General Interest
WHO: Vaccine inequity undermining global economic recovery.
23 Jul, 2021 | 10:53h | UTCNews release: Vaccine inequity undermining global economic recovery – World Health Organization
Dashboard: Global Dashboard for Vaccine Equity
Commentaries: Urgent need for COVID-19 vaccine equity – University of Oxford AND COVID-19 Vaccine Inequity Undermines Global Economic Recovery – Health Policy Watch
Commentary on Twitter (thread – click for more)
COVID-19 vaccine inequity is undermining 🌍 economic recovery. 🆕WHO, @UNDP and @BlavatnikSchool Dashboard on #VaccinEquity finds that low-income countries would add $38B to their GDP forecast if they had the same vaccination rate as high-income countrieshttps://t.co/BsYF2eYL1G
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) July 22, 2021
Perspective | SARS-CoV-2 human challenge studies — establishing the model during an evolving pandemic.
23 Jul, 2021 | 10:49h | UTCRelated: World’s first coronavirus “Human Challenge” study receives ethics approval in the UK (several texts on the subject) AND Are SARS-CoV-2 Human Challenge Trials Ethical? – “A clinical trial is underway in the UK in which young, healthy participants are exposed deliberately to SARS-CoV-2 to assess the viral inoculum needed to produce an infection and to test vaccine efficacy”.
How the Delta variant achieves its ultrafast spread – “Viral load is roughly 1,000 times higher in people infected with the Delta variant than those infected with the original coronavirus strain, according to a study in China”.
23 Jul, 2021 | 10:46h | UTCHow the Delta variant achieves its ultrafast spread – Nature
What are the Delta, Gamma, Beta and Alpha Covid variants?
23 Jul, 2021 | 10:45h | UTCWhat are the Delta, Gamma, Beta and Alpha Covid variants? – BBC
Related: Increased transmissibility and global spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern – “Estimated transmissibility increases of alpha 29% (95% CI: 24–33), beta 25% (95% CI: 20–30), gamma 38% (95% CI: 29–48) & delta 97% (95% CI: 76–117)”. AND WHO renames COVID-19 variants with the Greek alphabet (i.e., Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc), making them simple, easy to say and remember. The naming system aims to prevent calling COVID-19 variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing & discriminatory.
Survey finds 8% of researchers have falsified or fabricated data.
23 Jul, 2021 | 10:28h | UTC8% of researchers in Dutch survey have falsified or fabricated data – Nature
Original study and commentaries: Landmark research integrity survey finds questionable practices are surprisingly common.
Related: Opinion | Time to assume that health research is fraudulent until proven otherwise? AND How a Data Detective Exposed Suspicious Medical Trials
Study shows AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines are effective against Delta variant, but both doses are needed.
22 Jul, 2021 | 11:16h | UTCCommentaries: Study Finds Pfizer And AstraZeneca Vaccines Effective Against The Delta Variant — As Long As You Get Both Doses – Forbes AND Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine works very well against the Delta variant — but only after 2 doses – Insider
Related: [Preprint] 2 doses of Covid vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca) highly effective against hospitalization from Delta variant. AND Reduced sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 variant Delta to antibody neutralization. AND Should I get my second AstraZeneca dose? Yes, it almost doubles your protection against Delta.
Commentary on Twitter
Public Health England's test-negative case-control study for Delta variant now in NEJM: over 14,000 people with Alpha, over 4,000 with Delta https://t.co/3l1QhKeXBT
Vax effectiveness against testing positive for Delta after 2 doses:
– BNT-Pfizer 88.0% (85-90)
– AZ 67.0% (61-72) pic.twitter.com/9UFy6CLSWw— Hilda Bastian, PhD (@hildabast) July 21, 2021
COVID-19 antibodies persist at least nine months after infection – “98.8 percent of people infected in February/March showed detectable levels of antibodies in November”.
22 Jul, 2021 | 11:14h | UTCNews release: COVID-19 antibodies persist at least nine months after infection – Imperial College London
Original study: SARS-CoV-2 antibody dynamics and transmission from community-wide serological testing in the Italian municipality of Vo’ – Nature Communications
Should children get COVID vaccines? What the science says.
22 Jul, 2021 | 11:06h | UTCShould children get COVID vaccines? What the science says – Nature
Analysis finds benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh risks of rare cases of myocarditis.
