Health

Gordon Brown urges rich countries to airlift surplus Covid vaccines to world’s poorest

Gordon Brown has called on the British government and other G20 countries to urgently arrange a military airlift of surplus Covid vaccines to poorer countries before they expire, saying it is their “moral responsibility” to do so.

The former prime minister has organised a letter from more than 160 former world leaders and global figures calling for richer countries to send 240m vaccines stored in the US, Europe and Canada to countries struggling to vaccinate their populations.

The letter is addressed to the Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, who is hosting this weekend’s G20 summit in Rome, and calls for urgent action.

Brown, who is the World Health Organization ambassador for global health financing, said about 100m of the vaccines held in the UK and other western countries would pass their expiry dates by Christmas and risk not being used at all.

“If you don’t get them out quickly, you’re going to lose them altogether,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “And I think what people hate most of all is waste. If you can save lives through getting these vaccines out, it’s a moral responsibility to do so, as well as being in our self-interest to prevent further outbreaks of new variants.”

Brown said 2% of low-income countries had been vaccinated and 5% of Africa, where only 10% of health workers had been vaccinated.

He added: “We’ve got about 240m vaccines that are stored in America, Europe, United Kingdom and Canada that are not being used, that are not needed, because we’ve accounted for vaccines for boosters and vaccines for young people and we’ve got to get them out to the people who need them to save lives.”

More than 5 million people have died from coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. Brown warned that an additional 5 million people would die from the virus if vaccines were not distributed.

He said it was not the fault of Covax, the global vaccine distribution initiative, but that it was down to G20 leaders, who have control of what happens to unused vaccines that he claimed were usually over-ordered.

He said the UK’s Covax donation of 100m vaccines was being distributed too slowly and that the government lacked urgency.

“There’s an urgency about saving lives and there’s also an urgency about preventing these vaccines passing their use-by date, and I don’t think the British government has yet realised the urgency of the problem and the need in the poorest countries,” he said.

Health

WHO sets targets to end Mpox outbreaks in Africa

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has set a target of halting mpox outbreaks in Africa within the next six months.

This announcement came as the first vaccine shipments are expected to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, in the coming days.

Africa, particularly the DRC, with over 18,000 suspected cases and 629 deaths, has received only a fraction of the vaccines to combat the virus.

At a press briefing on Monday, September 2, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed confidence in ending the outbreaks, citing strong government leadership and collaborative partnerships.

In August, WHO declared mpox outbreaks a global emergency to spur a more robust international response even though a new strain of mpox known as clade1b, has been identified in many countries, including Burundi, Cameroon, Rwanda, and Kenya.

The potentially more contagious variant of the virus was detected in Congo in May, prompting heightened concerns among health officials.

WHO estimates that approximately 230,000 vaccines could soon be sent to Congo and other affected countries. The WHO is also implementing educational campaigns to inform people in outbreak areas about preventing the spread of the disease.

Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it aims to receive 380,000 vaccine doses from donors, including the US and the EU, which falls short of the quantity required to eradicate the outbreaks.

Health

No recorded case of mpox in Ogun- Govt

The Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomo Coker, on Wednesday said the state has not recorded any case of Mpox across the 20 local government areas of the state.

She disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists in Abeokuta, saying that the state has maintained a high level of surveillance since the global outbreak in 2022.

“Mpox is a disease of public health importance and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared outbreaks of a more virulent strain in some countries. Some states in Nigeria have also reported outbreaks of Mpox,” she said.

“Ogun State Ministry of Health is aware of this public health threat and has instituted appropriate measures to prevent it, detect it early, and respond as appropriate.

“The last case of Mpox in Ogun State was in May 2023 and no confirmed case has been reported in Ogun State to date.

“As of 18th August 2024, the state surveillance system has reported 151 suspected cases of Mpox across the state but none of the suspected cases has been confirmed to be Mpox though 53 returned positive for Chicken Pox.

“We are aware of the Chicken Pox cases in the state and the necessary measures are already in place.

“Sensitization of the public on Mpox, Chickenpox, and other priority diseases is ongoing through established platforms. Therefore, there is no need to panic.”

Health

US donates 10,000 monkeypox vaccine doses to Nigeria

The United States government donated 10,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine to Nigeria to aid in the fight against monkeypox on Tuesday.

The Jynneos vaccine, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is designed to prevent smallpox and monkeypox in adults aged 18 and older who are at risk of infection.

During the official handover ceremony in Abuja, Prof. Muhammad Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, expressed gratitude to the U.S. government for the generous donation.

Represented by Permanent Secretary Daju Kachollom, Pate emphasised the Federal Government’s commitment to improving public health in Nigeria.

He said, “This is a spirit of cooperation and collaboration through the years, and this vaccine will be of great help to us.

“The Federal Ministry of Health understands the importance of having a healthy nation, so all the policies that we implement and the collaborations are focused on ensuring our citizens’ health.”

Pate also extended thanks to other development partners, including USAID, PEPFAR, WHO, UNICEF, and various UN organisations, for their continued support.

He highlighted the importance of addressing public health concerns, particularly diseases like monkeypox that pose significant risks to the population.

Monkeypox, a rare viral zoonotic disease, primarily affects remote villages in Central and West Africa near tropical rainforests.

It is caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the orthopoxvirus genus, including smallpox and cowpox.

Following the eradication of smallpox, monkeypox has become a prominent concern within the orthopoxvirus family.

On August 13, 2024, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared monkeypox a public health emergency of continental security.

As of last Friday, Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported 40 confirmed cases of monkeypox out of 830 suspected cases nationwide.