Devex: 4 out of 5 Africans would take a COVID-19 vaccine: Africa CDC survey “About 80% of Africans surveyed said they were willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine once it’s publicly available and deemed safe and effective. Of those that said they would not take a vaccine, safety was the…

NPR: China Has A Theory About Its New COVID-19 Cases. Many Scientists Are Skeptical “China now reports few to none domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases — only 12 cases were reported on Dec. 15. But a flurry of recent cases has Chinese public health officials worried. They claim that the cases…

FDA: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Antigen Test as First Over-the-Counter Fully At-Home Diagnostic Test for COVID-19 “… ‘Today’s authorization is a major milestone in diagnostic testing for COVID-19. By authorizing a test for over-the-counter use, the FDA allows it to be sold in places like drug stores, where a…

New York Times: New At-Home Covid Test Gets Green Light From FDA “The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued an emergency authorization for the country’s first coronavirus test that can run from start to finish at home without the need for a prescription. People as young as 2 years…

AP: A pandemic atlas: How COVID-19 took over the world in 2020 “Almost no place has been spared — and no one. The virus that first emerged a year ago in Wuhan, China, swept across the world in 2020, leaving havoc in its wake. More than any event in memory,…

Devex: At WTO, a battle for access to COVID-19 vaccines “High-income countries appear to be maneuvering to avoid a showdown at the World Trade Organization’s General Council meeting, beginning Wednesday, over a proposal to temporarily waive intellectual property protections for all COVID-19 vaccines and other technologies. With the United Kingdom,…

Financial Times: U.K. warns of threat from new Covid-19 variant “A new variant of coronavirus has been identified in the U.K. that could be contributing to a rapid rise in infections in some parts of the country. Researchers were urgently investigating whether the new strain was more transmissible than previous…

The Global Fund: Canada Contributes CAD 65 million to Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response “The Global Fund applauds the government of Canada for allocating CAD 65 million to the Global Fund’s efforts to support low- and middle-income countries to fight COVID-19, including procuring and deploying millions of COVID-19 rapid diagnostics tests…

AP: Families marry off daughters to ease finances amid COVID-19 (Larson, 12/14). AP: Eswatini leader dies of virus amid new wave in South Africa (Magome, 12/14). AP: Italy surpasses U.K. for worst COVID-19 death toll in Europe (D’Emilio, 12/13). AP: COVID-19 runs unchecked in Pakistan’s overcrowded prisons (Gannon, 12/13). AP:…

Bloomberg: Nigeria Plans to Approve Covid-19 Vaccine Early Next Year “Nigeria expects to license by April one of the vaccines under development globally for Covid-19, the West African nation’s drugs regulator said. … Africa’s most-populous country also expects to benefit from the World Health Organization-backed Covax initiative, which is working…