Hang on for 3 more months

‘Some simple advice for anyone contemplating a holiday gathering: Wait until March...The fight against the coronavirus has been called a “national marshmallow test” [for the United States] that we’re failing. In a famous study, children were left alone with a marshmallow for 15 minutes, and promised a second if they didn’t eat the first. Kids who were better at delaying gratification were found to be more successful later in life. At first, this correlation was explained as demonstrating the importance of willpower and executive function.

‘Later, a team of researchers set out to replicate this study and uncovered something profound. Once they adjusted for factors such as household income, mother’s education, and home environment at age 3, the effect disappeared...

‘If we failed our national marshmallow test this summer and fall, perhaps that says something about how little reason the public was given for optimism. Hope can’t just be a slogan or a pep talk; it must be justified by facts, experiences, and trustworthy promises. And in fairness, until last month, it was less clear when and how this would all end... But hope is justified today.’

Read here (The Atlantic, Dec 17, 2020)

Twenty images that offer a lens on 2020

‘McKinsey designers highlight the photos and illustrations that helped us tell the visual story of a remarkable year...

‘The way we see the world may well have changed in the course of 2020—as the global pandemic has upended our personal and professional lives. As the year draws to a close, we turned to McKinsey’s designers to get perspective on the images that helped bring our insights to life.

‘While we sometimes commission bespoke art for our articles and reports, for the most part we curate our visuals from outside image libraries. Even in prepandemic times, this presented special challenges when it came to selection (does the visual messaging fit the topic and tone of the piece?) and adaptation (is the image treatment consistent with our style and brand?). But in a year where much of the world spent many months maintaining some level of physical distancing, large swaths of the images in the libraries we access—those that showed people in the close proximity we were all used to before the pandemic—became unusable.

‘See our designers’ favorites from this year and why they resonated, then read the stories behind them to understand some of the year’s most important issues.’

Read here (McKinsey & Co, Dec 17, 2020)

WHO vaccine scheme 'risks failure', leaving poor countries with no COVID-19 shots until 2024

 ‘In internal documents reviewed by Reuters, the scheme's promoters say the programme is struggling from a lack of funds, supply risks and complex contractual arrangements which could make it impossible to achieve its goals.

"The risk of a failure to establish a successful COVAX Facility is very high," says an internal report to the board of Gavi, an alliance of governments, drug companies, charities and international organisations that arranges global vaccination campaigns. Gavi co-leads COVAX alongside the WHO.’

Read here (Reuters, Dec 16, 2020)

A pandemic atlas: How Covid-19 took over the world in 2020

‘Journalists from The Associated Press around the world assessed how the countries where they are posted have weathered the pandemic — and where those countries stand on the cusp of year two of the contagion.’ Wonderful pictures...

View here (Associated Press, Dec 16, 2020)

Rapid Covid-19 home test developed in Australia approved for emergency use in US

‘A rapid, over-the-counter Covid-19 test developed by Australian firm Ellume has been given emergency approval in the United States. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Brisbane-based company’s 20-minute Covid-19 Home Test on Tuesday as the US battles the virus that has infected 16.5 million people and killed more than 300,000 people in the country.

“By authorising a test for over-the-counter use, the FDA allows it to be sold in places like drug stores, where a patient can buy it, swab their nose, run the test and find out their results in as little as 20 minutes,” the FDA commissioner, Stephen Hahn, said in a statement.’

Read here (The Guardian, Dec 16, 2020)

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)

How to wear a face mask with style: Match Covid-19’s must-have accessory with top fashion brands

‘Masks, the must-have accessory of 2020, historically served as a theatrical tool in Greek theatre. Employed to magnify actors’ emotions and allow easy multitasking between different roles, the stage props were heavy on drama and often depicted exaggerated visages. Way before Covid-19, creative names like Alexander McQueen, Thom Browne, Viktor & Rolf, Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton and Japan’s Anrealage all offered interpretations of this theatrical tradition in their fashion collections.

‘As masks have become the new normal in 2020, designers and fashionistas alike are incorporating the accessory into daily fashion ensembles; think of Lady Gaga’s rivet-embellished pink mask. Here in our latest shoot, we blend the whimsy of the accessory’s past with the season’s newest high fashion to reveal a real style statement...’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Dec 15, 2020)

Relaxing Covid rules at Christmas will cost lives: Rare joint statement by two major UK medical journals

‘The British government came under intense pressure on Tuesday to revise its plan to relax COVID-19 restrictions for five days around Christmas, with two influential medical journals making a rare joint appeal for the policy to be scrapped... In what was only their second joint editorial in more than 100 years, the British Medical Journal and the Health Service Journal said the government should be tightening the rules rather than allowing three households to mix over five days. “We believe the government is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives,” the editorial said.’

Read here (Reuters, Dec 15, 2020)

These drugs might prevent severe Covid

‘Even with vaccines on the way, treatments are needed to prevent the disease from getting worse—and to be ready for COVID-25, COVID-37, and so on...

‘In an interview with Scientific American, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, described the desired characteristics of early COVID treatments. “My overwhelming preference is for direct-acting antiviral agents that can be administered orally” and that suppress the virus completely within a week or less, he said. “That, to me, is the highest priority.” 

‘Scientists have begun on differing paths to search for these drugs... One of the current leading contenders for treating mild COVID is an antiviral pill that was previously developed for influenza. At first called EIDD-2801, the drug was found to protect mice from severe lung disease caused by two other coronaviruses—SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV... 

‘Repurposing existing drugs can also yield some surprises by finding ones that are not logical candidates to work against COVID-19. Fluvoxamine, a pill used for treating anxiety disorders, shows some promise in treating early COVID...’

Read here (Scientific American, Dec 14, 2020) 

Intellectual property monopolies block vaccine access

‘The authors of “Want Vaccines Fast? Suspend Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)" argue that IPR are the main stumbling block. Meanwhile, South Africa and India have proposed that the World Trade Organization (WTO) temporarily waive its Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) rules limiting access to COVID-19 medicines, tools, equipment and vaccines.

 ‘The proposal – welcomed by the WHO Director-General and supported by nearly 100 governments and many civil society organisations around the world – goes beyond the Doha Declaration’s limited flexibilities for national emergencies and circumstances of extreme urgency. But Brazil, one of the worst hit countries, opposes the proposal, together with the US, the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Australia and Japan, insisting the Doha Declaration is sufficient.’

Read here (ksjomo.org, Dec 14, 2020)

Whose liability for Pfizer’s vaccine?

‘The well-known The Independent newspaper reports that the United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed that Pfizer required, and has been given, an indemnity by the government, protecting it from legal action if any ill-effects arise from the dispensation of the vaccine.

‘What does this mean? What is the effect in law of such an indemnity? Simply, that the country that provides the indemnity becomes primarily and independently liable if anything goes wrong with the uptake of the vaccine.’

Read here (The Sun Daily, Dec 14, 2020)

Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine: Bogus reports, accidental finds - the story of the jab

‘In the early hours of Saturday 11 January, Prof Teresa Lambe was woken up by the ping of her email. The information she had been waiting for had just arrived in her inbox: the genetic code for a new coronavirus, shared worldwide by scientists in China. She got to work straight away, still in her pyjamas, and was glued to her laptop for the next 48 hours. "My family didn't see me very much that weekend, but I think that set the tone for the rest of the year," she says...

‘That weekend was the first step on a journey to create a vaccine at lightning speed, for a disease that would, in a matter of months, claim more than 1.5 million lives. I have been following the efforts of the Oxford scientists since the start. There have been dramas along the way, including:

• A rush to charter a jet when a flight-ban prevented vaccine from getting into the country
• Dismay at totally false reports on social media that the first volunteer to be immunised had died
• Concern that falling infection rates over the summer would jeopardise the hope of quick results
• How an initial half-dose of the vaccine unexpectedly provided the best protection
• An admission from the chief of Oxford's partner, drug company AstraZeneca, that it would have run the trials "a bit differently".

Read here (BBC, Dec 14, 2020)

A 4-point checklist for assessing countries' vaccine readiness

‘Even before the vaccines begin to arrive in ports around the world, the focus will shift to the preparedness of in-country logistics, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) and to their health systems' ability to deploy and administer the vaccine to their populations. Any weaknesses in health system readiness – in vaccine distribution, storage, refrigeration, prioritization or delivery – will need to be quickly assessed, addressed and resolved at unprecedented speed before any effective immunization campaign can begin.

‘Here's how countries, and especially LMICs, can assess their readiness along four key dimensions: awareness, acceptance, accessibility and availability.’

Read here (World Economic Forum, Dec 14, 2020)

Readmission and death after initial hospital discharge among patients with Covid-19 in a large multi-hospital system

‘Although more patients are surviving severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there are limited data on outcomes after initial hospitalization. We therefore measured the rate of readmission, reasons for readmission, and rate of death after hospital discharge among patients with COVID-19 in the nationwide Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system...

