Ethical dilemma of mandatory vaccination

‘In the absence of a mandatory vaccine policy, the government can consider other lesser restrictive options. They are as follows:

1. The government can emphasise the educational approach on the vaccine-hesitant population by informing them of the risk-benefit analysis of the vaccine and the importance of taking the vaccine while also addressing their concerns.
2. The government can use behaviour nudge techniques, such as providing incentives or gift cards as the cost incurred will be minimal in comparison to them contracting Covid-19.
3. The government should actively ensure they clamp down on disinformation on social media that further reinforces the false belief of people who hold such extreme views.
4. The health ministry should release data and statistics that are available to bring
5. transparency to help the vaccine-hesitant population make an informed decision.
6. Teachers should not be allowed to teach in schools if they are not vaccinated and continue teaching from home until they get vaccinated.
7. Those who are fully vaccinated can play their role by sharing their experiences as studies have shown people tend to believe their own peers. Social media influencers can use their star power to influence the fence-sitters.
8. The education ministry should consider setting up vaccination centres at schools and provide counselling for school children who refuse vaccines.

‘In a nutshell, the government should navigate through this ethical dilemma cautiously. The government should consider other less restrictive alternatives that will protect the individual’s self-determination which is also in the state’s interest.’

Read here (Free Malaysia Today, Sept 12, 2021)

How many anti-vaxxers does it take to misinform the world? Just twelve

‘A majority of anti-vaccine propaganda can apparently be traced back to a handful of people. While de-platforming them is sometimes appropriate, there is a bigger, better solution...

‘Misinformation is never going to go away; it isn’t just a Big Tech problem, it’s an education problem. Instead of just yelling at tech companies, politicians should be focusing on what Taiwan’s digital minister calls “nerd immunity” – the government should be investing in education so people have the skills to identify fake news...

‘Finland, which was rated Europe’s most resistant nation to fake news last year, is one model of how you do this. In 2014, after an increase in disinformation from Russia, the government embedded media literacy in the national curriculum. Starting in primary school, kids learn the critical thinking skills needed to parse the modern information ecosystem. Students learn how easy it is to manipulate statistics in their maths lessons, for example. They learn how to distinguish satire from conspiracy theories in their Finnish lessons. They look at how images can be used for propaganda in art class. And this sort of education isn’t just given to children: Finnish civil servants, journalists and NGO workers are also trained in digital literacy skills.’

Read here (The Guardian, Mar 30, 2021)

Malaysia’s National Covid-19 Immunisation Plan: The missing details — Ezzaty Hasbullah

‘The Malaysian Government has recently published its National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) outlining its strategy to achieve coverage by February of 2022. Though the document gives a good overview of the country’s vaccination plan from procurement to vaccination, it omits the minute execution details on several aspects along this value chain. The missing details:

• Trust building and outreach
• Ensuring equity in access
• Task-shifting and training
• Strengthening digital infrastructure

‘What the NIP gives is a general overview of the immunisation efforts in the months to come. What it does not give are the particulars in each step towards achieving this goal. More information on the actual particulars in realising this strategy has to be made available for public scrutiny — if such particulars are even available. These details could be the differentiating factors in determining Malaysia’s success or failure to achieve its 2022 immunisation targets because, as always, the devil is in the details.’

Read here (Malay Mail, Feb 17, 2021)

Teachers should receive COVID-19 vaccine priority: UNICEF

‘The head of the UN children's agency, UNICEF, called on Tuesday (Dec 15) for teachers to be among those given priority access to the COVID-19 vaccines. "The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on children's education around the globe. Vaccinating teachers is a critical step towards putting it back on track," UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore said in a statement. Teachers should be "prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, once frontline health personnel and high-risk populations are vaccinated," she said.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Dec 15, 2020)

Public needs to prep for vaccine side effects

‘This summer, computational biologist Luke Hutchison volunteered for a trial of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. But after the second injection, his arm swelled up to the size of a “goose egg,” Hutchison says. He can't be sure he got the vaccine and not a placebo, but within a few hours, Hutchison, who was healthy and 43, was beset by bone and muscle aches and a 38.9°C fever. “I started shaking. I had cold and hot rushes,” he says. “I was sitting by the phone all night long thinking: ‘Should I call 911?’”

‘Hutchison's symptoms resolved after 12 hours. But, he says, “Nobody prepared me for the severity of this.” He says the public should be better prepared than he was, because a subset of people may face intense, if transient, side effects, called reactogenicity, from Moderna's vaccine. Some health experts agree.’

