Pandemic: One year - A round-up by Associated Press

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The Associated Press explores the ensuing year of loss, perseverance and hope:

• Faith leaders' year of pandemic: grief, solace, resilience
• As pandemic enters 2nd year, voices of resilience emerge
• AP-NORC poll: People of color bear COVID-19′s economic brunt
• ‘It’s exhausting.’ A year of distance learning wears thin
• As pandemic enters 2nd year, voices of resilience emerge
• AP-NORC poll: People of color bear COVID-19′s economic brunt
• Only on AP: Italian doctor a chronic COVID patient
• One year on: stars’ COVID-19 experiences
• March 11, 2020: The night sports, as we knew them, ended
• AP-NORC poll: 1 in 5 in US lost someone close in pandemic
• A year on, WHO still struggling to manage pandemic response
• Why the pandemic left long-term scars on global job market
• After pandemic year, weary world looks back — and forward
• A homebound year has meant rethinking our rooms, belongings
• And more...

Read here (Associated Press, Mar 11, 2021)

A year on, WHO still struggling to manage pandemic response

‘When the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic one year ago Thursday, it did so only after weeks of resisting the term and maintaining that the highly infectious virus could still be stopped. A year later, the U.N. agency is still struggling to keep on top of the evolving science of COVID-19, to persuade countries to abandon their nationalistic tendencies and help get vaccines where they’re needed most.

‘The agency made some costly missteps along the way: It advised people against wearing masks for months and asserted that COVID-19 wasn’t widely spread in the air. It also declined to publicly call out countries — particularly China — for mistakes that senior WHO officials grumbled about privately. That created some tricky politics that challenged WHO’s credibility and wedged it between two world powers, setting off vociferous Trump administration criticism that the agency is only now emerging from.’

Read here (APNews, Mar 11, 2021)

Canadian-pharma solution to aid worldwide Covid vaccine access

‘Despite the optimism [over vaccines], there remains a missing space for people in low-income nations who desperately need these vaccines and who may wait too long. As the World Health Organization (WHO) noted in a recent media conference, the global vaccine stocks remain critically short of supply at this time.

‘Biolyse Pharma an Ontario based manufacturer of sterile injectable medicine hopes to be part of a solution. Biolyse has the potential of producing up to twenty million doses per year. In order to do so, the company will need access to the drug master file of an already approved vaccine which is generally patent protected. The Canadian Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) relating to emergency-patent transfer may permit the company to achieve its objective.  

‘CAMR is the Canadian enabling legislation that reflects the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a protocol between all the member nations of the World Trade Organisation. Under CAMR, there is an emergency provision for the federal government to waive patent rights, allowing other generic-producing companies to start expedited production of critical preventative or curative drugs. Canada therefore has a mechanism in place to allow drug companies to a compulsory license from a patent holder.’

Read here (Newswire, Mar 11, 2021)

Khairy welcomes private sector procuring approved Covid-19 vaccines

“With regards to the purchase of vaccines by the private sector, as I have mentioned yesterday, most of the vaccine manufacturers only carry out negotiations with governments,” Khairy responded to Najib in a comment on his Facebook post...

“But if there are private parties who are able to carry out negotiations with vaccine manufacturers, especially those that have received approval from the NPRA (National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency) (Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac), please do so. I really welcome it,” added the science, technology and innovation minister. 

‘Previously, Malaysian-based pharmaceutical company Pharmaniaga Bhd announced that it planned to sell some of its Sinovac vaccine doses to the private sector. Pharmaniaga is undertaking the fill-and-finish processing of Sinovac’s vaccine. Solution Biologics, the distributor of Chinese CanSino’s vaccine, has also expressed plans to supply private health care providers with the vaccine, on top of selling 3.5 million doses to the Malaysian government.’ 

Read here (Code Blue, Mar 10, 2021)

Coronavirus and the money behind vaccines

The FT explains how the vaccine market works – including the cost of a vaccine and the vaccine development process – and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. This short documentary features global experts including Bill Gates, the CEOs of Moderna and Gavi, and the lead scientist behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. 

View here (Financial Times, Youtube, Mar 10, 2021)

WTO DG meets Big Pharma and opts for voluntary licenses

‘The World Trade Organization Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on 9 March that she fully supports the TRIPS waiver, insisting that she has conveyed to Big Pharma that they need to understand the “practicalities and sentiments” behind the demand for the waiver, said people familiar with the development.

‘Yet, she maintained that the TRIPS waiver may not be able to address the issue of ramping up production of vaccines to combat COVID-19 due to difficult manufacturing conditions that need to be complied with for producing vaccines, said people familiar with her remarks.

‘Her continued ambivalent positions seem to have undermined the move towards text-based negotiations on the TRIPS waiver, said people familiar with the development.’

Read here (Third World Network, Mar 10, 2021)

Malaysia vaccinates one third of frontliners within fortnight

‘A third of 500,000 frontliners have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, some three weeks before the targeted vaccination completion by March 31. As of March 8, a total of 166,363 frontliners have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, achieving 33.3 per cent of the national Covid-19 immunisation programme’s Phase One target in 13 days after the vaccines were rolled out from February 24.

‘If the current pace continues, the government will need another 26 days to administer at least the first dose to all 500,000 frontline workers, just slightly missing the March 31 target by three days.’ 

Read here (Code Blue, Mar 9, 2021)

Prioritise pandemic relief, recovery: No time for debt buybacks

‘Developing country governments are being wrongly advised to use their modest fiscal resources to pay down accumulated debt instead of strengthening pandemic relief and recovery. Thus, debt phobia risks deepening and extending COVID-19 recessions by prioritising buybacks...

‘With ‘collective action’ complications affecting negotiations, and the greater number and variety of heavily indebted countries and creditors, equitable debt buybacks are impossible to negotiate. Worse, prioritising buybacks means rejecting former debt hawk Reinhart’s current pragmatic advice to “First fight the war, then figure out how to pay for it”.

‘The urgent priority is for fiscal resources to strengthen relief, recovery and reform measures. Prioritising debt buybacks, instead of urgently augmenting fiscal resources, may thus contribute to another “lost decade” or worse.’

Read here (IPS News, March 9, 2021)

Coronavirus: How can travel be more sustainable post-pandemic?

"The coronavirus pandemic has been a global shock moment that has led to a rethink in the tourism industry, which is so accustomed to success," said Martin Balas of the Center for Sustainable Tourism (ZENAT) at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development.

‘Issues such as climate protection and overtourism, which were already major challenges for tourism before COVID, have now come into even sharper focus, Balas told DW. The German Travel Association (DRV) also sees the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity for more sustainability in the industry.

"Sustainable travel is a trend that has been around for years, and the travel industry has already responded to it and will continue to do so in the future," said Ellen Madeker of DRV. Several large travel companies are preparing awareness campaigns designed to increase travelers' awareness of the impacts of travel.’

Read here (DW, Mar 9, 2021)

The new normal (Phase 2)

‘So, we’re almost a year into the “New Normal” (a/k/a “pathologized totalitarianism”) and things are still looking … well, pretty totalitarian. Most of Western Europe is still in “lockdown,” or “under curfew,” or in some other state of “health emergency.” Police are fining and arresting people for “being outdoors without a valid reason.”  Protest is still banned. Dissent is still censored.

‘The official propaganda is relentless. Governments are ruling by edict, subjecting people to an ever-changing series of increasingly absurd restrictions of the most fundamental aspects of everyday life.

‘And now, the campaign to “vaccinate” the entirety of humanity against a virus that causes mild to moderate flu-like symptoms or, more commonly, no symptoms at all, in over 95% of those infected, and that over 99% of the infected survive (and that has no real effect on age-adjusted death rates, and the mortality profile of which is more or less identical to the normal mortality profile) is being waged with literally religious fervor.

“Vaccine passports” (which are definitely creepy, but which bear no resemblance to Aryan Ancestry Certificates, or any other fascistic apartheid-type documents, so don’t even think about making such a comparison!) are in the pipeline in a number of countries. They have already been rolled out in Israel.’

Read here (OffGuardian, Mar 9, 2020)

Can vaccinated people transmit COVID-19? The answer will be key to ending the pandemic

‘There’s been positive news about how effective the vaccines might be in preventing transmission—but as several experts note, some studies that have been made public so far are inconclusive. Until we have a better answer on transmission, social distancing, hand hygiene, testing, and mask wearing will remain important in the fight to limit and eventually end the pandemic.

‘A recent, unpublished Israeli study showed a nearly 90 percent reduction in infections among the vaccinated population. Wired magazine writer Megan Molteni noted that the media framing of the study may have been overly optimistic. While the headlines about this unpublished study were wildly enthusiastic, the reality is more nuanced.  “Israel finds BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine reduced virus transmission,” read one headline. But Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, told Wired he was skeptical about drawing any conclusions about the extent to which the Pfizer vaccine cut transmission rates. He told the magazine that to accurately study asymptomatic transmission, both vaccinated and unvaccinated people should be regularly tested. “The testing rates were such a hodgepodge, I don’t know you can make any conclusions about how much the vaccine cut transmission in Israel, let alone assigning a number as concrete as 89.4 percent,” he told Molteni.’