22 Jul, 2021 | 11:05h | UTCNews release: Study finds benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh risks of rare cases of myocarditis – American Heart Association
Original study: Myocarditis with COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines – Circulation
Commentary: Myocarditis and COVID-19 Vaccines: New Review Tackles Knowns, Unknowns – TCTMD
Commentary on Twitter
Just published ahead of print- Myocarditis with Covid mRNA Vaccines https://t.co/mc2yrr5pDV Mechanisms, benefit of COVID-19 mRNA vaccination over low risk, management strategies – review of all myocarditis cases published to date, CDC&other reports @PeterHotez @ishannovation
— BiykemBozkurt (@BiykemB) July 20, 2021
Opinion | The benefits of a COVID vaccine far outweigh the small risk of treatable heart inflammation.
22 Jul, 2021 | 10:57h | UTC
More than 1.5 million children lost a primary or secondary caregiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
21 Jul, 2021 | 10:52h | UTCNews release: More than 1.5 million children lost a primary or secondary caregiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic – NIH News Releases
Original study: Global minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and deaths of caregivers: a modelling study – The Lancet
Invited commentary: Answering the call to support youth orphaned by COVID-19 – The Lancet
Related: Covid-19 Has Created Thousands Of Newly Single Parents And Orphans
Commentary on Twitter (thread – click for more)
NEW—Over 1.5 million children lost a parent, custodial grandparent, or other relative who cared for them during the first 14 months of the #COVID19 #pandemic, first global study estimates.
🔗 Read https://t.co/Ug2ADTvO8G (1/2)
— The Lancet (@TheLancet) July 20, 2021
Report: Three new estimates of India’s all-cause excess mortality during the COVID-19 Pandemic – pandemic death toll estimated to be between 3.4 million and 4.9 million excess deaths.
21 Jul, 2021 | 10:49h | UTCCommentaries: India’s pandemic death toll could be in the millions – Associated Press AND Covid-19: India excess deaths cross four million, says study – BBC AND India’s true pandemic death toll is likely to be well over 3 million, a new study finds. – The New York Times AND India’s excess deaths during Covid ‘could be 10 times official toll’ – The Guardian
Commentary on Twitter
India's official COVID death toll is 400,000.
But new research shows the death toll could be much higher, up to 4 million.
↘️ @abhishekecon @JustinSandefur & @arvindsubraman breakdown the numbers from three data estimates: https://t.co/rdOcZvHZQU.
— Center for Global Development (@CGDev) July 20, 2021
Perspective | Potential COVID-19 endgame scenarios: eradication, elimination, cohabitation, or conflagration?
21 Jul, 2021 | 10:48h | UTC
Is the cure really worse than the disease? The health impacts of lockdowns during COVID-19 – “While there are certainly costs to be expected from intervening against COVID-19—every decision has a cost, after all—the counterfactual of an unmitigated epidemic makes these restrictions far less damaging than some have suggested”.
21 Jul, 2021 | 10:46h | UTCCommentaries: Expert reaction to a narrative review looking at the health impacts of lockdowns – Science Media Centre AND Lockdowns do not harm health more than Covid, say researchers – The Guardian
Commentary on Twitter (thread – click for more)
The smiley faces, cherry blossoms, Great Barrington Declaration fans, "natural herd immunity" enthusiasts & anti-maskers do not approve of our new @GlobalHealthBMJ analysis on lockdowns 😉
So, here's a long-ish thread on what we did & did not find 1/nhttps://t.co/CFtT9j44vo
— Prof. Gavin Yamey MD MPH (@GYamey) July 20, 2021
UK National Food Strategy: Tax sugar and salt and prescribe veg, report says.
21 Jul, 2021 | 10:30h | UTCNational Food Strategy: Tax sugar and salt and prescribe veg, report says – BBC
Report: National Food Strategy Independent Review
Related: Fiscal policies for diet and the prevention of noncommunicable diseases – World Health Organization (free) AND The Lancet taskforce on NCDs and economics (free series and commentaries) To improve global health, tax the things that are killing us – Financial Times (free policies, articles and commentaries) AND Reducing cardiovascular disease burden through targeted dietary policies (free study and commentaries) AND Fiscal policies for the prevention of diseases (free study and commentary) AND The potential impact of food taxes and subsidies on cardiovascular disease and diabetes burden and disparities (free)
WHO and UNICEF warn of a decline in vaccinations during COVID-19.
