Six different covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective to use as booster doses in people who previously received the Oxford AstraZeneca or Pfizer BioNTech vaccines, but the antibody boost they provide varies substantially, a study has found.1

We're back in familiar territory - growing concern about a new variant of coronavirus.

Prior to the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine and when case numbers were low, our longitudinal survey with Australian adults showed that 85·8% (3741 of 4362) were willing to be vaccinated in April, 2020, and 89·8% (1144 of 1274) in July, 2020.1Dodd RH Pickles K Nickel B et al.Concerns and motivations about COVID-19 vaccination.Lancet Infect Dis. 2021; 21: 161Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (0) Google Scholar,  2Dodd RH Cvejic E Bonner C et al.Willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 in Australia.Lancet Infect Dis. 2021; 21: 318-319Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar Younger adults perceived themselves to be at less risk of infection and were less willing to receive a vaccine.Since then, Australia's vaccine rollout has gained rapid momentum in some states, due in part to an outbreak of the highly contagious delta (B.1.617.2) variant. In July–August, 2021, we did a nationally representative survey of 2050 adults aged 18–49 years (appendix p 1) to understand barriers to vaccine uptake in a group underrepresented in current research and with lower vaccine uptake. Participants indicated their intentions on a six-point scale.3Freeman D Loe BS Chadwick A et al.COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the UK: the Oxford coronavirus explanations, attitudes, and narratives survey (Oceans) II.Psychol Med. 2020; (published online Dec 11.)https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291720005188Crossref Scopus (53) Google Scholar We found that 871 (42·5%) intended to get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible, 467 (22·8%) would get it when they had time, 177 (8·6%) would delay being vaccinated, 223 (10·9%) planned to avoid getting it for as long as possible, 121 (5·9%) said that they would never get a COVID-19 vaccine, and 191 (9·3%) were unsure.

The European medicines regulator has approved the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine for use in those as young as five-years-old, paving the way for the shot to be given to younger children in the EU.“The benefits of [the Pfizer vaccine] in children aged five to 11 outweigh the risks, particularly in those with conditions that increase the risk of severe Covid-19,” said the European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee on Thursday. Those in the age cohort from five to 11 will be given the Pfizer vaccine in smaller doses, which are a third of the size of jabs for people aged 12 and over. The vaccine is administered in two shots, three weeks apart.The smaller dose was 90.7 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in that age group, according to results from clinical trials on almost 2,000 children. The effectiveness “was comparable to that seen with the higher dose . . . in 16- to 25-year-olds”, added the EMA.The US and Israel have started to administer the Pfizer shot to five to 11-year-olds, while the vaccination drive is set to begin in Canada next week. The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is yet to approve the shot for that age group.

Travel, aviation and oil stocks around world badly hit as worries deepen over effect of fresh Covid wave on global economy

Company says it will know in two weeks whether current Pfizer jab is effective against Omicron variant

Objective To review the evidence on the effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality.Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sources Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Biosis, Joanna Briggs, Global Health, and World Health Organization COVID-19 database (preprints).Eligibility criteria for study selection Observational and interventional studies that assessed the effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality.Main outcome measures The main outcome measure was incidence of covid-19. Secondary outcomes included SARS-CoV-2 transmission and covid-19 mortality.Data synthesis DerSimonian Laird random effects meta-analysis was performed to investigate the effect of mask wearing, handwashing, and physical distancing measures on incidence of covid-19. Pooled effect estimates with corresponding 95% confidence intervals were computed, and heterogeneity among studies was assessed using Cochran’s Q test and the I2 metrics, with two tailed P values.Results 72 studies met the inclusion criteria, of which 35 evaluated individual public health measures and 37 assessed multiple public health measures as a “package of interventions.” Eight of 35 studies were included in the meta-analysis, which indicated a reduction in incidence of covid-19 associated with handwashing (relative risk 0.47, 95% confidence interval 0.19 to 1.12, I2=12%), mask wearing (0.47, 0.29 to 0.75, I2=84%), and physical distancing (0.75, 0.59 to 0.95, I2=87%). Owing to heterogeneity of the studies, meta-analysis was not possible for the outcomes of quarantine and isolation, universal lockdowns, and closures of borders, schools, and workplaces. The effects of these interventions were synthesised descriptively.Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that several personal protective and social measures, including handwashing, mask wearing, and physical distancing are associated with reductions in the incidence covid-19. Public health efforts to implement public health measures should consider community health and sociocultural needs, and future research is needed to better understand the effectiveness of public health measures in the context of covid-19 vaccination.

