Morning Briefing

"For too long, there has been an unwritten rule that it can take 15 years or more before children in the poorest nations benefit from new life-saving vaccines in use in rich countries," Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance, writes in this post in the Independent's "Notebook" blog. "But national celebrations in Ghana this week show how this shameful gap is rapidly being closed," he continues, noting, "This week the rotavirus vaccine to protect against severe diarrhea and the pneumococcal vaccine which targets the primary cause of pneumonia -- the two biggest killers of children -- are being introduced" in the country, making it the first in Africa to roll these vaccines out simultaneously.