Ofer Raban, University of Oregon and Yuval Dor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Conventional trials to test coronavirus vaccines are paradoxically slowed down by actions to curb the disease’s spread. Human challenge trials are more controversial, but could speed up the process.
A two-dose coronavirus vaccine would mean we need to produce 12-15 billion doses. This is roughly twice the world’s current total vaccine manufacturing capacity.
Latin America now has about 6 million COVID-19 cases – 30% of the global total. But some cities have fared much worse than others, largely due to the quality of government and community responses.
New research shows more than 40% of temporary visa holders skipped meals and a third faced homelessness due to a lack of government support during the pandemic.
As we venture out into the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, treating each interaction as a type of micro-negotiation provides a helpful road map for navigating potentially tricky situations.
Parents of young children are reporting alarming increases in anxiety and depression during COVID-19. This is not only a risk to parents’ mental health, but also to children’s long-term well-being.
A national health plan that uses data to assess individual risk and control disease outbreaks would have created less disruption than the current coronavirus pandemic response.
Zoë McLaren, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Testing large numbers of people regularly would reduce the spread of the coronavirus in the US. Laboratory testing is slow and expensive, but rapid screening tests could be the answer.
Miniaturized laboratory equipment is making it easier to identify airborne pathogens in the field, but there’s still work ahead to be able to instantly determine if a room is safe or contaminated.
Your immune system changes when you are pregnant, and this may help protect you and your child from COVID-19 – but we need more research to understand this better.
Commissioner Bret Walker said the decision to assess the cruise ship as low risk when the 2,700 passengers disembarked in March was ‘inexplicable and unjustifiable’.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne