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Combined Vaccine Manufacturing capacity to hit 6.8 billion doses in 2021
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Business News
Inflation rate jumps to 11.85% as border closure bites harder
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics reveal Nigeria’s inflation rate rose year on year to 11.85% in the month of November 2019 the highest rise since April 2018.
According to the bureau, increases were recorded in all subsets of the consumer price indexes as the effects of the border closure continue to bite hard on the economy.
Food inflation: A closely watched component of the inflation index, rose by 14.48% in the month under review compared to 14.09% in October 2019. This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of Bread, Cereals, Oils and fats, Meat, Potatoes, yam and other tubers, and Fish.
Food inflation rose by 1.25 percent in November 2019, down by 0.08 percent points from 1.33 percent recorded in October 2019.
All Items: The ”All items less farm produce” or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce also rose 8.99% in November 2019, up by 0.11% when compared with 8.88 percent recorded in October 2019. On month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 0.79 percent in November 2019.
What drove inflation: Inflation for the month of November was also driven by increases in prices of Cleaning, Repair and hire of clothing, hospital services, hairdressing saloons, and personal grooming establishment, Glassware, tableware, and household utensils,
vehicle spare parts, Repair and hire of footwear, Shoes and other footwear, Clothing materials, other articles of clothing and clothing accessories, Medical services and Passenger transport by air.
Other factors: As Nigerians continue to grapple with the effects of the border closure, the fast-approaching Christmas holiday is also piling pressure on the prices of essential goods and services. Nigerians typically spend the most towards the end of the year particularly on household items such as food, fashion and gift items.
Economy & Politics
Uganda Elections: Museveni re-elected for 6th term with 58.6% of the votes
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Coronavirus
Combined Vaccine Manufacturing capacity to hit 6.8 billion doses in 2021
COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity is expected to hit 6.8 billion doses in 2021.
Meristem Group disclosed that the combined effort in manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines for global use is expected to yield about 6.8 billion doses in 2021.
This was revealed in the Annual Outlook 2021 report presented by Meristem Group, titled “Bracing for a different future.”
According to the report, the existing manufacturing capacity will only be sufficient enough to immunize about 44% of the global population, which would create obvious vaccination gap and make the pandemic last longer than necessary.
The report states,
- “The cold temperature requirements for vaccine storage pose major logistics concern particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and other low-income countries. WHO estimates that about 50% of vaccines are wasted every year, largely due to a lack of temperature control.”
According to the report, the estimated 6.8billion doses are expected to be collaboratively manufactured as follows: CanSino – 0.2billion, AstraZeneca – 3.0 billion, Gamaleya – 0.3billion, Moderna – 0.4billion, Pfizer-BioNtech – 1.3billion, SinoPharm – 1billion, and SinoVac – 0.6billion.
What you should know
- The global population as of 2020 is 7.8billion and 70% is required to achieve herd immunity (otherwise called herd protection)
- Herd Immunity or herd protection is achieved when you have most of the population immunized against an infectious disease.
- 2 doses of the vaccines are required for each person for immunity.
- It is expected that between 11 and 15 billion doses would be required to achieve the desired herd immunity, globally.
- From all indications, herd immunity may not be achieved until mid or late 2022, with the subsisting 100% vaccine production capacity utilization in 2021 – with neither production nor distribution losses.
- To achieve regulatory approval, a vaccine must undergo a three-stage clinical development process after the exploratory and pre-clinical stages and the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets a phase 3 efficacy benchmark of 50%.
Coronavirus
Covid-19: Global deaths surpass 2 million
Global casualty record for the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 2 million deaths on Friday.
The Global casualty record for the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 2 million deaths on Friday, with the United States accounting for 1 in every 5 deaths, as it has recorded over 386,000 casualties so far.
This was disclosed in a report by Reuters in its Covid-19 tally reported on Friday evening.
After the United States, Brazil, Mexico, India and the U.K contribute nearly 50% of the combined casualties.
The report also disclosed that an average of 11,900 casualties are recorded per day in year 2021, despite the fact that it took 9 months for the world to record 1 million casualties.
United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said the 2 million death count was “a heart-wrenching milestone.”
- “Behind this staggering number are names and faces: the smile now only a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one,” he added.
The WHO warned that 2021 could be tougher due to the nature of new variants which transmit the disease faster.
- “We are going into a second year of this. It could even be tougher given the transmission dynamics and some of the issues that we are seeing,” WHO Chief, Mike Ryan, said.
Analysts expect the global death toll to surpass 3 million by April 2021.
What you should know
- Nairametrics reported that the total number of covid-19 cases in Nigeria had surpassed the 100,000 mark on Sunday 10th January 2021, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
- The African Union stated that it secured 270 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for the continent from drug manufacturers to supplement the COVAX programme, a step towards the commencement of the complex task of vaccinating over 1.2 billion people with limited financial resources.
- The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Friday 15th January 2021, announced that 1,867 new cases of the covid-19 virus were recorded across 24 states in the country. This represents the highest number of cases recorded in a single day.