England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty has said his "greatest worry" is whether people will accept fresh curbs on activities to tackle Covid variants.

3. Supersizing travel

2. COVID vaccines of the future might not be shots

1 big thing: Omicron rattles globe, marches north

Scientists say they are being punished for transparency over their discovery of new variant

The BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) was the first SARS-CoV-2 vaccine authorized and most widely used in older persons in France. Although no increases in cardiovascular events were reported in the phase 3 trials,1 questions emerged once the vaccine was used on a large scale because older people were underrepresented in the trials. We evaluated the short-term risk of severe cardiovascular events among French people aged 75 years or older after the administration of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine.

The traveler from Campania who tested positive for the molecular test landed in Milan on his return from Mozambique with his family. The laboratory of the Sacco Hospital in Milan is continuing to study the genome of the sample taken

“When you reduce the quality of discourse down to street-fighting level,” it can raise the risk of violence, said a former consultant to U.S. intelligence services.

Some parents who fear myocarditis or think vaccinating children isn't necessary are overlooking a few things.

TikTok video calls for bath in borax – but once a person is vaccinated, there’s no way back, doctors say

Our world has changed. The pleasures that we took for granted before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 now require risk assessment. The days and long nights of clubs and concerts are tainted with the fear of virus transmission and super spreading events. The so-called new adults, coming of age and emerging from the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 might never have experienced the raw beat and the emotions of live concerts that were part and parcel of the fabric of social life in the pre-COVID-19 era. But just how risky are such live, large, indoor events in terms of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus? Are precautions such as pre-concert rapid antigen testing, mask-wearing and adequate ventilation sufficient to prevent virus transmission in situations where social distancing is impossible? How adherent are concert goers with mask wearing? What exactly is adequate ventilation and how important is it in mitigating infection risk? How sensitive is rapid antigen testing up to 3 days before concerts as a tool to screen for the infected? In The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Constance Delaugerre and colleagues1Delaugerre C Foissac F Abdoul H et al.Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission during a large, live, indoor gathering (SPRING): a non-inferiority, randomised, controlled trial.Lancet Infect Dis. 2021; (published online Nov 26.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00673-3PubMed Google Scholar take on the challenge of addressing these conundrums, by comparing SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates (by means of day 7 post-concert, saliva RT-PCR data) in those who attended a large, live concert on May 29, 2021, in Paris and in non-attendees. They assessed adherence to mask wearing by means of an artificial intelligence tool. It is an ambitious, thoughtful, and well-designed study and the authors tackle important practical questions that have major societal ramifications.

Omicron, the SARS-CoV-2 variant responsible for a cluster of cases in South Africa and that is now spreading around the world, is the most heavily mutated variant to emerge so far and carries mutations similar to changes seen in previous variants of concern associated with enhanced transmissibility and partial resistance to vaccine induced immunity.

Exclusive: Some may predate earliest cases of new variant found in South Africa last week

The NHS will announce details this week of how it plans to accelerate the rollout in order to meet an expected surge in demand

On Nov 25, 2021, about 23 months since the first reported case of COVID-19 and after a global estimated 260 million cases and 5·2 million deaths,1WHOWHO coronavirus (COVID-19) dashboard.https://covid19.who.int/Date: 2021Date accessed: November 29, 2021Google Scholar a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern (VoC), omicron,2WHOUpdate on omicron. Nov 28, 2021.https://www.who.int/news/item/28-11-2021-update-on-omicronDate accessed: November 30, 2021Google Scholar was reported. Omicron emerged in a COVID-19-weary world in which anger and frustration with the pandemic are rife amid widespread negative impacts on social, mental, and economic wellbeing. Although previous VoCs emerged in a world in which natural immunity from COVID-19 infections was common, this fifth VoC has emerged at a time when vaccine immunity is increasing in the world.

In Hessen gibt es sieben weitere bestätigte Fälle der Omikron-Variante des Coronavirus. Das teilte des Institut für Medizinische Virologie am Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt am Mittwoch mit. "Die Sequenzierungen haben heute bestätigt, dass es sich bei allen sieben Verdachtsfällen um Infektionen mit der Omikron-Variante handelt", sagte Institutsdirektorin Sandra Ciesek laut Mitteilung.

