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 14 May 2022]
https://www.airfinity.com/insights
INSIGHTS & COMPANY NEWS
Airfinity’s Q1 COVID-19 vaccine revenue forecast more accurate than market consensus
Published by Airfinity
May 11, 2022
Airfinity’s Q1 COVID-19 vaccine revenue forecast beat market consensus figures to more accurately predict earnings last quarter.
Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group [to 14 May 2022]
https://alleninstitute.org/news-press/
New research to understand how the brain handles optical illusions and makes predictions
May 9, 2022
3 new projects launch on OpenScope, a shared neuroscience observatory
BMGF – Gates Foundation [to 14 May 2022]
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center
Press Releases and Statements
Press release
May 12, 2022
[See COID Perspectives above for detail]
Press release
May 09, 2022
Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute [to 14 May 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 14 May 2022]
https://centerforvaccineethicsandpolicy.net/
:: Past weekly editions of Vaccines and Global Health: The Week in Review are available here.
:: Informed Consent: A Monthly Review – MAY 2022is now posted here
CEPI – Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations [to 14 May 2022]
CEPI will provide up to US$12.5 million to assess this “mix and match” booster approach
DARPA – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [U.S.] [to 14 May 2022
News
No new digest content identified.
Duke Global Health Innovation Center [to 14 May 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 14 May 2022]
http://www.vaccines.emory.edu/
Vaccine Center News
No new digest content identified.
European Vaccine Initiative [to 14 May 2022]
Latest News, Events
No new digest content identified.
Evidence Aid [to 14 May 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.
Emergency health care for migrants: challenges in its provision Added May 11, 2022
Fondation Merieux [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.fondation-merieux.org/
No new digest content identified.
News Releases
- Global Health and Prosperity Initiative, which supports the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening health resilience in developing countries.
[See COVID Perspectives above for detail]
https://www.ghitfund.org/newsroom/press
Press Releases
No new digest content identified.
https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/
News & Stories
13 May 2022
Global Fund Applauds New Zealand’s Commitment to COVID-19 Response Mechanism
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria applauds the decision by New Zealand to contribute NZ$8 million to the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM). The new funding will help provide lifesaving diagnostic tests, treatment…
13 May 2022
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria thanks the European Union and Team Europe for their contribution to the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM). The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announc…
13 May 2022
The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria held its 47th Board meeting this week in Geneva. A few months ahead of the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference to be hosted by the United States, the Board renewed its ca…
12 May 2022
The Global Fund, the United States and Unitaid, together with FIND and other ACT-Accelerator partners, are launching over US$120 million in support to countries for test-and-treat programs to prevent hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 for thos…
Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness [GloPID-R] [to 14 May 2022]
News
No new digest content identified
Hilleman Laboratories [to 14 May 2022]
News & Insights
No new digest content identified
HHMI – Howard Hughes Medical Institute [to 14 May 2022]
Structure of ‘Gliding Bird’ Plant Protein Could Lead to Better Crops
Human Vaccines Project [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.humanvaccinesproject.org/
News
May 12, 2022
Anna Blakney: What is the Future of RNA Vaccines?
IAVI [to 14 May 2022]
FEATURES
May 11, 2022
Meet the IAVI scientist who developed a new HIV test for resource-limited settings
Dr. Catherine Namugga Kibirige, research associate, research team, IAVI Human Immunology Laboratory – Imperial College London
ICRC [to 14 May 2022]
https://www.icrc.org/en/whats-new
What’s New [Selected]
Syria: In societies shattered by conflict, civilians pay a high price for years
A statement from Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), following a trip to Syria this week: Damascus (ICRC) – It takes years, sometimes decades, for societies shattered by conflict to recover.
13-05-2022 | News release
Sahel: A food crisis fueled by conflict is set to worsen during lean period
More than 10.5 million people in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Mauritania are at risk of facing hunger during the upcoming agricultural lean period — the time between harvests when food stocks are most depleted — as conflict worsens an ongoing foo
12-05-2022 | 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 14 May 2022]
http://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/news/press-releases/
Red Cross extends support to families separated by violence and conflict
Syria remains in crisis – the world, and donors, must not turn away now
Institut Pasteur [to 14 May 2022]
https://www.pasteur.fr/en/press-area
Press release
11.05.2022
Hepatitis: 3D structure determination of the ‘gateway’ to the liver
Scientists from CNRS, the Institut Pasteur (France), the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie and the Vrije…
IOM / International Organization for Migration [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.iom.int/press-room/press-releases
News – Selected
News
10 May 2022
Needs Growing for Over 8 Million Internally Displaced in Ukraine
News
10 May 2022
ISC / International Science Council [to 14 May 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.
