COVID-19

The United States is sending more than 3.5 million doses of the two-shot Pfizer vaccine to Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, a White House official told VOA on Tuesday. “We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions,” the official said. “Our vaccines do not come with …

Medical aid groups are welcoming plans by U.S. drug maker Moderna to build a plant for manufacturing vaccines in Africa. The groups say the plant, the first from a company making a COVID-19 vaccine, will help in fighting vaccine inequality.  African countries are facing a shortfall of nearly 500 million …

Hunger and food insecurity across the United States have dropped measurably over the past six months, but the need remains far above pre-pandemic levels. And specialists in hunger issues warn that the situation for millions of families remains extremely fragile.  An Associated Press review of bulk distribution numbers from hundreds …

A report produced by the British parliament says a state of “groupthink” among government officials led to a costly delay in ordering a nationwide lockdown in the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The 151-page report from the joint science and health committees in the House of Commons says Prime …

he coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on many people’s mental health, especially among vulnerable groups like refugees. In Kenya’s urban refugee camps, aid agencies are trying to help people cope with anxiety and depression. Brenda Mulinya reports.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the South Pacific island nation is at “one of the most challenging moments in the COVID-19 pandemic” as lockdown restrictions in Auckland are extended by at least a week. Forty-three new community cases of COVID-19 were reported Tuesday in New Zealand. The number of infections might be small compared to other countries, but …

A group of World Health Organization experts is calling for 70 percent of the global population to be fully vaccinated by mid-2022 to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from progressing in more dangerous ways. The 15-member Strategic Advisory Group of Experts, known as SAGE, which makes recommendations to WHO on vaccine …

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Monday barring all COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the state by any entity, including private employers.  Abbott’s move sets him up for a clash with President Joe Biden, a Democrat who last month called on employers nationwide to order their workers to …

The World Health Organization is recommending that people with weakened immune systems be given a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. A panel of WHO vaccine advisers said the additional dose would help immunocompromised people because that population is less likely to respond to a standard vaccination, and they are …

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center has recorded almost 238 million global COVID infections and nearly 5 million deaths. The center said early Monday that nearly 6.5 billion vaccines have been administered worldwide.  Maori politicians say that New Zealand could be guilty of committing “modern genocide” if it goes forward …