NEW YORK — MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan has learned a few lessons after interviewing everyone from John Legend to former National Security Adviser John Bolton.Hasan’s next book is called “How to Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking.” Henry Holt and Company announced Thursday that publication is scheduled for 2023.WpGet the full experience.Choose your planArrowRight“Arguing may be in my blood, but I also believe it can be taught,” Hasan said in a statement. “For years now, people have asked me how I do what I do onscreen and onstage. I’m ready to share my secrets, tips of the trade and advice to every person interested in besting an opponent whether it’s in the classroom, on live TV, in the boardroom, or anywhere.”

BackgroundFew data exist on the comparative safety and immunogenicity of different COVID-19 vaccines given as a third (booster) dose. To generate data to optimise selection of booster vaccines, we investigated the reactogenicity and immunogenicity of seven different COVID-19 vaccines as a third dose after two doses of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 (Oxford–AstraZeneca; hereafter referred to as ChAd) or BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNtech, hearafter referred to as BNT).MethodsCOV-BOOST is a multicentre, randomised, controlled, phase 2 trial of third dose booster vaccination against COVID-19. Participants were aged older than 30 years, and were at least 70 days post two doses of ChAd or at least 84 days post two doses of BNT primary COVID-19 immunisation course, with no history of laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. 18 sites were split into three groups (A, B, and C). Within each site group (A, B, or C), participants were randomly assigned to an experimental vaccine or control. Group A received NVX-CoV2373 (Novavax; hereafter referred to as NVX), a half dose of NVX, ChAd, or quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MenACWY) control (1:1:1:1). Group B received BNT, VLA2001 (Valneva; hereafter referred to as VLA), a half dose of VLA, Ad26.COV2.S (Janssen; hereafter referred to as Ad26) or MenACWY (1:1:1:1:1). Group C received mRNA1273 (Moderna; hereafter referred to as m1273), CVnCov (CureVac; hereafter referred to as CVn), a half dose of BNT, or MenACWY (1:1:1:1). Participants and all investigatory staff were blinded to treatment allocation. Coprimary outcomes were safety and reactogenicity and immunogenicity of anti-spike IgG measured by ELISA. The primary analysis for immunogenicity was on a modified intention-to-treat basis; safety and reactogenicity were assessed in the intention-to-treat population. Secondary outcomes included assessment of viral neutralisation and cellular responses. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number 73765130.FindingsBetween June 1 and June 30, 2021, 3498 people were screened. 2878 participants met eligibility criteria and received COVID-19 vaccine or control. The median ages of ChAd/ChAd-primed participants were 53 years (IQR 44–61) in the younger age group and 76 years (73–78) in the older age group. In the BNT/BNT-primed participants, the median ages were 51 years (41–59) in the younger age group and 78 years (75–82) in the older age group. In the ChAd/ChAD-primed group, 676 (46·7%) participants were female and 1380 (95·4%) were White, and in the BNT/BNT-primed group 770 (53·6%) participants were female and 1321 (91·9%) were White. Three vaccines showed overall increased reactogenicity: m1273 after ChAd/ChAd or BNT/BNT; and ChAd and Ad26 after BNT/BNT. For ChAd/ChAd-primed individuals, spike IgG geometric mean ratios (GMRs) between study vaccines and controls ranged from 1·8 (99% CI 1·5–2·3) in the half VLA group to 32·3 (24·8–42·0) in the m1273 group. GMRs for wild-type cellular responses compared with controls ranged from 1·1 (95% CI 0·7–1·6) for ChAd to 3·6 (2·4–5·5) for m1273. For BNT/BNT-primed individuals, spike IgG GMRs ranged from 1·3 (99% CI 1·0–1·5) in the half VLA group to 11·5 (9·4–14·1) in the m1273 group. GMRs for wild-type cellular responses compared with controls ranged from 1·0 (95% CI 0·7–1·6) for half VLA to 4·7 (3·1–7·1) for m1273. The results were similar between those aged 30–69 years and those aged 70 years and older. Fatigue and pain were the most common solicited local and systemic adverse events, experienced more in people aged 30–69 years than those aged 70 years or older. Serious adverse events were uncommon, similar in active vaccine and control groups. In total, there were 24 serious adverse events: five in the control group (two in control group A, three in control group B, and zero in control group C), two in Ad26, five in VLA, one in VLA-half, one in BNT, two in BNT-half, two in ChAd, one in CVn, two in NVX, two in NVX-half, and one in m1273.InterpretationAll study vaccines boosted antibody and neutralising responses after ChAd/ChAd initial course and all except one after BNT/BNT, with no safety concerns. Substantial differences in humoral and cellular responses, and vaccine availability will influence policy choices for booster vaccination.

