‘The Biden administration’s decision to stop opposing a proposed COVID-19 waiver of certain intellectual-property rights under World Trade Organization rules is a welcome move. But ending the pandemic also requires scaling up knowledge and technology transfer, as well as public production of vaccine supplies.’
Read here (Project Syndicate, May 7, 2021)
‘Layering your face is in -- but not as a fashion statement. It may just save a life. Public health officials are suggesting double masking as a way to increase the level of protection from the coronavirus and its multiple, more contagious variants. "If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective, and that's the reason why you see people either double masking or doing a version of an N95," Dr. Anthony Fauci, now chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, told NBC's Savannah Guthrie.
‘Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been doubling up for weeks -- in fact Biden was often seen with a surgical mask under his go-to black fabric covering before being sworn into office.’
Read here (CNN, Jan 28, 2021)
‘President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris say they will move the US Covid-19 pandemic response in a dramatically different direction... Here are five ways Biden says the US coronavirus response will change when he's President. (1) Increased testing and contact tracing. (2) Additional investment in vaccines and treatments. (3) Mandatory masks and more PPE. (4) A push for 'clear, consistent, evidence-based guidance'. (5) Rejoining WHO and searching for future threats.
‘There were dauntingly high new case numbers last week, and by the time Biden takes office January 20, the influential University of Washington Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation model projects there will be more than 372,000 Covid-19 deaths -- that's 135,000 more than the current total...’
Read here (CNN, Nov 9, 2020)
‘The list of needed actions is long, but here we highlight five that the Biden administration should take swiftly. We call not for a return to business as usual but for fundamental, sometimes counter-intuitive changes that will strengthen the use of science in US policy and by the research community more broadly... (1) Let an oft-overlooked White House office [Office of Science and Technology Policy] lead the pandemic response. (2) Make advisory processes more independent. (3) Expedite scientific-integrity legislation. (4) Give public universities tough love and lots of support. (5) Refocus science funding.
Read here (Nature, Nov 8, 2020)