Read here (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 9, 2021)

Sg Buloh Hospital: Lessons from frontline of country's main Covid-19 centre

‘Sungai Buloh Hospital (HSB) had been at the forefront of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic since the day the virus was detected on our shores. Serving as the main dedicated Covid-19 centre, it has treated nearly 50,000 positive patients to date.

‘While the hospital had been successful in helping the country battle the outbreak, little is known about what has been happening behind the scenes, especially the struggles faced by frontliners who had dedicated their lives for the sake of their patients.

‘Malaysiakini spoke to HSB director Dr Kuldip Kaur (above) in an exclusive interview recently, during which she revealed some of the biggest challenges they faced.’

Read here (Malaysiakini, Mar 9, 2021)

Most Covid-19 hospitalisations due to four conditions

‘Based on this data, the model calculated the percentage of COVID-19 hospitalizations that could have been prevented without these four underlying conditions. Results were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association on February 25, 2021. The researchers estimated that more than 900,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations occurred through November 2020. Based on their model, 30% of these hospitalizations were attributable to obesity, 26% to hypertension, 21% to diabetes, and 12% to heart failure. These people would still have been infected with COVID-19, but likely would not have been sick enough to need hospitalization.

‘More than one of these conditions are often present in the same person. The model also estimated hospitalizations due to different combinations. The numbers weren’t simply additive. In total, 64% of the hospitalizations might have been prevented if not for the four conditions. The model suggested that COVID-19 hospitalizations due to these conditions varied by age. Older adults with diabetes, heart failure, or hypertension were more likely to be hospitalized than younger people with the same condition. However, obesity affected COVID-19 hospitalization risk similarly across age groups.’

Read here (NIH, Mar 9, 2021)

The differences between the vaccines matter

‘It’s certainly true that all three of the FDA-authorized vaccines are very good—amazing, even—at protecting people’s health. No one should refrain from seeking vaccination on the theory that any might be second-rate. But it’s also true that the COVID-19 vaccines aren’t all the same: Some are more effective than others at preventing illness, for example; some cause fewer adverse reactions; some are more convenient; some were made using more familiar methods and technologies. As for the claim that the vaccines have proved perfectly and equally effective at preventing hospitalization and death? It’s just not right.

‘These differences among the options could matter quite a bit, in different ways to different people, and they should not be minimized or covered over. Especially not now: Vaccine supplies in the U.S. will soon surpass demand, even as more contagious viral variants spread throughout the country. In the meantime, governors are revoking their rules on face masks, or taking other steps to loosen their restrictions. It’s tempting to believe that a simple, decisive message—even one that verges on hype—is what’s most needed at this crucial moment. But if the message could be wrong, that has consequences.’

Read here (The Atlantic, Mar 8, 2021)

Unlocking the mysteries of Long Covid

‘A growing number of clinicians are on an urgent quest to find treatments for a frighteningly pervasive problem. They’ve had surprising early success...

‘The unlucky remainder—more than 90 percent of the patients the center has seen—was a puzzling group “where we couldn’t see what was wrong,” Chen said. These tended to be the patients who had originally had mild to moderate symptoms. They were overwhelmingly women, even though men are typically hit harder by acute COVID‑19. (Acute COVID‑19 refers to the distinct period of infection during which the immune system fights off the virus; the acute phase can range from mild to severe.) And they tended to be young, between the ages of 20 and 50—not an age group that, doctors had thought, suffered the worst effects of the disease. Most of the patients were white and relatively well-off, raising concern among clinicians that many people of color with ongoing symptoms were not getting the care they needed.

‘These patients’ tests usually showed nothing obviously the matter with them. “Everything was coming back negative,” says Dayna McCarthy, a rehabilitation-medicine physician and a lead clinician at the center. “So of course Western medicine wants to say, ‘You’re fine.’ ”

‘But the patients were self-evidently not fine. An international survey by Patient-Led Research for COVID‑19, one of various groups drawing attention to persisting problems, asked nearly 3,800 patients with ongoing illness to describe their symptoms. A significant number—85.9 percent—reported having relapses in the months after their initial infection, usually triggered by mental or physical exertion. (Not all patients in this group had confirmed cases of COVID‑19, given that tests were hard to come by last March and April.) Many patients were experiencing severe fatigue and brain fog. Other patients suffered from chest tightness and tachycardia—a condition in which the heart beats more than 100 times a minute—when they stood up or walked. Others had diarrhea and lost their appetite; some had terrible bone pain. Nearly a quarter said they were still unable to work; many had gone on disability or taken medical leave. Patient groups of COVID‑19 “long-haulers” were springing up on Facebook and elsewhere online, where people shared data and compared notes about what they began to call “long COVID.”’

Read here (The Atlantic, Mar 8, 2021)

Late-stage pandemic is messing with your brain

‘This is the fog of late pandemic, and it is brutal. In the spring, we joked about the Before Times, but they were still within reach, easily accessible in our shorter-term memories. In the summer and fall, with restrictions loosening and temperatures rising, we were able to replicate some of what life used to be like, at least in an adulterated form: outdoor drinks, a day at the beach. But now, in the cold, dark, featureless middle of our pandemic winter, we can neither remember what life was like before nor imagine what it’ll be like after.

‘To some degree, this is a natural adaptation. The sunniest optimist would point out that all this forgetting is evidence of the resilience of our species. Humans forget a great deal of what happens to us, and we tend to do it pretty quickly—after the first 24 hours or so. “Our brains are very good at learning different things and forgetting the things that are not a priority,” Tina Franklin, a neuroscientist at Georgia Tech, told me. As the pandemic has taught us new habits and made old ones obsolete, our brains have essentially put actions like taking the bus and going to restaurants in deep storage, and placed social distancing and coughing into our elbows near the front of the closet. When our habits change back, presumably so will our recall.’

Read here (The Atlantic, Mar 8, 2021)

US CDC issues ‘Interim public health recommendations for fully vaccinated people’

Fully vaccinated people can:

• Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
• Visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
• Refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic

For now, fully vaccinated people should continue to:

• Take precautions in public like wearing a well-fitted mask and physical distancing
• Wear masks, practice physical distancing, and adhere to other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease or who have an unvaccinated household member who is at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease
• Wear masks, maintain physical distance, and practice other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households
• Avoid medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings
• Get tested if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
• Follow guidance issued by individual employers
• Follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations

Read here (US CDC, Mar 8, 2021) 

What’s ahead in the second year of Covid-19?

‘When COVID-19 began its insidious march across the globe more than a year ago, it disrupted every industry and forced fast innovation as business leaders worked to adjust to a new world order. Last year, in Wharton’s Fast Forward video series, several of the School’s faculty offered their insight into what the second half of 2020 would look like during the pandemic. That insight is needed even more this year as the ground keeps shifting, vaccines are rolled out, and new coronavirus mutations emerge.

‘Much has changed since the start of the pandemic, from consumer behavior to health care delivery to working from home. What changes are lasting? And what lessons have we learned? We’ve asked some of our faculty to analyze what’s in store for the rest of 2021. Their responses appear below:

• Will working from home become permanent for nonessential employees?
• What’s the outlook for the stock market and the economy this year?
• How will the pandemic continue to change the delivery of health care in the U.S.?
• What crisis management lessons will business leaders keep going forward?
• What changes in retail and shopping will become permanent?
• What is the future of the gig economy in the U.S.?

Read here (Wharton@Knowledge, Mar 8, 2021) 

In 2018, diplomats warned of risky Coronavirus experiments in a Wuhan lab. No one listened

‘Knowing the significance of the Wuhan virologists’ discovery, and knowing that the WIV’s top-level biosafety laboratory (BSL-4) was relatively new, the U.S. Embassy health and science officials in Beijing decided to go to Wuhan and check it out. In total, the embassy sent three teams of experts in late 2017 and early 2018 to meet with the WIV scientists, among them Shi Zhengli, often referred to as the “bat woman” because of her extensive experience studying coronaviruses found in bats.

‘When they sat down with the scientists at the WIV, the American diplomats were shocked by what they heard. The Chinese researchers told them they didn’t have enough properly trained technicians to safely operate their BSL-4 lab. The Wuhan scientists were asking for more support to get the lab up to top standards...

‘Taken together, those two points—a particularly dangerous groups of viruses being studied in a lab with real safety problems—were intended as a warning about a potential public-health crisis, one of the cable writers told me. They kept the cables unclassified because they wanted more people back home to be able to read and share them, according to the cable writer. But there was no response from State Department headquarters and they were never made public. And as U.S.-China tensions rose over the course of 2018, American diplomats lost access to labs such as the one at the WIV.’

Read here (Politico, March 8, 2021)

Covid-19's impact could mean millions more child marriages: UNICEF

‘The outsized impact COVID-19 has had on women in some countries could result in an additional 10 million child marriages in this decade, according to a new analysis released on Monday (Mar 8) by UNICEF. "School closures, economic stress, service disruptions, pregnancy and parental deaths due to the pandemic are putting the most vulnerable girls at increased risk of child marriage," said a study titled COVID-19: A Threat to Progress Against Child Marriage.’

Read here (Straits Times, Mar 7, 2021)

China to issue ‘health certificates’ for travel; open to vaccinate athletes for Games: Foreign Minister

‘China said on Sunday (March 7) that it would be issuing "health certificates" - an apparent first step to a global health passport - to allow for international travel amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The country is also open to working with the International Olympic Committee to immunise athletes taking part in the sporting event.