Read here (Science, Nov 27, 2020) 

Memo for President Biden: Five steps to getting more from science

‘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)

Skills lost due to COVID-19 school closures will hit output for generations: OECD

‘Disruption to schooling stemming from the COVID-19 epidemic will cause a skill loss that could result in a 1.5 per cent drop in global economic output for the rest of this century, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated.

‘For the United States, that will represent an economic loss of US$15.3 trillion, the OECD said in a report published on Tuesday (Sep 8), with the bill rising higher still if disruption to education extends into the next academic year.’ 

Read here (Channel News Asia, Sept 8, 2020)

How China controlled the coronavirus: From the micro point of view of an American teaching and learning in Sichuan during the pandemic

‘Despite the political indoctrination involved in Chinese schooling, the system teaches people to respect science. Hard work is another core value, and somehow society has become more prosperous without losing its edge. Nearly a quarter century ago, I taught young people who were driven by the desire to escape poverty; these days, my middle-class students seem to work at least as hard, because of the extreme competitiveness of their environment. Such qualities are perfect for fighting the pandemic, at least when channelled effectively by government structures. In comparison, the American response often appears passive—even enlightened citizens seem to believe that obeying lockdown orders and wearing masks in public is enough. But any attempt to control the virus requires active, organized effort, and there needs to be strong institutional direction.

‘Instead, the flailing American leadership seems more interested in finding scapegoats, sometimes with a racial tinge—the Kung Flu and the China Virus. Throughout the spring, the Chinese government periodically responded by lashing out at the U.S. and other foreign countries, but such tensions had little impact on my life in Chengdu. Daily interactions remained friendly, and people often made a point of telling me that the problems between governments had nothing to do with our personal relationships.’

Read here (The New Yorker, August 17, 2020)

UN chief outlines ‘bold steps’ for education in the face of Covid-19 disruption affecting 1 billion

The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption to education in history and prolonged school closures could further entrench inequalities in access to learning, the UN Secretary-General said on Tuesday, underlining the need for “bold steps” to address the crisis. [This is contained in a policy brief]

The UN estimates that the pandemic has affected more than one billion students worldwide. Despite efforts to continue learning during the crisis, including through delivering lessons by radio, television and online, many are still not being reached.

The UN chief said learners with disabilities, members of minority or disadvantaged communities, as well as refugees and displaced persons, are among those at highest risk of being left behind.

Read here (UN News, August 4, 2020) 

School openings across globe suggest ways to keep coronavirus at bay, despite outbreaks

“Outbreaks in schools are inevitable,” says Otto Helve, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. “But there is good news.” So far, with some changes to schools’ daily routines, he says, the benefits of attending school seem to outweigh the risks—at least where community infection rates are low and officials are standing by to identify and isolate cases and close contacts.

This article discusses the following:

• How likely are children to catch and transmit the virus?
• Should children play together?
• Should kids wear masks?
• What should schools do when someone tests positive?
• Do schools spread the virus to the wider community?
• What lies ahead?

Read here (Science Magazine, July 7, 2020)

Will universities learn from lockdowns?

‘Like many businesses, universities are struggling with how to reopen and are adopting a range of strategies. For example, the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom has announced that its lectures will be online-only until at least the summer of 2021. Others, including Stanford University, are offering a mix of in-person and online classes, as well as spreading out their academic year so that fewer students will be on campus at any time.

‘Make no mistake: COVID-19 represents a massive economic hit to higher education. Dorm rooms are unoccupied, sports stadiums remain empty, and students push back against paying full tuition fees. For many colleges and universities, the drop in revenue from foreign students, especially Chinese, is likely to be painful; numerous smaller and less-endowed schools may close.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, July 6, 2020)

Coronavirus is the practice run for schools. But soon comes climate change

‘By finding ways to continue learning through the pandemic, the education system will be better equipped for a future marked by severe weather emergencies... Schools are still scrambling simply to cope with the immediate coronavirus crisis and meet students’ basic needs, but the next school year could present opportunities to rethink how remote learning happens... One big step forward would be universal broadband access... Another is making sure teachers receive training on distance learning, through programs that prepare them for the profession as well as through ongoing professional development... Education systems will also have to adjust how they assess students and schools. Measures like seat time and attendance just won’t work the same way in a world facing so much disruption.’

Read here (Huffington Post, May 23, 2020)

Job affected by Covid-19? MDEC offers 3,800 free online courses

‘The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has urged Malaysians who have been affected by the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and are looking for new employment opportunities to register for free online courses on digital and data skills.