A new variant identified in southern Africa is causing global panic – but its real impact will be shown by the data that scientists are racing to establish

BNO News and Newsnodes are tracking confirmed and suspected cases of Omicron, a coronavirus variant which is also known as B.1.1.529. Omicron was designated as a Variant of Concern by the World Health Organization on November 26, 2021. This page will be updated several times a day.

Swiss voters have had their say in a Sunday referendum on government COVID-19 restrictions.

Abbott has been intently monitoring the mutations of COVID-19 so we can ensure our tests can detect them. We have already conducted an assessment of the Omicron variant and we're confident our rapid and PCR tests can detect the virus. While the Omicron variant contains mutations to the spike protein, Abbott's rapid and molecular tests – antigen and PCR – do not rely on the spike gene to detect the virus.

The emergence of a new Covid-19 variant with a startlingly large constellation of mutations has countries around the world sounding alarms. While the concerns are understandable, experts in immunology say people need to remember a critical fact: Two years and 8 billion vaccine doses into the pandemic, many immune systems are no longer blank slates when it comes to SARS-CoV-2.

The WA government is ramping up regional vaccination programs ahead of the proposed reopening of the borderAuthorities say misinformation has been a persistent problem throughout the pandemicUS-based social media groups, including a Facebook page called "Freedom Keepers" are suspected to be disseminating information to harm vulnerable communities

Nearly three-quarters of virus genomes sequenced last month were of new variant, say South African health officials

Far-right groups have latched onto anti-vaccine protests and rallies, creating a pipeline to extremism. 

Germany expected to restrict unvaccinated access to essential businesses only; India detects two cases of new Omicron variant in Karnataka US: Biden to announce nationwide coronavirus battle plan EU must consider mandatory Covid jabs, says Von der Leyen Omicron variant fuelling ‘exponential’ rise in South Africa Covid cases Scientists find possible trigger for AstraZeneca jab blood clots UK Covid – latest updates

Germany expected to restrict unvaccinated access to essential businesses only; India detects two cases of new Omicron variant in Karnataka US: Biden to announce nationwide coronavirus battle plan EU must consider mandatory Covid jabs, says Von der Leyen Omicron variant fuelling ‘exponential’ rise in South Africa Covid cases Scientists find possible trigger for AstraZeneca jab blood clots UK Covid – latest updates

Mit Spannung wird die Entscheidung der Stiko zur Kinderimpfung gegen Corona erwartet. Deren Chef sagt nun im F.A.Z.-Podcast: Er würde seine eigenen kleinen Kinder derzeit nicht impfen lassen. Es gebe zu wenige Daten.

Old school public health and technology can allow aggressive containment to succeed

Britain’s drug regulator has approved Xevudy treatment

The World Health Organisation has also urged countries to apply "an evidence-informed and risk-based approach" to travel measures, saying blanket bans will not prevent the spread of the new Omicron COVID variant.

We estimate the import risk probability based on the world aviation network from August 2021 (i.e. 3 month prior). The world aviation network contains the number of passengers along all flight connections around the globe. By looking at these passenger numbers, we can estimate how likely it is that the virus spreads to another area: The busier a flight route, the more probable it is that an infected passenger travels this route.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only one exit door, and that is through the exhaustive vaccination of the humans on this planet; at least 80 percent of the population is the amount oft quoted. Leaving aside the thorny issue of global vaccine availability, one of the distressing reasons we are not reaching that sort of percentage is vaccine hesitancy, the term adopted by the World Health Organization. Vaccine hesitancy, of course, is nothing new. It has a long heritage, beginning from when immunizations were first introduced. But before we take a brief jog through history, it is important to distinguish those who are vaccine hesitant from antivaxxers, who are in a league of their own and are involved in dragging many others into their warped world view. They are also not a recent phenomenon, but they tend to fall into a fairly narrow category. Those leading antivaxxer movements, certainly in the past, have tended to be wealthy, middle class, and white, and they had something to gain by promulgating their ideas and influence. Alexander Ross, MD, fought against vaccination in 1885, for example, because it would heighten his own fame and professional standing. Andrew Wakefield, a former physician and the king of fraud and disinformation responsible for falsifying research published in the Lancet claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, is another example of that.

Spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines has never been more lucrative. The past year has created a thriving online marketplace for unproven COVID-19 “wonder drugs,” fraudulent vaccination cards, fake religious or medical exemptions, and other products geared towards the millions of Americans who follow anti-vaccine groups and influencers, experts testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Wednesday. The congressional hearing on the monetization of COVID-19 misinformation was the latest sign that, 20 months into the coronavirus pandemic, lawmakers are turning their attention beyond combating misinformation to holding those who profit from it accountable.