‘It would also be setting up regional vaccination sites to inoculate its citizens overseas, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at his annual press conference.’

Read here (Straits Times, Mar 7, 2021)

The Nightingale alternative: Cast out fear in favour of love

‘According to Miss Nightingale: “True nursing ignores infection, except to prevent it. Cleanliness and fresh air from open windows, with unremitting attention to the patient, are the only defence a true nurse either asks or needs. Wise and humane management of the patient is the best safeguard against infection.”

‘Tell that to those who decided that old people already suffering from life-threatening complaints should be shut away for months on end, deprived of free movement in the open air and of the contact they crave with those they love!

‘And what would a woman who remarked, “How very little can be done under the spirit of fear!” have thought of the deliberate incitement of terror which has been the hallmark of public policy in the UK for the past eleven months?

‘What would her opinion have been of a government that splashes out apparently unlimited sums of public money on fear-inducing propaganda, with the aim of increasing “the perceived level of personal threat…using hard-hitting emotional messaging”?

‘A Nightingale approach to Covid, and to all infections, would allow us to cast out fear in favour of love, resolving the present conflict between concern for public health and the moral imperatives which should always take precedence over panicked speculation.

‘It would, however, be exceedingly inconvenient for those currently seizing the chance to impose their anti-human agendas on humanity, under cover of a pandemic.’

Read here (OffGuardian, Mar 7, 2021) 

India’s Covid vaccine rollout ‘rescued the world’: Top US scientist

‘Dr Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston during a recent webinar said that the two mRNA vaccines may not impact the world's low- and middle-income countries, but India's vaccines, made in collaboration with universities across the world such as BCM and the Oxford University, have "rescued the world" and its contributions must not be underestimated.

‘During the webinar, "Covid-19: Vaccination and Potential Return to Normalcy - If and When", Dr Hotez, an internationally-recognised physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development, said that the Covid-19 vaccine rollout is "India's gift'' to the world in combating the virus.

‘India's drugs regulator gave emergency use authorisation to Covishield, produced by Pune-based Serum Institute of India after securing licence from British pharma company AstraZeneca, and Covaxin, indigenously developed jointly by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Indian Council of Medical Research scientists.’

Read here (India Today, Mar 7, 2021)

Oral Covid-19 treatment yields promising trial data: Drugmakers

‘German pharmaceutical giant Merck and a US partner reported promising results on Saturday (Mar 6) in trials of a drug administered orally to fight COVID-19, saying it helps reduce patients' viral load...

‘In January, Merck halted work on two COVID-19 vaccine candidates but has pressed on with research into two products to treat the disease, including a pill-based one called molnupiravir, which it has developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

‘This drug caused a significant drop in patients' viral load after five days of treatment with it, Merck said at a meeting with infectious disease experts. This Phase 2A test - drug trials have three stages before a product can be approved - was carried out among 202 non-hospitalised people with symptoms of COVID-19.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Mar 7, 2021)

The antibody deception

‘Virtually every study and piece of marketing material related to Covid is premised on scientists having positively and correctly identified the presence of the novel coronavirus (also known as SARS-CoV-2) in the material they’re working with.

‘The job of that identification is usually given to antibodies that are said to bind to the novel coronavirus. The assumption is these antibodies are able to pick out the virus and only the virus from among every other organism and substance surrounding it.

‘Unfortunately it turns out that the antibodies rarely (if ever) do that. This is because of, among other things, inadequate verification of the antibodies’ accuracy in targeting the virus by the companies that manufacture and sell them. And there’s even less verification by government regulators.’

Read here (OffGuardian, Mar 6, 2021)

Multitude of coronavirus variants found in the US — but the threat is unclear

‘For the scientists who have spent the past year poring over hundreds of thousands of coronavirus genomes, the United States has been an enigma. Despite having world-leading genome sequencing infrastructure and experiencing more COVID infections than any other country, the United States has until recently lagged far behind in sequencing coronavirus genomes and spotting worrisome variants.

‘But in recent weeks, US researchers have identified a host of new variants, including in California, New York State, Louisiana and elsewhere. And they are continuing to ramp up SARS-CoV-2 sequencing efforts.

‘That has brought another challenge: making sense of the variants that are discovered. They carry potentially worrying mutations and might be becoming more common, but a dearth of data on how the variants are spreading means the threat they pose is unclear.’

Read here (Nature, Mar 6, 2021)

From Pfizer to Moderna: Who's making billions from Covid-19 vaccines?

‘Among the biggest winners will be Moderna and Pfizer – two very different US pharma firms which are both charging more than $30 per person for the protection of their two-dose vaccines. While Moderna was founded just 11 years ago, has never made a profit and employed just 830 staff pre-pandemic, Pfizer traces its roots back to 1849, made a net profit of $9.6bn last year and employs nearly 80,000 staff.

‘But other drugmakers, such as the British-Swedish AstraZeneca and the US pharma Johnson & Johnson, have pledged to provide their vaccines on a not-for-profit basis until the pandemic comes to an end.’

Also carried in this story are: Sinovac, Sputnik V, Novavax, CureVac 

Read here (The Guardian, Mar 6, 2021)

The political economy of Covid-19 vaccines

‘Vaccine grabs, the refusal to relax patents to enable mass production, and the use of vaccines for diplomacy run the risk that poorer nations may not be protected against Covid-19 quickly enough. This will prolong the pandemic, even for the richer nations.’

Read here (The India Forum, Mar 5, 2021)

I’m alive today because of our healthcare frontliners! — Joseph Ong See Sung

‘While at the hospital, I also made many friends among the patients. I was touched by what I saw. Everyone in the ward was helping one another. There was no racial barrier. Everyone took turns to look out for one another. I told myself — this should be the Malaysia that we should have, not one that’s divisive and ruined by people with selfish interests! 

‘I saw one very filial son who was with his father. Both had Covid-19. But this young man, despite being down with the virus, made all efforts to care for his father, who even suffered a stroke there! 

‘Every minute of my waking hour there, I saw people putting aside their personal and ethnic differences to help anyone within their sight! It warmed my heart and spurred me to get better so that I can tell the outside world that people were so caring at the hospitals. Both frontliners and patients! Why can’t more people be like that?’

Read here (Malay Mail, Mar 5, 2021)

The secret weapon [abolishing factory farming] against pandemics that nobody wants to talk about | Alex O'Connor

‘Alex O’Connor is a prominent podcaster, YouTuber and student at the University of Oxford. In his TEDx talk, Alex puts forward the case against factory farming, not only based on ethical concerns, but also by exploring how factory farms can become breeding grounds for Zoonotic viruses.’

View here (TedTalk, Youtube, Mar 5, 2021)

Germany approves AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s

‘Germany's vaccine commission has approved the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab in people aged over 65. The country previously approved it for under-65s only, citing insufficient data on its effects on older people. That led to public scepticism about its effectiveness, with some Germans spurning it and leaving many doses unused.

‘But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said recent studies had now provided enough data to approve it for all ages. Announcing the commission's decision on Thursday, Health Minister Jens Spahn said the move was "good news for older people who are waiting for an injection".’

Read here (BBC, Mar 5, 2021) 

Finding an ultimate vaccine to fight the mutating “emperor” virus

‘We are commenting on the shocking CNN website report (March 2), headlined “All our recent progress with COVID-19 could be wiped out by variants, CDC director says”. The first two paragraphs (below) are enough to sum up the CNN report: “The US is at risk of losing all its recent gains in the battle against COVID-19 as highly contagious variants take advantage of Americans getting lax with safety measures... “Please hear me clearly: At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained,” said Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the US centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”...

‘With new variants, serious doubts are suggested by the CNN report on whether this “vaccine” [mRNA], the first in the global market, would work, even if safety factor is put aside. Nevertheless, there are safe and workable vaccines, using tried and tested technologies like using inactivated or attenuated virus from nature to stimulate the body to produce anti-body response. Even the adenovirus viral vector technology, tried and tested for Ebola, appears to be safer than mRNA.

‘There are also safe and good alternatives, like the anti-viral “broad spectrum” drug Ivermectin, which can destroy the new variants. In the meantime, it is vital that we improve our body immunity against COVID-19 by taking Vitamin C with zinc, Vitamin D, minerals and trace elements needed, explore proven traditional and complimentary medicines, and maintain established standard operating procedures (SOPs) of physical distancing, wearing surgical masks and personal hygiene in public places.’

Read here (Focus Malaysia, Mar 4, 2021)

China’s vaccine diplomacy falls flat in the Philippines

‘The Philippines has finally kicked off its Covid-19 vaccine rollout with much-publicized donations from China but rising controversies around the rollout will prevent Beijing from declaring a “vaccine diplomacy” win.

‘China recently delivered 600,000 doses of the vaccine developed by the Beijing-based company Sinovac Biotech and frontliners across the country are set to be among the primary beneficiaries. The drive kicks off as the Philippines grapples with one of the region’s worst outbreaks and steepest economic recessions caused by extended lockdowns.’

Read here (Asia Times, Mar 4, 2021)

Fighting the medical monopoly: Mobilising for Zero-Covid and decommodified healthcare

‘As I have discussed in an article on Interferon 2b and Cuba’s other treatments for COVID-19, decommodified universal healthcare is the alternative to monopoly-driven healthcare ravaging countries around the globe. Not for profit production and delivery of all health related goods responding to general and specific human needs of the majority of any given country is the only means to assure quality health for all, in pandemic as well as non-pandemic times.

‘More concretely, decommodified universal healthcare is ecologically sound, public sector production of everything from food to psychological support, medicines to medical technology, and medical care. Rather than results based management and other corporate models adopted by most state owned enterprises globally in the past four decades, such public production would be designed and managed democratically by citizens, health professionals, scientists, and the range of other workers involved.

‘Taxation of corporations and rich individuals would be the primary means of financing decommodified universal healthcare. Due to the social importance of health related goods, and high employment potential given the extent of need in most countries around the globe, decommodified universal healthcare would constitute a significant segment of needs based, ecologically sound, nationally focused economies.’

Read here (The Bullet, Mar 4, 2021)

Without official vaccine guidance, pregnant people are left to do their own research

‘The lack of clear guidance around pregnancy has ripple effects. Despite abundant evidence that the vaccines are safe for lactating parents and their babies, last month the Chicago Tribune reported that a new mom who was breastfeeding was denied the COVID-19 vaccine by her county’s health department. Officials said they decided not to allow pregnant or lactating women to receive the vaccine, citing a lack of data.

‘Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccinologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told me he was appalled by the mixed messaging around vaccines in pregnancy, which he said leaves patients “reading the tea leaves.” The government “has not made a good faith effort to take down the anti-vaccine misinformation and disinformation,” he said. “So by telling a pregnant woman to do her own research online means you’re basically telling her not to get vaccinated.”

Read here (Mother Jones, Mar 4, 2021)

Effect of ivermectin on time to resolution of symptoms among adults with mild Covid-19: A randomised clinical trial

‘In this randomized clinical trial that included 476 patients, the duration of symptoms was not significantly different for patients who received a 5-day course of ivermectin compared with placebo (median time to resolution of symptoms, 10 vs 12 days; hazard ratio for resolution of symptoms, 1.07).

‘The findings do not support the use of ivermectin for treatment of mild COVID-19, although larger trials may be needed to understand effects on other clinically relevant outcomes.’

Read here (JamaNetwork, Mar 4, 2021)

India's Covid vaccine wins over some sceptics after promising data

‘Indian doctors and politicians on Thursday welcomed efficacy data for a state-backed coronavirus vaccine that was given emergency approval in January without the completion of a late-stage trial, making people reluctant to receive the shot.

‘Government data shows (dashboard.cowin.gov.in) that only 10% of about 13.3 million people immunised in India have taken the COVAXIN shot, which was found to be 81% effective in an interim analysis of the late-stage trial, its developer Bharat Biotech said on Wednesday.’

Read here (Reuters, Mar 4, 2021)

Covid year: Topsy-turvy and gains

‘What should spring up eternally is compassion, tolerance, humility and other qualities that would unite us in this beloved land no matter what our ethnic or religious affiliations...

‘Any change in societal or personal lives is influenced by gender, social class, race, culture, age and other variables. I can only speak as a 73-year-old woman, former academic, Christian and Malaysian-Chinese, and post-polio person. Each facet of our multi-layered identity will be affected in different degrees by this season of Covid-19.’

Read here (Aliran, Mar 4, 2021)

How Covid-19 vaccine efforts could help defeat other diseases

• A proposed way of immunizing against malaria uses an RNA-based approach similar to COVID-19 vaccines.
• ‘Viral vector’ methods used to stem the pandemic could also yield vaccines for other purposes.
• COVID-19 vaccination achievements could be applied to diseases that kill millions of people annually.

Read here (World Economic Forum, Mar 4, 2021)

Why has P1 appeared? Heads it wins, tails we lose?

‘You may already know that viruses mutate, that this is normal and these small changes to the virus’s genetic code are to be expected. Well, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean they’re always harmless. Many mutations will be irrelevant, and some will make a virus weaker and will die out. But others will make it fitter, giving it an advantage over other variants and allowing it to out-compete them.

‘As people socially distance, observe stricter personal hygiene and wear masks, it becomes an advantage for the virus to be more transmissible. Similarly, as more people around the world gain immunity through being infected or vaccinated, another advantage would be for the virus to change so that antibodies can no longer attach to it and prevent it from infecting cells.

‘It’s therefore not surprising to see variants with mutations that provide these advantages now out-competing other forms of the coronavirus. Control measures and rising immunity are pressuring the coronavirus to evolve.’

Read here (The Conversation, Mar 3, 2021)

As the world vies for vaccines, Cuba’s making its own

‘Cuba may be on the verge of a coronavirus vaccine breakthrough and not a moment too soon, as deaths and cases spike on the communist-run island.

‘Starting in March, two of the island's four homegrown vaccine candidates will begin their third and final trials, the Cuban government has announced. While other developing countries compete with richer nations for a limited supply of doses, Cuba has gambled everything on producing their own vaccines, as much an exercise in national pride as a response to a public health crisis.’

Read here (CNN, Mar 3, 2021)

US Catholic group tells followers to avoid Johnson & Johnson vaccine

‘An American Catholic church body on Tuesday urged its followers to avoid the coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, alleging that it was “developed, tested and produced using abortion-derived cell lines.”

‘The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) urged Catholics to choose between the alternatives offered by Pfizer and Moderna because the J&J vaccine raised questions about “moral permissibility.”

“The approval of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine for use in the United States again raises questions about the moral permissibility of using vaccines developed, tested, and/or produced with the help of abortion-derived cell lines,” said Bishop Kevin C Rhoades, chairman of USCCB.’

Read here (Independent, Mar 3, 2021) 

‘A conflict of interest mars paper on Ayurvedic Covid drug Coronil – and it should be retracted’

‘Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his FMCG company Patanjali Ayurved have recently been in the news for advancing a supposedly Ayurvedic drug named Coronil as the “first evidence-based medicine” for COVID-19. But despite the dubiety of this claim, Coronil has been approved for sale by the Government of India on the sole basis of a scientific paper, published in the journal Phytomedicine in February 2021.

‘A previous article discussed the wobbly assertions in the paper and their mismatch with Patanjali’s conclusion that Coronil has been properly tested or that it is efficacious. But there is another bit of detail that may disqualify the paper’s publication itself. In the paper’s ‘Declaration of Competing Interest’ section, the authors say:

“Authors declare no conflict of interests with regards to the submitted work. The medications were provided by Divya Pharmacy, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. Acharya Balkrishna is an honorary trustee in Divya Yog Mandir Trust. Besides, providing the medications, Divya Pharmacy was not involved in any aspect of the clinical trial reported in this study. Clinical trial was conducted at National Institute of Medical Sciences, Jaipur, India.”

Read here (Science TheWire, Mar 3, 2021)

Science and society are failing children in the Covid Era

‘In spite of the increasingly polarized debate about school reopenings, community infection rates and prioritization of vaccination, it seems clear that both science and society are failing children. Children have proven uniquely resilient to COVID-19, but many are already suffering lasting educational, mental and physical harms. The greatest harm is falling on the most vulnerable children, and yet we know so little of the true extent and duration of these harms, because relatively little research has focused on them, compared to the research on COVID-19-related spread and mitigation.

‘School closures are a prominent example where following the science is not in itself an answer. These are hard decisions based on ethical and moral considerations for elected officials to make, in ways that acknowledge the evidence on the harms, the requirement for safeguarding and the emerging evidence on COVID-19. Understanding the evidence on the potential trade-offs for children is a critical component of such policies and decisions. It is time science and society elevated this central responsibility.’

Read here (Scientific American, Mar 3, 2021) 

Don’t let private hospitals jump the vaccination queue ― no special privileges for the rich! ― Suaram

‘Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) believes that the commercialisation of the Covid-19 vaccination by the private hospitals would only encourage “queue-cutting” where the rich and powerful stands to gain and potentially undermine the government's national programme and weakens social solidarity.

‘Furthermore, allowing private hospitals to procure vaccines and subsequently running their own vaccination programme also contradicts the principles of giving everyone an equal opportunity in the country’s largest vaccination programme ever.’

Read here (Malay Mail, March 3, 2021)

Malaysia approves Sinovac, AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines for use

‘Malaysia on Tuesday (Mar 2) granted conditional approval for the use of vaccines made by UK firm AstraZeneca and China's Sinovac, just days after launching its nationwide COVID-19 inoculation programme. Malaysia began its vaccination drive on Feb 24 using a shot developed by US drugmaker Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, as it tries to rein in a spike in infections and help revive an economy that recorded its worst slump in more than two decades last year.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Mar 2, 2021)

The Covid bubble

‘When it comes to this year, growth may yet fall short of expectations. New strains of the coronavirus continue to emerge, raising concerns that existing vaccines may no longer be sufficient to end the pandemic. Repeated stop-go cycles undermine confidence, and political pressure to reopen the economy before the virus is contained will continue to build. Many small- and medium-size enterprises are still at risk of going bust, and far too many people are facing the prospects of long-term unemployment. The list of pathologies afflicting the economy is long and includes rising inequality, deleveraging by debt-burdened firms and workers, and political and geopolitical risks.