‘In this national cohort of VA patients, 27% of survivors of COVID-19 hospitalization were readmitted or died by 60 days after discharge, and this rate was lower than matched survivors of pneumonia or heart failure. However, rates of readmission or death were higher than pneumonia or heart failure during the first 10 days after discharge following COVID-19 hospitalization, suggesting a period of heightened risk of clinical deterioration. Study limitations include the inability to measure readmissions to non-VA hospitals and an older, male-predominant study population, who may be at higher risk of severe manifestations of COVID-19. Public health surveillance or clinical trials focused exclusively on inpatient mortality may substantially underestimate burdens of COVID-19.’

Read here (JAMA Network, Dec 14, 2020)

How science beat the virus... And what it lost in the process

“To study COVID‑19 is not only to study the disease itself as a biological entity,” says Alondra Nelson, the president of the Social Science Research Council. “What looks like a single problem is actually all things, all at once. So what we’re actually studying is literally everything in society, at every scale, from supply chains to individual relationships.”

‘The scientific community spent the pre-pandemic years designing faster ways of doing experiments, sharing data, and developing vaccines, allowing it to mobilize quickly when COVID‑19 emerged. Its goal now should be to address its many lingering weaknesses. Warped incentives, wasteful practices, overconfidence, inequality, a biomedical bias—COVID‑19 has exposed them all. And in doing so, it offers the world of science a chance to practice one of its most important qualities: self-correction.’

Read here (The Atlantic, Dec 14, 2020)

When a virus is the cure

‘As bacteria grow more resistant to antibiotics, bacteriophage therapy is making a comeback...

‘Phages, or bacteriophages, are viruses that infect only bacteria. Each kingdom of life—plants, animals, bacteria, and so on—has its own distinct complement of viruses. Animal and plant viruses have always received most of our scientific attention, because they pose a direct threat to our health, and that of our livestock and crops. The well-being of bacteria has, understandably, been of less concern, yet the battle between viruses and bacteria is brutal: scientists estimate that phages cause a trillion trillion infections per second, destroying half the world’s bacteria every forty-eight hours. As we are now all too aware, animal-specific viruses can mutate enough to infect a different animal species. But they will not attack bacteria, and bacteriophage viruses are similarly harmless to animals, humans included. Phage therapy operates on the principle that the enemy of our enemy could be our friend.’

Read here (The New Yorker, Dec 14, 2020) 

Is mass vaccination the best strategy for all countries? A doctor's surprising view

‘COVID-19 is now the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. for 2020. The virus has killed more than 90 people per 100,000, reports Johns Hopkins University. 

‘But in other parts of the world, the virus hasn't been such a big problem. It's not a top killer. Some global health experts are beginning to ask whether immunizing large swaths of the population is the best use of resources for these countries. That's a question that Dr. Chizoba Barbara Wonodi of Johns Hopkins University has been thinking about as mass nationwide vaccine campaigns begin rolling out in rich countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.’

Read here (NPR, Dec 14, 2020)

PM Muhyiddin: Govt to order more Covid-19 vaccine to cover 60-70pc of Malaysians

‘The government has plans to increase its purchase of the Covid-19 vaccine to cover the immunisation needs of about 60-70 per cent of Malaysians compared to 30 per cent currently. Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said this was because some nations had purchased doses exceeding their population.

“As for Malaysia, we have already got 30 per cent. I have instructed Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba along with Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar (Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation) to negotiate and increase it from 30 per cent to 60 or 70 per cent.’

Read here (Malay Mail, Dec 13, 2020)

Malaysia's Top Glove fired whistleblower before virus outbreak

‘Afraid of losing his job if he complained directly to management, Khadka, 27, sent the photos to a workers’ rights campaigner in his native Nepal who sent them on to the company and the Malaysian government, without identifying who took them.

‘On Sept. 23, Top Glove sent Khadka a letter terminating his employment for sharing the photos. In the letter, seen by Reuters, the company said it identified him as the originator of the photos from CCTV coverage of workers entering the factory.

‘Fast-forward almost three months, Top Glove’s complex of factories and dormitories in Klang, 40 km (25 miles) west of Kuala Lumpur, has become Malaysia’s biggest coronavirus cluster with more than 5,000 infections, about 94% of them foreigners, the country’s health ministry said in a statement on Dec. 1.’

Read here (Reuters, Dec 13, 2020)

Covid-19 vaccine is permissible for Muslim use, preservation of life is key consideration: MUIS

‘The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) said on Sunday (Dec 13) that it "holds the position that a COVID-19 vaccine is permissible for Muslim use". "We would advise and encourage Muslims to be vaccinated once it is available and when the vaccine has been medically authorised as safe and effective, as this is a basic necessity to protect lives in the context of a global pandemic," said MUIS.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Dec 13, 2020)

Infected after 5 minutes, from 20 feet away: South Korea study shows COVID-19's spread indoors

‘KJ Seung, an infectious disease expert and chief of strategy and policy for the nonprofit Partners in Health’s Massachusetts COVID response, said the study was a reminder of the risk of indoor transmission as many nations hunker down for the winter. The official definition of a “close contact” — 15 minutes, within 6 feet — isn’t foolproof.

‘Lee and his team recreated the conditions in the restaurant... “Incredibly, despite sitting a far distance away, the airflow came down the wall and created a valley of wind. People who were along that line were infected,” Lee said. “We concluded this was a droplet transmission, and beyond two meters.”

“Eating indoors at a restaurant is one of the riskiest things you can do in a pandemic,” she [Linsey Marr, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Virginia Tech who studies the transmission of viruses in the air] said. “Even if there is distancing, as this shows and other studies show, the distancing is not enough.”

Read here (LA Times, Dec 12, 2020)

WHO to make decisions on Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in weeks

‘The World Health Organization expects to make decisions on whether to give emergency use approval to COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca in the coming weeks, its chief scientist said on Friday (Dec 11).

‘Soumya Swaminathan said the global health body could decide on Pfizer's vaccine candidate in the next "couple of weeks", and later said it could also review Moderna's and AstraZeneca's candidates in a few weeks.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Dec 12, 2020)

Ivermectin and Covid 19: Dr John Campbell

Dr John Campbell examines the evidence on ivermectin and suggests that health authorities the world over study its efficacy as a prophylactic and treatment for Covid-19; they should consider including it in the treatment regime if it is found to be effective. 

View here (Youtube, Dec 12, 2020)

Covid-19 vaccine: Will you take it? 8 in 10 say yes in ST poll

‘A recent survey commissioned by The Straits Times of 1,000 people aged 16 and above here found that about eight in 10 would say "yes" to getting a Covid-19 vaccination, with more than half in this group willing to get it the moment it is available. About 18 per cent of respondents, however, would not want to receive a Covid-19 vaccine, regardless of whether one was available today or in six to 12 months, although about half were willing to consider having one eventually.’

Read here (Straits Times, Dec 12, 2020)

Spotlight on China’s competing Covid vaccines

‘Chinese authorities have already approved multiple Covid-19 vaccines for emergency use in the country, and nearly a million Chinese have already been vaccinated with one candidate. Several local governments are already placing orders for domestically developed vaccines, though the Chinese government hasn’t confirmed how many people it’s aiming to vaccinate as part of emergency approval. The first international shipments of the vaccine, by private Chinese company Sinovac, have also already arrived in Indonesia this week in preparation for a mass vaccination campaign ahead of expected local approval...

‘So who are the companies developing these vaccines in China, and what do we know about them?’ 

Read here (Asia Times, Dec 12, 2020)

IHME projects 5,000 daily Covid-19 cases in Malaysia end-Feb

‘Malaysia is projected to experience a continuous rise in Covid-19 cases until mid-March 2021, hitting over 5,000 infections daily on February 25, according to US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

‘The IHME model, which is also used by the Trump administration, predicted 2,987 new coronavirus cases in Malaysia on January 1, increasing to 4,176 Covid-19 infections on February 1, and 5,130 cases on March 1. The trend is projected to rise until March 21 with 5,379 infections that day, and then declining to 5,301 cases on April 1.’

Read here (Code Blue, Dec 11, 2020)

What an FDA committee weighed in voting for the Pfizer Covid vaccine

‘An all-day hearing of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee closed, on Thursday evening, with a vote to recommend an Emergency Use Authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine for people sixteen and older. 

‘The proceedings involved a great deal of data and technical talk, but might be quickly summarized this way: there are things we still do not know about the vaccine, but nothing that we do know looks bad. Indeed, the vaccine looks very, very good. And its known goodness applies to a diverse range of populations, including Black and Latinx and older people. An F.D.A. analysis of the raw data, released earlier this week, confirmed previous reports that the vaccine’s efficacy in preventing disease in trial participants was close to ninety-five per cent. That number held up under questioning from committee members, who represented a range of specialties, from pediatrics to virology, throughout the eight hours of the hearing. 

