Moderna gave its mRNA-based seasonal flu vaccine to the first set of volunteers in a clinical trial, the pharmaceutical company announced today. The start of the trial marks the next stage of the company’s work on this type of vaccine technology after the overwhelming success of its COVID-19 vaccine, which was built using the same strategy. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, mRNA vaccines were still largely experimental, even as they were heralded as the future of vaccine development. People who get an mRNA vaccine are injected with tiny snippets of genetic material from the target virus. Their cells use that genetic information to build bits of the virus, which the body’s immune system learns to fight against. The high efficacy of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTec...
Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, wholeheartedly supports the stance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Southwest leaders at their meeting that took place in Lagos on Sunday, May 23rd, 2021 despite his absence at the meeting. Dr. Fayemi’s absence at the meeting was a result of a mix up in the invitation sent out for the meeting. For clarity, the invitation for the meeting which was said to have been sent via Whatsapp by Mr. Tunde Rahman, an aide to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, never got to Governor Fayemi. The absence of an invitation for the Southwest APC leaders meeting prevented the Governor from attending the meeting, as he was not aware. Governor Fayemi however sent an apology to the meeting through former Ekiti State Governor and Minister of Industries, Trade and Investments, Otun...
As discussions surrounding the 2023 presidential election gathers pace, South East Governors and other politicians from the region have been warned against ‘angling for the position of Vice President’. The Association of South East Past Presidents-General, which gave the warning in Enugu at the weekend, said the zone would not accept any one reducing it to ‘second fiddle political status’ in 2023. At an official public presentation of the former Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Peter Umeadi, who is also a Professor of Law, the association said the general consensus by equity, justice and fair play was that the next President of the country should emerge from the South East. The former PGs, who lead the over 2000 Igbo communities in the past, stressed that with such understanding, it w...
Elon Musk kicked off his “Saturday Night Live” debut by declaring himself to be the first person with Asperger’s syndrome to host the US comedy sketch show. “Or at least, the first person to admit it,” he said. In his opening monologue, the eccentric tech entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX offered an explanation for some of his past eyebrow-raising behavior. “Look, I know I say or post strange things but that’s just how my brain works. To anyone I’ve offended I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship,” he said. “Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?” Musk has previously drawn criticism for moves like publicly mocking the US Securities and Exchange Commission and calling a cave diver who rescued boys trapped in Thai...
In a move that gives credence and endorsement of the commitment of the Udom Emmanuel led administration in ensuring openness, transparency and accountability in budgeting and governance, the Akwa Ibom State Government has been ranked one of the best performing states in the 2020 sub-National Budget Transparency Survey. The survey which was conducted by the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) to ascertain the level of budget performance by states of the federation revealed that Akwa Ibom and four other states topped the budget performance index for the year, 2020. The Nigerian States Budget Transparency Survey Report also revealed that Akwa Ibom and some other Nigerian States have significantly improved budget transparency and participation, and has improved the ro...
Prince Kassim Afegbua, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Commissioner for Information in the state, has said he has no need to reconcile with Governor Godwin Obaseki on his purported suspension from the party. Speaking in an interview, Afegbua also said he remained a member of the PDP despite his public endorsement of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last governorship election in Edo state. He said: “There is nothing to reconcile with the state Governor. I am older than him at the party. He only came because he needed a platform to contest the election. After his second term inauguration, can you name the PDP members in his administration, five months after? “Yes, I was purportedly suspended for one month by my ward...
Serving Speakers and their predecessors from the Northwest zone of Nigeria have declared their support for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. Their declarations and promises are coming some weeks after a similar endorsement of Tinubu was carried out by their colleagues in the southwestern zone of Nigeria. At a meeting held in Kano for the states in the northwestern zone on Friday, the senior lawmakers declared that Tinubu remains the right person for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at this time. Some of them argued that with the challenges currently being faced by the country, Nigeria deserves a leader who is detribalised and has shown over time that he has the capacity to lead the country. Praising Asiwaju Tinub...
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has scheduled a special meeting of its General Council for Monday, February 15, 2021, where Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is expected to be formally announced as the Director General. According to a notification seen by newsmen Tuesday, the only agenda for the meeting is to, “consider the appointment of the next WTO Director-General.” The United State government last week gave its formal approval to the emergence of Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director General, thereby removing the final obstacle to her bid to be the first woman and the first African to run the Geneva-based trade body. The endorsement of the candidacy of the Nigeria’s two-term former minister was sequel to the withdrawal of her main challenger, the South Kore...
The federal government has extended the deadline for the provision of National Identification Number, NIN, by telecommunication service subscribers to 19th January and 9th February, 2021 respectively. FG disclosed this in a statement titled: ‘Extension of Registration Period and Cancellation of USSD and Verification Fees’, signed by the Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Umar Danbatta; and Director-General, National Identity Management Commission, Aliyu Aziz. Part of the statement read: “The National Task Force on National Identification Number and SIM Registration met today, 21st December, 2020. “The meeting was chaired by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami with major stakeholders in the sector including Chairman – NCC,...