Sorana Froda, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) et Fabrice Larribe, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
Vaccine efficacy is usually expressed as a percentage, but what is it actually measuring? Statisticians explain what the numbers mean, and what they say about how well a vaccine can protect us.
The Piano Works club in Farringdon, London prepares for its reopening as part of the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in the U.K.
(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
America’s founders accepted the reality of human selfishness. But, they also said people were capable of thinking for the good of the whole, which is necessary for a free society.
A high school student gets his COVID-19 shot at a pop-up vaccine clinic at a public charter school in Los Angeles.
Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
For decades, US schools have been common sites for vaccine clinics to respond to outbreaks and provide catch-up immunizations. So why are they suddenly controversial?
As high-income countries move into post-vaccination life with vaccination rates of over 80 doses per 100 people, only 1.1 per cent of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
Misinformation on social media is hindering efforts to vaccinate people against the coronavirus.
Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Combating vaccine misinformation on social media requires blocking sources of misinformation – and giving researchers access to data about how misinformation spreads.
Vaccines can’t provide 100% protection, so it’s not a failure or surprise when some vaccinated people get sick with COVID-19. The good news is their cases are much less likely to be severe or fatal.
Edward Jenner vaccinating his son, held by Mrs Jenner; a maid rolls up her sleeve, a man stands outside holding a cow. Coloured engraving by C. Manigaud after E Hamman. The Wellcome Collection.
The major problem in Britain and elsewhere was complacency. The early success in suppressing smallpox, and indeed eliminating it in some places, led parents to neglect vaccination.
As coronavirus cases surge, unvaccinated people are accounting for nearly all hospitalizations and deaths.
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The US has split into “two Americas,” one of the unvaccinated and one of the vaccinated. The differences in deaths and hospitalizations between the two populations are striking.
BCG has been used all over the world to protect against the development of TB.
Noah Seelam/AFP via Getty Images
BCG remains the only widely available vaccine for TB. Yet the development of a COVID-19 vaccine over the last year shows that there is capacity to rapidly create new vaccines.
John Locke and John Stuart Mill don’t provide much in the way of justification for ignoring public health advice in a pandemic. Mikhail Bakunin, however…
Information on COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant or breastfeeding individuals has been inconsistent and hard to find.
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Exclusion from clinical trials, lack of data and inconsistent information made it difficult for pregnant and breastfeeding people to make decisions about COVID-19 vaccines early in the rollout.
Put into context, the benefits of vaccination still far outweigh the risks of rare adverse events.
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Ongoing tracking is meant to spot very rare risks – like the connection between the Johnson & Johnson shot and Guillain-Barré syndrome. And it relies on public reporting.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand