[Thread] 1. BREAKING: Treasury has awarded @healthza emergency funds of R753 528-mil via section 16 of the Public Finance Management Act to help fill the gap of the #Trump administration's cutting of #HIV and #TB grants. 2. R590 407-mil of the total of R753 528-mil will go to provinces for #HIV service delivery.

R32 121-mil will go to @healthza to support the CCMDD programme (this delivers chronic meds such as #ARin communities so people don't have to line up at clinics)

🧵1. BREAKING: The peer-reviewed results of the study of a 6-monthly jab, #lenacapavir, in which not a single of the 2134 women between 16-25 years who received the jab contracted #HIV, were released at #Aids2024.

Find the full study here:

bhekisisa.org/wp-content/upl…
2. Women often find it hard to adhere to daily #oralPrEP. In the Purpose 1 trial, 91.5% of women returned on time for their next #lenacapavir jab at 26 weeks and 92.8% at week 52.

[Thread] 12 things to know about the the proportion of pregnant women infected with #HIV from SA’s latest antenatal HIV survey. The survey is conducted by the @nicd_sa.

(Analysis of our 95-95-95 goals in my next thread later in Jan).

1/12 2. What is the antenatal #HIV survey?

1. It measures the % of HIV+ pregnant women between the ages of 15 + 49.
2. Only women using state pregnancy clinics take part.
3. The survey has been conducted each year between 1990-2015, then in 2017, 2019 +2022.

JUST IN [Thread]:
1.@healthza's Lesley Broomberg:
An extra #COVID19 booster jab for people of 18+ in SA will become available towards the end of JANUARY
- People of 50+ qualify for a 5th dose
- People of 18+ qualify for a 4th dose 2. Lesley Broomberg: Can you mix and match with additional boosters? Yes. You can choose whether you want a #JnJ or #Pfizer booster.

[Thread] #JoePhaahla:
- Genomic surveillance Network reported the detection of the new subvariant XBB.1.5 in SA of a sample of a patient tested on 22 Dec
- Details of the patient = not known, it was a random sample taken for testing
- XBB.1.5 = also common in US 2. XBB.1.5 = common in US

🧵1. SA's @aspenpharma will be making 4 jabs (fill + finish) — pneumococcal, rotavirus, meningococcal, hexavalent — from 2023.

How will they finance this?
With a $30 million grant from @CEPIvaccines + @gatesfoundation.

Which APIs will Aspen use?
India's Serum Institute's 2. Why is it NB that an African company makes these jabs?

#Africa imports almost all its jabs. #COVID19 showed us this results in Africa being last in line to get vaccines during pandemics. The grant to Aspen is 1 of the 1st steps to change that.

🧵1. BREAKING: @SAHPRA1 has confirmed the registration of the #HIV prevention jab, #CABLA in South Africa. On Thursday, #ViiVHealthcare issued their statement. 2. Who can use the jab? @SAHPRA1 didn't specify restrictions for use in their statement, only that it is "a highly effective option for people at substantial risk of #HIV infection."

🧵1. @SAHPRA1 says it’s “days away” from announcing a decision on the registration of the #HIV prevention jab, #CABLA. The shot virtually wipes out your chances of contracting HIV through sex + needs to be taken every 2 months. bit.ly/3ER7ejq#WAD2022 2. How does the jab work? A bit like contraception, says @LindaGailBekker. “U take contraception before sex 2 prevent pregnancy. Similarly, u take the jab before being exposed 2 #HIV 2 prevent infection.” Listen 2 Linda-Gail on @bhekisisa’s #HealthBeat. bit.ly/3FjBlS8

🧵1. @HealthZA will offer #COVID19 #Pfizer jabs 2 high-risk kids between 5 + 11 yrs on recommendation of the VMAC.

When? The #EVDS 1st needs 2 be updated, a circular needs to be issued + health workers need 2 be trained. Nicholas Crisp: "It will take at least a month." 2. What counts as a high-risk condition?
Chronic respiratory disease
Chronic heart conditions
Chronic conditions of the kidney, liver, digestive system
Immunosuppression
Endocrine disorders
Chronic neurological disease
Asplenia
Genetic abnormalities

[Thread] 1. SA saw its 1st confirmed #monkeypox case last week. Will there be more cases? YES. Why? The 1st case doesn’t have a travel history so he (a 30 year old man from Jhb) contracted it from someone in SA who already had it. bit.ly/3QNA7SH 2. How do you get #monkeypox? Through close contact, e.g. hugging, kissing, sex, or contaminated materials, e.g. shared linen or cutlery. It’s much harder to contract monkeypox than #COVID19. The @nicd_sa's Jackie Weyer explains it in this sound clip:

[Thread] JUST IN:
1. @healthza has confirmed that #JoePhaahla has repealed regulations 16A, 16B + 16C in section 90 of the National Health Act. What does this mean?
In short:
1. No masks
2. #COVID19 gathering rules = dropped
3. COVID entry requirements into SA = dropped 2. What does regulation 16 A say?
- You must wear a mask indoors
- You must wear a mask when using public transport

This has been repealed, so you no longer:
- Have to wear indoor masks
- Have to wear masks when using public transport

🧵JUST IN: 1. From Mon, 6 June, people of 50+ can get an extra #Pfizer #COVID19 vaccine booster 120 days after their previous booster. Technically, you can already get one from tomorrow (Sat), as the #EVDS went live tonight, but you’ll only receive an sms alert from Mon. 2. Can you choose if you want an extra #JnJ or #Pfizer booster? No. For this round, you'll need to take a #Pfizer booster (all SA’s #Pfizer jabs will have expired by the end of Oct, so this is one way of using them faster before then).