Blogs
Whose right is it anyway? Copyright and scholarly publishing
09.05.2022
The question of who owns the copyright to scientific publications, such as journal articles, is complex and contested. Jenice Jean Goveas looks at the issue and considers some of the recent initiatives designed to support authors to retain rights to their published work.
International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS)
News/Events [Selected]
No new digest content identified.
IVAC [to 14 May 2022]
No new digest content identified.
IVI [to 14 May 2022]
2 ECCP projects to contribute to the government’s efforts towards control and prevention of cholera and diarrheal diseases
May 13, 2022, SEOUL, Korea — The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), in collaboration with LG Electronics, the Ethiopian government led by Armaur Hansen Research Institute (AHRI), and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), will vaccinate 40,000 people against cholera in May to support prevention of the disease in Ethiopia. In a separate but coordinated project funded by other Korean donors, IVI and Ethiopian partners will immunize an additional 60,000 people against the diarrheal disease in Ethiopia…
Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security [to 14 May 2022]
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/news/center-news/
Center News
New peer-reviewed analysis examines Uganda’s preparedness and response efforts for Ebola
May 11, 2022
MSF/Médecins Sans Frontières [to 14 May 2022]
Latest [Selected Announcements]
No new digest content identified.
National Academy of Medicine – USA [to 14 May 2022]
News [Selected]
No new digest content identified.
National Academy of Sciences – USA [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/
News
NIH Should Create an Office of Autoimmune Disease Research Says New Report
May 9, 2022
To enhance and coordinate its research on autoimmune diseases the National Institutes of Health should create an Office of Autoimmune Disease-Autoimmunity Research and a plan that spans all institutes and centers to provide an overall NIH strategy for autoimmune disease research.
May 9, 2022
Automated research workflows – which integrate computation laboratory automation and tools from artificial intelligence – have the potential to increase the speed of research activities and accelerate scientific discovery. A new report recommends ways to advance their development.
National Vaccine Program Office – U.S. HHS [to 14 May 2022]
https://www.hhs.gov/vaccines/about/index.html
Upcoming Meetings/Latest Updates
NVAC 2022 Meetings – June 15-16, 2022
Vaccine for rare but deadly mosquito-borne viruses shows promise in clinical trial
May 12, 2022 — The injection was found to be safe, well-tolerated and induced a neutralizing antibody response in adult volunteers [eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV), and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV)],
Unique binding of Delta variant may explain high transmissibility
May 11, 2022 — NIH findings could lead to ways to combat future SARS-CoV-2 variants.
OECD [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/publicationsdocuments/bydate/
Newsroom/Library
No new digest content identified.
Oxfam reaction to Covid summit commitments
13 May 2022
In response to the commitments made at President Biden’s Second COVID-19 Summit today, especially the licensing of publicly owned medical technologies, such as the stabilized spike protein for use by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) through the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), Robbie Silverman, Oxfam America’s Senior Manager of Private Sector Advocacy, made the following statement:
“Today’s announcement that the US will share its technology with the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool sets a welcome and bold example for the sharing of essential technologies we all need. Now we need to see this kind of leadership from the US at the WTO.
“We hope today’s announcement encourages similar moves on other US-funded technologies and spur major vaccine manufacturers to heed the US’s example. Much more can be done to ensure that everyone, everywhere is protected in this ongoing pandemic. The US should also urgently step up its funding commitments at least to the full $5 billion requested.
“Even with this little bit of progress, we still urgently need a WTO TRIPS waiver that waives intellectual property for vaccines, tests, and treatments to ensure that all countries have the technology and resources to vaccinate, test and treat people…”
Governments falling woefully short on goal to vaccinate 70% in each country by September
12 May 2022
World leaders have not done enough to achieve their goal of vaccinating 70% of people in each country by September, campaigners with the People’s Vaccine Alliance warned ahead of the second virtual summit on COVID-19 hosted by US President Biden along with Belize, Germany, Indonesia, and Senegal. The World Health Organization’s target of reaching 70% by mid-year is even further out of reach.
