Innovation

Yoshinobu Nagamine, Senior Donor Manager at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, describes the role contactless biometrics can play in accelerating vaccine delivery for those lacking formal identification.

Hamburg street artist and former immunologist Lapiz set out to critique his fellow citizens’ rush to jump on planes after getting vaccinated. So why did the travel agency he’d chosen as his canvas thank him for it?

The pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing inequalities, not least those disadvantaging women and girls in low- and middle-income countries. Fortunately, with today’s digital technologies, those providing health information and services for girls can reach them directly and privately like never before.

The power sources used to keep vaccines cold used to be polluting and unreliable. We spoke to Alex de Jonquieres, Gavi’s Director of Health Systems and Immunisation Strengthening about how Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, became investors in solar energy.

New bioimaging technologies are pushing the boundaries of medicine. But poorer nations risk losing out on these advances. Investment in facilities and training globally is crucial to bridge the divide.

Many countries are beginning to use wastewater monitoring to track COVID-19 outbreaks, but such sewage surveillance has a long history.

In an unprecedented show of global solidarity, the world came together to back COVAX, a unique global solution aimed at making equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines possible.

A COVAX Manufacturing Task Force has been established to identify and resolve issues impeding equitable access to vaccines.

App-assisted vaccinator training is an approach that shows promise, write the team who ran a Gavi-supported pilot to trial a new screen-based learning mechanism in India. What’s more, amid the pandemic, the flexibility of learning from home, morning, noon, or night – whenever wanted – can help keep frontline health staff safe.

It is the first vaccine developed by a non-Western country to be approved by the WHO, and is welcome at a time of global vaccine shortages.