‘Asset markets remain frothy – if not outright bubbly – because they are being fed by super-accommodative monetary policies. But today’s price/earnings ratios are as high they were in the bubbles preceding the busts of 1929 and 2000. Between ever-rising leverage and the potential for bubbles in special-purpose acquisition companies, tech stocks, and cryptocurrencies, today’s market mania offers plenty of cause for concern.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, Mar 2, 2021)

China ships millions of Covid-19 vaccines to poor nations abroad; denies ‘vaccine diplomacy’

‘China's vaccine diplomacy campaign has been a surprising success: It has pledged roughly half a billion doses of its vaccines to more than 45 countries, according to a country-by-country tally by The Associated Press. With just four of China's many vaccine makers claiming they are able to produce at least 2.6 billion doses this year, a large part of the world's population will end up inoculated not with the fancy Western vaccines boasting headline-grabbing efficacy rates, but with China's humble, traditionally made shots.

‘Amid a dearth of public data on China's vaccines, hesitations over their efficacy and safety are still pervasive in the countries depending on them, along with concerns about what China might want in return for deliveries. Nonetheless, inoculations with Chinese vaccines already have begun in more than 25 countries, and the Chinese shots have been delivered to another 11, according to the AP tally, based on independent reporting in those countries along with government and company announcements.’

Read here (CP24, Mar 2, 2021)

The search for animals harbouring coronavirus — and why it matters

‘Ever since the coronavirus started spreading around the world, scientists have worried that it could leap from people into wild animals. If so, it might lurk in various species, possibly mutate and then resurge in humans even after the pandemic has subsided.

‘That would bring the tale of SARS-CoV-2 full circle, because wild animals probably brought it to humans in the first place. Strong evidence suggests that the virus originated in horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus spp.), possibly hitching a ride on other animals before infecting people1. In the current stage of the pandemic, with hundreds of thousands of confirmed COVID-19 infections every day, people are still driving transmission of SARS-CoV-2. But years from now, when community spread has been suppressed, a reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 in free-roaming animals could become a recalcitrant source of new flare-ups.’

Read here (Nature, Mar 2, 2021)

Coronavirus crisis unlikely to be over by the end of the year, WHO warns

‘Despite the spread of Covid-19 being slowed in some countries due to lockdowns and vaccination programs, it is “premature” and “unrealistic” to the think the pandemic will be over by the end of the year, the World Health Organization’s executive director of emergency services has said.

‘Speaking at a press briefing Geneva, Dr Michael Ryan said while vaccinating the most vulnerable people, including healthcare workers, would help remove the “tragedy and fear” from the situation, and would help to ease pressure on hospitals, the “virus is very much in control”.’

Read here (The Guardian, Mar 2, 2021) 

NIH halts trial of Covid-19 convalescent plasma in emergency department patients with mild symptoms: ‘Safe but no significant benefit’

‘The National Institutes of Health has halted a clinical trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 convalescent plasma in treating emergency department patients who developed mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

‘An independent data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) met on Feb. 25, 2021 for the second planned interim analysis of the trial data and determined that while the convalescent plasma intervention caused no harm, it was unlikely to benefit this group of patients. After the meeting, the DSMB recommended that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of NIH, stop enrolling new patients into the study. NHLBI did so immediately.’

Read here (NIH, Mar 2, 2021) 

Coronil: The misleading claims about an Indian remedy

‘A controversial herbal concoction has been in the news again in India, with renewed claims that it is effective against coronavirus. The substance, called Coronil, was launched recently at an event attended by some Indian government ministers. But there is no evidence that it works, and misleading claims have been made about approval for its use.’

Read here (BBC, Mar 2, 2021) 

Countries urge drug companies to share vaccine know-how

‘Across Africa and Southeast Asia, governments and aid groups, as well as the World Health Organization, are calling on pharmaceutical companies to share their patent information more broadly to meet a yawning global shortfall in a pandemic that already has claimed over 2.5 million lives. Pharmaceutical companies that took taxpayer money from the U.S. or Europe to develop inoculations at unprecedented speed say they are negotiating contracts and exclusive licensing deals with producers on a case-by-case basis because they need to protect their intellectual property and ensure safety.’

Read here (AP, Mar 2, 2021)

100,000 deaths and a White Paper: What we need instead in Britain

‘We must refuse to engage on this paltry terrain. The pandemic, and the government’s abject failure to respond to it, should prompt a radical set of popular demands. Not since 1948 has there been such overwhelming public support for the NHS, or for the medical scientists and public health experts without whose knowledge and warnings even more lives would have been lost. In this context, and in recognition of how close we have come to an even greater disaster, we must reject this tinkering with the status quo.

‘Integration’ has served as a useful cover for Simon Stevens’s dismantling of the Lansley competition-based model, but it is a perverse misnomer for what the white paper proposes to embody in law. True integration is incompatible with a system of in-built conflicts of interest. Decisions about service provision need to be clearly accountable both to Parliament, and locally, to the public, neither of which is the case in what is proposed. Integration of healthcare with social care is indeed also needed, but is only possible if social care also becomes a public service. And neither this, nor adequate funding for the NHS, is ‘unaffordable’, especially while real interest rates are negative. What is unaffordable is to face the next pandemic as unprotected as we were for COVID-19.’

Read here (The Bullet, Mar 2, 2021)

Don’t rush vaccine passports, address fundamental issues ― Ameen Kamal

‘As it would take time for nations to reach herd immunity, mechanisms to help re-open the economy and international borders such as health passports have been met with increased enthusiasm and strong support from economic sectors.

‘However, issues related to immunological uncertainties, social-ethical concerns related to its implementation as well as operational challenges in global standardisations have to be addressed in order for vaccine passports to be effective.’

Read here (Malay Mail, March 2, 2021)

Children’s hospitals grapple with young Covid ‘long haulers’

‘While statistics indicate that children have largely been spared from the worst effects of covid, little is known about what causes a small percentage of them to develop serious illness. Doctors are now reporting the emergence of downstream complications that mimic what’s seen in adult “long haulers.”

‘In response, pediatric hospitals are creating clinics to provide a one-stop shop for care and to catch any anomalies that could otherwise go unnoticed. However, the treatment offered by these centers could come at a steep price tag to patients, health finance experts warned, especially given that so much about the condition is unknown.

‘Nonetheless, the increasing number of patients like Delaney is leading to a more structured follow-up plan for kids recovering from covid, said Dr. Uzma Hasan, division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at St. Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey.’

Read here (KHN News, Mar 2, 2021)

Neoliberal finance undermines poor countries’ recovery

‘After being undermined by decades of financial liberalisation, developing countries now are not only victims of vaccine imperialism, but also cannot count on much financial support as their COVID-19 recessions drag on due to global vaccine apartheid...

‘Undoubtedly, distressed developing countries desperately need foreign exchange to cope. But IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s call to boost global liquidity with “a sizeable SDR” (Special Drawing Right) allocation was blocked by the Trump administration, who objected that it would give China, Iran, Russia, Syria and Venezuela access to new funds.

‘The Financial Times (FT) argues that the proposed new SDR1tn (US$1.37tn) issuance – almost five times the US$283bn issued in 2009 – is justified by the scale of the crisis. For the FT, it would be “the simplest and most effective way to get additional purchasing power into the hands of the countries that need it”...

‘With 85% of IMF votes required to issue new SDRs, and the US holding veto power with 16.5%, Biden administration support is vital. For SDR issuance under US$650 billion, the White House only needs to consult, rather than get approval from the US Congress.’

Read here (IPS News, Mar 1, 2021)

The raging evolutionary war between humans and Covid-19

‘Fighting the pandemic isn’t only about vaccines and drugs. It’s about understanding how viruses mutate and change inside us, and among us...

‘The major change to the immunity of all the hosts SARS-CoV-2 is likely to try to infect will be, of course, vaccination. That’s human ingenuity fighting viral expertise, but it can also exert a kind of direct adaptive pressure on the virus. History has examples of so-called leaky vaccines—those that aren’t effective enough to prevent all infections or all transmission, and allow better-adapted variants of whatever bug they’re trying to squish to live to fight another day.

‘In fact, one group of researchers has a model that suggests that could even happen with the new batch of vaccines against Covid—especially those that require two doses and seem to confer different levels of immunity depending on how far apart they’re administered, or whether someone skips the second one. Here's how: If one extreme is a population totally naive to a new virus, completely vulnerable and with no immunity, and the other extreme is a population with perfect sterilizing immunity, what happens to a population in between? If a vaccine allows infection but no transmission, the virus doesn’t have a chance to evolve.

‘But if a vaccine or vaccination strategy allows some infection and some transmission? “The ones that are the best at getting around the host’s defenses are the ones that are most likely to persist,” says Caroline Wagner, a bioengineer at McGill and one of the people working on the model. If that’s all true, a leaky vaccine or leaky vaccination strategy could actually drive antigenic drift and create even worse variants. Wagner and her colleagues acknowledge that they don’t have enough data to put bounds on their model yet, but they worry about strategies like one proposed in the UK to abandon second doses as a way of speeding the process and husbanding scarce vaccine, or the way some countries are hoarding vaccine while others go without (potentially letting the virus, and variants, circulate and evolve freely).’

