Medical technician Amira Doudou prepares samples at the University Hospital Institute for Infectious Diseases in Marseille, France, Jan. 13, 2021, to study the highly contagious COVID-19 variant.
(AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Multiple COVID-19 variants are circulating around the world and becoming more common. These mutations can alter the ability of the virus to take hold and replicate within our cells.
We’ve gone from a novel virus to several COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year. Here’s what we’ve learned from earlier vaccines to allow this to happen.
A virus that is 30% more transmissible is more deadly than a virus that is 30% more deadly. Counter-intuitive but true.
Fruit and vegetables at a market in Kenya. The WHO is pushing for consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, fish and unsaturated fats.
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When a pandemic hits, questions that immediately arise include what impact there will be on public health, the economy and other aspects of society. Another set of questions involves response priorities…
Vaccines that use harmless viruses as a delivery mechanism are vulnerable to being attacked by our immune system – but experimenting with how they are given could get around this.
Vaccine vials are being carefully stored ahead of being used, to make sure as little goes to waste as possible.
EPA-EFE
History tells us that mass vaccination campaigns are usually messy, while elsewhere, lower-income countries are turning to China, Russia and India for vaccines.
With a rising stock market and a booming economy in some industries, not all Americans have been negatively impacted by Covid-19. Which parts of the population have come out on top?
Many peoples’ mental health worsened during the pandemic – but many didn’t seek support or treatment.
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If South Africa is serious about being able to supply anti-pandemic vaccines in future, it needs to rethink the scale of financial, technical and strategic investment into vaccine production.
Democrats control both the White House and Congress for the first time in 10 years.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Ilan Noy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Ami Neuberger, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
As the eradication of polio and the successful rollout of AIDS treatments have shown in the past, global cooperation in the face of COVID-19 is possible.
Strange days: there are likely to be more police and military around the inauguration than spectators.
EPA-EFE/Michael Reynolds
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