Editor’s Note:
Careful readers will note that the number and range of organizations now monitored in our Announcements section below has grown as the impacts of the pandemic have spread across global economies, supply chains and programmatic activity of multilateral agencies and INGOs.
Airfinity [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.airfinity.com/insights
INSIGHTS & COMPANY NEWS
No new digest content identified.
Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://alleninstitute.org/news-press/
News
No new digest content identified.
BMGF – Gates Foundation [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center
Press Releases and Statements
Press release
Mar 14, 2022
Global initiative will accelerate the discovery and development of antiviral drug candidates that can be distributed quickly and equitably next time the world faces a pandemic threat
COPENHAGEN – SAN FRANCISCO – SEATTLE (March 14, 2022) – Today, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Open Philanthropy, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced an initial commitment of up to $90 million of coordinated funding toward Pandemic Antiviral Discovery (PAD), a new initiative to catalyze discovery and early development of antiviral medicines for future pandemics. With equitable access as a core principle of the initiative, the founding partners are committed to ensuring that discoveries and innovations supported by PAD are accessible to people in low- and middle-income countries…
Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute [to 19 Mar 2022]
The Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute is a non-profit biotech organization. Our mission is to develop products to fight malaria, tuberculosis, and diarrheal diseases—three major causes of mortality, poverty, and inequality in developing countries. The world has unprecedented scientific tools at its disposal; now is the time to use them to save the lives of the world’s poorest people
No new digest content identified.
News
No new digest content identified.
Center for Vaccine Ethics and Policy – GE2P2 Global Foundation [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://centerforvaccineethicsandpolicy.net/
:: Informed Consent: A Monthly Review – March 2022is now posted here
:: Past weekly editions and posting of all segments of Vaccines and Global Health: The Week in Review are available here.
CEPI – Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations [to 19 Mar 2022]
Latest News
Nipah survivors study to advance new vaccines against highly fatal threat
15 Mar 2022 By CEPI
DARPA – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [U.S.] [to 19 Mar 2022
News
3/3/2022
Developing Algorithms that Make Decisions Aligned with Human Experts
Military operations – from combat, to medical triage, to disaster relief – require complex and rapid decision-making in dynamic situations where there is often no single right answer. Two seasoned military leaders facing the same scenario on the battlefield, for example, may make different tactical decisions when faced with difficult options. As AI systems become more advanced in teaming with humans, building appropriate human trust in the AI’s abilities to make sound decisions is vital.
Duke Global Health Innovation Center [to 19 Mar 2022]
No new digest content identified.
The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) aims to accelerate the development of new or improved drugs, vaccines, microbicides and diagnostics against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as well as other poverty-related and neglected infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on phase II and III clinical trials
News
No new digest content identified.
Emory Vaccine Center [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.vaccines.emory.edu/
Vaccine Center News
No new digest content identified.
European Vaccine Initiative [to 19 Mar 2022]
Latest News, Events
No new digest content identified.
Evidence Aid [to 19 Mar 2022]
Evidence Aid aims to save lives and livelihoods in disasters by providing decision-makers with the best available evidence and by championing its use.
Fondation Merieux [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.fondation-merieux.org/
Mérieux Foundation co-organized event
2nd Workshop of the Global Collaboration on Advanced Vaccinology Training
March 22 – 24, 2022 – Centre des Pensières, Veyrier-du-Lac (France)
From March 22-24, 2022, the second Workshop of the Global Collaboration on Advanced Vaccinology Training will be held at Les Pensières Center for Global Health, with approximately 70 participants.
News Releases
No new digest content identified.
https://www.ghitfund.org/newsroom/press
No new digest content identified.
https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/
News & Stories
Update on the RTS,S Malaria Vaccine
17 March 2022
The Global Fund’s malaria Strategic Initiative, alongside Gavi and Unitaid, continues to fund the Malaria Vaccine implementation program to generate further evidence on the RTS,S vaccine’s impact, safety, and feasibility over the next two years.
Global Health Supply Chain Dialogue
17 March 2022
The Global Fund is organizing a Global Health Supply Chain Dialogue from 29 to 31 March 2022 under the theme “Building Resilient Supply Chains for Effective Pandemic Preparedness”. The conference aims to foster discussion between countries and partners on NEXTGen market shaping strategies, and generate commitment to an action plan that will strengthen public health supply chains, an essential element in the path to more resilient health systems.
Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness [GloPID-R] [to 19 Mar 2022]
News
07/03/2022
The second webinar in the ZonMw series ‘Response to COVID-19 vaccine in patients with a hematological condition and primary immunodeficiencies’… Monday April 4, 2022, from 5pm to 6pm CET.