Read here (Wired, Mar 1, 2021)

I have allergies – Can I take the Covid-19 vaccine? — Dr Amar-Singh HSS

‘I believe there are three possible options for those of us with severe allergies:

• We may choose not to get vaccinated as we feel the risk is too high. But we will have to accept a much stricter SOP for our lives and be prepared to have our lives restricted for some time.
• The second option is that we choose to vaccinate and, due to the high risk, ask that it be done with enhanced health professional support, i.e. vaccinate in a hospital and have good backup with adrenaline at hand.
• The third option is to delay vaccination and watch the data as more is made available. The risk of anaphylaxis is small and likely to be even smaller as we get more vaccination data. We will also have a clearer idea which vaccine has the lowest rate of severe allergic reaction. Once this data is available we hope to be able to choose the least allergic vaccine and vaccinate in a hospital with good physician backup.’

Read here (Code Blue, Mar 1, 2021)

To beat Covid, we may need a good shot in the nose

‘Intranasal vaccines might stop the spread of the coronavirus more effectively than needles in arms...

‘Although injected vaccines do reduce symptomatic COVID cases, and prevent a lot of severe illness, they may still allow for asymptomatic infection. A person might feel fine, but actually harbor the virus and be able to pass it on to others. The reason is that the coronavirus can temporarily take up residence in the mucosa—the moist, mucus-secreting surfaces of the nose and throat that serve as our first line of defense against inhaled viruses. Research with laboratory animals suggests that a coronavirus infection can linger in the nose even after it has been vanquished in the lungs. That means it might be possible to spread the coronavirus after vaccination.

‘Enter the intranasal vaccine, which abandons the needle and syringe for a spray container that looks more like a nasal decongestant. With a quick spritz up the nose, intranasal vaccines are designed to bolster immune defenses in the mucosa, triggering production of an antibody known as immunoglobulin A, which can block infection. This overwhelming response, called sterilizing immunity, reduces the chance that people will pass on the virus.’

Read here (Scientific American, Mar 1, 2021)

7 ways to reduce reluctance to take Covid vaccines

1. It's not necessary to change the minds of committed anti-vaxxers; they are just a tiny slice of the population, and we can reach herd immunity without them.
2. Facts alone will not persuade skeptics.
3. Some minority groups, such as Black and Native Americans, have strong historical reasons to view health authorities with suspicion. Experts favor working closely with civic and faith leaders, admired athletes and other trusted figures within those groups.
4. Low levels of vaccination, particularly among low-income communities, often reflect practical barriers.
5. Talk about how popular the vaccine is.
6. Overcome the human tendency to procrastinate.
7. For forgetful types, simple reminders—by text or voice message—can be powerful. 

Read here (Scientific American, March 2021)

Patently unfair: Can waivers help solve Covid vaccine inequality?

‘The World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council gathered virtually on Monday for the first of two days of talks amid increasing calls from civil society, states and nongovernmental actors to temporarily waive patents for COVID-19 vaccines and other coronavirus-related medical products. Endorsing a waiver on Friday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “If not now, when?”

‘At the core of the discussion stands a proposal submitted in October by South Africa and India to suspend the WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. The goal is to facilitate the transfer of technology and scientific knowledge to developing countries to ramp up the global production of vaccines and other necessary equipment.’

Read here (Aljazeera, Mar 1, 2021)

Vaccine apartheid or corona-utopia — 6 post-pandemic futures

‘There are two types of people in the post-pandemic world: those who have been vaccinated and those who haven’t. Now, national leaders across the world are considering making that official.

‘So-called immunity passes are already a reality in Israel. With nearly half of the adult population vaccinated, the government announced last month that gyms, hotels, pools and cultural events can reopen for people who can present a QR code proving their immunity. The U.K. is exploring a similar option, and in the EU, experts say a proposal for a “digital green pass” facilitating cross-border travel could easily find domestic applications...

‘Ethicists and public health advocates note that such passes would be wildly discriminatory right now, when vaccines are in shortage. But they could easily become reality once supply outstrips demand (at least in wealthy countries) and restaurants, hotels, airlines and cultural venues seek safe ways to reopen.

‘How they are managed, and how they are accepted, will determine whether immunity passes offer a return to normalcy or usher in some sort of dystopic sci-fi scenario. Using our crystal ball (and a good deal of reporting), POLITICO has compiled snapshots from six possible futures that might be lying in wait for us before the end of the year:

1. Corona-utopia
2. Vaccine apartheid
3. Back to the future
4. Legal limbo
5. Whole new hassle
6. Why bother?

Read here (Politico, March 2021) 

Coronavirus fact-check #10: Why “new cases” are plummeting... ‘It's not vaccines, it's not lockdown’

‘Essentially, in two memos the WHO ensured future testing would be less likely to produce false positives and made it much harder to be labelled an “asymptomatic case”.

‘In short, logic would suggest we’re not in fact seeing a “decline in Covid cases” or a “decrease in Covid deaths” at all.

‘What we’re seeing is a decline in perfectly healthy people being labelled “covid cases” based on a false positive from an unreliable testing process. And we’re seeing fewer people dying of pneumonia, cancer or other disease have “Covid19” added to their death certificate based on testing criteria designed to inflate the pandemic.’

Read here (Off Guardian, Feb 26, 2021)

Obesity, walking pace and risk of severe Covid-19 and mortality: Analysis of UK Biobank

‘Both obesity and self-reported walking pace are independently associated with the population level risk of severe COVID-19 and COVID-19 mortality in UK Biobank. However, self-reported slow walkers had the highest risk regardless of their obesity status, with normal weight slow walkers having over twice the risk of severe disease and almost four times the risk of COVID-19 mortality compared to normal weight brisk walkers.’

Read here (International Journal of Obesity, February 26, 2021)

Malaysian company develops Covid-19 rapid test kits that can deliver results under 20 minutes

‘A homegrown diagnostic solution start-up has developed a digital rapid Covid-19 test kit — dubbed APTSENS — that can upload test results in real-time with geo-location data to cloud servers via a mobile app.

‘Biogenes Technologies, a startup in the field of molecular diagnostics and genomics, said that APTSENS is a simple-to-use kit consisting of Covid-19 single-use sensor chip, portable electronic reader and collection swab that can produce test results in under 20 minutes.’

Read here (Malay Mail, Feb 26, 2021)

Will I have to wear a mask after getting the Covid vaccine? The science explained

‘Public health authorities want people to keep wearing masks and social distancing, even after they receive a vaccine. This might seem counterintuitive – after all, if someone gets a vaccine, aren’t they protected from the coronavirus?

‘The answer is complicated: the vast majority of people who are vaccinated will be protected from Covid-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, vaccinated people may still be able to transmit the virus, even though they do not display any symptoms. “We know now the vaccines can protect, but what we haven’t had enough time to really understand is – does it protect from spreading?” said Avery August, professor of immunology at Cornell University.

‘That is because the the SARS-CoV-2 virus may still colonize the respiratory tract, even as systemic immune cells protect the overall body from the disease it causes – Covid-19.’

Read here (The Guardian, Feb 26, 2021)

Convalescent plasma did not improve patient outcomes compared with placebo group: Study

‘In a systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA, researchers evaluated treatment with convalescent plasma compared to standard of care or use of a placebo in randomized clinical trials (RCTs)—published through January 29, 2021. The researchers identified 10 total RCTs—4 published peer-reviewed studies and 6 unpublished studies—including a total of 11,782 COVID-19 patients. 

‘Overall, convalescent plasma did not significantly differ from placebo or standard of care for any of the major outcomes of interest: all-cause mortality, length of hospital stay, mechanical ventilation use, clinical improvement, clinical deterioration, and serious adverse events. The researchers noted that there was limited data available regarding clinical improvement, clinical deterioration, and serious adverse events in these studies.’ (Summary from John Hopkins Centre for Health Security newsletter of March 2)

Read here (JAMA Network, Feb 26, 2021)

Where did Covid come from? Five mysteries that remain

‘In the wake of the World Health Organization’s investigation, there are still key questions about when, where and how the pandemic began.

1. Was the virus circulating in Wuhan before the first known cases?
2. Was the virus spreading in people outside China before December 2019?
3. What was the role of the Huanan market?
4. Did frozen wild-animal meat have a role in the early spread of the virus?
5. Was the virus circulating in animals in China before the pandemic?

Read here (Nature, Feb 26, 2021)

China approves two more domestic Covid-19 vaccines for public use

‘China’s medical products regulator said on Thursday that it had approved two more COVID-19 vaccines for public use, raising the number of domestically produced vaccines that can be used in China to four. The two newly cleared vaccines are made by CanSino Biologics Inc (CanSinoBIO) and Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).

‘They join a vaccine from Sinovac Biotech approved earlier this month, and another from Sinopharm’s Beijing unit approved last year.

‘Prior to formal approval for wider public use by the National Medical Products Administration, millions of doses of the two Sinopharm vaccines and Sinovac shot had been administered in China’s vaccination program. The program targets select groups of people facing a higher risk of infection.’

Read here (Reuters, Feb 25, 2021)

Covid-19: Pfizer BioNTech vaccine reduced cases by 94% in Israel, shows peer reviewed study

‘The Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine produces as good results in the “real world” as have been previously documented in randomised trials.

