New analysis shows the Australian media focused on providing accurate information in the early months of the pandemic. But as it dragged on, media output became messier.
The pass could exclude vulnerable people from public life.
Sammer Al-Doumy/AFP
France is requiring people to prove their Covid status in order to access public spaces like cinemas and restaurants. Here’s why that’s a problem.
People receive a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination clinic at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto in June 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Vaccine hesitancy is declining in Canada but hasn’t disappeared. New research shows many of those initially less hesitant have since been convinced. With continued efforts, others can still be reached.
COVID restrictions have prevented the spread of other respiratory viruses too. As these are lifted, the UK government has warned parents of a delayed surge in infections
African countries must include all migrant populations in their vaccination plans.
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While the Scottish government is funding long COVID research projects, specific funding has yet to be provided to develop assessment and rehabilitation services for the condition.
As NSW on Wednesday extended its lockdown for another month and the federal government shelled out more money, it was as if we were back in 2020 and Victoria’s long incarceration.
The k number tells us whether the spread of a disease is steady or comes in big bursts, with a small proportion of people infecting many others. The latter is know as superspreading.
Patients with more symptoms during initial infection – particularly breathlessness, chest pain or abnormal heart sounds – appear more likely to experience lasting illness.
Shelter-in-place measures have made it more difficult for victims of domestic violence to escape from their abusers.
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A change in how witnesses, victims and authorities respond to domestic violence reports paired with limited social services placed victims in a vulnerable position during the pandemic.
A childhood vaccine given at birth is effective.
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Tolerating political protest is an essential part of democratic life. But when the protests pose a genuine risk of harm to the community, that’s when they are no longer ethically justified.
With the impact and cost of long COVID becoming ever more apparent, ongoing pandemic responses will need to be about protecting quality of life as much as saving lives.
Once we achieve herd immunity, people who are not vaccinated benefit indirectly from the immunity of those around them. But it’s not easy to say exactly when we’ll reach this threshold for COVID-19.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
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