20 Jul, 2021 | 10:27h | UTCWHO and UNICEF warn of a decline in vaccinations during COVID-19 – World Health Organization
Related: Millions of children worldwide missed routine vaccinations during the pandemic, study suggests.
What vaccinated people should know about Covid-19 exposure, tests and more.
20 Jul, 2021 | 10:17h | UTCWhat vaccinated people should know about Covid-19 exposure, tests and more – CNN
ALA/ATS Response to Philip Morris International’s (PMI) Purchase of British Producer of Respiratory Treatments – “The announcement that PMI wants to acquire an inhaled medicine company is the latest reprehensible choice from a company that has profited from addicting users to its deadly products”.
20 Jul, 2021 | 10:12h | UTC
Study: Coffee consumption not linked to increased incidence of tachyarrhythmias.
20 Jul, 2021 | 10:02h | UTCInvited commentary: Another Cup of Coffee Without an Arrhythmia, Please
Author interview: Coffee Consumption and Incident Tachyarrhythmias
Commentary on Twitter
Good news for coffee drinkers ☕️☕️
Debunking the dogma that coffee increases the risk of heart rhythm disturbances, from >386,000 people, 4.5 year follow-up, including putative genomic risk variants@JAMAInternalMed https://t.co/9bBihDfB3A @uk_biobank pic.twitter.com/V6yGeNg7Fp— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) July 19, 2021
Fauci says natural origins theory of coronavirus is still the most likely.
18 Jul, 2021 | 23:40h | UTCFauci says natural origins theory of coronavirus is still the most likely – CNN
Related article (preprint): The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: A Critical Review – Zenodo
See also: A Group of Scientists Presses a Case Against the Lab Leak Theory of Covid – The New York Times (a few articles per month are free) AND Leading scientists push back against Wuhan lab leak theory – The Age
Related: Opinion | The Covid-19 lab leak theory is a tale of weaponized uncertainty.
Why was a major study on ivermectin for covid-19 just retracted?
16 Jul, 2021 | 11:11h | UTCWhy Was a Major Study on Ivermectin for COVID-19 Just Retracted? – Grifter Analysis and Review
See also: Huge study supporting ivermectin as Covid treatment withdrawn over ethical concerns – The Guardian AND Some problems in the dataset of a large study of Ivermectin for the treatment of Covid-19 – Nick Brown’s Blog AND Is Ivermectin for Covid-19 Based on Fraudulent Research? – Gideon M-K; Health Nerd
Commentary on Twitter (thread – click for more)
So, one of the biggest studies to date on ivermectin for COVID-19 has issues significant enough that, if not fraud, are so serious that it invalidates the study without further explanation
I promised a thread
Here we go 1/n https://t.co/L9QOChmGtA
— Health Nerd (@GidMK) July 16, 2021
Perspective | Averting Future Vaccine Injustice.
16 Jul, 2021 | 11:04h | UTCAverting Future Vaccine Injustice – New England Journal of Medicine
Commentary on Twitter
As high-income countries have secured much of the #Covid19vaccine supply, many low-income countries have barely begun the immunization process. We need political courage to end vaccine injustice now and political vision to negotiate rules for averting future inequities.
— NEJM (@NEJM) July 15, 2021
Donuts, drugs, booze, and guns: what governments are offering people to take covid-19 vaccines – “Incentive programs do not target the trust relationship between the public and the providers”.
16 Jul, 2021 | 10:56h | UTC
Millions of children worldwide missed routine vaccinations during the pandemic, study suggests.
15 Jul, 2021 | 09:24h | UTCMillions of children worldwide missed routine vaccinations during the pandemic, study suggests – CNN
Invited Commentary: Disruptions to childhood immunisation due to the COVID-19 pandemic – The Lancet
Why aren’t diseases like HIV and malaria, which still kill millions of people a year, called pandemics? – “HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria shouldn’t be labeled as “just” epidemics or endemic. They are pandemics that have been beaten in rich countries”.
15 Jul, 2021 | 09:22h | UTC
Commentary on Twitter
"HIV, TB, and malaria shouldn’t be labeled as “just” epidemics or endemic. They are pandemics that have been beaten in rich countries. Allowing them to persist elsewhere is a policy choice and a budgetary decision"https://t.co/MVCS960cN5
— Madhu Pai, MD, PhD (@paimadhu) July 14, 2021