‘Amid a pandemic—on a day when more than three thousand people in this country were reported to have died from covid-19—that result is far more than it would have been reasonable to hope for even a couple of months ago. As Dr. Doran Fink, of the F.D.A., said in one of the day’s presentations, there is no “adequate, approved, and available alternative.” It was a long day, but a reassuring and even energizing one.’

Read here (The New Yorker, Dec 11, 2020)

Covid: Trials to test combination of Oxford and Sputnik vaccines

‘UK and Russian scientists are teaming up to trial a combination of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines to see if protection against Covid-19 can be improved. Mixing two similar vaccines could lead to a better immune response in people. The trials, to be held in Russia, will involve over-18s, although it's not clear how many people will be involved.’

Read here (BBC, Dec 11, 2020)

Research finds 5 genes linked to severest form of Covid-19

‘A study found five key genes central to many severe cases of COVID-19 and pointed to some existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat those at risk of getting critically ill from the disease...

‘Five key genes are linked with the severest form of COVID-19, scientists said on Friday, in research that also pointed to several existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat people who risk getting critically ill with the pandemic disease.

‘Researchers who studied the DNA of 2,700 COVID-19 patients in 208 intensive care units across the United Kingdom found that five genes involving in two molecular processes – antiviral immunity and lung inflammation – were central to many severe cases.’

Read here (Aljazeera, Dec 11, 2020)

The magnifying glass: How Covid revealed the truth about our world

‘A fitting symbol of this global pandemic would be a magnifying glass. For while the virus ended and upended so many lives, and spawned a whole new vocabulary – social distancing, furlough, herd immunity, R number, circuit breaker, bubble, unmute – it did not remake the global landscape so much as reveal what was already there, or what was taking shape, just below the surface.

‘It amplified it, sometimes distorting it, sometimes illuminating it in alarming detail. Covid‑19, the disease that was first reported to the World Health Organization one year ago this month, served as a lens through which we were able to see our politics, our planet and ourselves with a new and shocking clarity. It made 2020 a year of revelation, even if what was uncovered was not nearly as new as we might imagine.’

Read here (The Guardian, Dec 11, 2020)

Information for UK recipients on Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine: UK government

‘Warnings and precautions: Talk to your doctor, pharmacist or nurse before you are given the vaccine if you have:

• Had a serious allergic reaction to a previous vaccine, medicine or food
• Had any problems following previous administration of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 such as allergic reaction or breathing problems
• A severe illness with high fever. However, a mild fever or upper airway infection, like a cold, are not reasons to delay vaccination.
• A weakened immune system, such as due to HIV infection, or are on a medicine that affects your immune system
• A bleeding problem, bruise easily or use a medicine to inhibit blood clotting

‘As with any vaccine, COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 may not fully protect all those who receive it. No data are currently available in individuals with a weakened immune system or who are taking chronic treatment that suppresses or prevents immune responses.

‘Other medicines and COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2: Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are using, have recently used or might use any other medicines or have recently received any other vaccine.

‘Pregnancy and breast-feeding: There is currently limited data available on the use of this vaccine in pregnant women. If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, think you may be pregnant or are planning to have a baby, ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice before you receive this vaccine. As a precaution, you should avoid becoming pregnant until at least 2 months after the vaccine.’

Click here to read more (UK government, Dec 2020)

The billionaires who profited from the pandemic should help pay for our recovery

‘The collective wealth gain of roughly a trillion dollars that the billionaires have enjoyed is more “than it would cost to send a stimulus check of $3,000 to every one of the roughly 330 million people in America,” the report states. “A family of four would receive over $12,000.” The report points out that a trillion dollars is also “double the two-year estimated budget gap of all state and local governments”—the deficit facing states that will certainly prompt them to make more cuts in public jobs and services if it isn’t addressed. The authors of the report don’t argue that taxing the recent gains of the mega-rich would cover the entire fiscal cost of the pandemic. They stress, instead, the undoubted fact that, at the very apex of U.S. society, there is now a staggering—and historic—amount of wealth that could be taxed.’

Read here (The New Yorker, Dec 10, 2020)

How kids’ immune systems can evade Covid

‘Their immune system sees the virus “and it just mounts this really quick and effective immune response that shuts it down, before it has a chance to replicate to the point that it comes up positive on the swab diagnostic test”, says Melanie Neeland, an immunologist who studied the family, at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.

‘Even in children who experienced the severe but rare complication called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, studies report that the rate of positive results on RT-PCR range from just 29% to 50%.‘

Read here (Nature, Dec 10, 2020)

Not without India: World's pharmacy gears up for vaccine race

‘India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, is getting set for the massive global blitz to contain the coronavirus pandemic with its pharmaceutical industry and partners freeing up capacity and accelerating investments even without firm purchase orders. India manufactures more than 60% of all vaccines sold across the globe, and while its $40 billion pharmaceutical sector is not yet involved in the production of the expensive Pfizer Inc and Moderna shots, the nation will play a pivotal role in immunizing much of the world. Indian companies are set to produce eight, more affordable vaccines designed to fight COVID-19, including AstraZeneca's Covishield, called the "vaccine for the world here" by its developers.’

Read here (Reuters, Dec 10, 2020)

In an Iranian intensive care unit, doctors grapple with Covid-19 and US sanctions

"The most worrying thing for a doctor is to know there are medicines (plentifully) available in some parts of the world but not here," said Dr. Alireza Fatemi. This how the agony of coronavirus differs in Iran: nowhere else in the world faces this monster of a virus with the added scourge of President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" sanctions, which Iranian officials and doctors insist have hampered their Covid-19 fight.

Read here (CNN, Dec 10, 2020)

Man named William Shakespeare, one of the first to get Pfizer vaccine, sets off pun cascade

‘To be or not to be vaccinated, that is the question. After an 81-year-old named William Shakespeare became the second person in the West to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in Britain outside clinical trials Tuesday, social media erupted with joy, puns and many quotes from the great British playwright. “They really are prioritising the elderly: this guy is 456,” wrote one user, while the term “Two Gentlemen of Corona,” a play on “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” swiftly became a top trend in Britain. Others quipped that the first batch of inoculations, part of the first mass coronavirus immunization campaign in the West, marked the “Taming of the Flu.”

Read here (Washington Post, Dec 9, 2020)

Rich countries have bought too many Covid-19 vaccines: Amnesty International

‘Rich countries have secured enough coronavirus vaccines to protect their populations nearly three times over by the end of 2021, Amnesty International and other groups said on Wednesday (Dec 9), possibly depriving billions of people in poorer areas. "Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in 10 people against COVID-19 next year unless urgent action is taken," Amnesty International said, based on recent calculations. "Updated data shows that rich nations representing just 14 per cent of the world's population have bought up 53 per cent of all the most promising vaccines so far," it said.’  

Read here (Channel News Asia, Dec 9, 2020)

People with a history of ‘significant’ allergic reactions shouldn’t have Pfizer jab, UK regulator warns

‘The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency updated its guidance to British health service trusts on who should receive the vaccine. The precautionary advice came after two members of Britain’s National Health Service, who received the vaccine on Tuesday, experienced allergic reactions to the shot. Both are recovering well, according to the national medical director for the NHS.’

Read here (CNBC, Dec 9, 2020)

How a history of ‘medical racism’ may fuel mistrust in Covid-19 vaccines

‘A history of neglect and deception has been cited for the skepticism many Black Americans feel about COVID-19 vaccines. A similar dynamic has affected ethnic groups in other countries. That may pose a challenge to health officials trying to save lives and vaccinate sufficient portions of the population.’

Read here (World Economic Forum, Dec 9, 2020)

The Covid-19 vaccines are here: What comes next?

‘The outstanding progress made by the scientific community has brought the vaccine closer to our doorstep. The baton now passes from the scientific community to a new collaborative effort, led by government and policy makers, healthcare professionals, the private sector, and other community groups. The COVID-19 vaccine rollout will be unlike any other prior vaccine delivery effort. Governments and their partners will be expected to rapidly accelerate their efforts to ensure they are able to address community expectations.

‘Multiple factors will make the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine more complex than any other previous vaccine effort.

‘Accelerated pace and giant scale of delivery: Countries face a four-by-four challenge: a vaccine arriving at four times the pace and requiring delivery at four times the scale.

‘Four times the pace. The coronavirus vaccine has been developed four times faster than the mumps vaccine, which was the previous record for a vaccine developed for use in a widespread community setting. The consequence of this pace of clinical development is that governments and policy makers have had far less time than previously to prepare for a robust vaccination program.

‘Four times the scale. The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is expected to be four times larger than any previous effort because the aspiration is for broad adoption at significantly higher rates than typically achieved with seasonal adult vaccines, such as the flu. Compared with the flu, for which roughly half the adult population across the OECD is covered each year with a single dose, the COVID-19 situation may require vaccinating more than half the adult population with two doses. Globally, that means billions of people could seek the vaccine.’

Read here (McKinsey & Co, Dec 9, 2020) 

WHO against mandatory Covid-19 vaccines

‘The World Health Organization said on Monday (Dec 7) that persuading people on the merits of a COVID-19 vaccine would be far more effective than trying to make the jabs mandatory. The WHO said it would be down to individual countries as to how they want to conduct their vaccination campaigns against the coronavirus pandemic.

