Could mixing Covid vaccines boost immune response?

‘Vaccine developers often combine two vaccines to combat the same pathogen, and researchers are keen to deploy the strategy — known as a heterologous prime-boost — against the coronavirus. A heterologous prime-boost combination was approved last year by European regulators to protect against Ebola, and experimental HIV vaccines often rely on the strategy, says Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. But it has yet to be tested for vaccines against COVID-19, which are typically given as a repeat injection of the same vaccine.

‘The ability to mix and match vaccines could make vaccination programmes more flexible: it would speed up the process and reduce the impact of any supply-chain disruptions. “It really makes the implementation much more simple,” said Mary Ramsay, head of immunization at Public Health England, at a press briefing on 3 February.’

Read here (Nature, Feb 4, 2021)

The racism that undergirds global public health

‘With his thin volume (143 pages of text, with 46 pages of notes) Epidemic Illusions: On the Coloniality of Global Public Health, Eugene Richardson takes to task the discipline of epidemiology, and with it, global public health. Utilizing the West Africa Ebola epidemic of 2013-2016 as his canvas, Richardson paints a picture that highlights the racism that undergirds the conventional medical and public health perspectives.

‘Richardson is an infectious disease specialist and an anthropologist. He has extensive experience responding to health crises around the globe, including joining Partners in Health to care for those suffering from Ebola in Port Loko, Sierra Leone.’

Read here (Counterpunch, Jan 5, 2021)

Third of UK Covid-19 patients taken to hospital die, study finds. ‘On par with Ebola’

‘A third of patients admitted to hospital in the UK with Covid-19 are dying, according to a major study whose authors said the observed death rates put the illness on a par with Ebola. The study tracked the outcomes of nearly 17,000 patients – around one-third of all those admitted to hospital in the UK – and found that 33% had died, 49% were discharged and 17% were still receiving treatment after two weeks. The figures present a stark picture of outcomes for those whose illness escalates to the point of needing medical help.’

Read here (The Guardian, April 29, 2020)