Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Genève/New York/Copenhague, le 2 septembre 2026 – Une initiative mondiale visant à constituer une réserve d’urgence de vaccins contre la mpox, lancée le 27 août, a conduit à l’établissement d’un mécanisme permanent destiné à garantir aux pays l’accès à ces vaccins en cas d’épidémie.

At a glance West African societies practised inoculation – a precursor to vaccination that deliberately provoked immunity to smallpox by managed exposure to the virus – long before Europeans had ever heard of it, and brought that knowledge with them when slavers transported them to America. Yet the African early history of immunisation is little known today. Historian Dr Elise Mitchell explains that it was “forgotten” amid the hardening of racial ideologies in the 19th century.

At a glance Researchers analysed three years of night-time cough data collected through a smartphone app that used the phone’s microphone and AI software to analyse people’s night-time sounds They found that increases in coughing closely tracked levels of respiratory illness. Coughing also appeared to increase around one week before a rise in cases of influenza and COVID-19.

At a glance With online disinformation on the rise, the Liberian Ministry of Health called on a group of influencers with large social media followings to support a November 2025 vaccination campaign. One of those influencers was Goretti L. Itoka, model, former Miss Mano River Union, current host of the Most Beautiful Girl in Liberia pageant and passionate advocate for vaccination.

At a glance A new global mpox vaccine stockpile is set to begin operations later this month, creating a long-term mechanism to help ensure that countries facing mpox outbreaks have rapid and equitable access to vaccines. Like existing global emergency stockpiles for yellow fever, meningitis, Ebola and cholera vaccines, the mpox stockpile will be available to any country that needs it.

India has made remarkable progress in reducing the number of zero-dose children – those who have not received even their first dose of the basic diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP) – living within its borders. As the country moves closer to reaching every child, new solutions are called for. The reasons children are missed can vary considerably across communities and households, which means these solutions have to be responsive to local realities.

Geneva/New York/Copenhagen, 2 September 2026 – A global initiative to establish a stockpile of mpox vaccines was launched on 27 August, creating a long-term mechanism to ensure countries have access to vaccines when responding to mpox outbreaks.

At a glance When monsoon starts in Keralam, southern India, acute diarrhoeal diseases, including shigellosis, spread rapidly No vaccine is yet available for the bacterial infection and the state’s health system relies on early case-finding, infection tracing and community awareness campaigns to keep the potentially fatal bug in check Keralam’s public health system is known for its efficiency.

Two people spend an evening in the same garden and receive roughly the same number of mosquito bites. By morning, one barely notices them – while the other is covered in large, swollen, intensely itchy welts that linger for days. Most of us have experienced this, or know someone who has. But why is it that mosquito bites affect some people so differently? The answer lies in the way a mosquito’s saliva interacts with our unique immune system.

Nineteen-year-old Happiness Jumbe waited patiently for her daughter’s second measles vaccine at a health centre in Ndirande, an informal settlement on the outskirts of Blantyre in Malawi. “Getting vaccinated is the only way to be protected from measles,” she told VaccinesWork. “I encourage parents who have not yet vaccinated their children to do so immediately.” I want my child to grow up healthy. Now I know routine vaccination is important, and I will make sure we don’t miss the next appointment.