Global Health
CEPI, IVI and Gambia’s MRC launch Preparedness Programme
In November 2023 CEPI, IVI, and Gambia’s Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia (MRCG) announced the launch of the Research Preparedness Programme
Malaria vaccines to Africa “herald final steps”
A joint news release from WHO, UNICEF, and Gavi in November 2023 states that shipments of the first WHO-recommended malaria vaccine arrived
Mpox vaccine prioritisation study: who and how many?
In a paper for Vaccine in November 2023 an international group of authors comment on the “unjust” distribution of “scarce” vaccines to mitigate infection harms
Unpacking America’s “Vaccine Wars” with Professor Mark Navin
With the Congress only days away we are delighted to share another exclusive Congress Conversation ahead of the event. We hear from Professor Mark Navin,
BMJ investigates RSV informed consent concerns
In a feature for The BMJ in November 2023 Hristio Boytchev reports on concern raised by “some experts” that Pfizer should have informed pregnant
WHO commissions Vaccine Value Profiles for endemic pathogens
In what WHO is describing as a “significant stride towards facilitating and informing priorities in global vaccine development” it has commissioned 16 “Vaccine Value Profiles (VVPs)” to be published in Vaccine. This is a result of “collaborations” with pathogen and...
Childhood vaccine refusal study: what is to be done?
In a study published in BMC Medical Ethics in November 2023 the authors present a systematic review of normative arguments made about parental refusal of routine vaccination. Describing the topic as an “ethically contested area”, the researchers searched 9 databases...
Vaccines for everyone: study investigates HPV strategies
Research published in Cell Host & Microbe in November 2023 reaches a “somewhat provocative conclusion” that HPV vaccination is so effective that screening protocols might need a review. The paper suggests that “comprehensive human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine...
WHO shares Tuberculosis Report 2023: more effort needed
In November 2023 the WHO shared the Global Tuberculosis Report 2023, a “comprehensive and up-to-date assessment” on the epidemic and progress in preventing, diagnosing, and treating the disease at all levels. The report uses data from national ministries of health,...
EU and Africa CDC share agreement on access and manufacture
In October 2023 at the Global Gateway Forum, held in Brussels, the EU Commission signed €500 million for global health and an additional €134 million to increase local manufacturing and equitable access to quality, safe, effective, and affordable health products in...
MSD Animal Health pursues cattle health success
In October 2023 MSD Animal Health announced that the European Medicines Agency Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products (CVMP) has issued a “positive opinion” for BOVILIS CRYPTIUM. This vaccine is indicated for the “active immunisation of pregnant cows” to protect...
4 vaccine hubs get funding: UK Vaccine Network
In November 2023 the UK’s Minister for Health and Secondary Care, Will Quince, announced at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) science, technology, and global health reception that “more than £30 million” will be invested in 4 new “vaccine...
Study sheds light on vaccine-related blood clotting
Researchers from the University of Birmingham shared in October 2023 that a paper in Blood identifies how blood clots associated with Vaccine-Induced Immune Thrombocytopenia and Thrombosis (VITT) occur. Building on previous studies that have highlighted that patients...
Health preparedness is “fragile” warns GPMB 2023 report
A report shared by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) in 2023 offers a “warning” that the “fragile progress to strengthen preparedness” made after the COVID-19 pandemic is “at risk”, leaving the world’s capacity to deal with a future threat “inadequate”....
A world in polycrisis: disease in AXA’s Future Risks Report
In October 2023 AXA published the 10th edition of its Future Risks Report, a study that “measures and ranks” global perception of “evolving and rising risks”. For this edition, the focus is on the concept of “polycrisis”, the simultaneous or interacting occurrence of...
Tripartite recommendations on oral rabies vaccinations
In October 2023 the Tripartite organisations (the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation or FAO, the WHO, and the World Organisation for Animal Health or WOAH), issued an update on oral vaccination of dogs against rabies: recommendations for field application and...
Global journals publish climate call: one indivisible crisis
In October 2023 over 200 health journals published an editorial directed to leaders and health professionals, demanding recognition that “climate change and biodiversity loss” are “one indivisible crisis”. The authors use their platform to highlight the importance of...
Make polio history: World Polio Day, 24th October 2023
On 24th October 2023 global health leaders, advocates, and communities highlight efforts to end poliomyelitis (polio). Each year World Polio Day is observed to “raise awareness of the importance of polio vaccination” as protection from the disease, and to “celebrate...
Polio partnership to support immunisation and health systems
In October 2023 the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a new financing partnership to address “critical global health opportunities”. WHO and UNICEF are implementing partners for polio funding and...
Experts call for “gender-responsive” Pandemic Accord
A commentary in The Lancet in October 2023 calls for a “gender-responsive” Pandemic Accord to secure a “healthier, equitable future”. The need for a Pandemic Accord was established by WHO’s Member States after the “impact” of the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO states that the...