‘A case control study, which has been peer reviewed and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, compared 596 618 people who were newly vaccinated in Israel and matched them to unvaccinated controls.1 Two doses of the mRNA vaccine reduced symptomatic cases by 94%, hospitalisation by 87%, and severe covid-19 by 92%, according to the data from the Clalit Institute for Research which is Israel’s biggest healthcare provider.

‘Researchers recorded the outcomes at three periods: days 14 to 20 after the first dose of vaccine, days 21 through 27 after the first dose, and day 7 after the second dose. In Israel, the second dose of vaccine is given on day 21 in line with the trials and the manufacturer’s recommendation. The UK is leaving a 12 week gap between doses.

‘During a mean follow-up of 15 days, 10 561 infections were documented of which 5996 were symptomatic covid-19 illness, 369 required hospitalisation, 229 were severe cases, and 41 resulted in death.

‘After one dose, during days 14 to 20, the vaccine effectiveness was 57% for symptomatic covid-19, 74% for hospitalisation, and 62% for severe disease. The estimated effectiveness in preventing death from covid-19 was 72% in the two to three weeks after the first dose. There was insufficient data to produce an estimate on the reduction in mortality in those who received two doses.

‘The study took place from 20 December 2020, when Israel’s national vaccination drive was launched, to 1 February 2021. It coincided with Israel’s third and largest wave of coronavirus infection and illness.’

Read here (BMJ, Feb 25, 2021)

• BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in a nationwide mass vaccination setting

Read original study here (New England Journal of Medicine, Feb 24, 2021)

FDA says single-dose shot from J&J prevents severe Covid

‘Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine offers strong protection against severe COVID-19, according to an analysis released Wednesday by U.S. regulators that sets the stage for a final decision on a new and easier-to-use shot to help tame the pandemic.

‘The long-anticipated shot could offer the nation a third vaccine option and help speed vaccinations by requiring just one dose instead of two. Food and Drug Administration scientists confirmed that overall the vaccine is about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, and about 85% effective against the most serious illness. The agency also said J&J’s shot is safe.’

Read here (AP, Feb 25, 2021)

Viral questions

A look at some of the most commonly asked questions around the coronavirus pandemic.

• How would COVID-19 vaccine makers adapt to variants?
• How do we know the COVID-19 vaccines are safe?
• How are experts tracking variants of the coronavirus?
• Which COVID-19 tests are required for international travel?

And more...

Read here (AP, Feb 25, 2021)

UN vaccine plan is underway, but problems remain

‘As the coronavirus pandemic exploded worldwide last April, global organizations banded together to help ensure that the world’s most vulnerable people would get vaccines amid the rush for shots. The initiative known as COVAX was formed by the World Health Organization, the vaccines alliance GAVI and a coalition for epidemic innovations called CEPI.

‘COVAX is supposed to make deals to buy vaccines in bulk from drug companies and can also receive donated shots from rich countries. Poorer nations can receive free doses from the initiative — and wealthier ones can also buy from it, as a way of diversifying their supply.

‘But it has been dogged by shortages of cash and supplies as well as logistical hurdles — all while a handful of rich countries raced ahead with their vaccination campaigns.’

Read here (AP, Feb 25, 2021)

The scientist who’s been right about Covid-19 vaccines predicts what’s next

‘[Hilda] Bastian — an expert in analyzing clinical trial data, founding member of the Cochrane Collaboration, and a former National Institutes of Health official — has gone down rabbit holes before. There was the time she traveled the US on her own dime to research and take historical photos for a Wikipedia list of African American mathematicians.

‘But her obsession with vaccines in this pandemic has been especially fruitful: She’s called the race right at just about every turn...

‘Nearly a year into her project, I caught up with Bastian to ask where our blind spots are now and how she predicts the vaccine story — and the pandemic — will unfold. She talked about the need for health officials to acknowledge that coronavirus vaccines have potentially “big differences in efficacy and adverse events,” a time in the future when we may need Covid-19 vaccine boosters every year, and the problem of people in rich countries like the US shamelessly hogging vaccines.’

Read here (Vox, Feb 24, 2021)

Why Covid vaccines are so difficult to compare

‘Given the demand for speed amid limited supplies, any effort to rank the vaccines must take into account not only their reported effectiveness, but also supplies, costs, the logistics of deploying them, the durability of the protection they offer and their ability to fend off emerging viral variants. Even so, many people might find it hard to look away from clinical-trial results that suggest an efficacy gap. So far, more than 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been delivered, and data have been rolling in from clinical trials in several countries. The top-line results from those studies suggest a range of protection: from 95% efficacy for a vaccine made by Pfizer of New York City and BioNTech of Mainz, Germany, to about 70% suggested by initial results on a vaccine made by AstraZeneca of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, both in the United Kingdom.’

Read here (Nature, Feb 23, 2021)

Pre-empting the anti-Covid-19 vaccine propaganda ― Amar-Singh HSS, Alan Teh Kee Hean, Lim Joo Kiong, Nor Azmi Kamaruddin and Lim Swee Im

‘This is a brief article to help us understand that there will be some expected deaths after receiving Covid-19 vaccination, especially in the elderly. The aim of the article is to pre-empt the anti-vaccine lobby and any attempt to damage our national Covid-19 vaccination programme. We will use data from the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) to explain what we mean...

‘It is important for the public to understand this as we embark on our national Covid-19 vaccination programme. Some of our loved ones may die after the vaccination but this will likely NOT be due to the vaccination. As members of the public we should stay abreast of the science and data as it emerges and not fall prey to rumours or anti-vaccine propaganda.’

Read here (The Malay Mail, Feb 23, 2021)

Medical oxygen scarce in Africa, Latin America amid virus

‘A crisis over the supply of medical oxygen for coronavirus patients has struck nations in Africa and Latin America, where warnings went unheeded at the start of the pandemic and doctors say the shortage has led to unnecessary deaths.

‘It takes about 12 weeks to install a hospital oxygen plant and even less time to convert industrial oxygen manufacturing systems into a medical-grade network. But in Brazil and Nigeria, as well as in less-populous nations, decisions to fully address inadequate supplies only started being made last month, after hospitals were overwhelmed and patients started to die.’

Read here (AP, Feb 23, 2021)

US National Institutes of Health launch new initiative to study “Long Covid”

Some of the initial underlying questions that this initiative hopes to answer are:

• What does the spectrum of recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection look like across the population?
• How many people continue to have symptoms of COVID-19, or even develop new symptoms, after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection?
• What is the underlying biological cause of these prolonged symptoms?
• What makes some people vulnerable to this but not others?
• Does SARS-CoV-2 infection trigger changes in the body that increase the risk of other conditions, such as chronic heart or brain disorders?

These initial research opportunities will support a combination of ongoing and new research studies and the creation of core resources. We anticipate subsequent calls for other kinds of research, in particular opportunities focused on clinical trials to test strategies for treating long-term symptoms and promoting recovery from infection.

Read here (NIH, Feb 23, 2021)

Developing countries struggling to cope with Covid-19

‘The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is adversely impacting most developing countries disproportionately, especially the United Nations’ least developed countries (LDCs) and the World Bank’s low-income countries (LICs).

‘Years of implementing neoliberal policy conditionalities and advice have made most developing countries much more vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic by undermining their health systems and fiscal capacities to respond adequately.’

Read here (IPS News, Feb 23, 2021)

We’re just rediscovering a 19th-century pandemic strategy

‘The first way to fight a new virus would once have been opening the windows...

‘Miasma theory—discredited, of course, by the rise of germ theory—held that disease came from “bad air” emanating from decomposing matter and filth. This idea peaked in the 19th century, when doctors, architects, and one particularly influential nurse, Florence Nightingale, became fixated on ventilation’s importance for health. It manifested in the physical layout of buildings: windows, many of them, but also towers erected for the sole purpose of ventilation and elaborate ductwork to move contaminated air outdoors. Historic buildings still bear the vestigial mark of these public-health strategies, long after the scientific thinking has moved on.

‘That era saw the rise of well-ventilated “Nightingale pavilions,” named after Florence Nightingale, who popularized the design in her 1859 book, Notes on Hospitals. As a nurse in the Crimean War, she saw 10 times more soldiers die of disease than of battle wounds. Nightingale began a massive hygiene campaign in the overcrowded hospitals, and she collected statistics, which she presented in pioneering infographics. Chief among her concerns was air. Notes even laid out exact proportions for 20-patient pavilions that could allow 1,600 cubic feet of air per bed.’

Read here (The Atlantic, Feb 22, 2021)

Synthetic mRNA Covid vaccines: A risk-benefit analysis

‘With a “vaccine” based on untested technology, and safety trials still ongoing, is it safe to take the shot? And does it even work? And does a disease with an IFR of 0.2% even justify that risk?’

Read here (Off Guardian, Feb 22, 2021)

I was the Australian doctor on the WHO’s Covid-19 mission to China. Here’s what we found about the origins of the coronavirus

‘As part of the mission, we met the man who, on December 8, 2019, was the first confirmed COVID-19 case; he’s since recovered. We met the husband of a doctor who died of COVID-19 and left behind a young child. We met the doctors who worked in the Wuhan hospitals treating those early COVID-19 cases, and learned what happened to them and their colleagues. We witnessed the impact of COVID-19 on many individuals and communities, affected so early in the pandemic, when we didn’t know much about the virus, how it spreads, how to treat COVID-19, or its impacts.