‘But the UN health agency insisted making it mandatory to get immunised against the disease would be the wrong road to take, adding there were examples in the past of mandating vaccines use only to see it backfire with greater opposition to them.’

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

‘This was a gift to us’: Ivermectin effective for Covid-19 prophylaxis, treatment

‘Numerous studies have provided evidence supporting the use of ivermectin to prevent and treat COVID-19, according to the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance. Paul Marik, MD, FCCM, FCCP, founder of the alliance and a professor and chief of the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, said that ivermectin “is a safe drug that is exceedingly cheap.”

‘He added that “what is truly remarkable — this was a gift to us — ivermectin has high activity against COVID-19.” In a press conference, researchers said that ivermectin is an FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug that has been available for approximately 40 years and previously earned researchers a Nobel Prize.’

Read here (Healio, Dec 8, 2020)

FLCCC Alliance: Review of the emerging evidence demonstrating the efficacy of Ivermectin in the prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19

Read PDF here (FLCCC Alliance, Dec 7, 2020) 

Blunders eroded US confidence in early vaccine front-runner

‘On the afternoon of Sept. 8, AstraZeneca officials had a conference call with the Food and Drug Administration. The discussion covered important ground: What would AstraZeneca need to do to win the F.D.A.’s blessing for the coronavirus vaccine it was developing with the University of Oxford?

‘But the AstraZeneca representatives neglected to mention a crucial development: Two days earlier, the company had quietly halted trials of its vaccine around the world, including a late-stage study in the United States. It acted after a participant in Britain fell ill.

‘A few hours after the conference call, the story broke about the halted trials. That was how key F.D.A. officials heard the news, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.’

Read here (New York Times, Dec 8, 2020)

The institutional crisis and Covid-19

‘This is what an institutional crisis looks like. The most extreme claims of corruption become readily embraced by one faction and condemned by another. The belief that the presidency is corrupt becomes the framework of political life.

‘This goes beyond the political. I have written about the crisis of expertise, of experts who know their own field brilliantly but cannot comprehend the consequences of their actions beyond that field. The American government after World War II was built on the sanctity of expertise. That principle has since come under challenge in many areas, where the myopia of the experts undermined its depth.

‘The COVID-19 pandemic drove the point home. There were those who invoked the authority of medical experts as paramount. There were those who argued that, absent a cure, the solution the experts submitted – masks and social distancing – was only marginally effective and ignored the devastating economic and social consequences of the solution. There was no clear institutional authority that could strike a reasonable balance.’

Read here (Other News, Dec 8, 2020)

When will you be eligible for the Covid vaccine? Britain

Broadly, vaccines are being given to the most vulnerable first, as set out in a list of nine high-priority groups, covering about a quarter of the UK population. They are thought to represent 90-99% of those at risk of dying from Covid-19.

1. Residents in care homes for older adults and their carers
2. 80-year-olds and over and frontline health and social care workers
3. 75-year-olds and over
4. 70-year-olds and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
5. 65-year-olds and over
6. 16 to 64-year-olds with serious underlying health conditions
7. 60-year-olds and over
8. 55-year-olds and over
9. 50-year-olds and over

People aged over 80 in hospital, frontline health staff and care home workers have been the first to get the jab at 70 designated hospitals hubs across the UK.

Read here (BBC, Dec 8, 2020)

Anti-inflammatory therapy for Covid-19 infection: The case for colchicine [also used for gout]

‘Given the large body of data demonstrating colchicine’s inhibitory effects on neutrophil activity, cytokine generation and the inflammation/thrombosis interface, together with an overall lack of evidence for systemic immunosuppression, there is a rationale to study colchicine as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Given that colchicine is generally well tolerated, simple to take and inexpensive, demonstration of colchicine as a useful agent in COVID-19 would potentially spare patients morbidity and mortality, help to conserve valuable clinical resources (hospital floor and ICU beds, ventilators, etc), and dramatically reduce the cost of COVID-19 care. Colchicine might be of particular use in resource-poor rural and developing world settings, both of which have been increasingly affected by COVID-19. However, unless and until evidence is obtained from adequately designed and randomised placebo-controlled trials, this hypothesis must remain speculative.

‘The optimal dose of colchicine for daily use, even in well-established conditions such as gout, is unknown. Many but not all patients tolerate up to 1.2 mg daily in divided doses; whether lower doses such as 0.5 mg or less daily can be equally effective is unknown. The largest colchicine study for COVID-19 (ColCorona) is testing a dose of 0.5 mg daily based on prior cardiology trials. The duration of colchicine therapy for SARS-COV2 infection would also need to be determined. Most studies to date test a treatment duration of 2–4 weeks, concordant with the acute course of the infection; whether a shorter or longer treatment would be optimal is unknown. Finally, the timing of colchicine initiation is uncertain, with some studies beginning treatment in the outpatient setting, and others in the early inpatient setting. Given the recent track record of failure of treatment of severe COVID-19 treatment with anti-IL-6 biologics such as tocilizumab (a much more potent but also more specific immunosuppressive agent), it is likely that the severe inpatient setting is not the optimal condition under which to assess colchicine efficacy.’

Read here (BMJ, Dec 8, 2020)

The vaccines are coming. It’s time to call your mom

‘The next, crucial step in beating the pandemic? Having conversations with our vaccine-shy loved ones...

‘Uncomfortable relatives are my specialty. As a doctor, I’ve been trying for years to get my family and friends to follow prudent medical advice. It hasn’t gone so well. A decade ago, they’d say, “You’re just in medical school.” Then I was “just in residency.” Now, unfortunately, I’m a pathologist, which doesn’t exactly scream “people person.” I have had some successes, though. Last year, after a hundred gentle conversations, I finally convinced my parents to get the flu vaccine. (Verdict: “It wasn’t so bad.”) A couple months later, Covid-19 struck. I try not to feel completely responsible for this irony...’

Read here (Wired, Dec 7, 2020)

Coronavirus: How can we imagine the scale of Covid's death toll?

‘The suffering from the coronavirus pandemic has come to define 2020. But how do you grasp the immense scale of loss? Flowers - symbols of grief, peace, and love - serve as a tribute to those who have died.

‘Imagine the pandemic as a  flower. In the animation below, the stem grows as Covid-19 cases increase over time and the petals unfurl as more people die with the disease.’

View here (BBC, Dec 7, 2020)

The science behind an RNA vaccine

‘In just 10 months, a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has been approved by Britain for emergency use to prevent Covid-19. Another by Moderna is being evaluated for emergency use authorisation by several regulators, including the United States Food and Drug Administration...

‘This 10-month timeline for vaccines to get from concept to licensing is ground-breaking; most take more than 10 years to reach this stage. There are several other RNA vaccines in the pipeline, including the one our team at Duke-NUS Medical School is working on in partnership with Arcturus Therapeutics. Here is the science behind such vaccines...’

Read here (Straits Times, Dec 7, 2020)

Neutralising the threat of Covid-19

Informative and interesting talk with Q&A relevant to Malaysia, live-streamed on Dec 7, 2020. Professor William James, is Professor of Virology and Tutor in Medical Sciences, Jeffrey Cheah Professorial Fellow, and is attached to The Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. He is currently contributing to the work on the Oxford University AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The talk is moderated by Prof. Abhi Veerakumarasivam, Co-Chair & Professor, ASEAN Young Scientists Network & Sunway University.

View here (YouTube, Dec 7, 2020)

UK ready for roll-out but Pfizer CEO 'not certain' if vaccine stops transmission

‘Days after getting back-to-back approvals from the United Kingdom (UK) and Bahrain health regulatory bodies for the emergency use of its coronavirus vaccine, Pfizer Inc CEO Albert Bourla is now "not certain" if the company-made vaccine to prevent the Covid-19 can actually stop the transmission of the infection. The basic.

‘...during an interview with NBC's Lestor Holt, Pfizer CEO, when asked whether a person can still transmit the virus after vaccination, said he was "not certain". "I think this is something that needs to be examined. We are not certain about that right now with what we know," he was quoted as saying.’

Read here (India Today, Dec 6, 2020)

Coronavirus pandemic could push over 1 billion people in extreme poverty by 2030, says UN

‘Due to the severe long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic, an additional 207 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030. This will bring the total number of the world's extremely poor to more than a billion, according to a new study by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

‘The study assesses the impact of different coronavirus recovery scenarios on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), evaluating the multidimensional effects of the pandemic over the next decade. It is part of a long-standing partnership between the UNDP and the Pardee Center for International Futures at the University of Denver.’

Read here (India Today, Dec 6, 2020)

Tucked into the Covid-19 stimulus package? Protection for corporations

‘US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been one of the few Democratic lawmakers to spotlight what’s really going on. Last week, she tweeted: “If you want to know why Covid-19 relief is tied up in Congress, one key reason is that Republicans are demanding legal immunity for corporations so they can expose their workers to Covid without repercussions.”

