Ukraine woos vaccine-wary with cash incentive
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that people will be offered a cash incentive to get double-vaccinated against Covid-19 in a bid to boost the country's low inoculation rate.
"Everyone who has had two doses will be able to receive 1,000 hryvnias" or around 35 euros ($40), Zelenksy said in video message, a sizeable sum for the citizens of one of Europe's poorest countries and where fewer than a third of the population has been fully vaccinated.
The money could be used to buy a sports club membership, tickets for the cinema, theatre or a museum, or go towards a train or plane ticket for a journey within Ukraine, the president said.
"These are the sectors that have been hardest hit by the lockdowns," Zelenksy said.
The government is expected to approve 200 million euros in the coming months for the scheme which will be launched on December 19.
The former Soviet republic recorded 442 deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours on Monday, the second-highest number of new deaths in the world after Russia, which reported 1,211.
The country of 45 million people is currently experiencing its worst-ever wave of the pandemic, driven mainly by the more infectious Delta variant and a high degree of vaccine scepticism among the population.
Authorities have tried to boost the vaccination by imposing restrictions on people who are not vaccinated, such as the requirement for a vaccine certificate for some public spaces.
But according to health ministry data, only 28 percent of Ukrainians have received two vaccine doses.
"We have passed the peak of this wave" of the pandemic, Zelensky nevertheless insisted.
In all, Ukraine has recorded 3.2 million cases since the start of the pandemic and more than 77,000 deaths.
Pharma giants Sanofi and GSK said on July 29, 2020, that they have agreed to supply Britain with up to 60 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The agreement covers a vaccine candidate developed by France's Sanofi in partnership with the UK's GSK and is subject to a "final contract."
This thread collects some of the major developments in the search for a vaccine to ease the new coronavirus pandemic. (Main photo by AFP/Joel Saget)
As negotiations towards a new pandemic treaty pick up pace, observers warn of watered-down efforts to ensure equitable access to the medical products needed to battle future Covid-like threats.
Shaken by the pandemic, the World Health Organization's 194 member states are negotiating an international accord aimed at ensuring countries are better equipped to deal with the next catastrophe, or even prevent it altogether.
The process is still in the early stages, with the aim of reaching an agreement by May 2024.
But critics warn that revisions being made to the preliminary negotiating text are weakening the language -- notably in a key area aimed at preventing the rampant inequity seen in access to vaccines and other medical products during the Covid pandemic.
"I think it is a real step backwards," Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told AFP. — AFP
Africa's first mRNA vaccine hub is ceremonially launched on Thursday to acclaim from the UN's global health chief, who hailed it as a historic shift to help poor countries gain access to life-saving jabs.
The facility was set up in the South African city of Cape Town in 2021 on the back of the success of revolutionary anti-Covid vaccines introduced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
"This precious project... will bring a paradigm shift in addressing the serious problem we faced, the equity problem, during the pandemic, so (that) it's not repeated again," World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells a media briefing to mark the inauguration. — AFP
China has approved its first locally developed messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine against Covid-19, its manufacturer said Wednesday, months after the relaxation of strict Covid-zero regulations sparked a surge in cases.
The vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, has been approved for "emergency use" by Beijing's health regulator, the company said in a statement.
It showed high efficacy in a trial in which it was used as a booster shot for people who have been given other types of vaccines, the company added, without offering further details. — AFP
COVID-19 vaccine maker Novavax raises doubts about its ability to continue its business, announcing plans to cut spending after struggles in rolling out its coronavirus jab.
Shares of Novavax plummeted 25 percent in extended trading, after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates.
While the firm should have enough money to fund operations, the situation is "subject to significant uncertainty," it says in a statement. — AFP
The protection against Covid-19 from being previously infected lasts at least as long as that offered by vaccination, one of the largest studies conducted on the subject says.
Ten months after getting Covid, people still had an 88% lower risk of reinfection, hospitalisation and death, according to the study published in the Lancet journal.
That makes this natural immunity "at least as durable, if not more so" than two doses of Pfizer or Moderna's vaccines, the study says.
The authors nevertheless emphasized that their findings should not discourage vaccination, which remains the safest way to get immunity. — AFP
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