‘MDEC Chief Marketing Officer Raymond Siva said MDEC, in a partnership with global online learning platform, Coursera via the “Let’s Learn Digital” under the #mydigitalworkforce initiative, is offering a total of 3,800 courses including Professional Training Certificate through applications until December 31 this year.’

Read here (The Malay Mail, May 20, 2020)

Guide for Covid-19 prevention in schools

‘As we attempt to open schools and learn from the few countries that have done so, we must recognise that the key will be to try and create a bubble (a shield) in which students who go to school "live in" so as to minimise infection spread. This "bubble" also means that if one group has Covid-19 infection, only they are isolated and the rest of the school can probably continue.’

This guide by Amar-Singh HSS and Shyielathy Arumugam can be downloaded here.

Read here (Malay Mail, May 20, 2020)

Singapore schools to open in phases from June 2 after Covid-19 circuit breaker: How this will work

‘Students will return to school from June 2 over two phases as part of the easing of the coronavirus circuit breaker measures that are expected to end on June 1. Here are some of the adjustments planned for schools and pre-schools that the Government announced on Tuesday (May 19).’

Read here (Straits Times, May 19, 2020)

Naomi Klein: How big tech plans to profit from the pandemic

‘The issue is not whether schools must change in the face of a highly contagious virus for which we have neither cure nor inoculation. Like every institution where humans gather in groups, they will change. The trouble, as always in these moments of collective shock, is the absence of public debate about what those changes should look like, and who they should benefit – private tech companies or students?

‘The same questions need to be asked about health. Avoiding doctor’s offices and hospitals during a pandemic makes good sense. But telehealth misses a huge amount. So we need to have an evidence-based debate about the pros and cons of spending scarce public resources on telehealth – rather than on more trained nurses, equipped with all the necessary protective equipment, who are able to make house calls to diagnose and treat patients in their homes.’

Read here (The Guardian, May 13, 2020)

Johns Hopkins and Bloomberg Philanthropies, with New York State, launch online course to train army of contact tracers to slow spread of COVID-19

‘To support the effort, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has developed the contact tracing course that is available for registration on the Coursera platform starting Monday, May 11, 2020. It is open to anyone in the world, whether they are interested in becoming a contact tracer or just want to understand the process. Applicants in New York state will be invited to take the course after their application is reviewed and they pass an initial interview. The interview, followed by taking the course and passing the final assessment within 72 hours, will be required to be hired into the New York state program.’

Read here (John Hopkins, May 11, 2020)

Distance learning isn’t working: Instead of trying to move classes online, schools should support parents in educating their children

‘And is this how families want to be spending the next months? Sitting inside staring at a computer screen for six hours a day? Most adults have a hard time in online meetings for that long for one day; it’s completely unreasonable to expect it of a child for months on end. And it’s leading to behavior issues, too...

‘Schools can still play a constructive role, even if they aren’t holding online classes for kids stuck in their homes. Instead of spending time on online lessons and hours of videochats, schools need to provide a crash course in education for parents, provide loose individual lesson plans and suggestions, and operate as a help line...’

Read here (The Atlantic, April 20, 2020)

‘Kerala model is nothing but focus on education and welfare’

This opinion piece covers (1) what Kerala did right in fighting coronavirus? (2) Kerala model: Left, right and centre (3) Kerala sticks to WHO guidelines & executes them efficiently (4) No time for political one-upmanship

Read here (The Quint, April 15, 2020)

Ray Dalio discusses depression economics and what to expect

Ray Dalio, "Global Macro Investor", philanthropist and founder of the world's largest hedge fund, understands deeply the inner workings of the world economy. In this 52-minute interview with Corey Hajim and Chris Anderson of TED, he mentions the following:

1. The world is going through a massive stress test, akin to the 1930s, when there would be widespread economic collapse, money printing and subsequent restructuring. Wealth will be redistributed but the levers of power will decide how it would be (within nations and internationally). This will cause a lot of friction, even wars.
2. Even today, there is demonisation of "others" even if they are being helpful. For example, while China is helping many countries, anyone holding such views can be ostracised in the US.
3. It is an opportunity to reform capitalism to create more equal opportunities, greater harmony, more innovation and more productivity via universal education.
4. Companies that win will be those that provide basic needs and those that are adaptive and creative. Algorithmic thinking, especially in investment, will give way to more human interventions and creative input.
5. For the individual investor, he calls for humility and diversification, and not to try to time the market. Cash, he stresses, is not good investment.

View here (TED, April 9, 2020)