Federal regulators on Friday authorized Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccine boosters for all adults, a one-size-fits-all strategy designed to shore up Americans’ defenses against a tenacious virus and reduce confusion over guidelines that have varied based on people’s age, occupation and where they live.The Food and Drug Administration cleared the boosters for people 18 and older who are at least six months past their second shot of the two-dose vaccines. The move reflects an urgent effort to encourage millions of Americans to get the boosters to bolster waning immunity heading into the winter holiday season when millions will travel to see friends and family. It’s also an attempt to put in place a coherent federal approach as about a dozen states move ahead on their own to grant broad access to boosters.

Journalists and academics are developing a new language for truth. The results are not always clearer.

Four coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines have now been approved for use in the UK. Rigorous clinical trials have been undertaken to understand the immune response, safety profile and efficacy of these vaccines as part of the regulatory process. Ongoing monitoring of the vaccines as they are rolled out in the population is important to continually ensure that clinical and public health guidance on the vaccination programme is built upon the best available evidence. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), formerly Public Health England (PHE), works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA), NHS England, and other government, devolved administration and academic partners to monitor the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Details of the vaccine surveillance strategy are set on the page COVID-19: vaccine surveillance strategy (1). As with all vaccines, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is continuously being monitored by the MHRA. They conclude that overall, the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh any potential risks (2). Please note that there will be no publication of this report in week 52 2021. Publication will resume in week 1 2022

The scientific reform movement, which is frequently referred to as open science, has the potential to substantially reshape how science is done, and for this reason, its socio-political antecedents and consequences deserve serious scholarly attention. In a recently formed literature that professes to meet this need, it has been widely argued that the movement is neoliberal. However, for two reasons it is hard to justify this wide-scale attribution: 1) the critics mistakenly attribute the movement a monolithic structure, and 2) the critics' arguments associating the movement with neoliberalism are highly questionable. In particular, critics too hastily associate the movement’s preferential focus on methodological issues and its underlying philosophy of science with neoliberalism, and their allegations regarding the pro-market proclivities of the reform movement do not hold under closer scrutiny. What is needed are more nuanced accounts of the socio-political underpinnings of scientific reform that show more respect to the complexity of the subject matter. To address this need, we propose a meta-model for the analysis of reform proposals, which represents methodology, axiology, science policy, and ideology as interconnected but relatively distinct domains, and allows for recognizing the divergent tendencies in the movement.

Weil mit steigenden Infektionszahlen immer mehr PCR-Tests benötigt werden, stoßen Labore an ihre Grenzen. Ergebnisse lassen oft länger auf sich warten, vielerorts wird bereits priorisiert.

My first 30-odd years of research in cognitive science has been driven by an attempt to balance two facts about human thought that seem incompatible and two corresponding ways of understanding information processing. The facts are that, on one hand, human memories serve as sophisticated pattern recognition devices with great flexibility and an ability to generalize and predict as long as circumstances remain sufficiently familiar. On the other hand, we are capable of deploying an enormous variety of representational schemes that map closely onto articulable structure in the world and that support explanation even in unfamiliar circumstances. The contrasting ways of modeling such processes involve, first, more and more sophisticated associative models that capture progressively higher-order statistical structure and, second, more powerful representational languages for other sorts of structure, especially compositional and causal structure. My efforts to rectify these forces have taken me from the study of memory to induction and category knowledge to causal reasoning. In the process, I have consistently appealed to dual systems of thinking. I have come to realize that a key reason for our success as cognizers is that we rely on others for most of our information processing needs; we live in a community of knowledge. We make use of others both intuitively—by outsourcing much of our thinking without knowing we are doing it—and by deliberating with others.

EU competition chief argues in favour of getting “80 per cent now than 100 per cent never”

Infected individual recently travelled to Nigeria and is currently isolating

Research suggests serious bouts of illness with coronavirus may significantly damage long-term health

Weil er einen gelben Davidstern mit der Aufschrift "Ungeimpft" verbreitet hat, ist ein 56-jähriger Berliner wegen Volksverhetzung verurteilt worden. Laut Generalstaatsanwaltschaft hatte er bei Facebook einen Post verbreitet, auf dem der gelbe Stern mit der Überschrift "Die Jagd auf Menschen kann nun wieder beginnen" abgebildet war. "Dieses Symbol vergleicht Nichtgeimpfte mit den verfolgten Juden in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus", teilte die Generalstaatsaanwaltschaft auf Twitter mit. Dieses "in der Querdenkerszene" verbreitete Symbol verharmlose den Holocaust und sei strafbar. Der Mann wurde zu einer Geldbuße von 80 Tagessätzen verurteilt.

Social Democrat reportedly in favour of mandatory vaccines, with Austria poised to take step in February

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says 87% of patients admitted to hospital in Tshwane are not vaccinated against Covid-19. The NICD says unvaccinated people are more likely to die from the disease. The Gauteng health department says it is ready for the fourth wave. 

PM says government does not want people to cancel events such as Christmas parties and nativity plays Omicron infections: eight further cases found in England All adults to be offered third jab by end of January, says Johnson MPs vote to approve stricter rules on masks and isolation in England Boris Johnson rejects health official’s advice to reduce festive socialising Scottish Omicron cases all linked to one ‘private event’, says Sturgeon

Background SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) have threatened COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, predominantly against the delta (B.1.617.2) variant, in addition to the cellular immune response to vaccination.Methods We did a test-negative, case-control study at two medical research centres in Faridabad, India. All individuals who had a positive RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 infection between April 1, 2021, and May 31, 2021, were included as cases and individuals who had a negative RT-PCR test were included as controls after matching with cases on calendar week of RT-PCR test. The primary outcome was effectiveness of complete vaccination with the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine against laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The secondary outcomes were effectiveness of a single dose against SARS-CoV-2 infection and effectiveness of a single dose and complete vaccination against moderate-to-severe disease among infected individuals. Additionally, we tested in-vitro live-virus neutralisation and T-cell immune responses to the spike protein of the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and VOCs among healthy (anti-nucleocapsid antibody negative) recipients of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine.Findings Of 2379 cases of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, 85 (3·6%) were fully vaccinated compared with 168 (8·5%) of 1981 controls (adjusted OR [aOR] 0·37 [95% CI 0·28–0·48]), giving a vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection of 63·1% (95% CI 51·5–72·1). 157 (6·4%) of 2451 of cases and 181 (9·1%) of 1994) controls had received a single dose of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (aOR 0·54 [95% CI 0·42–0·68]), thus vaccine effectiveness of a single dose against SARS-CoV-2 infection was 46·2% (95% CI 31·6–57·7). One of 84 cases with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 was fully vaccinated compared with 84 of 2295 cases with mild COVID-19 (aOR 0·19 [95% CI 0·01–0·90]), giving a vaccine effectiveness of complete vaccination against moderate-to-severe disease of 81·5% (95% CI 9·9–99·0). The effectiveness of a single dose against moderate-to-severe disease was 79·2% (95% CI 46·1–94·0); four of 87 individuals with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 had received a single dose compared with 153 of 2364 participants with mild disease (aOR 0·20 [95% CI 0·06–0·54]). Among 49 healthy, fully vaccinated individuals, neutralising antibody responses were lower against the alpha (B.1.1.7; geometric mean titre 244·7 [95% CI 151·8–394·4]), beta (B.1.351; 97·6 [61·2–155·8]), kappa (B.1.617.1; 112·8 [72·7–175·0]), and delta (88·4 [61·2–127·8]) variants than against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 (599·4 [376·9–953·2]). However, the antigen-specific CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses were conserved against both the delta variant and wild-type SARS-CoV-2.Interpretation The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine remained effective against moderate-to-severe COVID-19, even during a surge that was dominated by the highly transmissible delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. Spike-specific T-cell responses were maintained against the delta variant. Such cellular immune protection might compensate for waning humoral immunity.

Two cases of new Covid variant found in Netherlands predate last week’s alert from South Africa

Anthony Fauci on four decades of progress against HIV, and what’s needed for the future.

Scotland’s health secretary Humza Yousaf said the vaccination programme will be accelerated.

Vaccines are the most powerful pharmaceutical tool to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. While the majority (about 65%) of the German population were fully vaccinated, incidence started growing exponentially in October 2021 with about 41% of recorded new cases aged twelve or above being symptomatic breakthrough infections, presumably also contributing to the dynamics. At the time, it (i) remains elusive how significant this contribution is and (ii) whether targeted non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) may stop the amplification of the ongoing crisis. Here, we estimate that about 67%–76% of all new infections are caused by unvaccinated individuals, implying that only 24%–33% are caused by the vaccinated. Furthermore, we estimate 38%–51% of new infections to be caused by unvaccinated individuals infecting other unvaccinated individuals. In total, unvaccinated individuals are expected to be involved in 8–9 of 10 new infections. We further show that decreasing the transmissibility of the unvaccinated by, e. g. targeted NPIs, causes a steeper decrease in the effective reproduction number ℛ than decreasing the transmissibility of vaccinated individuals, potentially leading to temporary epidemic control. Furthermore, reducing contacts between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals serves to decrease ℛ in a similar manner as increasing vaccine uptake. Taken together, our results contribute to the public discourse regarding policy changes in pandemic response and highlight the importance of combined measures, such as vaccination campaigns and contact reduction, to achieve epidemic control and preventing an overload of public health systems.