Hilleman Laboratories [to 19 Mar 2022]
News & Insights
No new digest content identified
HHMI – Howard Hughes Medical Institute [to 19 Mar 2022]
Press Room
No new digest content identified
Human Vaccines Project [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.humanvaccinesproject.org/
News
Mar 18, 2022
Michelson Philanthropies and Science Reveal the Next Innovators in Immunology
IAVI [to 19 Mar 2022]
March 17, 2022
HVTN 302 begins first dosing of mRNA HIV vaccine antigens
HVTN, NIAID, and Moderna partner on trial of HIV Env trimers designed by IAVI’s William Schief.
ICRC [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.icrc.org/en/whats-new
What’s New
ICRC President: The suffering in Mariupol must not become the future of Ukraine
The following is a statement from Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who is currently in Ukraine: Kyiv (ICRC) – Driving toward Kyiv this week, the signs of conflict grew.
17-03-2022 | News release
Yemen: Even as global attention shifts, the world must not abandon Yemen
Seven years of raging conflict in Yemen has exhausted the population’s capacity to cope, even as global attention is shifting toward other high-profile crises.
17-03-2022 | News release
ICRC President Peter Maurer makes four calls regarding the conflict in Yemen at High-level Pledging Conference for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen
17-03-2022 | Statement
Somalia is the most severely affected of the countries facing the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa. The situation is alarming, and it is deteriorating. People are massively abandoning their homes in search for water and food.
16-03-2022 | News release
International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities [ICMRA]
http://www.icmra.info/drupal/en/news
Selected Statements, Press Releases, Research
No new digest content identified.
IFFIm
Press Releases/Announcements
No new digest content identified.
IFRC [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/news/press-releases/
Selected Press Releases, Announcements
IFRC urges countries in the Caribbean to build vaccine confidence in communities
Jamaica, 17 March 2022 – The low rate of vaccination against COVID-19 in the Caribbean must be addressed through building confidence among the population as well as responding to the inequity of vaccine access, says the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Building this confidence is a key factor in promoting universal vaccination and therefore fostering socio-economic recovery in the Caribbean, where only 40 per cent of the population counts with a complete scheme of vaccination, in comparison with 68 per cent in South America and 60 per cent in Central America. In the Americas region more than 1.7 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered…
Philippines: 2 million exposed to climate disasters 3 months after Typhoon Rai
Institut Pasteur [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.pasteur.fr/en/press-area
Press release
14.03.2022
Discovery of an immune escape mechanism promoting Listeria infection of the central nervous system
Some “hypervirulent” strains of Listeria monocytogenes have a greater capacity to infect the central nervous system….
IOM / International Organization for Migration [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.iom.int/press-room/press-releases
News – Selected
No new digest content identified.
ISC / International Science Council [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://council.science/current/
ISC is a non-governmental organization with a unique global membership that brings together 40 international scientific Unions and Associations and over 140 national and regional scientific organizations including Academies and Research Councils.
No new digest content identified.
IVAC [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/ivac/index.html
Webinar: Reaching Zero-dose Children and Supporting Immunization Equity in Humanitarian Contexts
March 2022
Register for the webinar: https://bit.ly/zero-dose-ivac-webinar When: March 28th from 8:00-9:00am Description: How do we restore and strengthen immunization to effectively reach populations in humanitarian settings? An estimated two-thirds of zero-dose children live in conflict-affected settings. Research suggests that global conflicts are lasting longer and becoming more complex with greater impacts on civilian populations. A panel […]
Register for the webinar: https://bit.ly/zero-dose-ivac-webinar
When: March 28th from 8:00-9:00am
IVI [to 19 Mar 2022]
IVI welcomes the United Arab Emirates as its 37th member state with flag-raising ceremony
March 17, 2022 – SEOUL, South Korea – The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) announced today that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined IVI, becoming the international organization’s 37th member state. His Excellency Abdulla Saif Al Nuaimi, Ambassador of the UAE to the Republic of Korea, raised the flag of the UAE at IVI headquarters…
Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/news/center-news/
Center News
No new digest content identified.
MSF/Médecins Sans Frontières [to 19 Mar 2022]
Latest [Selected Announcements]
Central American Migration
Peru: Venezuelan migrants struggle to survive
Project Update 18 Mar 2022
War in Ukraine
Staff in major Kyiv hospital receive training for potential increase in casualties
Project Update 18 Mar 2022
Ethiopia Tigray crisis
Ethiopia: MSF seeks answers from government after new media report on killing of its staff
Statement 17 Mar 2022
War in Ukraine
War in Ukraine has displaced me twice and I’m on the road again
Voices from the Field 16 Mar 2022
War in Ukraine
Every day thousands of Ukrainians arrive in Slovakia – traumatised and exhausted
Interview 14 Mar 2022
National Academy of Medicine – USA [to 19 Mar 2022]
News
Statement by NAM President Victor Dzau on Responding to the Health Crisis In and Around Ukraine
March 15, 2022
I have been watching with increasing sadness and alarm as health care facilities come under fire during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with devastating impacts on patients, civilians, and frontline workers. Earlier this week, the World Health Organization confirmed at least 31 such attacks, including the shelling of a children’s and maternity hospital. Many facilities are […]
National Academy of Sciences – USA [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/
News
No new digest content identified.
