he past few weeks have revealed the worst and the best in human responses to the coronavirus crisis – from the supermarket hoarders clearing the shelves to the neighbourhood groups organising help for elderly and vulnerable people.
When it comes to the pharmaceutical companies, how should we judge their response? They, after all, hold the key to ending the pandemic. Yet in one vital respect their behaviour has more in common with the supermarket hoarders than the neighbourhood groups.
Our exit strategy from the global lockdown depends on the development of an effective vaccine, as is well-known. A huge effort is under way to find such a vaccine, but we cannot afford to wait the 18 months it might take.
Image Credit: Ted S Warren/AP
News This Week
Frank Boehm contributes to ‘Modern Approaches to Augmentation of Brain Function’
Modern Approaches to Augmentation of Brain Function Available from Springer Press This book covers recent advances in neural technology that provide for enhancements for brain function. It addresses a broad range of neural phenomena [...]
COVID-19: Experimental vaccine lasts 1 month at room temperature
Although the currently available COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective, limited manufacturing capacity and the need for cold-chain storage hinder their global distribution. A recent study tested the efficacy of a new adeno-associated virus (AAV) [...]
COVID vaccines hold up against severe Delta: US data
Fully vaccinated people were 11 times less likely to die of COVID and 10 times less likely to be hospitalized compared to the unvaccinated since highly contagious Delta became the most common variant, US [...]
How much protection COVID-19 vaccines give you against the Delta variant – best available data
The highly-infectious Delta coronavirus variant has spread to at least 174 countries worldwide, from the US to Australia, causing a surge in COVID-19 cases. The variant has mutations that help it partially escape the immune response produced by [...]
Without these lipid shells, there would be no mRNA vaccines for COVID-19
Fragile mRNA molecules used in COVID-19 vaccines can’t get into cells on their own. They owe their success to lipid nanoparticles that took decades to refine. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is having a moment. This [...]
COVID-19 Has Revealed Critical Knowledge Gaps on the Transmission of Respiratory Viruses
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed critical knowledge gaps and assumptions concerning how respiratory viruses spread between hosts. Traditionally thought to be spread mainly through large respiratory droplets produced by the coughs and sneezes of sick individuals, [...]
Beyond coronavirus: the virus discoveries transforming biology
SARS-CoV-2 is just one of nonillions of viruses on our planet, and scientists are rapidly identifying legions of new species. Mya Breitbart has hunted novel viruses in African termite mounds, Antarctic seals and water [...]
COVID Vaccines Compared
There are three COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the U.S. The Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are all highly effective in protecting you from the virus that causes COVID-19. The Pfizer [...]
Covid Long-Haulers are Fighting for their Future
Many people with long COVID feel that science is failing them. Neglecting them could make the pandemic even worse. While watching the scientific community grapple with long COVID, I have thought a lot about a [...]
Experts Identify New COVID Variation in South Africa – What’s Known So Far
As a team of South African researchers we have identified a new lineage of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. A lineage represents a genetically distinct virus population with a common ancestor. This virus may be designated as a variant [...]
Biden administration prepares for ‘reasonable likelihood’ of another serious pandemic
Citing the possibility of another serious pandemic, the Biden administration on Friday laid out a plan to transform the nation’s ability to respond to major biological threats. As staggering as the COVID-19 pandemic has been, [...]
Video: How Doctors Can Predict Who Dies From COVID
How doctors can predict which patients are more likely to die of COVID Several studies have come out about the COVID prognosis. As a result, we now have a powerful way to predict [...]
New COVID-19 Mu Variant Named a “Variant of Interest”
Though Delta continues to be the dominant COVID-19 strain, the World Health Organization (WHO) now says there's a new variant to keep your eye on. The B.1.621 variant, also called Mu, has just been [...]
Coronavirus vaccines cut risk of long Covid, study finds
Being fully vaccinated against Covid-19 not only cuts the risk of catching it, but also of an infection turning into long Covid, research led by King's College London suggests. It shows that in the [...]
Moderna Creates Twice as Many Antibodies as Pfizer, Study Shows
Moderna Inc.’s Covid vaccine generated more than double the antibodies of a similar shot made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in research directly comparing immune responses to the inoculations. A study of almost [...]
Covid variant detected in South Africa ‘most mutated variant so far’
A coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa 'could be more infectious' than other mutations and have the potential to 'evade vaccines', scientists have said. The C.1.2 strain, which is linked to 'increased transmissibility', is more mutations away from [...]