10 May 2022
PATH [to 14 May 2022]
https://www.path.org/media-center/
Press Releases
PATH welcomed as new member of the Digital Public Goods Alliance
PATH looks forward to supporting even greater alignment in advancing digital public goods to increase donor and country confidence in the value of adapting and scaling specific digital tools… Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA)
Published: May 2022
Type: Press Release
PATH commits to action plan against COVID-19 at the second US Global COVID-19 Summit
PATH joins global leaders in pledging concrete commitments to advance the goals of the Second Global COVID-19 Summit: to vaccinate the world, save lives now, and build better health security.
PATH’s commitments at the US COVID-19 Summit
To support these goals, PATH is proud to announce additional commitments, namely:
- PATH will help vaccinate the world by supporting COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. We will provide training, mentorship, and supervision to health workers tasked with vaccination and deploy and scale digital tools to track vaccination and generate demand through targeted social media campaigns. This includes a US$5 million investment to reach an estimated 20 million vaccine-hesitant individuals in 2 years.
- We will also support the development of a new affordable COVID-19 vaccine that could be manufactured in Brazil, Thailand, and Vietnam.
- To save lives now, we will work with key partners to improve oxygen delivery in 10 countries through research, innovation, policy and advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and implementation support. We will also support the creation of healthy and sustainable markets for oxygen systems to expand access to this lifesaving medicine.
- We will stand up interoperable digital systems in four countries to provide country governments with the information they need to identify and manage outbreaks, vaccination coverage, vaccine supplies and track vaccination records.
- We will advance the affordability and reliability of COVID-19 diagnostics by performing market analyses, supporting the development of new technologies, navigating regulatory processes and requirements, and performing research that drives decision-making for health system stakeholders.
- We will build better health security by using our expertise to equip world leaders with the information they need to design a better architecture for global health security.
- Finally, we will work across our global team of advocates to hold leaders accountable to their commitments and to secure political support for the establishment of a new global health security and pandemic preparedness fund as well as other policies and funding to prevent and respond to future pandemics.
Rockefeller Foundation [to 14 May 2022]
Selected Reports/Press Releases
No new digest content identified.
Sabin Vaccine Institute [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.sabin.org/updates/pressreleases
Statements and Press Releases
No new digest content identified.
UNAIDS [to 14 May 2022]
Selected Press Releases/Reports/Statements
12 May 2022
Grass-roots providers stay mobile in Ukraine
11 May 2022
11 May 2022
UNHCR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/media-centre.htmlS
Selected News Releases, Announcements
Message from the United Nations humanitarian, refugee, and development chiefs on the situation in Syria and the region
Statement by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Achim Steiner
10 May 2022
https://www.unicef.org/media/press-releases
Press Releases, News Notes, Statements [Selected]
“Children in Ukraine need an end to this war – their futures hang in the balance”
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-ukraine-need-end-war-their-futures-hang-balance
Featured News
13 May 2022
Geneva – Unitaid welcomes the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) announcement on agreements with leading generic manufacturers to make nirmatrelvir/ritonavir available to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) at under US$25 per treatment course. The agreements also settle on production guarantee and allocation capacity for 4.5 million treatment courses per month for LMICs.
Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 treatment — a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir tablets sold under the name Paxlovid — was strongly recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) last month, based on evidence on prevention of hospitalization and death for mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients at high risk of developing severe forms of the disease, when administered in early stages of the infection.
These agreements represent an important step in the global COVID-19 response, building on the groundwork Unitaid and partners of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator’s therapeutics pillar have laid to ensure equitable, rapid and affordable access to new treatment options. Focused efforts are aimed at introducing those treatments in LMICs alongside adequate testing to realize the promise of test-and-treat strategies in decentralized settings…
12 May 2022
[See Milestones above for detail]
Vaccine Equity Cooperative [nee Initiative] [to 14 May 2022]
News
No new digest content identified.
Vaccination Acceptance & Demand Initiative [Sabin) [to 14 May 2022]
https://www.vaccineacceptance.org/
Announcements, Blog
No new digest content identified.
Vaccine Confidence Project [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.vaccineconfidence.org/
News, Research and Reports
No new digest content identified.
Vaccine Education Center – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center
No new digest content identified.
Wellcome Trust [to 14 May 2022]
News. Opinion, Reports
No new digest content identified.
The Wistar Institute [to 14 May 2022]
https://www.wistar.org/news/press-releases
No new digest content identified.