🧵1. It used to be straightforward to determine when we were in a #COVIDinSA wave. Everyone used the ministerial advisory committee’s formula. In 2022, things are a bit more complicated. Some researchers argue this method is no longer all that useful. bit.ly/3wkRRwv 2. If we use the MAC formula, the fifth wave started on May 7. But since these numbers alone no longer translate into curfews, lockdowns or liquor bans, @nicd_sa researchers believe a new benchmark may be necessary. bit.ly/3wkRRwv

🧵1. #JoePhaahla, #HIV:
- 8 million SAs = HIV positive in 2021
- Nr on #ARV's: 5.4 million, so there's a gap of over 2 million who are projected to be HIV positive but not on treatment.
- Main concern = spread amongst young people, especially young girls. 2. SA's policy = to provide #HIV treatment for everyone who tests positive to achieve viral suppression and reduce transmission.

🧵1. BREAKING: @SAHPRA1 has approved a 3-month extension of the expiry dates of #Pfizer #COVID19 shots when stored at -70 °C. @HealthZA says it's stored the 92,370 jabs that originally expired on March 31 at -70°C, so they'll now only expire on June 30th and can still be used. 2. Why are there new expiry dates?

#COVID19 jabs have only been around for +/- 1.5 years. Manufacturers can only test if they stay stable 4 extended periods of time as the time moves on. They've now established that Pfizer jabs can be kept at -70°C for 12 (instead of 9) months

🧵1. Is SA in a 5th #COVID19 wave?
@ProfAbdoolKarim: It’s too early to tell. We don’t have reliable data 2 compare infections of the last 7 days with the previous 7 days. Why? SA = 2 holidays in the past week, so testing nrs = down + can’t reliably be compared 2 the previous wk. 2. Why do we need to compare data of the last 7 days with the previous 7 days?

- For a 5th wave the 7-day moving average would have doubled every 2-3 days (so we would have had 10,000+ cases by now)
- But we’ve seen only a 52% increase: from 3,097 (April 24) to 4,693 (May 1)

🧵1. It's been 2 years of mostly only #COVID19 reporting. What has the pandemic taught me about journalism?

Lesson 1: Accurate information is pretty useless if people don't understand it. Explanatory journalism should be specialist field: bit.ly/36xvxWm Lesson 2: Pandemics like #COVID19 make things happen faster. But to speed things up you need more hands and skills — you're going to get nowhere on your own.

The power lies in journalism oranisations sharing skills and resources. So learn to work together, or miss the bus.

🧵1. What will a potential next #COVID19 variant of concern look like?
@ProfAbdoolKarim:
We dunno but it's unlikely 2 look like #Omicron, Beta/Delta, unless it arrives only when immunity from Omicron infection = waned
Why? Omicron infection = good immunity @ itself, Beta, Delta 2. Since #Omicron = spreading so fast + widely vs. past variants of concern, there are many vaxxed people who became infected with omicron and now have good immunity 2 all existing variants of concern. Similar immunity = evident in unvaxxed people with past Omicron infection.

🧵1. Will SA see a 5th wave?

1. @ProfAbdoolKarim says likely, but we don’t know if it'll be big or small. What we do know, is that we will almost certainly see a new variant. Each wave in SA has been driven by a new variant.

So what will a new variant look like? (next tweet) 2. What will a new variant look like (let’s call it Pi)?

We dunno.

But for Pi to become the dominant variant it will have to be more transmissible than #Omicron, or it won’t be able to replace/out-compete it (if they were athletes, Pi would need to run faster than Omicron).

🧵1. What's happening with #COVID19 in globally + in SA?
@Dr_Groome, @nicd_sa:

Globally:
- Europe's had a relatively big 4th #Omicron wave, which seems to have stabilised
- Western Pacific countries (Hong Kong, China, Singapore) have seen huge increases in #COVID infections 2. Which variants caused a spike in infections in Western Pacific countries?

@Dr_Groome: Mostly #Omicron and here and there #Delta. So new variants haven't been the cause.

🧵1. It's @SAHPRA1's job to ensure only meds that are safe/effective are used in SA. What does that mean?

Mark Blockman, Sahpra:
It means Sahpra looks out 4 common side effects + more rare adverse effects that the manufacturer reported + new ones that emerge after registration 2. How does @SAHPRA1 review meds?
1. They look at data submitted by drug companies
2. They look at data published in studies about the meds
3. They look at decisions of other credible regulators