National Vaccine Program Office – U.S. HHS [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.hhs.gov/vaccines/about/index.html
Upcoming Meetings/Latest Updates
Vaccines Federal Implementation Plan 2021-2025
On Wednesday March 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit stakeholder written public comments on the draft Vaccines Federal Implementation Plan 2021-2025- PDF*. HHS values input from all stakeholders and will take all public comments into consideration before finalizing this document.
We encourage your input or comments and ask that you circulate this information to others who may also wish to provide comments. Information about how to provide written public comment is found on HHS.gov and the deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. EST Tuesday March 29, 2022.
The Vaccines Federal Implementation Plan is a companion document to the Vaccines National Strategic Plan 2021-2025 published in January 2021. This plan outlines the federal government’s broad national vaccination goals and offers a framework to eliminate vaccine-preventable diseases through safe and effective vaccination over the lifespan, for both federal agencies and external partners.
The implementation plan focuses on the specific actions that federal agencies can take to further those same national vaccination goals.
http://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases
March 17, 2022 — Contributions from diverse participants set to change the landscape of genomics ressearch.
NIH launches clinical trial of three mRNA HIV vaccines
March 14, 2022 — Phase 1 study is among first to examine mRNA technology for HIV.
OECD [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/publicationsdocuments/bydate/
Newsroom
OECD calls for well-targeted support to the vulnerable as war undermines global recovery
Russia’s war against the people of Ukraine is a deeply distressing moment for the world. Thousands of people have been killed with millions fleeing from the war. Beyond the ongoing humanitarian disaster, the economic damage is already being felt worldwide and risks becoming increasingly severe.
17-March-2022
Media reaction in response to reports of a compromise on the vaccines TRIPS waiver
16 March 2022
[See Perspectives above for deatil]
PATH [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.path.org/media-center/
Press Releases
No new digest content identified.
Sabin Vaccine Institute [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.sabin.org/updates/pressreleases
Statements and Press Releases
No new digest content identified.
UNAIDS [to 19 Mar 2022]
Selected Press Releases/Reports/Statements
18 March 2022
UNAIDS staff member talks about the invasion of Ukraine
17 March 2022
Supporting the HIV response for young people in Eswatini
15 March 2022
Social enterprises and financial saving supporting Madagascan sex workers through COVID-19
14 March 2022
UNAIDS Executive Director’s Statement at the 65th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
14 March 2022
Discriminatory attitudes remain common
UNHCR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/media-centre.htmlS
Selected News Releases, Announcements
UNHCR and partners seek US$1.2 billion to address Africa’s largest refugee crisis
Poland welcomes more than two million refugees from Ukraine
https://www.unicef.org/media/press-releases
Press Releases, News Notes, Statements [Selected]
UNICEF sends additional life-saving supplies for Ukraine response
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-sends-additional-life-saving-supplies-ukraine-response
Syria: children struggle with physical and psychological scars after 11 years of war
Yemen: Acute hunger at unprecedented levels as funding dries up
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/yemen-acute-hunger-unprecedented-levels-funding-dries
Stop attacks on health care in Ukraine
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/stop-attacks-health-care-ukraine
Featured News
18 March 2022
17 March 2022
Vaccine Equity Cooperative [nee Initiative] [to 19 Mar 2022]
News
No new digest content identified.
Vaccination Acceptance & Demand Initiative [Sabin) [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.vaccineacceptance.org/
Announcements, Blog
No new digest content identified.
Vaccine Confidence Project [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.vaccineconfidence.org/
News, Research and Reports
No new digest content identified.
Vaccine Education Center – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center
No new digest content identified.
Wellcome Trust [to 19 Mar 2022]
News. Opinion, Reports
New funding calls aim to improve mental health interventions
17 March 2022
Some mental health treatments and interventions are effective. Others aren’t. And there’s still little to no understanding of why, or how to improve the outlook for anxiety, depression and psychosis. New Wellcome funding aims to address that.
The Wistar Institute [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.wistar.org/news/press-releases
No new digest content identified.
WFPHA: World Federation of Public Health Associations [to 19 Mar 2022]
Latest News – Blog
No new digest content identified.
