UN Covid Summit To Highlight World’s Vaccine Gap, Stir Debate Over Boosters

CNN: Vaccine Gap Stokes Super Spreader Fears Ahead Of UN's First Post-Covid Meeting 
US fears that this week's annual world leader jamboree at the United Nations could spark a super spreader event will highlight the stark inequality of global access to Covid-19 vaccines — even as developed nations begin offering booster shots. Scores of presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers are set to ignore an American suggestion to stay home and address the UN General Assembly virtually and will converge on New York City in person this week. (Collinson, 9/20)

Bloomberg: Biden’s Vaccine Booster And Export Plans Collide At Summit
President Joe Biden will set a new course for global vaccine allocation this week, hosting a summit on the shortage of shots in poorer countries even as the U.S. moves to give booster doses to millions of fully inoculated Americans. The U.S. plan for boosters will steer tens of millions of doses into the arms of many U.S. adults starting as soon as Friday. That has angered nations where many people are still struggling to obtain a first shot. As world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Biden aims to counter their criticism by hosting a virtual summit on Wednesday where he’ll propose a target of fully vaccinating 70% of the world by September 2022. (Wingrove, 9/19)

In other covid news from around the world —

CNBC: Singapore's Daily Covid Cases Breach 1,000 Levels Over The Weekend
Singapore reported more than 1,000 Covid cases for two straight days over the weekend —the first time infections breached that level since April 2020, at the height of the pandemic. The Southeast Asian country confirmed 1,009 new infections on Saturday, and 1,012 new cases on Sunday, according to data from the health ministry. That’s the highest number since April 23 last year. At that time, majority of Singapore’s cases were detected in migrant worker dormitories. Infections hit a record high of 1,426 on April 20, 2020. (Ng, 9/20)

CNBC: Top Glove Shares Fall As Covid-Induced Demand Eases
Shares of Malaysia’s Top Glove, the world’s largest medical glove maker, have fallen by more than 50% this year as the rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide dampened demand for gloves. “Like in every business, there’re always highs and lows. And you cannot expect super profits to continue for a long, long time. So, we’re glad that we had a good run last year,” Lee Kim Meow, Top Glove’s managing director, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday. (Lee, 9/20)

Bloomberg: Bats In Laos Caves Harbor Closest Relatives To Covid-19 Virus
Bats dwelling in limestone caves in northern Laos were found to carry coronaviruses that share a key feature with SARS-CoV-2, moving scientists closer to pinpointing the cause of Covid-19. Researchers at France’s Pasteur Institute and the University of Laos looked for viruses similar to the one that causes Covid among hundreds of horseshoe bats. They found three with closely matched receptor binding domains -- the part of the coronavirus’s spike protein used to bind to human ACE-2, the enzyme it targets to cause an infection. (Gale, 9/18)

Reuters: Cambodia Bat Researchers On Mission To Track Origin Of COVID-19 
Researchers are collecting samples from bats in northern Cambodia in a bid to understand the coronavirus pandemic, returning to a region where a very similar virus was found in the animals a decade ago. Two samples from horseshoe bats were collected in 2010 in Stung Treng province near Laos and kept in freezers at the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC) in Phnom Penh. (Liu and Thul, 9/20)

Fox News: Lancet Article Calls For ‘Objective, Open And Transparent’ Debate Over COVID-19 Origins 
The Lancet medical journal has published an article calling for an "objective" and "transparent" debate about the true origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, more than a year and a half after its controversial article condemning "conspiracy theories" that suggest the virus leaked from a laboratory in China. The article published Friday, titled, "An appeal for an objective, open and transparent scientific debate about the origin of SARS-CoV-2," is signed by 16 scientists arguing that a laboratory-related accident is "plausible," as is the virus having a natural origin, and that neither theory should be ruled out yet. (Chasmar, 9/19)

In other global developments —

AP: UK Court Rules Under-16s Can Get Puberty Blocking Drugs
Britain’s Court of Appeal ruled Friday that doctors can prescribe puberty-blocking drugs to children under 16, overturning a lower court’s decision that a judge’s approval should be needed. Appeals judges said the High Court was wrong to rule last year that children considering gender reassignment are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to medical treatment involving drugs that delay puberty. The December 2020 ruling said because of the experimental nature of the drugs, clinics should seek court authorization before starting such treatment. (9/19)

Stat: U.K. Government Launches New System To Monitor Clinical Trial Reporting
After a prolonged effort, the U.K. government is now tracking whether clinical trial sponsors are reporting results, the latest sign that transparency campaigns are forcing greater disclosure by universities and companies. The move comes after a 2018 analysis found many trial sponsors — some of which were funded by the government — failed to report their findings. U.K. law requires all study results to be reported within one year. The disclosure prompted a key lawmaker to issue a blistering report criticizing the Health Research Authority for failing to enforce rules and impose penalties on wayward trial sponsors and investigators. (Silverman, 9/17)

NPR: Afghan Health Care Is 'On The Verge Of Collapse' Says Health Minister : Goats And Soda
Dr. Wahid Majrooh is acting minister of public health in Afghanistan, and he faces two looming challenges: leading the country's COVID response and maintaining health-care services in the wake of the Taliban takeover in mid-August. The COVID situation is daunting: over 150,000 cases and 7,000 deaths so far. The overall health-care picture is critical as well. To prevent the Taliban from gaining access to aid money, the World Bank and other international aid organizations suspended $600 million in funding, including support for the Sehatmandi project, which paid salaries for 20,000 health-care workers at 2,800 facilities across the country. Because of the suspension in funds, more than 2,000 of these facilities are shutting down, leaving the Afghan people bereft of care, both because of the inability to pay staff and the general lack of funding for health-care resources. (Thiagarajan, 9/18)