SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, has turned the world upside down. Experts have predicted that it will claim the lives of between 9-18 million worldwide. This is in addition to destroying the livelihoods, mental health and education of countless others. The pandemic will probably wreak havoc for many yearsContinue Reading
As vaccine uptake starts to wane, stories have began to emerge of people who refused the jab ending up in intensive care, ruing not having had the vaccine, and subsequently dying. These cautionary tales are certainly attention-grabbing, but is it right to publish or broadcast them? If human morality dependedContinue Reading
Golden years. tetiana_u/ Shutterstock As anyone who has ever lived with a dog will know, it often feels like we don’t get enough time with our furry friends. Most dogs only live around ten to 14 years on average – though some may naturally live longer, while others may beContinue Reading
How well do vaccines protect against the new variants of the coronavirus? This is a question we – a group of scientists and doctors in Nottingham – set about answering earlier this year, having collected blood samples from a number of nurses and doctors throughout the pandemic. We started takingContinue Reading
Corona Borealis Studio/Shutterstock The UK medicines regulator has just approved a new COVID-19 treatment. Branded Ronapreve in the UK and REGEN-COV in the US, the drug was developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals with Roche. It first grabbed headlines in October 2020 when President Trump received it during his COVID-19 infection. AlreadyContinue Reading
Kittrat Roekburi/Shutterstock For many people, the social restrictions experienced during lockdown will have long-lasting effects. These include stress, depression, insomnia, fear, anger, frustration, boredom and stigma associated with quarantine. But during the pandemic, NHS staff had to face all these things and deal with working on the frontline. As aContinue Reading
Halfpoint/Shutterstock When COVID-19 arrived, it quickly became clear that older age was the biggest risk factor for developing severe disease. Indeed, there are few diseases for which age is so clearly the most important risk factor. NHS doctors have seen this daily. There have been over 131,000 UK deaths fromContinue Reading
The pace of acute therapy and vaccine development for COVID have been dizzying. But even as we hope a route to bringing the pandemic under control is within sight, we’re now facing the possibility of another urgent public health emergency thanks to what’s known as long COVID, a group ofContinue Reading
After an incredible start, the UK’s vaccination programme is now slowing down. Over 80 million doses have been administered, but more than 10% of the UK adult population still hasn’t been vaccinated. With COVID-19 cases once again rising, the question of how to boost vaccine uptake among the hesitant isContinue Reading
NIAID/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, recently announced that the delta variant is no longer of concern because it now comprises 98% of new cases in the country and is therefore “the normal variant”. This virus has spread to at least 90 countries andContinue Reading
