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,…

The Guardian: Australia’s initial vaccine rollout unlikely to stop Covid transmission, study finds (Davey, 12/14). The Hill: U.S. begins COVID-19 vaccinations in moment of hope (Hellmann, 12/14). The Hill: Health official warns Brazil may not get mass vaccinations until March (Coleman, 12/14). New York Times: ‘Playing With Lives’: Brazil’s Covid…

Nature: COVID and 2020: An extraordinary year for science “One event dominated in 2020: a deadly and previously unknown virus wreaked havoc across the globe, killing more than 1.5 million people, infecting many more, and causing economic devastation. And although there were other newsworthy research developments in 2020, the pandemic…

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…

U.S. Department of State: Vice President Pence Leads a Vaccine Distribution Roundtable During a roundtable discussion, Vice President Pence discusses progress on and the upcoming distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine (12/10).

Reuters: WTO delays decision on waiver on COVID-19 drug, vaccine rights “World Trade Organization members on Thursday delayed a decision on a proposal to waive intellectual property rules for COVID-19 drugs and vaccines amid ongoing opposition from wealthy countries, a Geneva trade official said. ‘Big Pharma’ has rejected an idea…

Global Citizen: Countries Around the World Need to Prioritize Policy Change to Tackle HIV: Report Khanyi Mlaba, writer and editor at Global Citizen, discusses findings from a recently released HIV Policy Lab report “that details how different countries’ HIV policies compare to the international standard.” Mlaba writes, “The HIV Policy…