‘The bipartisan initiative aims to obscure its Dr Evil level of depravity by superficially depicting the liability shield as merely temporary. But that seems like a ruse, as indicated by private equity mogul and senator Mitt Romney of Utah, who said the federal Covid-19 liability shield provision “provides a temporary suspension of any liability-related lawsuits, state or federal level associated with Covid-19, giving states enough time to put in place their own protections”.’

Read here (The Guardian, Dec 5, 2020)

The governance of Covid-19: Anthropogenic risk, evolutionary learning, and the future of the social state

‘We consider the implications of the Covid-19 crisis for the theory and practice of governance. We define ‘governance’ as the process through which, in the case of a given entity or polity, resources are allocated, decisions made and policies implemented, with a view to ensuring the effectiveness of its operations in the face of risks in its environment. Core to this, we argue, is the organisation of knowledge through public institutions, including the legal system. Covid-19 poses a particular type of ‘Anthropogenic’ risk, which arises when organised human activity triggers feedback effects from the natural environment. As such it requires the concerted mobilisation of knowledge and a directed response from governments and international agencies. 

‘In this context, neoliberal theories and practices, which emphasise the self-adjusting properties of systems of governance in response to external shocks, are going to be put to the test. In states’ varied responses to Covid-19 to date, it is already possible to observe some trends. One of them is the widespread mischaracterisation of the measures taken to address the epidemic at the point of its emergence in the Chinese city of Wuhan in January and February 2020. 

‘Public health measures of this kind, rather than constituting a ‘state of exception’ in which legality is set aside, are informed by practices which originated in the welfare or social states of industrialised countries, and which were successful in achieving a ‘mortality revolution’ in the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Relearning this history would seem to be essential for the future control of pandemics and other Anthropogenic risks.’

Read here (NCBI, Dec 4, 2020)

As first Pfizer vaccine doses arrive in UK, officials tell doctors and nurses they won’t get priority

‘Priority will go to people over 80 years old and to nursing home caregivers, and even for those groups, demand could quickly outstrip supply in the early months, public health officials cautioned. The 800,000 doses Britain expects to get this month “could be the only batch we receive for some time,” warned Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers.’

Read here (Washington Post, Dec 4, 2020)

Covid survivors with long-term symptoms need urgent attention, experts say

‘There is an urgent need to address long-term symptoms of the coronavirus, leading public health officials said this week, warning that hundreds of thousands of Americans and millions of people worldwide might experience lingering problems that could impede their ability to work and function normally.

‘In a two-day meeting Thursday and Friday, the federal government’s first workshop dedicated to long-term Covid-19, public health officials, medical researchers and patients said the condition needed to be recognized as a syndrome, given a name and taken seriously by doctors. “This is a phenomenon that is really quite real and quite extensive,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said at the conference on Thursday.’

Read here (New York Times, Dec 4, 2020)

Vaccine nationalism? An incurable disease called hope

‘It is disheartening to see ‘vaccine nationalism’ eclipse the hope around the development of the vaccine. The rich countries, with 13% of the world’s population, have already secured 3.4 billion doses of the potential vaccines; the rest of the world has pre-committed vaccine orders of 2.4 billion doses. The poorest countries, with a population of 700 million people, have no agreements for the vaccine. They depend on the Covax vaccine, developed in partnership between the World Health Organization, the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Covax has agreements to secure about 500 million doses, which would be enough to vaccinate 250 million people and cover about 20% of the populations of the poorest countries. In contrast, the United States of America, by itself, has made agreements to purchase enough doses to cover 230% of its population and could eventually control 1.8 billion doses (about a quarter of the world’s near-term supply).

‘The way things are going, two-thirds of the world’s population will not have a vaccine before the end of 2022... The struggle between ‘vaccine nationalism’ and the ‘people’s vaccine’ mirrors the fight between the North and the South over questions of debt and over vast areas of human development... Precious resources need to go toward testing, tracing, and isolation to break the chain of infection of the virus; they need to go toward building up the public health infrastructure, including training health care professionals who would need to give the two-dose injection to billions of people; they need to be used for the building of regional pharmaceutical production; and certainly they need to go toward the immediate relief for people, including income support, food provision, and social protection against the shadow pandemic of patriarchal violence.’

Read here (The Bullet, Dec 4, 2020) 

Unconventional measures for extraordinary times no excuse for more abuse

‘...There are widespread concerns that bolder expansionary fiscal policies are likely to be abused by typically short-termist governments of the day, tempted by macroeconomic (ethno-)populism, and unconcerned about the medium- and long-term consequences of increased spending, borrowing and debt. 

‘Only much better governance, transparency and accountability can minimise harm due to likely ‘leakages’ and abuses associated with increased government borrowing and spending. Such fiscal policies typically involve governments borrowing, especially by selling bonds and other securities, including to central banks. 

‘Publics often presume that governments tax first in order to spend. In fact, they usually spend first, and then tax. Poorly accountable governments often take advantage of real, exaggerated or imagined crises to pursue more populist macroeconomic policies to secure regime survival and benefit the politically well-connected.’

Read here (ksjomo.org, Dec 3, 2020)

Vaccination cards will be issued to everyone getting Covid-19 vaccine, health officials say

‘The Department of Defense released the first images of a Covid-19 vaccination record card and vaccination kits Wednesday. Vaccination cards will be used as the "simplest" way to keep track of Covid-19 shots, said Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition, which is supporting frontline workers who will administer Covid-19 vaccinations... Every dose administered will be reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers. The CDC did not immediately respond to CNN's inquiry about whether such a database would include a record of everyone immunized.’

Read here (CNN, Dec 3, 2020)

Designing vaccines for people, not profits

‘The Covid-19 crisis is a perfect test of whether a more public-health-oriented approach to innovation and production will prevail in the years ahead. While Pfizer is sticking with the model of maximising shareholder value, AstraZeneca has at least pledged not to profit from its vaccine ‘during the pandemic.’ Yet, despite all the public investment that underwrote these innovations, the process will remain opaque, leaving one to wonder if AstraZeneca is actually ready to prioritise public health over profit and offer its vaccine at cost.

‘While the recent vaccine news has brought hope, it also has exposed the pharmaceutical industry’s broken business model, casting doubt on the prospects of delivering a people’s vaccine and achieving health for all. Business as usual may allow us to scrape by in this crisis. But there is a better way to do things. Before the next pandemic arrives, we must recognise vaccines as global health commons, and start to reorient the innovation system toward symbiotic public-private partnerships governed in the public interest.’

Read here (Social Europe, Dec 2, 2020)

Covid vaccines: Calling the shots

‘The lesson of the coronavirus vaccine response is that a few billion dollars a year spent on additional basic research could prevent a thousand times as much loss in death, illness, and economic destruction. At a news conference, US health adviser, Anthony Fauci, highlighted the spike protein work. “We shouldn’t underestimate the value of basic biology research,” Fauci said. Exactly. But as many authors, such as Mariana Mazzacuto have shown, state funding and research has been vital to development of such products.

‘What better lesson can we learn from the COVID vaccine experience than that the multi-national pharma companies should be publicly owned so that research and development can be directed to meet the health and medical needs of people rather than to the profits of these companies. Then the necessary vaccines can get to the billions in the poorest countries and circumstances rather than to just those countries and people who can afford to pay the prices set by these companies.

“This is the people’s vaccine,” said corporate critic Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program. “Federal scientists helped invent it and taxpayers are funding its development. … It should belong to humanity.”

Read here (The Bullet, Dec 2, 2020)

Options to reduce quarantine for contacts of persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection using symptom monitoring and diagnostic testing

‘The US CDC published updated guidance regarding quarantine after known exposure to SARS-CoV-2. The CDC’s quarantine guidance continues to direct individuals to quarantine for 14 days* after the last known exposure to a COVID-19 patient, but the updated guidance provides options to shorten the quarantine period. Under the new guidance, individuals who do not exhibit any COVID-19 symptoms can end their quarantine as early as Day 10* without testing and Day 7* if they have a negative diagnostic test result (RT-PCR or antigen test). Importantly, for individuals who get tested, the test specimen should be collected within 48 hours of ending the quarantine period, which means that individuals should be tested at Day 5 or later. Even if a test conducted on Day 5 or 6 is returned before Day 7, in no case should quarantine be terminated prior to Day 7.’

Read here (US CDC, Dec 2, 2020)

Revelations in Malaysia’s pioneering Covid-19 study

‘Malaysia has something new to be proud of... Just two weeks ago, a band of Malaysian medical professionals wrote and published Southeast Asia’s first national study on Covid-19 cases, representing an entire country’s experience.

‘It was featured in The Lancet, arguably the most prestigious and influential medical journal in the world. Titled “Clinical characteristics and risk factors for severe Covid-19 infections in Malaysia: A nationwide observational study”, it was written by Benedict Lim Heng Sim, Suresh Kumar Chidambaram, Xin Ci Wong, Mohan Dass Pathmanathan, Kalaiarasu M Peariasamy, Chee Peng Hor, Hiu Jian Chua, and Pik Pin Goh. It provides a detailed picture of the disease’s spread in Malaysia from Feb 1 till May 30, 2020.

Ethnic mix: ‘Malays account for 58.4% of all cases and 70.0% of all severe cases, while the Chinese account for 6.7% of all cases and 12.1% of severe cases and Indians account for 2.3% of all cases and 4.5% of severe cases. The ratio of severe cases to all cases of almost 2 to 1 for Chinese and Indians might be due to their slightly older-skewing population. Other nationalities account for 23.8% of all cases but only 4.9% of all severe cases – a ratio of almost 5 to 1. This, again, could be due to the foreign worker population which generally skews younger and so has a reduced chance of developing a severe instance of the disease.’

Co-morbidities: ‘Those with hypertension are the most at risk at 48.6%, followed by diabetes mellitus at 39.1% and chronic cardiac disease at 14.0%. Surprisingly enough, being an active smoker does not indicate an elevated risk of developing a severe infection. Smokers account for 9% of all cases and 7% of severe cases...’

Read here (FreeMalaysiaToday, Dec 2, 2020)

Clinical characteristics and risk factors for severe COVID-19 infections in Malaysia: A nationwide observational study

Read here (The Lancet, Nov 17, 2020)

Pandemic, ‘Great Reset’ and resistance

‘The Covid pandemic is a turning point, an opportunity to change. The reset we need now is not the creation of a ‘post-human, post-nature’ world defined by unregulated corporate-led growth of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. We need to balance digitalization and commoditization with an ecological reset, a way of living that respects the environment, promotes agroecology, bioregionalism and local communities. We need to raise our consciousness and understanding of humanity as a species in nature, our connectedness to each other and the rest of planetary life.’

Read here (IPS News, Dec 1, 2020)

Five things you need to know about living with a disability during Covid-19

1. Risk of contracting COVID-19 is higher for persons with disabilities
2. Risk of severe symptoms and death is higher
3. Living in institutions increases the risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19
4. Discrimination in accessibility of healthcare and life-saving procedures
5. The broader COVID-19 crisis affects persons with disabilities more

Read here (UN DESA Voice, December 2020)

Zoom and gloom: How empathy and creativity can re-humanise video conferencing

‘Sitting in a videoconference is a uniformly crap experience. Instead of corroding our humanity, let’s design tools to enhance it...

‘Looking back on my experience of videoconferencing, I still get an odd emotional pain. The feeling is a kind of shame. Not so much for my own wooden performance and the failure of the technology. But rather a feeling that we have all lost a bit of our humanity through it. My interest in these technologies is ethically motivated. I am not at all happy with the banal dehumanisation that results from bad videoconferencing experiences. If, for example, students and teachers can’t express their humanity in education, through its technologies, then we’re just not doing it right.

‘However, I’d like to think that this exploration of videoconferencing in contrast with other more humane experiences has provided some hope and indications of the way to go... That’s how designing works: incremental improvements based on insights drawn from experience. Let’s be optimistic, and keep designing to humanise tech, and using tech to learn about being better humans.’

Read here (Aeon, Dec 1, 2020)

US Covid cases found as early as December 2019, says study

‘Testing has found Covid-19 infections in the U.S. in December 2019, according to a study, providing further evidence indicating the coronavirus was spreading globally weeks before the first cases were reported in China.

‘The study published Monday identified 106 infections from 7,389 blood samples collected from donors in nine U.S. states between Dec. 13 and Jan. 17. The samples, collected by the American Red Cross, were sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing to detect if there were antibodies against the virus...

‘The revelations in the paper by researchers from the CDC reinforce the growing understanding that the coronavirus was silently circulating worldwide earlier than known, and could re-ignite debate over the origins of the pandemic.’

Read here (Bloomberg, Dec 1, 2020)

The surprising mental toll of Covid

‘You didn't need a crystal ball to forecast that the COVID-19 pandemic would devastate mental health. Illness or fear of illness, social isolation, economic insecurity, disruption of routine and loss of loved ones are known risk factors for depression and anxiety. Now studies have confirmed the predictions. But psychologists say the findings also include surprises about the wide extent of mental distress; the way media consumption exacerbates it; and how badly it has affected young people.

‘For example, a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in August, found a tripling of anxiety symptoms and a quadrupling of depression among 5,470 adults surveyed compared with a 2019 sample. Similarly, two nationally representative surveys conducted in April, one by researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health and another at Johns Hopkins University, found that the prevalence of depressive symptoms (B.U.) and “serious psychological distress” (Hopkins) were triple the level measured in 2018. “These rates were higher than what we've seen after other large-scale traumas like September 11th, Hurricane Katrina and the Hong Kong unrest,” says Catherine Ettman, lead author of the B.U. study.’

Read here (Scientific American, Dec 1, 2020)

An effective response to Europe’s fiscal paralysis: George Soros

‘With Hungary and Poland vetoing the EU budget and Covid recovery fund, the case for issuing perpetual bonds has never been stronger

‘Perpetual bonds offer the great advantage that the principal never has to be repaid; only the annual interest is due. The discounted present value of future interest payments diminishes over time – it will approach, but never reach, zero. A certain amount of financial resources – say, the €1.8tn currently planned – would go several times further if it were used to issue perpetual bonds rather than ordinary bonds. This would largely solve Europe’s financial problems.

‘If one country issued perpetual bonds, it would have the additional advantage that other European countries would find it an example worth following. The Frugal Five should find perpetual bonds particularly attractive. After all, they like to save money.’

Read here (The Guardian, Dec 1, 2020)

UN special session on Covid-19 must recognise right to health & access to vaccines

‘The UN General Assembly is holding a Special Session on the Covid-19 pandemic at the level of Heads of State and Government on 3 and 4 December.. It took more than a year of discussions to overcome the opposition of certain states, notably the United States and President Donald Trump.

‘The holding of this Special Session (the 37th in the history of the UN) is of considerable importance. It is a unique opportunity to define and implement joint actions at the global level to fight the pandemic in order to ensure the right to life and health for all the inhabitants of the Earth. As the President of the UN General Assembly wrote in his letter of convocation: “Let us not forget that none of us are safe until we are all safe”....’

This is a lengthy opinion piece by Riccardo Petrella, Emeritus Professor, Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium). His research and teaching fields have been regional development, poverty, science and technology policy and globalisation.

Read here (IPS News, Nov 30, 2020)

What you need to know about the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines

‘All three drugmakers have moved at record speed, and the first shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could be given in the coming weeks. This article answers a list of questions that ordinary people need to know before they commit to the vaccinations.’

Read here (Washington Post, Nov 30, 2020)

Babies born to mums with Covid-19 may have antibodies, but scope of protection is unclear

‘Although babies of women infected with Covid-19 during their pregnancies have been born with antibodies, it remains unclear if this means the baby is immune to the coronavirus or how long the immunity would last. Earlier this month, Mrs Celine Ng-Chan, 31, gave birth to her second child and was told by her son's paediatrician that he has antibodies against the virus.’

Read here (Straits Times, Nov 29, 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) 

United States: Beyond the wasteland -- New strategies for pivoting from the pandemic crisis to a recovery built on economic justice

‘Decades of falling wage shares mean that millions of households are ready to spend more if only they could earn more income. A well-calibrated recovery strategy that combines public spending on goods and services with regulation of predatory corporate behavior and effective redistribution can unleash a virtuous growth circle that improves living standards for the vast majority and strengthens government finances even as it generates resources to boost public services and tackle the environmental catastrophe.

‘Such a strategy would consist of the following elements:

• A prolonged fiscal expansion with immediate support to employment creation and social services, including a strong component in the care economy;
• Public-infrastructure investment to accelerate the energy transition by combining policies to encourage investments in renewables and discourage fossil fuel extraction;
• Policies to improve industrial capacity based on raising productivity and greater energy efficiency;
• Progressive tax reforms shifting the burden from indirect taxes such as sales and value-added taxes (which are regressive and discourage spending) to direct taxation, especially on high-income earners (whose consumption is relatively unaffected by taxation) and on corporate earnings and rents (with exemptions depending on employment creation).

Read here (The American Prospect, Nov 27, 2020)

AstraZeneca says its Covid-19 vaccine needs 'additional study'

‘The head of British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca said on Thursday (Nov 26) further research was needed on its COVID-19 vaccine after questions emerged over the protection it offers, but the additional testing is unlikely to affect regulatory approval in Europe.

‘Instead of adding the trial to an ongoing US process, AstraZeneca might launch a fresh study to evaluate a lower dosage of its vaccine that performed better than a full dosage, AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg News report.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Nov 27, 2020)

WHO to look at controversial Italian samples in search for origins

‘The World Health Organization is looking into controversial research suggesting the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 was circulating in Italy months before it was first detected in China, the health body said on Friday, while cautioning against using such data to speculate about the disease’s origins.

‘The WHO plans to run tests with the Italian researchers who made waves earlier this month for their peer-reviewed findings based on tests of blood samples from a cancer screening carried out starting before the pathogen was detected in China.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Nov 27, 2020) 

Coronavirus was on many continents before Wuhan outbreak, Chinese team says

‘Paper by Chinese researchers says a strain can be traced to eight countries from four continents before the Wuhan outbreak. First human transmission may have occurred on the Indian subcontinent, it says – but other scientists question the finding.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Nov 27, 2020)

Gender equality achievements being wiped out by pandemic

‘The coronavirus pandemic could wipe out 25 years of increasing gender equality, new global data from UN Women suggests. Women are doing significantly more domestic chores and family care, because of the impact of the pandemic. "Everything we worked for, that has taken 25 years, could be lost in a year," says UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia. Employment and education opportunities could be lost, and women may suffer from poorer mental and physical health.

Read here (BBC, Nov 27, 2020)

Businesses and residents near Top Glove dormitories on edge, as Covid-19 cases spike among workers

"We didn't know about workers being infected until last week," said resident Kandasamy Padakat Hurian, 43 who lives in a house directly across a worker dormitory. "When I went out to work at 7am on Monday (Nov 16), army trucks and the police were already here. By evening when I returned, the (barbed) wire was in place," Mr Kandasamy recounted. Prior to last week, Jalan Teratai would be busy in the evenings as petty traders and hawkers lined the road with stalls. "When the government came and locked down the place, everyone fled. It has become very quiet,” he said 

Read here (Channel News Asia, Nov 26, 2020)

Some serious questions about the Top Glove cluster – P. Gunasegaram

‘Did world’s No. 1 glove maker put profit over safety?

‘After the Sabah debacle, where unrestricted campaigning ahead of the September 26 state elections and easy travel conditions resulted first in a steep rise in Covid-19 cases in Sabah and subsequently, in the peninsula, the Top Glove cluster now raises serious questions over the lack of controls by a major company and the government itself.

‘It is a wonder that more measures were not taken by both the company and the authorities to control the menace that has become the Top Glove cluster, even though signals were clearly there that things could get out of hand.’

Read here (The Vibes, Nov 26, 2020)

How Covid-19 will impact our cities in the long term

‘The biggest opportunity for cities from this pandemic is to build back better with the planned fiscal stimulus: more climate resilient infrastructure, green initiatives such as increasing public spaces, creating vehicle free streets, making bike lanes, refurbishing buildings to multiple uses and thereby doing more with less. This cannot be done by the public sector alone. Cities will need to attract private sector and social partners to close the financing gap. Good governance is an imperative to attract private financing and to work with the private sector.’

Read here (World Economic Forum, Nov 25, 2020)

With vaccines on the horizon, here’s how business leaders can plan ahead

‘Vaccine announcements get the globe closer to eradicating the virus, but questions still remain. Business leaders will need to consider a range of potential scenarios for access and distribution to adjust to the changes still ahead. For business planning only, Salesforce Future Lab developed a selection of hypothetical scenarios in discussions with leading experts to help leaders understand the range of scenarios for which they might need to plan.’

Hypothetical Scenario 1: “Zero Hurdles” -- In this scenario, business leaders could look forward to the crisis ending as quickly and evenly as possible around the world. In-person work and consumer confidence could come back close to pre-crisis levels over the summer and fall of 2021, though masking, distancing, and ventilation would still be necessary for many more months.

Hypothetical Scenario 2: “Sprint and Stumble” -- In this scenario, many business leaders might initially make investments betting on a rapid re-emergence from crisis conditions, only to be surprised as optimism evaporates. As the crisis stretched on, those who recognized the continuing risk would likely be in the best position, but even they would still face stiff economic headwinds.

Hypothetical Scenario 3: “Long March” -- In this scenario, business leaders could be increasingly challenged to maintain the safety of their staff and customers before the vaccine arrives, as the public becomes less willing to adhere to public health guidance. But after its arrival, the impact is similar to “Zero Hurdles” above, with a relatively rapid return to workplace safety and consumer confidence.

Read here (World Economic Forum, Nov 25, 2020) 

What message will persuade people to take a vaccine?

‘Scientists are charging ahead to make a COVID-19 vaccine available, working out the challenging logistics of wide-scale production and distribution. Milkman is hopeful that the work of the BCFG team will, in turn, help more people take the vaccine. “Even if we get the supply chain issues right, even if we get every corner drugstore to someday be supplying these, we have to get them into arms in order for them to change the course of the pandemic,” she said. “And the messaging is going to be key to that.”

Read here (Knowledge@Wharton, Nov 24, 2020)

Crisis standards of care: Lessons from New York City hospitals’ Covid-19 experience

‘The purpose of this project was to convene a forum in which critical care physicians from a number of hospitals across New York City could frankly discuss their experiences with implementation of crisis standards of care (CSC). The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in collaboration with New York City Health + Hospitals, convened a virtual working group in October 2020 consisting of 15 New York City intensive care unit (ICU) directors.’

Major themes discussed and suggestions moving forward are contained in the 23-page report.

Read here (The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Nov 24, 2020) 

Scientists are puzzling over one crucial number as they evaluate the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine

‘The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate is given to people as two doses, at least one month apart. The trial data, which comes from late-stage studies in the UK, Brazil and South Africa, suggests that the vaccine is 62% effective if people get two full doses, but 90% effective when they get a half-strength version of the first dose. The information was provided in a press release and hasn't been published in a peer-reviewed journal. AstraZeneca and Oxford said they're submitting the results for review and publication.’

Read here (Business Insider, Nov 24, 2020)

China and Russia are using coronavirus vaccines to expand their influence. The US is on the sidelines

“Global health and pharmaceutical interventions are getting sucked into balance-of-power politics,” said David Fidler, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “For the U.S., this creates geopolitical nightmares, because we are not in the game.” Beijing and Moscow are marshaling the vast powers of their states to develop vaccines for domestic and international use, accompanied by grand claims of scientific and manufacturing prowess. There are critical questions about safety and efficacy — or even how much each country can produce. But, for the moment, those questions are overshadowed in a seller’s market.

Read here (Washington Post, Nov 24, 2020)

Has capitalism turned the COVID-19 emergency into a disaster?

‘Exploit it’ - Protect the People or the Profit? ‘We were in a crisis before COVID-19 - a crisis of capitalism. Join Ali Rae in this first episode of “Al Hail The Lockdown” - a 5 part series exploring the complexities of our global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, Ali speaks with filmmaker and activist Astra Taylor, economist Aditya Chakrabortty and economic sociologist Linsey McGoey about disaster capitalism, philanthro-capitalism and how the structures of capitalism have left us ill-equipped to deal with the fallout of COVID-19.’

View here (Aljazeera, Nov 24, 2020) 

Moderna's chief medical officer says that vaccine trial results only show that they prevent people from getting sick — not necessarily that recipients won't still be able to transmit the virus

‘Moderna Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks told Axios that the public should not "over-interpret" the vaccine trial results to assume life could go back to normal after adults are vaccinated. "They do not show that they prevent you from potentially carrying this virus transiently and infecting others," Zaks told Axios.  While he believes, based on the science, that it's likely that vaccine does prevent transmission, but said there's still no solid proof of that yet. "I think it's important that we don't change behavior solely on the basis of vaccination," he said.’

Read here (Business Insider, Nov 24, 2020)

A tale of two economies: Stephen Roach

‘As financial markets celebrate the coming vaccine-led boom, the confluence of epidemiological and political aftershocks has pushed us back into a quagmire of heightened economic vulnerability. In Dickensian terms, to reach a “spring of hope,” we first must endure a “winter of despair.”...

‘With COVID-19 still raging – and rates of infection, hospitalization, and death now spiraling out of control (again) – the near-term risks to economic activity have tipped decidedly to the downside in the United States and Europe. The combination of pandemic fatigue and the politicization of public health practices has come into play at precisely the moment when the long anticipated second wave of COVID-19 is at hand.

‘Unfortunately, this fits the script of the dreaded double-dip recession that I warned of recently. The bottom-line bears repeating: Apparent economic recoveries in the US have given way to relapses in eight of the 11 business cycles since World War II. The relapses reflect two conditions: lingering vulnerability from the recession, itself, and the likelihood of aftershocks. Unfortunately, both conditions have now been satisfied.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, Nov 24, 2020)

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says proof of Covid-19 vaccination will be a condition of international air travel

‘Proof of COVID-19 vaccination will be a non-negotiable condition of international air travel, according to the Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. Anti-vaxxers will be grounded in the brave new world, with Mr Joyce confirming vaccination will be a requirement to fly internationally.

‘Mr Joyce has repeatedly warned that international air travel won’t resume until there’s a vaccine available for staff and travellers, but on Monday night he went a step further, telling A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw that as soon as a vaccine becomes available it will be a condition of travel. “For international travellers, we will ask people to have a vaccination before they get on the aircraft,’’ he said.’

