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Researchers at a South African biotechnology company say they have nearly created a copy of Moderna’s messenger-RNA-based vaccine against COVID-19, without Moderna’s involvement. The company, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, in Cape Town, has made only microlitres of the vaccine, based on data that Moderna used to make its shot. But the achievement is a milestone for a major initiative launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) — a technology transfer hub meant to build capacity for vaccine manufacturing in low- and middle-income countries. (2/3)

South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics & Vaccines Ltd. said it has made a Covid-19 vaccine that matches the one by Moderna Inc. after that company rebuffed it in its request for a partnership. Afrigen, part of the World Health Organization’s mRNA technology transfer hub in Cape Town, obtained the publicly available sequence of the Moderna shot from Stanford University and has now made its own version, Petro Terblanche, the managing director of Afrigen, said. (Sguazzin, 2/4)

Africa is short of at least $1.29 billion to fund the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization said, citing data from 40 of the continent’s 54 countries. Only 11% of the continent’s 1.2 billion people are fully vaccinated and the weekly pace of vaccination needs to rise sixfold to hit a target of having 70% of the population inoculated by the middle of this year, the WHO said in a statement on Thursday. Currently six million Africans are being vaccinated weekly. (Sguazzin, 2/3)

A sub-variant of the omicron coronavirus strain, known as BA.2, is spreading rapidly in South Africa and may cause a second surge of infections in the current wave, one of the country’s top scientists said. BA.2 is causing concern as studies show that it appears to be more transmissible than the original omicron strain, the discovery of which was announced by South Africa and Botswana in November. Research also shows that getting a mild infection with either of the two strains may not give a robust enough immune response to protect against another omicron infection. There’s no indication that the sub-variant causes more severe disease from infection surges seen in Denmark and the U.K. (Sguazzin, 2/2)

The director of the World Health Organization’s Europe office said Thursday that coronavirus deaths are starting to plateau and the continent faces a “plausible endgame” to the pandemic. Dr. Hans Kluge said there is a “singular opportunity” for countries across Europe to take control of COVID-19 transmission as a result of three factors: high levels of immunization because of vaccination and natural infection, the virus’s tendency to spread less in warmer weather and the lower severity of the omicron variant. Data in the U.S. is similar to the data from Europe, providing similar hope. “This period of higher protection should be seen as a cease-fire that could bring us enduring peace,” Kluge said. (Bacon, Ortiz and Tebor, 2/3)

It is becoming the mantra of 2022, the most optimistic formulation for the end of the pandemic — less ambitious than “stop covid” but more than “flatten the curve.” The world, we are told, must learn to “live with the virus.” But what “live with the virus” means may depend on where you live. ... Health experts have warned against declaring that moment too soon. But many countries in Europe, where vaccination rates are high and hospitalizations through the omicron wave have been manageable, think they will get there before the United States does. (Noack, Rolfe and Booth, 2/3)

Direct international flights to Bali have resumed for the first time in two years as Indonesia opens the resort island to foreign travelers from all countries, but mandatory quarantine remains in place for all visitors. Officials had said in October that Bali would welcome foreign arrivals from 19 countries that meet World Health Organization criteria, such as having their COVID-19 cases under control. But there were no direct international flights to Bali until Thursday, when Garuda Indonesia operated its first such flight in two years from Tokyo. (Lisnawati, 2/4)

Austria is the first Western democracy to mandate Covid vaccinations for nearly its entire adult population, a once-unthinkable move that is being seen as a test case for other countries grappling with pockets of vaccine resistance. The sweeping measure, which easily cleared its final parliamentary hurdle on Thursday when it was approved by lawmakers in Austria’s upper house, will be signed into law as soon as Friday by President Alexander Van der Bellen of Austria. (Bennhold, 2/4)

For citizens of a country where aids, dysentery and road traffic accidents rank among the top ten causes of death, it is difficult to get worked up about a newfangled ailment like covid-19. And when friends and family appear more scared of vaccination than of infection itself—when they say that a jab is a one-way ticket to hell—it is perhaps natural to resist getting inoculated. Little surprise then that Papua New Guinea, a desperately poor corner of the world, has the lowest vaccination rate in Asia and among the lowest in the world. Just 3.3% of the population has received even a single dose. (2/4)

Teachers fear children have become “feral”, suffer “extreme” separation anxiety and struggle to play football with others as a result of the pandemic disrupting their education, ministers have been told. MPs raised concerns shared by teachers in their constituencies as they debated the Government’s education catch-up and mental health recovery programmes. Time spent learning at home rather than in classroom due to Covid-19 restrictions has disrupted the development of youngsters, the Commons heard. (2/3)