World Bank [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/all
Monitoring COVID-19 impacts on Latin American and Caribbean Households
To respond swiftly to the growing demand for data to monitor the welfare impacts of COVID-19 on households, the World Bank and various partners embarked on an initiative to implement High-Frequency Phone…
Date: March 14, 2022 Type: Brief L
DUSHANBE, March 14, 2022 – The Government of Tajikistan and the World Bank signed today a $25 million grant agreement as additional financing to the Tajikistan Emergency COVID-19 Project, which has been…
Date: March 14, 2022 Type: Press Release
World Customs Organization – WCO [to 19 Mar 2022]
Latest News
16 March 2022
WCO reiterates the key role of Customs in humanitarian crises
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.oie.int/en/media/news/
Press Releases, Statements
Editor’s Choice 15 March 2022
WTO – World Trade Organisation [to 19 Mar 2022]
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news_e.htm
DDG González: the trading system, a crucial ally in the fight against the pandemic
17 March 2022
Trade policy is health policy, and WTO members have a unique responsibility to leverage the full force of trade to achieve better health outcomes around the world, according to Deputy Director-General Anabel González. In an article published on 17 March in Think Global Health Trade, a multi-contributor website by the Council on Foreign Relations, DDG González points at the three main lessons which have emerged from the pandemic: global trade equals strength, a rules-based trading system matters in times of crisis, and better trade collaboration will improve health outcomes around the world.
Director-General Okonjo-Iweala hails breakthrough on TRIPS COVID-19 solution
16 March 2022
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala today warmly welcomed the breakthrough among four WTO Members on a waiver of the Trade Related Intellectual Property agreement for the production of vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.
[See Perspectives above for detail]
::::::
ARM [Alliance for Regenerative Medicine] [to 19 Mar 2022]
Selected Press Releases
No new digest content identified.
BIO [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.bio.org/press-releases
Press Releases, Letters, Testimony, Comments [Selected]
No new digest content identified.
DCVMN – Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturers Network [to 19 Mar 2022]
No new digest content identified.
ICBA – International Council of Biotechnology Associations [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://internationalbiotech.org/news/
News
ICBA Statement on Leaked QUAD Proposal for a COVID-19 Vaccine IP Rights Waiver
[undated]
Steve Bates Chair of ICBA said “The leaked QUAD proposal of a waiver on intellectual property rights for COVID vaccines would, if agreed, have a chilling impact on investment into the small companies that have been at the heart of the solutions to COVID-19. It would do nothing to solve the challenges we face in 2022 and make it far harder for small companies pioneering in this space in future”
“Small biotechs throughout ICBA member countries, including, for example, companies such as Canada-based Acuitas Therapeutics, BioNtech from Germany and the UK’s Vaccitech, all depend on their intellectual property to deliver key innovations that underpin the current generation of COVID -19 vaccines. Alongside these successes are many, many companies in our community that invested heavily and failed to make breakthroughs. This proposal directly threatens this innovative ecosystem’s ability to attract the capital needed to develop next generation of vaccines whilst doing nothing to solve the access challenges we have in 2022.”
“The reported proposal misguidedly casts IP as a barrier to COVID-19 vaccine access and distribution despite there being abundant supply of COVID-19 vaccines given the collective manufacturing globally of over 11 billion doses in 2021. Weakening IP rights does nothing to facilitate the distribution of these manufactured vaccines to people around the world who most need them – rather prioritizing addressing healthcare infrastructure and vaccine hesitancy in the developing world would lead to more shots in arms.”
http://www.ifpma.org/resources/news-releases/
Selected Press Releases, Statements, Publications
IFPMA statement on TRIPS discussion document
16 March 2022
[See Perspectives above for detail]
International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association [IGBA]
https://www.igbamedicines.org/
News
No new digest content identified.
International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations – IAPO [to 19 Mar 2022]
https://www.iapo.org.uk/news/topic/6
Press and media [Selected]
No new digest content identified.
PhRMA [to 19 Mar 2022]
Latest News [Selected]
PhRMA Statement on the War in Ukraine
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 16, 2022) – The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America released the following statement on the war in Ukraine:
“We are deeply saddened by the war taking place against the people of Ukraine. The biopharmaceutical research industry is united in our mission of providing vaccines and treatments to all patients who need them. Like the broader health care sector, biopharmaceutical companies serve a critical humanitarian role in sustaining access to medicines and clinical trials for patients wherever they are. PhRMA’s member companies are working in a variety of ways to support those affected by this humanitarian crisis, including by providing free essential medicines, making monetary donations to non-profits providing aid, monitoring for supply chain disruptions, and addressing the safety of employees and their families through financial assistance, transportation and other resources.
“We condemn the violence unfolding against the people of Ukraine and hope for its immediate end.”
To learn more about individual company efforts, please visit the website set up by our European sister association, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations’ (EFPIA), found here.
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 