The COVID-19 cases are surging in Nepal, potentially surpassing India’s reproduction rate, but the country is out of vaccines. Global aid could help with one of the worst health crises in South Asia.
Offering incentives to encourage good health behavior isn’t new, but it does raise concerns. A behavioral scientist explains how rewarding those taking a shot need not keep ethicists up at night.
Scientists developed vaccines for COVID-19 in a matter of months. Why after 37 years do we still not have one for HIV/AIDS? On HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, it’s an important question to ask.
Isabelle Brocas, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Governments and companies are using incentives in hopes of getting more Americans to get a COVID-19 shot. A behavioral economist explains how they work.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was recently approved for adolescents ages 12-15. Vaccination is essential to protect children from serious illness and quicken return to normal life.
Full population-level protection against COVID-19 will require most adolescents and children to be vaccinated. There are ethical arguments for encouraging vaccination uptake through vaccine mandates.
Public officials are telling us simultaneously to move swiftly on vaccination and also to make thoughtful, reasoned choices about which vaccine we get. These messages are confusing and frustrating.
The survival of the human body is a fine balancing act between cell growth and cell death. Understanding our cells’ complex “licence to die” could give us new ways to combat disease.
It’s not clear whether the TRIPS agreement is what’s getting in the way of vaccine supply, and waiving intellectual property rights may stifle future innovation.
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