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As the second year of coronavirus pandemic reporting draws to a close, the Bhekisisa team takes a look back at their favourite stories of the past twelve months.

Powerful governments, including the European Union and the UK, are resisting a proposed deal that could enable companies in less developed countries to legally manufacture COVID products developed by large pharmaceutical companies.

The Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism was awarded the 2021 Reconciliation Award from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation. This award recognises the work our team has done over the past year to cover the COVID pandemic and the role our organisation has played in advancing healthcare solutions through reporting on health and social justice issues across Africa.

Checkpoints in the scientific system are put in place to ensure that research can be sped up in a safe way. But during the COVID pandemic, the accelerated timeline to push research out in an effort to help has exposed gaps in the process that allow bad science to slip through.

COVID vaccine roll-outs are missing communities of colour. This has been linked to distrust in health services among minority groups due to historical abuse. But that further victimises these communities. Here’s why racism continues to pervade the health system and breed mistrust.

Biovac will become the first company in Africa to produce Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID jab — but they won't produce the vaccine from scratch. The SA manufacturer will import the drug substance (the active ingredient that makes the vaccine work) from Europe and "fill and finish" the shot in South Africa.

After a year of lockdowns and restrictions, vaccine passports could allow people to travel more freely within their communities, enter other countries or engage in leisure activities that were largely prohibited during the COVID pandemic. But they also have the potential to further divide the global rich from the global poor.

Specialist scientists, masks, hand sanitiser and stricter rules for liquor sales will be crucial to easing the burden of South Africa’s future COVID-19 waves, experts say.

Now that the world has its first effective COVID jabs, the next challenge we have to tackle is who gets them? Here’s why the public could be key to answering this complex question in South Africa.

A look at the NCD Alliance and SPECTRUM Consortium report on big business’ marketing tactics during the coronavirus pandemic and their public health consequences.

Toxic masculinities help drive everything from HIV infection rates to gender-based violence. But before we ask, what does it mean to be a ‘man’ in South Africa, should we wonder what it’s like to be a boy?

A country's coronavirus response is only as good as its president, writes Lawrence Hamilton. So how does South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa measure up?

The small study looking to repurpose an old TB vaccine could help add to a growing field of science that asks, can you really reprogramme your immune system?

At 23 years old, Emma Theofelus is one of Africa's youngest Cabinent members. And taking office during the coronavirus epidemic has been a trial by fire.

You don't have to run 5km to feel fatigued. Turns out stress and anxiety can also leave you craving a good lie-in, but could tips to cope come from an unlikely place — the diaries of a 1900s' sea captain?

The decrease has allowed the province to get rid of dangerous one-person ambulance crews, but many patients still wait hours for help.