Read here (News.com, Nov 23, 2020)

China pushes for QR code based global travel system

‘Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a "global mechanism" that would use QR codes to open up international travel. "We need to further harmonise policies and standards and establish 'fast tracks' to facilitate the orderly flow of people," he said. The codes will be used to help establish a traveller's health status. But Human Rights advocates warn that the codes could be used for "broader political monitoring and exclusion".’

Read here (BBC, Nov 23, 2020)

MMA says private healthcare underutilised in battle against Covid-19

‘The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has called on the government to incorporate private healthcare in its fight against Covid-19, saying that the sector's capabilities are being underutilised. "Our government healthcare facilities should not be taking on this battle all on its own. Private healthcare, an important component in our country’s overall healthcare system, can be an added strength in managing Covid-19 but is still underutilised.’

Read here (Malaysiakini, Nov 23, 2020)

A larger, more sinister pandemic lurks beneath Covid-19

‘More than one in five Americans hospitalised with COVID-19 also contracts a bacterial infection. Absent effective antibiotics, those lucky enough to beat the coronavirus might die at the hands of these not-so-novel pathogens. 

‘Unfortunately, the pipeline of new antibiotics is running dry. Less than 100 years after the development of penicillin, drug-resistant superbugs are threatening to gain the upper hand in our fight against bacterial infections.Superbugs already take an enormous toll on health-care systems around the world. About 700,000 people globally die each year due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Without new and better treatments, that figure could rise to ten million by 2050.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Nov 23, 2020)

The efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine is 91.4%, based on the second interim analysis

‘The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector platform that has proven safe and effective with no long-term side effects in more than 250 clinical trials globally conducted during the past two decades - while the history of the use of human adenoviruses in vaccine development began in 1953. More than 100,000 people have received approved and registered drugs based on human adenoviral vectors. The uniqueness of the Russian vaccine lies in the use of two different human adenoviral vectors which allows for a stronger and longer-term immune response as compared to the vaccines using one and the same vector for two doses.’

Read here (Sputnik V, Nov 23, 2020)

Is emergency use authorisation the best way to get a Covid-19 vaccine to the public?

‘While an emergency use authorization may be the speediest way for public health officials to begin a vaccination campaign, it may not end up shaving that much time off of a more traditional route to government approval. Using a different expedited process, the FDA cleared a novel Ebola vaccine in just six months. Polls have shown that many Americans are wary of getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Other paths toward granting official approval to COVID-19 vaccines may get vaccines to the public almost as quickly as emergency use authorization can—while providing the public with greater reassurance that those vaccines are safe and effective.’

Read here (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Nov 23, 2020)

Oxford vaccine: How did they make it so quickly?

‘Ten years' vaccine work achieved in about 10 months. Yet no corners cut in designing, testing and manufacturing... They are two statements that sound like a contradiction, and have led some to ask how we can be sure the Oxford vaccine - which has published its first results showing it is highly effective at stopping Covid-19 - is safe when it has been made so fast. So, this is the real story of how the Oxford vaccine happened so quickly.’

Read here (BBC, Nov 23, 2020)

Coronavirus vaccine hesitancy in Black and Latino communities

‘COVID Collaborative, Langer Research, UnidosUS and the NAACP conducted a poll on attitudes and impacts of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and resistance in the Black and Latinx communities. The report summarizes these findings and highlights key areas of focus for policy makers, health care professionals, and others working to increase vaccine uptake.’

Read here (Covid Collaborative, Nov 23, 2020)

Why emergency Covid-vaccine approvals pose a dilemma for scientists

‘Immunizations are speeding towards approval before clinical trials end, but scientists say this could complicate efforts to study long-term effects...

‘Once a vaccine is granted emergency approval, there is pressure on developers to offer the immunization to trial participants who received a placebo. But if too many people cross over to the vaccine group, the companies might not have enough data to establish long-term outcomes, such as safety, how long vaccine protection lasts and whether the jab prevents infection or just the disease.

“It’s a real vaccine-development dilemma,” says Klaus Stöhr, who formerly headed vaccine design at the pharmaceutical company Novartis in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is now retired. Still, Stöhr thinks that the vaccine should be granted emergency-use authorization, because its effectiveness has been established and there is a dire need.’

Read here (Nature, Nov 23, 2020)

Coronavirus vaccines face trust gap in Black and Latino communities, study finds

‘If offered a coronavirus vaccine free of charge, fewer than half of Black people and 66 percent of Latino people said they would definitely or probably take it, according to a survey-based study that underscores the challenge of getting vaccines to communities hit hard by the pandemic... Perhaps its most sobering findings: 14 percent of Black people trust that a vaccine will be safe, and 18 percent trust that it will be effective in shielding them from the coronavirus. Among Latinos, 34 percent trust its safety, and 40 percent trust its effectiveness.’

Read here (Washington Post, Nov 23, 2020)

Doctors say CDC should warn people the side effects from Covid vaccine shots won’t be ‘a walk in the park’

‘The CDC must be transparent about the side effects people may experience after getting their first shot of a coronavirus vaccine, doctors urged during a meeting Monday with CDC advisors. Dr. Sandra Fryhofer said that both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines require two doses and she worries whether her patients will come back for a second dose because of potentially unpleasant side effects after the first shot. Both companies acknowledged that their vaccines could induce side effects that are similar to symptoms associated with mild Covid-19, such as muscle pain, chills and headache.’

Read here (CNBC, Nov 23, 2020)

When will the Covid-19 pandemic end? Could be 2022 or beyond, says McKinsey & Co

‘Our estimate is based on the widest possible reading of the current scientific literature and our discussions with public-health experts in the United States and around the world. It’s possible that unforeseen developments such as significantly more infections than expected this winter could lead to earlier herd immunity. And real downside risk remains, especially with respect to duration of immunity and long-term vaccine safety (given the limited data available so far). Herd immunity might not be reached until 2022 or beyond.’

Read here (McKinsey & Co, Nov 23, 2020)

WHO head has singled out one developing country for its success in managing the coronavirus pandemic

‘Thailand’s numbers “speak for themselves,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in closing remarks to the World Health Assembly, which took place this week. Thailand was the first country outside China to report a case of COVID-19, but to date it has counted fewer than 4,000 cases and just 60 fatalities, despite having a population of 70 million and one of the world’s biggest and most tightly packed cities in Bangkok. By comparison, the U.K., with a population of about 68 million, has had 1.3 million cases and 51,396 fatalities, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.’

Read here (Market Watch, Nov 23, 2020)

Puzzling, often debilitating after-effects plaguing COVID-19 "long-haulers"

‘It's not unusual for viruses to cause aftereffects, but as you'll hear tonight, doctors tell us they've never seen anything like this. While researchers around the world are scrambling to figure out what's happening, Mount Sinai Hospital here in New York opened one of the first centers to study and treat people with what they're calling "Post-acute COVID Syndrome." The patients we met have a less clinical term - they call themselves "long-haulers." Anderson Cooper interviews some of them.

Read/view here (CBS News, Nov 22, 2020)

Xi says China ready to boost global Covid-19 vaccine cooperation and travel

‘President Xi Jinping said on Saturday (Nov 21) that China is ready to step up global Covid-19 vaccine cooperation, and called for better international coordination on policies to facilitate movement of people.

‘Pharmaceutical companies and research centres around the world are working on potential Covid-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants underway. China has five home-grown candidates undergoing Phase III trials. With that [global movement] in mind, Mr Xi said China would propose the creation of a mechanism by which travellers' coronavirus test results were recognised internationally through digital health codes.’

Read here (Straits Times, Nov 20, 2020)

After coronavirus: Our relationship with meat and the next pandemic

‘All pandemics in recorded human history have come via the animal kingdom. With mutations abounding and our interaction with wildlife widening, when are we finally going to address the sick animal in the room?...

‘To be precise, three out of four of those "new diseases" come from animals, and the frequency with which they have emerged has been accelerating for over 40 years... [Delia] Randolph was the lead author of a joint International Livestock Research Institute and UNEP report published in July looking into the reasons for this acceleration. Research from dozens of scientists spanning the globe came to one conclusion: human behaviour, i.e., the way we interact with and consume animals, is the main driver increasing the prevalence of zoonotic disease. 

‘The report lists seven "human-mediated factors" behind the emergence, with numbers one through three as follows: 1) increasing human demand for animal protein, 2) unsustainable agricultural intensification, 3) increased use and exploitation of wildlife.’

Read here (DW, Nov 20, 2020)

Inside Britain's test-and-trace: How the ‘world beater’ went wrong

‘The name NHS Test and Trace sounds like it is one whole service that is part of the NHS. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a complex web of different programmes, led by the civil service, that have been bolted together rapidly. Private firms play a key role in terms of both testing and tracing, which has meant some of the local expertise available in the NHS, universities and councils has been bypassed.’

Read here (BBC, Nov 20, 2020)