Background: In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic and claims that traditional masculinity may put some men at increased risk for infection, research reporting men’s health behaviors is critically important. Traditional masculine norms such as self-reliance and toughness are associated with a lower likelihood to vaccinate or follow safety restrictions. Furthermore, infection risk and traditional masculinity should be investigated in a differentiated manner including gender role orientation, underlying traditional masculine ideologies and male gender role conflict. Methods: In this pre-registered online survey conducted during March/April 2021 in German-speaking countries in Europe, 490 men completed questionnaires regarding contracting COVID-19 as confirmed by a validated test, fear of COVID-19 (FCV-19S), and experience of psychological burden due to COVID-19. In addition, depression symptomatology was assessed by using prototypical internalizing and male-typical externalizing depression symptoms. Furthermore, self-identified masculine gender orientation, endorsement of traditional masculine ideologies, and gender role conflict were measured. Results: A total of 6.9% of men (n = 34) reported having contracted COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Group comparisons revealed that men who had contracted COVID-19 exhibited higher overall traditional masculine ideology and gender role conflict. Logistic regression controlling for confounders (age, income, education, and sexual orientation) indicated that only depression symptoms are independently associated with the risk of having contracted COVID-19. While prototypical depression symptoms were negatively associated with the risk of having contracted COVID-19, male-typical externalizing depression symptoms were positively associated with the risk of having contracted COVID-19. Conclusion: For traditional masculinity, no robust association for an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 could be established, while higher male-typical externalizing depression symptoms were associated with an increased risk of having contracted COVID-19.

Das Bundesverfassungsgericht hat die Kontakt- und Ausgangsbeschränkungen der Bundesregierung vom Frühjahr dieses Jahres als verhältnismäßig bewertet. Beschwerden gegen die "Bundesnotbremse" wurden zurückgewiesen.

NPR's David Folkenflik speaks with Harvard epidemiologist Bill Hanage about what scientists know about the new omicron COVID-19 variant.

The continuing spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. What physicians need to know about transmission, diagnosis, and treatment of Covid-19 is the subject of ongoing updates from infectious disease experts at the Journal.In this audio interview conducted on November 16, 2021, the editors are joined by Stanford’s Michelle Mello to discuss the fundamentals of public health law and its shifting application to the Covid-19 pandemic.

We analyze the effectiveness of the first six months of vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2 in Italy by using a computational epidemic model which takes into account demographic, mobility, vaccines, as well as estimates of the introduction and spreading of the more transmissible Alpha variant. We consider six sub-national regions and study the effect of vaccines in terms of number of averted deaths, infections, and reduction in the Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) with respect to counterfactual scenarios with the actual non-pharmaceuticals interventions but no vaccine administration. Furthermore, we compare the effectiveness in counterfactual scenarios with different vaccines allocation strategies and vaccination rates. Our results show that, as of 2021/07/05, vaccines averted 29, 350 (IQR: [16, 454 − 42, 826]) deaths and 4, 256, 332 (IQR: [1, 675, 564 − 6, 980, 070]) infections and a new pandemic wave in the country. During the same period, they achieved a −22.2% (IQR: [−31.4%; −13.9%]) reduction in the IFR. We show that a campaign that would have strictly prioritized age groups at higher risk of dying from COVID-19, besides frontline workers, would have implied additional benefits both in terms of avoided fatalities and reduction in the IFR. Strategies targeting the most active age groups would have prevented a higher number of infections but would have been associated with more deaths. Finally, we study the effects of different vaccination intake scenarios by rescaling the number of available doses in the time period under study to those administered in other countries of reference. The modeling framework can be applied to other countries to provide a mechanistic characterization of vaccination campaigns worldwide.

ZURICH, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The first probable case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Switzerland, the government said late on Sunday, as the country tightened its entry restrictions to check its spread.

