News and analysis

Four COVID jabs’ efficacy results have been released within less than a year after the trials had started. But this is far from the norm. Researchers have been working on HIV vaccines for over three decades — and we still don’t have one. Here’s why.

Mathematicians are exploring models to figure out how COVID vaccines should be distributed to have the biggest impact. Should they give it to older...

It’s been almost 40 years since a new class of antibiotics was discovered. Do governments need to incentivise drug companies differently to get them...

America’s president-elect, Joe Biden, has a herculean task ahead of him: He will have to repair the harm done by his predecessor’s perceived political interference with the registration of COVID-19 vaccines. That’s easier said than done. How well he confronts this battle will influence how willing his compatriots — and also some South Africans — are to take the shots. Here’s why.

Getting a COVID-19 vaccine into the country is one thing, but making sure the jab gets to people who need it – and is effective once they get it – is a feat for which South Africa is ill-equipped, experts say.

Autopsies offer detail that cannot be found in the living. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a resurgence in these procedures — but not...

There’s more to life than just a happy ending, a new brain imaging experiment shows. It turns out the key to enjoying things is...

In the absence of action from the health department, South Africa’s community health workers are once again having to fight for their rights The...

Sanitiser stockouts left governments to turn to more unconventional suppliers at the beginning of the year. Here’s why a lack of regulations in South...

Even if a jab is shown to work, there won’t be enough doses for everyone. Countries such as South Africa would need to make tough decisions about who it would give the vaccine to — and more importantly how to create a system to get it to them.

COVID-19 brought the public and private health sectors together. But while the estranged bedfellows were making amends in the Western Cape, looting of COVID-19...

Over seven million people are believed to be living with HIV in South Africa. When COVID-19 reached our shores, there was great concern about what it would mean for our vulnerable populations. But the country’s fatality rates have been lower than initially expected. Here’s why.

With hundreds of potential COVID vaccine candidates being tested around the world, here’s a quick guide to which ones you should keep an eye on — and when we could see results.

One of South Africa’s three COVID-19 vaccine trials was recently put on hold after a participant in the United Kingdom developed an unexplained illness....

There’s a lot of debate about the price of COVID-19 medicine remdesivir, but researchers say there are also some unanswered questions about the drug’s...

Talk of social distancing and how to do it right shows up in the Bible and the writings of Muhammad. Centuries later, the science...