Europe pause of AstraZeneca sends ripple of doubt elsewhere
The East African country has received 864,000 AstraZeneca doses via COVAX so far but had administered fewer than 3,000 by Tuesday. Even before the latest debate over AstraZeneca, vaccine skepticism had been a concern across the world, as many people are hesitant about shots developed in record time. โWe will continue the inoculations,โ said Lia Tadesse, health minister of Ethiopia, which received 2.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week. The eroding confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine only compounds the difficulties Africa will face in rolling out their inoculation campaigns. That means confusion like that caused by the pause in AstraZeneca across Europe can be hard to iron out.
Africa welcomes COVAX doses but warns against โselfishnessโ
โItโs a concern, and everyone is talking about it.โThe East African nation of 45 million people was receiving under 1 million vaccine doses โ 864,000. Itโs the first batch of a total of 18 million COVAX doses for Uganda, but when all will arrive is not known. While the COVAX initiative was created to ensure that low- and middle-income countries receive COVID-19 vaccines, it has faced delays and limited supply. And Nigeria began its vaccination campaign after Africaโs most populous country received almost 4 million doses. AdThe COVAX delays have pushed other African countries to seek more doses elsewhere, including via bilateral deals that can be unfavorable.
Uganda says president wins 6th term as vote-rigging alleged
A supporter of Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni celebrates in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday Jan. 16, 2021, after their candidate was declared winner of the presidential elections. Ugandas electoral commission says longtime President Yoweri Museveni has won a sixth term, while top opposition challenger Bobi Wine alleges rigging and officials struggle to explain how polling results were compiled amid an internet blackout. The self-described โghetto presidentโ had strong support in urban centers where frustration with unemployment and corruption is high. He said he won't leave Uganda and abandon its 45 million people to the kind of treatment he has faced. In response to his allegations of vote-rigging, Ugandaโs electoral commission said Wine should prove it.
Uganda opposition leader Bobi Wine says military enters home
Uganda's leading opposition challenger Bobi Wine walks back to his residence after giving a press conference outside Kampala, Uganda, Friday,Jan. Ugandas electoral commission says President Yoweri Museveni leads in Thursdays election with results in from 29% of polling stations. He has 63% of ballots while top opposition candidate Bobi Wine has 28%. The electoral commission said Wine should prove his allegations of rigging. The electoral commission said it โmay not be ableโ to provide details of where the published results are from.
Tanzania's Magufuli accepts official results of reelection
DODOMA โ Tanzania's populist President John Magufuli has accepted the official certification of his victory in the East African country's election last week. Magufuli, 61, was declared the winner with 12.5 million votes, or 84% of votes cast, and is to be sworn into his second term in a ceremony on Thursday. โDuring the election there were a few challenges but generally the election was safe and peaceful,โ said Magufuli in a statement Sunday. In his first five-year term, Magufuli has been criticized for reducing democratic freedoms in Tanzania, one of Africa's most populous countries with 60 million people. Allegations include the rejection of thousands of election observers, a massive slowdown in internet and text-messaging services and ballot box stuffing.
Limited COVID-19 testing? Researchers in Rwanda have an idea
Nurses collect the data of people about to get tested for COVID-19 at a testing center in the capital Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Pooled testing conserves scarce testing materials. Sema Sgaier, a Harvard assistant professor of global health, called the Rwanda approach an example of the incredible solutions in very resource-poor settings that have come out of the continent. Some experts, and even the researchers, have noted concerns that the complexity of the approach could deter its widespread use. I want a simple scheme,' Sigrun Smola, a molecular virologist at Saarland University Medical Center in Germany, told the journal Nature in a recent article on Rwanda's and other approaches to pooled testing.