday. 

 
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