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Weekly Roundup
Why UK missed warning signals on AstraZeneca vaccine
Early in March, some four weeks after the first AstraZeneca vaccine was administered in Europe, The Daily Telegraph reports that little signals – like...
Industries suffer as India keeps oxygen supplies for hospitals
India has barred the supply of oxygen to many industries to meet rising demand from hospitals which are under pressure from a surge in...
WHO report highlights lack of progress towards new antibiotics
The latest antibiotic pipeline analysis from the World Health Organisation (WHO) concludes that there has been little progress made in efforts to develop new,...
Oxford scientists hopeful for successful trial of malaria jab
The scientists who developed the University of Oxford coronavirus jab are hopeful that their vaccine against malaria will be able to bring the mosquito-borne...
A year before population immunity is reached — Mkhize
It’ll take a year for South Africa to reach COVID-19 population immunity – and age will be a central factor in deciding who gets...
Some Eastern Cape doctors 'faking' health certificates for initiations
The knives are out for doctors in Buffalo City accused of cheating in the war against initiation deaths by issuing questionable health certificates to...
Only national government can buy J&J vaccine — SAHPRA
South Africa’s medicines regulator has confirmed that one of the conditions attached to its approval of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine restricts its...
Botswana probes 2 deaths following AstraZeneca inoculations
Botswana is investigating the deaths of two elderly people who had been given doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to see if there is any...
Zimbabwe smugglers sell birth control pills illicitly in SA
With long queues at clinics in South Africa and COVID-19 restrictions, women struggling to access health services are turning to an illicit market for...
Nearly 40% of US Marines decline COVID-19 vaccine
Nearly 40% of US Marines who have been offered the COVID-19 vaccine have declined it, rising to 57% at one base USA Today reports...
Mkhize outlines planned vaccine compensation fund
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine compensation fund is well under way. Beeld reports that Mkhize gave some detail...
Pilot study looks at feasibility of SA using mobile X-rays to test for TB
One of the key recommendations from the National TB Prevalence Survey is to increase “access to TB screening and testing services through outreach programmes...
Lack of ethnic diversity among donors a problem for SA Bone Marrow Registry
A lack of ethnic diversity among donors, coupled with cultural myths, have led to a paucity of bone marrow donors, resulting in hundreds of...
Practitioner outcry over HPCSA fee increase of 15%
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has gazetted a 15% annual fee increase for doctors and dentists amid an outcry over an “insensitive”...
AHRI director: SA govt's vaccine critics guilty of using 'retrospectroscope'
Leading vaccinologist Professor Willem Hanekom has added his voice to those defending the government’s acquisition and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which has been criticised...
Anglican Archbishop criticises government's vaccine rollout in Easter sermon
Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has criticised government's vaccination programme, saying the poor would be left behind to suffer in the COVID-19 pandemic, reports News24....
Public Protector: EC Health followed improper procurement process in scooter saga
The Public Protector has found the Eastern Cape Health Department did not follow due process in procuring medical scooters for R10m to transport patients,...
Public Protector: Eastern Cape MEC cleared of nepotism over COVID accommodation
There was no improper conduct by Eastern Cape Transport, Safety & Liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe in the awarding of contracts to her relatives for...
More than 20% of COVID deaths at some UK hospitals follow on ward infections
More than a fifth of the COVID deaths at some hospitals occurred after patients caught infections on wards, The Daily Telegraph reports. Freedom of...
Argentina's president tests positive despite taking Sputnik V vaccine
The president of Argentina has announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19 despite being vaccinated. CNN reports that he said he'd take the...
US CDC updates travel guidance for vaccinated persons
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its travel guidelines to say people who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 can safely...
British GPs: 'Rather in-person consultations than call centre approach'
Many GPs find telephone appointments with patients frustrating and want to see them in person because they fear they will otherwise miss signs of...
Vaccine MAC announces its 3 recommended COVID-19 vaccines
The Health Department has announced that the vaccine Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) has recommended three COVID-19 vaccines that should be considered for implementation.
IoL reports...
MRC: Eastern Cape COVID-19 deaths 'vastly underestimated'
The Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal have had the highest proportion of deaths from COVID-19 cases to date, with case fatality rates exceeding...
Specialist vacancy rate in the Eastern Cape close to 50%
Eastern Cape Health MEC, Nomakhosazana Meth, admitted to the provincial legislature that specialist units had a vacancy rate of close to 50% – but...
UK regulator gives go-ahead to 20-second COVID-19 test
A 20-second COVID-19 test will launch in Britain after regulators accepted its registration, Reuters reports the product’s distributor said, heralding a testing system it...
WHO: Africa urgently needs more COVID-19 vaccine before third-wave hits
Africa urgently needs more COVID-19 vaccine supplies as deliveries begin to slow down and initial batches are nearly exhausted in some countries. The continent...
CMS survey: Medical scheme members divided over funding vaccines for others
Only half of South Africa’s medical scheme members back a government proposal that they help fund COVID-19 vaccines for non-members. BusinessLIVE reports that the...
China offers 5m doses of Sinovac Biotech vaccine to SA
Chinese coronavirus vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech has offered to supply the government with 5m doses of its CoronaVac shot, which could be provided within...
Thailand's airport dogs 95% successful at sniffing out COVID-19
Researchers in Thailand have successfully trained six sniffer Labrador retrievers as part of a six-month pilot project to identify the coronavirus in just two...
COVID-19 plus endemic problems push Eastern Cape Health to the edge
With clinical departments in the Eastern Cape’s hospitals battling severe and dangerous staff shortages, doctors are doubling up as porters and general assistants, wards...
Global database for research to examine link between COVID-19 and diabetes
A cohort of scientists from across the world believe that there is a growing body of evidence that COVID-19 can cause diabetes in some...
Mhize: Sale of Astra Zeneca vaccine to AU completed
The national Health Department has announced that the sale of the million AstraZeneca vaccine doses to the AU has been concluded, reports TimesLIVE. The...
Rwanda leaves SA standing in vaccination race
Rwanda has vaccinated 140 000 people in two days, while South Africa has vaccinated the same number of people in three weeks, reports News24.
A...
Mkhize: Nursing shortages and budget cuts to blame for unfilled posts at hospitals
Budget cuts and the shortage of specialist nurses have left some of the country’s hospitals with hundreds of unfilled critical posts. The Star reports...
State laboratory begs provincial health departments to pay bills on time
The state laboratory has urged provincial health departments to pay their bills on time, warning that even a 10% drop in revenue would compromise...
Mkhize: 'No plans' to appoint GEMS administrator of NHI
The government has no plans to appoint the corruption-hit Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) as administrator of the National Health Insurance (NHI). GEMS has...
SA vaccinating 'as fast as possible' but likely to miss targets
A lack of transparency and bad planning on the part of the government has led South Africa to being at the back of COVID-19...
Some experiencing side-effects from J&J vaccine
From numb arms, shortness of breath and developing mouth ulcers, IoL reports that these are some of the side effects some healthcare workers say...
Only slight increase in alcohol related admissions to private hospitals
South Africa has seen an increase in hospital admissions as a result of accidents and crime since the move to lockdown level 1, according...