WFPHA: World Federation of Public Health Associations [to 14 May 2022]
Latest News – Blog
May 11, 2022
Joint Statement on the Special Session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for EuropeThe World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), the European Public Health Association…
World Bank [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/all
Context Priority Areas Country Examples Resources Context Menstrual Health and Hygiene (MHH) is essential to the well-being and empowerment of women and adolescent girls. On any given day, over 800…
Date: May 12, 2022 Type: Brief
Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass at the 2nd Global COVID-19 Summit
Good morning, afternoon, and evening to colleagues around the world. This Summit is timely. COVID-19 and its consequences remain ever present. The World Bank Group is working hard to…
Date: May 12, 2022 Type: Speeches and Transcripts
Responding to COVID-19 by Advancing Social Safety Nets in Liberia
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated poverty and threatened livelihoods in Liberia. The need to respond to this challenge spurred the expansion and digitization of the government’s ongoing cash transfer program. The Liberia Social Safety Nets Project launched the government’s first-ever urban cash transfer program. It provided emergency cash transfers for close to 15,000 households living in vulnerable communities in the Greater Monrovia area, which had recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Liberia. These households received the cash transfers in their mobile wallet accounts. Importantly, up to 70 percent of cash recipients were women.
Date: May 10, 2022 Type: Result Brief
World Customs Organization – WCO [to 14 May 2022]
Latest News
No new digest content identified.
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) [to 14 May 2022]
Press Releases, Statements
No new digest content identified.
WTO – World Trade Organisation [to 14 May 2022]
http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news_e.htm
WTO News and Events [Selected]
DG Okonjo-Iweala shares views with international agency heads on key issues ahead of MC12
12 May 2022
In meetings this week with the heads of leading UN System international agencies, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that cooperation on trade would be critical to addressing global challenges such as high food prices and the ongoing pandemic and urged them to support WTO members’ efforts to deliver results at the upcoming 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), to be held between 12-15 June 2022 in Geneva.
WTO Members welcome Quad document as basis for text-based negotiations on pandemic IP response
10 May 2022
[See Milestones above for detail]
DG Okonjo-Iweala urges WTO members to “meet the many challenges of our time”
9 May 2022
Speaking to a meeting of the General Council on 9 May, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on WTO members to step up efforts to deliver substantive outcomes at the organization’s upcoming 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva on 12-15 June.
::::::
ARM [Alliance for Regenerative Medicine] [to 14 May 2022]
Selected Press Releases
No new digest content identified.
BIO [to 14 May 2022]
https://www.bio.org/press-releases
Press Release
BIO Response to Second Global COVID-19 Summit
Scientists stand ready, once again, to help world leaders increase access to critical vaccines and therapies
May 12, 2022
The White House today hosted world leaders and key public and private sector partners at the second Global COVID-19 Summit, a virtual event. Following the conversation, Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, President and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), made the following remarks:
“For the last two years, the scientists within the life sciences industry have worked tirelessly to develop therapeutics and vaccines to fight COVID-19 and save lives. In addition to creating these lifesaving treatments, we have worked with key partners – including governments, NGOs, and more – to promote greater vaccine equity and access around the world.
“We have made a lot of progress in this effort. In 2021 alone, companies produced more than 11 billion doses of COVID vaccines, enough to give two shots to every adult on the planet. We anticipate that number jumping to 18.6 billion by the end of this year.
“However, as has been made clear at today’s Second COVID-19 Summit, there is still work to be done to help overcome global vaccine hesitancy and to ensure countries around the globe have the health care infrastructure they need to get more shots in arms.
“BIO is encouraged by the recommitment of global leaders, including the United States, to strengthen COVID-19 response efforts. The scientists within the life sciences industry stand ready, once again, to help achieve this critical goal of increasing access to vaccines and therapeutics.”
DCVMN – Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturers Network [to 14 May 2022]
No new digest content identified.
ICBA – International Council of Biotechnology Associations [to 14 May 2022]
https://internationalbiotech.org/news/
News
No new digest content identified.
http://www.ifpma.org/resources/news-releases/
Selected Press Releases, Statements, Publications
Open Letter on ACT-A Therapeutics and Ongoing Roadblocks to Enhancing Access
10 May 2022
[See COVID Perspectives above for detail]
IFPMA statement on Quad’s Outcome Document on TRIPS
10 May 2022
[See COVID 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 14 May 2022]
https://www.iapo.org.uk/news/topic/6
Press and media [Selected]
No new digest content identified.
PhRMA [to 14 May 2022]
Latest News [Selected]
No new digest content identified.
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 