Good morning, it’s Kasmira with your global health news and today we’re covering Covid-19 vaccine tactics as countries ponder how to put their limited supplies to best use.

More vaccines could soon be on their way after the EU gave Moderna’s vaccine the green light. Plus, in what is far from being a comedy of errors, World Health Organization officials have been denied entry into China.

Kasmira Jefford

07.01.2021

Today’s reason for hope

Photo article

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 30 December 2020. Credit: AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko

Argentina legalises abortion. At the end of 2020, Argentina became only the third country in South America to legalise elective abortions in a ground-breaking move for the region that has long opposed the practice on religious grounds. Argentinian Giselle Carino, and director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, recounts the generations of women that have donned their handkerchiefs in Plaza de Mayo, in Buenos Aires and across the country over the years to fight for women’s rights.

The Guardian (EN)

Global Health News

💉 Lack of evidence to support UK 12-week delay of vaccine second dose, says WHO. As countries mull how to get more vaccine jabs into more arms, the World Health Organization said that it doesn't recommend delaying the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by more than six weeks. The UK plans to wait twice as long.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

💉 EU approves Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, becoming the second coronavirus vaccine to be approved for use in the bloc. The move comes after the EU drugs regulator earlier on Wednesday recommended authorisation.

CNN (EN)

🇨🇳 WHO team investigating virus turned away by China in last-minute foul-up over visas. One member is now returning home, while the second remains stuck in transit in a third country. Eight other members of the team were told to delay their departures altogether, WHO confirmed on Tuesday.

Health Policy Watch (EN)

Here's what else is happening

UN Security Council members clash at first meeting of the year over Syrian chemical weapons sanctions.
Geneva Solutions (EN)
Gustave Moynier, at the service of the ICRC and...the Leopoldian Congo. A look at the underside of Switzerland’s contribution to colonial enterprises.
Le Temps (FR)
UN condemns two separate attacks in northern Syria that killed and injured several civilians.
ReliefWeb (EN)
More variant Covid-19 carriers detected in Switzerland. Some 28 people have tested positive for mutated strains of the virus.
Swissinfo (EN)
India set to cull tens of thousands of birds after an outbreak of deadly avian flu kills scores of birds across the country.
Al Jazeera (EN)
Pakistani court outlaws ‘humilitating’ virginity tests for female rape survivors.
The Guardian (EN)
Geneva could be ready to welcome Julian Assange. Environmental deputy Jean Rossiaud has been fighting for the canton to offer him the possibility of treatment.
France24 (EN)
‘An unwanted prison sentence’ for hundreds of thousands of seafarers stuck at home and stranded at sea.
UN News (EN)
India frequently changing tariffs creates trade uncertainties, the World Trade Organization said in its latest policy review.
The Hindu BusinessLine (EN)

Graphic of the day

Next on the agenda

11 - 15 January | Time to restore WHO as a directing global health authority? Ahead of the next WHO executive board session, the Geneva Global Health Hub’s (G2H2) series of online briefings will debate how it can live up to its mandate.

G2H2 (EN)

12 January | The Great Protein Debate. Experts discuss the role of protein in our food systems ahead of the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit.

GAIN (EN)

28 January | Security and the pandemic. The new online workshop series “anthropologies and securities in the pandemic” will explore the topic of security amid health, social, political and other crises.

IHEID (EN)

GS news is a new media project covering the world of international cooperation and development. Don’t hesitate to forward our newsletter!

Have a good day!

Avenue du Bouchet 2
1209 Genève
Suisse