The pathway for foreign doctors to practise in New Zealand is neither easy nor very fair, meaning an over-stretched health system is missing out on valuable expertise.
After South African scientists sounded the alarm about the new omicron variant, countries around the world closed their borders.
Kim Ludbrook/EPA
Cases of the Omicron sub-variant BA.2 are now in Australia. While there’s no evidence it causes more severe disease than the original Omicron, early research suggests it’s more transmissible.
New Zealand’s system of managed quarantine at the border may soon be less important, but we could well need to stand it up again quickly if a new COVID-19 variant emerges.
Matthew Hobbs, University of Canterbury; Anna Howe, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Lukas Marek, University of Canterbury
New Zealand has managed to stamp out onward transmission of the Delta variant, which means it’s not dealing with a “double epidemic” and has a better chance to tackle Omicron’s spread.
Labor has opened a 56-44% two-party lead and Scott Morrison’s net satisfaction rating has plunged 11 points in Newspoll, after a disastrous summer in which Omicron has ripped through most of the country and deaths have spiked.
With a COVID-19 booster shot, vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization goes up to 90%.
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Just because we’re in a period of social change, doesn’t mean we have to lose momentum on sustainability. There are six things we can do right now to offset our daily waste from disposable masks.
Preliminary research suggests that the omicron variant may potentially induce a robust immune response.
Olga Siletskaya/Moment via Getty Images
Some of the omicron variant’s unique properties – such as its ability to spread rapidly while causing milder COVID-19 infections – could usher in a new phase of the pandemic.
As many people have died with COVID in Australia – more than 1,000 – as die from a bad year from influenza. Attention on them doesn’t seem to have spiked proportionately.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford gives a press conference at Queen’s Park regarding the easing of COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
After Premier Doug Ford announced “positive news,” I think about the widening inequality in our province, who the news is “positive” for and the death of caremongering.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, the agenda for 2022 includes key developments to tackle the connected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
Variant-specific vaccines would undoubtedly increase immunity. But waves of new variants would engulf the population faster than these vaccines could ever be deployed.
A new study found that the child tax credit advance payments immediately helped families who were suffering from food insufficiency.
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The 2021 child tax credit expansion helped lift millions of families with children out of hunger. After those payments ended in December 2021, those families may again face food insufficiency.
The list of SARS-CoV-2 variants – each with its own unique qualities that give it an edge – just keeps growing.
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People are buzzing with questions about the omicron variant and whether it could help usher in herd immunity. A team of virologists deciphers the latest findings.
We investigated the initiatives schools around the world took to help support and maintain the well-being of their students and staff. We pulled out seven things that made a difference.
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