Gavi and UNICEF announce equitable pricing deal for malaria vaccine to protect 7 million more children by end of decade.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF today announced a new agreement that will make the R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccines significantly more accessible and affordable, paving the way to protect more children from one of the world’s deadliest diseases. The deal, backed by Gavi and executed by UNICEF, is expected to generate up to US$ 90 million in savings for Gavi and countries, equivalent to more than 30 million additional doses – enabling the full vaccination of nearly 7 million more children against malaria over the next five years. The deal is financed by Gavi through an advance payment enabled by the innovative International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) mechanism.
Published: November 23, 2025.
Bangladesh Dengue Crisis: 5 New Deaths Push 2025 Toll Past 380.
The dengue outbreak in Bangladesh continues to claim lives with five new fatalities reported. Total deaths for 2025 have now reached 382, surpassing last year’s toll of 575. Health authorities are urging immediate medical attention at the first sign of fever to prevent complications. The government has issued comprehensive guidelines including eliminating standing water and using mosquito nets for protection (but no vaccination).
Published: November 30, 2025.
https://www.newkerala.com/news/o/dengue-claims-five-lives-bangladesh-2025-death-toll-crosses-979
Brazil approves world’s first single-dose dengue vaccine.
Brazil’s health regulatory agency authorises the use of Butantan-DV for people aged 12 to 59.
Published: November 27, 2025.
World AIDS Day 2025. Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response – World AIDS Day 2025.
The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response.” The commemoration of World AIDS Day, which will take place on 1 December 2025, is an important opportunity to highlight the impact that the funding cuts from international donors have had on the response to AIDS as well as to showcase the resilience of countries and communities stepping up to protect the gains made and drive the HIV response forward. In 2025, a historic funding crisis is threatening to unravel decades of progress. HIV prevention services are severely disrupted. Community-led services, vital to reaching marginalized populations, are being deprioritized while the rise in punitive laws criminalizing same-sex relationships, gender identity, and drug use is amplifying the crisis, making HIV services inaccessible.
https://www.unaids.org/en/2025-world-aids-day
Mauritania now offers the six-in-one childhood vaccine. Here’s why that matters.
Mauritania has added the hexavalent vaccine to its national immunisation programme: a major advance that brings protection against six serious diseases – diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and polio – into a single injection.
Published: November 28, 2025.
European CDC: Scenarios for pre-pandemic zoonotic influenza preparedness and response
The aim of this framework is to guide a scalable public health response to influenza of zoonotic origin in EU/EEA countries and provide options for preparing and responding to different possible pre-pandemic scenarios. They have defined 14 scenarios based on specific epidemiological and virological factors, including animal origin, characteristics of human cases (number and exposure context), severity signals, that are then further defined based on the presence of virus mammalian adaptation, antiviral resistance and mismatch with available pre-pandemic vaccines and/or candidate vaccine viruses. The document provides a detailed guide and a simple downloadable Excel tool for defining and scoring the different scenarios based on early triggers, promoting transparency and coherence across countries, integrating a One Health perspective, through focusing on the public health side of the response measures; it describes the baseline/escalating public health actions that should be in place/implemented to ensure a timely and effective response.
Published: December 4, 2025.
France confirms 2 MERS coronavirus cases in returning travelers.
Two cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have been confirmed in France in individuals who recently returned from travel abroad, according to the French Ministry of Health.
Published: December 4, 2025.
World Bank Group: Low-Income Countries Spend Just $17 Per Capita Annually on Health.
Despite efforts by many developing countries to sustain health spending under fiscal pressure, investments remain insufficient to fund essential health services—critical for saving lives, creating jobs, and driving growth—according to a new World Bank Group report released today.
Published: November 19, 2025.
Sabin Vaccine Institute’s Investigational Marburg Vaccine Delivered to Ethiopia for Outbreak Response.
The Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) has sent more than 640 doses of its investigational cAd3-Marburg Vaccine to Ethiopia to support the country’s response to its first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus disease. Marburg is a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever disease and can have a high case fatality rate of up to 88%. There are currently no licensed vaccines or treatments for Marburg.
Published: December 4, 2025.
New strain of flu hitting US: What are the symptoms?
The new strain, called subclade K, has made its way to the U.S. after spreading quickly through countries such as the UK, Canada and Japan. H3N2 symptoms include fever, chills, body aches, headache, extreme fatigue, congestion or runny nose, and coughing. It is increasing among children and young adults.
Published: December 5, 2025.
https://www.al.com/news/2025/12/new-strain-of-flu-hitting-us-what-are-the-symptoms.html
Aluminium is crucial to vaccines — and safe.
Why are US advisers debating it? Adjuvants are compounds that boost immune responses, improving the ability of vaccines to elicit long-lasting immunity against infectious diseases. Adjuvants can work in different ways. Some adjuvants trigger low levels of inflammation at the injection site, thereby boosting recruitment of immune cells to where they are needed and encouraging the cells to linger there. Others are more specific, activating molecular signalling pathways in certain classes of immune cells. Decades of use and scrutiny by regulators have clearly established that the benefits of using aluminium adjuvants outweigh any potential risks.
Published: December 4, 2025.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03955-z
How a ‘nightmare’ cholera outbreak brought Nepali hospitals to the brink.
Beginning in August, cholera hospitalised thousands in the southern city of Birgunj. In mid-October, a million doses of vaccine brought relief.
Published: December 3, 2025.
Highly contagious virus detected in New York wastewater.
A highly contagious virus that spread rapidly across New York City last winter may make a resurgence. Sometimes referred to as the stomach flu or stomach bug, the norovirus illness causes vomiting and diarrhea. Recent wastewater testing has detected the virus around New York.
Published: December 5, 2025.
https://pix11.com/news/local-news/highly-contagious-virus-detected-in-new-york-wastewater/
WHO: Avian Influenza A(H5N5) – United States of America.
On 15 November 2025, WHO was notified of the 71st confirmed human case with influenza A(H5) since early 2024 in the United States of America— the first human case reported in the United States of America since February 2025. On 20 November, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) laboratory sequencing verified the virus as influenza A(H5N5), representing the first globally reported human case caused by an influenza A(H5N5) virus.
Published: December 5, 2025.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2025-DON590
CDC: ACIP Recommends Individual-Based Decision-Making for Hepatitis B Vaccine for Infants Born to Women Who Test Negative for the Virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) today voted 8 to 3 to recommend individual-based decision-making for parents deciding whether to give the hepatitis B vaccine, including the birth dose, to infants born to women who test negative for the virus. For those infants not receiving the birth dose, ACIP suggested in its recommendation that the initial dose be administered no earlier than two months of age.
Published: December 5, 2025.
New mpox strain identified in England.
A new strain of mpox, previously called monkeypox, has been detected in a person in England, say UK health officials. The virus is a mix of two major types of the mpox virus, and was found in someone who recently returned from travelling in Asia. Officials say they are still assessing the significance of the new strain. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is normal for viruses to evolve. Getting vaccinated remains the best way to protect against severe disease – although an mpox infection is mild for many.
Published: December 8, 2025.
WHO: Malaria. Key facts
Globally in 2024, there were an estimated 282 million malaria cases and 610 000 malaria deaths in 80 countries.
The WHO African Region carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden.
In 2024, the WHO African Region was home to 95% of malaria cases (265 million) and 95% (579 000) of malaria deaths.
Children under 5 accounted for about 75% of all malaria deaths in the Region.
Published: December 4, 2025.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria
In Kenya, smaller vaccine vials may mean more children protected.
235 health facilities in Kenya are trialling a switch from ten-dose to five-dose measles-rubella (MR) vaccine vials. It promises to be an impactful change. In one sub-district hospital, lower-dose measles-rubella vaccine vials are spurring hopes of fewer frustrations and improved coverage.
Published: December 5, 2025.
Oxford Vaccine Group: World’s first phase II Nipah Virus trial launch.
The University of Oxford has launched the world’s first phase II clinical trial of a Nipah Virus vaccine candidate.
Published: December 9, 2025.
https://www.ovg.ox.ac.uk/news/worlds-first-phase-ii-nipah-virus-vaccine-trial-launch
