“To push for the termination of this lifesaving project in order to protect the interests of pharmaceutical companies is shameful,” said one advocate. Documents published Wednesday by a prominent medical journal reveal that a foundation representing the German company BioNTech—Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine partner—has been working behind the scenes to undercut African scientists’ burgeoning effort to produce an mRNA-based […]
New evidence has revealed that the omicron variant of the coronavirus was already present in western Europe well before the first cases were officially identified in southern Africa. Authorities in the Netherlands said Tuesday that it detected the variant in test samples as early as November 19 — a full week before the positive cases […]
JOHANNESBURG — Despite the rise of coronavirus cases in South Africa where the new omicron variant was detected, stricter lockdown measures are not being imposed. The country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa instead told those who remain unvaccinated that it’s time to roll up a sleeve. South Africans were relieved to begin their week like any other Monday. […]
“Every one of those deaths is a mark of shame for the governments of countries like the U.K. and Germany who have protected patents over human lives.” More than three million people across the globe have died of Covid-19 in the roughly nine months since India and South Africa first proposed a temporary patent waiver for […]