‘We talked to our Chinese counterparts — scientists, epidemiologists, doctors — over the four weeks the WHO mission was in China. We were in meetings with them for up to 15 hours a day, so we became colleagues, even friends. This allowed us to build respect and trust in a way you couldn’t necessarily do via Zoom or email.

‘This is what we learned about the origins of SARS-CoV-2:

• Animal origins, but not necessarily at the Wuhan markets
• Frozen or refrigerated food not ruled out in the spread
• Extremely unlikely the virus escaped from a lab

Read here (The Conversation, Feb 22, 2021)

Hong Kong’s contact tracers put up with lies and abuse, while trying to locate people close to Covid-19 patients

‘It takes persistent probing, detective work for 200 volunteers to track down patients’ contacts. Anxious to avoid quarantine, some clam up and refuse to admit they were with Covid-19 patients.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Feb 21, 2021)

What Europeans have learned from a year of pandemic

‘From the first case diagnosed a year ago at a hospital in northern Italy to the empty shops, restaurants and stadiums of Europe's cities, the lives of Europeans have been changed forever. Curbs on movement have forced every country and society to adapt its rules and rethink its culture. There have been hard truths and unexpected innovations in a year that changed Europe.

• Restrictions are tough for societies used to freedom
• Experts are essential, but mistakes have been made
• The EU wasn't set up for a pan-European health crisis
• Societies have responded in different ways
• A Europe without borders is fine in theory
• Hard truths about how we slaughter animals
• Europeans embraced lifestyle change in different ways

Read here (BBC, Feb 20, 2021)

Coronavirus (Covid-19) infection survey: Characteristics of people testing positive for Covid-19 in England, 22 February 2021

‘The UK government published a report on the infection risk associated with various occupations, based on data on COVID-19 cases in England from September 2020-January 2021. The analysis compared the likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the study period for 25 standardized occupation categories. The occupation-specific risk ranged from 2.1% to 4.8%, with an overall risk of 3.9%. None of the individual occupation groups had a statistically significant difference from the overall average; however, some of the occupations with the highest risk showed a significant increase over those with the lowest risk. 

‘Occupation groups at the upper end include professions such as teachers, law enforcement and prison staff, childcare and home care, and secretarial professions. Occupation categories with lower infection risk include professions such as farmers and gardeners; scientists, engineers, and researchers; legal, social work, and news media; and textiles and printing services.’ (Summary by John Hopkins Centre for Health Security)

Read here (Government of UK, Feb 21, 2021)

Power jab: The rise of vaccine diplomacy

‘At the end of January the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, gave a speech on the tarmac of Santiago airport. ‘Today is a day of joy, excitement and hope,’ he said, standing in front of a Boeing 787 which had just arrived from Beijing. Inside it were two million vaccine doses produced by the Chinese company Sinovac. It was the first of two similar-sized shipments arriving that month.

‘A few days earlier, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had emerged from Covid confinement to thank a ‘genuinely affectionate’ Vladimir Putin for pledging 24 million Sputnik doses to Mexico in the coming months. Hopes of vaccinating his country with the Pfizer vaccine had dissipated when supply dried up. Pfizer blamed ‘global shortages’, but here was the perfect opportunity for Putin to play the hero and to send the world a message: in times of need, Moscow, not Washington, saves the day.

‘This is vaccine diplomacy, the new great game. Nations which are hungry to compete with the West — and especially America — are using their homegrown coronavirus vaccines as a way of gaining influence. They are exchanging their vaccines for loyalty and acts of public obeisance.’

Read here (The Spectator, Feb 20, 2021)

Covid vaccines: G7 increase support for Covax scheme

‘G7 leaders have pledged to intensify co-operation on Covid-19 and increase their contribution to the Covax vaccine-sharing initiative. In a joint statement released after a virtual summit on Friday, G7 leaders raised their overall commitment to $7.5bn (£5.3bn). Wealthy countries are facing growing pressure to make sure lower-income nations get fair access to vaccines.’

Read here (BBC, Feb 20, 2021)

Breaking down the psychology of vaccine hesitancy

• 40% of respondents fell into the enthusiastic camp and reported eagerness to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
• Another 20% were in the watchful group, which means they weren't against the vaccine, but were worried about side effects and didn't want to be first in line.
• 14% were classified as cost-anxious — they tended to be younger and live in rural areas, and they perceived that the costs of the vaccine in time and money exceeded the benefits.
• 9% were system distrusters, who were more likely to be minorities, and believed the vaccine had not been adequately tested for their group.
• The last 17% were conspiracy believers who tended to be Republican and had little fear of COVID-19 itself. They often subscribed to more outlandish and harmful theories about vaccines.

Read here (Axios, Feb 20, 2021)

The end of Covid-19 pandemic? Johns Hopkins’ Dr Makary says probably

‘A February 18 Opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal is raising hopes, and possibly healthy skepticism, with its title and thesis being: “We’ll Have Herd Immunity by April.” The author is Dr. Martin Makary, a professor of health policy and management and public health expert at Johns Hopkins University. He notes that the media is under reporting on the dramatic fact that COVID-19 cases are down 77 percent just in the last six weeks. Largely this is, “because natural immunity from prior infection is far more common than can be measured by testing.” 

‘Applying some statistics to the case data, we could deduce the around 55 percent in the US have natural immunity. At the same time, vaccinations have been rolling out, and 15 percent of Americans have gotten a vaccine with the percentage rising fast. Based on these factors, “There is reason to think the country is racing toward an extremely low level of infection. As more people have been infected, most of whom have mild or no symptoms, there are fewer Americans left to be infected. At the current trajectory, I expect Covid will be mostly gone by April, allowing Americans to resume normal life.”

Read here (TrialSiteNews, Feb 20, 2021)

Why kids need their own Covid-19 vaccine trials

‘Adolescents are being tested now. Younger children will be next. Why did vaccine manufacturers wait to study them?...

‘The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that new vaccines be independently studied in children. Children’s immune systems are still maturing and are unpredictable, so they might react to the coronavirus differently or have side effects that don’t occur in adults. “They might respond better or worse,” says James Campbell, professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health. “Until you do the study with the vaccine, you don’t know what will happen.”

Read here (National Geographic, Feb 20, 2021)

Inferring the effectiveness of government interventions against Covid-19

‘Governments are attempting to control the COVID-19 pandemic with nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). However, the effectiveness of different NPIs at reducing transmission is poorly understood. We gathered chronological data on the implementation of NPIs for several European and non-European countries between January and the end of May 2020. We estimated the effectiveness of these NPIs, which range from limiting gathering sizes and closing businesses or educational institutions to stay-at-home orders. To do so, we used a Bayesian hierarchical model that links NPI implementation dates to national case and death counts and supported the results with extensive empirical validation. Closing all educational institutions, limiting gatherings to 10 people or less, and closing face-to-face businesses each reduced transmission considerably. The additional effect of stay-at-home orders was comparatively small.’

Read here (Science magazine, Feb 19, 2021) 

Experts answer the biggest Covid vaccine questions

‘The lack of informed messaging from the Trump administration, combined with the range of different COVID vaccines, the emergence of new coronavirus variants, and inconsistent state and municipal rollout plans, have caused confusion and driven vaccine hesitancy. Scientific American asked Namandjé Bumpus, a pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, and Ashley Lauren St. John, an immunologist at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore to answer some of the biggest questions about the currently available COVID vaccines:

• Should you get an authorized COVID vaccine now if you are eligible?
• Should you get vaccinated if you have already had COVID?
• How should you interpret vaccine efficacy—what does “95 percent efficacy” or “66 percent efficacy” even mean?
• If you get the vaccine and still get infected, does the vaccine still make a difference? 
• Will it prevent severe disease or death?
• Do the vaccines protect against the new virus variants, including those first identified in the U.K., South Africa and Brazil?
• What is the difference between mRNA and viral vector vaccines?
• Is there a “best” vaccine?
• Will the vaccine protect you from giving the virus to others?
• Will the vaccine’s effectiveness “wear off” over time?
• Should you be worried about allergic reactions to the vaccine?
• How can you ensure you’re getting a legitimate, authorized vaccine?

Read here (Scientific American, Feb 19, 2021)

Three concessions from the West at G7: Britain, France and US

1. Boris Johnson pledges surplus to poorer countries at G7. Read here (BBC, Feb 20, 2021)
2. Macron proposes sending 4-5% of doses to poorer nations. Read here (BBC, Feb 19, 2021)
3. Biden pledges $4 billion for COVAX vaccinations program. Read here (DW, Feb 18, 2021)

Covid-19 infections falling worldwide but WHO warns against apathy

‘Reported daily coronavirus infections have been falling across the world for a month and on Tuesday (Feb 16) hit their lowest since mid-October, Reuters figures show, but health experts warned against apathy even as vaccines are being rolled out worldwide. Falls in infections and deaths coincide with lockdowns and severe curbs on gatherings and movement as governments weigh the need to stop successive waves of the pandemic with the need to get people back to work and children back to school.

‘But optimism over a way out of the crisis has been tempered by new variants of the virus, raising fears about the efficacy of vaccines. "Now is not the time to let your guard down," Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's technical lead on COVID-19, told a briefing in Geneva.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, Feb 19, 2021)