The best approach for protecting everyone’s health will require us to provide different vaccines to different people according to need and availability.
Despite the latest tweaks to border testing rules, the risk of imported infection remains very high. NZ's wider response needs upgrading —including reducing the large numbers of infected returnees.
With reports emerging of vaccine wastage across the world, medical supply chain experts explain why that's to be expected.
A market place in Ghana’s capital Accra. Developing countries like Ghana risk being left behind in the race to secure COVID-19 vaccines.
Christian Thompson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A waiver on some intellectual property rules at the WTO for COVID-19 vaccines would ensure more equitable access, but wouldn't solve all the problems facing developing countries.
Researchers say around 70% of the US needs to get the coronavirus vaccine to stop the pandemic. But questions around the vaccines and regional differences add some uncertainty to that estimate.
Latrice Davis, a nurse at Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago, receives the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 18, 2020.
Scott Olson via Getty Images
Black people are skeptical about the new vaccines for many reasons. If public health leaders told the full story, maybe there'd be a higher chance that Black people would want to take the vaccine.
A patient care director in New York receives the coronavirus vaccine.
Eduardo Munoz/Pool via AP
Experts from across The Conversation assess the work that's helped us reach vaccine roll-out, how this could play out, and the risk of vaccine hesitancy.
Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is given the COVID-19 vaccine – she is one of the first in the US to receive it.
EPA/Mark Lennihan
So, if you have ever tested positive, there is a chance you could contract the virus again. And you could infect other people. You should still take the necessary precautions.
Efficient shipping and storage could prevent a lot of wasted vaccines.
AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool
COVID-19 vaccines have very specific storage requirements that make shipping a difficult task. Two ideas – fulfillment centers and cross-docking – could help overcome some distribution challenges.
After receiving the vaccine, health systems have a complicated job ahead of them.
AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
Desi Kotis, University of California, San Francisco
Health systems around the US are on the cusp of receiving COVID-19 vaccines. At the end of this months-long effort are the nitty-gritty details of how health care providers are giving people the vaccine.
Unprecedented efforts are driving the global push for a safe and effective vaccine. If and when we have one (or more), here's how it's likely to be rolled out in Australia.