The COVID-19 pandemic has been disastrous for many children, whose education and development have been badly affected by repeated school closures. Schools in the UK were first closed to most pupils as a pandemic control measure in March 2020 and again in January 2021 in response to the spread ofContinue Reading
Studio Romantic/Shutterstock Thanks to the efforts of scientists, healthcare workers and trial participants around the world, a number of COVID-19 vaccines have now been authorised for general use. But while millions have been given a jab, billions still need to be vaccinated. We need to produce as many doses asContinue Reading
Check your mask for fit, filtration and breathability. Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock The emergence of new, potentially more infectious, coronavirus variants has led many people to worry about the effectiveness of their masks in protecting themselves and other people from catching COVID-19. Some experts are recommending people wear two masks in orderContinue Reading
According to one recent estimate, more than half of all vaccines against COVID-19 have been reserved for one-seventh of the world’s population. At the time of writing, the UK alone has reportedly secured enough vaccines to give each of its citizens five doses. If orders are met, the EU andContinue Reading
Studio Romantic/Shutterstock The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been receiving a lot of attention recently. The EU has been dissatisfied with production hold-ups, while the German health ministry has raised questions over its efficacy in older age groups. As a result, Stiko – the German Standing Committee on Vaccination – has suggestedContinue Reading
Germany has recently announced that it will not offer the AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab to over-65s due to insufficient data about its efficacy in that age group. Meanwhile, initial data from Israel seemed to suggest that 14 days after the Pfizer/BioNTech first vaccine dose, patients only had a 33% reduced chanceContinue Reading
shutterstock The EU has a vaccine shortage problem. AstraZeneca pledged earlier this month to supply 2 million doses a week to the UK, but has also said it will cut deliveries to the EU from 80 million doses to 31 million during the first quarter of 2021. The UK hasContinue Reading
Shutter.B/Shutterstock While COVID-19 may itself compromise a person’s mental health, the social conditions of the pandemic are also having a negative impact. Economic hardship, heavy COVID-related media exposure, reduced social contact and domestic violence are just some factors that may have affected people. Indeed, studies have shown that mental healthContinue Reading
The UK has passed the terrible milestone of 100,000 deaths with COVID-19. These losses have not been evenly spread throughout different communities. A disproportionate number of both severe cases and deaths have been among those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. In England, analyses of data from theContinue Reading
Addressing vaccine hesitancy among Black communities is as complex as fighting the pandemic. That’s because just as the SARS-CoV-2 virus evolves, so does hesitancy. In the first wave of the pandemic, when the virus was shown to be affecting certain ethnic groups disproportionately, one solution proposed by the medical professionContinue Reading