Ample evidence shows that post-encoding misinformation from others can induce false memories. Here, we demonstrate in two experiments a new, tacit form of socially generated false memories, resulting from interpersonal co-monitoring at encoding without communication of misinformation. Pairs of participants jointly viewed semantically coherent word lists, presented successively in blue, green, or red letters. Each individual was instructed to memorize words presented in one of the colors. One color remained unassigned (control condition). Participants reported more false memories for non-presented words (lures) semantically related to partner-assigned than to control lists, although both list types were equally irrelevant to their own task. Notably, this effect also persisted for particularly rich memories. These findings show for the first time that social induction of false memories, even subjectively rich ones, does not necessarily require communication of deceptive information. This has important implications both theoretically and practically (e.g. in forensic contexts).

A study published in The BMJ looks at time since receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The U.S. dragged its feet on lateral flow tests and is now struggling with supply problems when they’re needed most.

The clinical development and global rollout of highly effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 has been unprecedentedly rapid. Nevertheless, viral evolution has continued at pace to the extent that questions are being raised about the continued effectiveness of first-generation vaccines in the face of variants of concern (VOCs). In particular, the rise of the delta variant (B.1.617.2) to become the dominant virus in most of the world has spurred efforts to assess vaccine effectiveness against VOCs and to understand the associated immune mechanisms of protection.1

BackgroundSARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) have threatened COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, predominantly against the delta (B.1.617.2) variant, in addition to the cellular immune response to vaccination.MethodsWe did a test-negative, case-control study at two medical research centres in Faridabad, India. All individuals who had a positive RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 infection between April 1, 2021, and May 31, 2021, were included as cases and individuals who had a negative RT-PCR test were included as controls after matching with cases on calendar week of RT-PCR test. The primary outcome was effectiveness of complete vaccination with the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine against laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The secondary outcomes were effectiveness of a single dose against SARS-CoV-2 infection and effectiveness of a single dose and complete vaccination against moderate-to-severe disease among infected individuals. Additionally, we tested in-vitro live-virus neutralisation and T-cell immune responses to the spike protein of the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and VOCs among healthy (anti-nucleocapsid antibody negative) recipients of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine.FindingsOf 2379 cases of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, 85 (3·6%) were fully vaccinated compared with 168 (8·5%) of 1981 controls (adjusted OR [aOR] 0·37 [95% CI 0·28–0·48]), giving a vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection of 63·1% (95% CI 51·5–72·1). 157 (6·4%) of 2451 of cases and 181 (9·1%) of 1994) controls had received a single dose of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (aOR 0·54 [95% CI 0·42–0·68]), thus vaccine effectiveness of a single dose against SARS-CoV-2 infection was 46·2% (95% CI 31·6–57·7). One of 84 cases with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 was fully vaccinated compared with 84 of 2295 cases with mild COVID-19 (aOR 0·19 [95% CI 0·01–0·90]), giving a vaccine effectiveness of complete vaccination against moderate-to-severe disease of 81·5% (95% CI 9·9–99·0). The effectiveness of a single dose against moderate-to-severe disease was 79·2% (95% CI 46·1–94·0); four of 87 individuals with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 had received a single dose compared with 153 of 2364 participants with mild disease (aOR 0·20 [95% CI 0·06–0·54]). Among 49 healthy, fully vaccinated individuals, neutralising antibody responses were lower against the alpha (B.1.1.7; geometric mean titre 244·7 [95% CI 151·8–394·4]), beta (B.1.351; 97·6 [61·2–155·8]), kappa (B.1.617.1; 112·8 [72·7–175·0]), and delta (88·4 [61·2–127·8]) variants than against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 (599·4 [376·9–953·2]). However, the antigen-specific CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses were conserved against both the delta variant and wild-type SARS-CoV-2.InterpretationThe ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine remained effective against moderate-to-severe COVID-19, even during a surge that was dominated by the highly transmissible delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. Spike-specific T-cell responses were maintained against the delta variant. Such cellular immune protection might compensate for waning humoral immunity.

Today’s top headlines:Israel shuts nearly all Africa travel and enforces quarantine rulesBioNTech will take two weeks to assess vaccine against latest Covid variantBelgium confirms first European case of new Covid variantFrance’s Macron admonishes UK for not acting ‘seriously’ over migrant crisisCoronavirus variant concerns push global stocks lower

Media coverage has been criticised for minimising the effect of covid-19 on children, implying that the lives of those with underlying health conditions are somehow less important than the lives of healthy individuals. Jacqui Wise reports

Covid-19 during late stages of pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of severe disease requiring hospital and intensive care admission, and unvaccinated pregnant women have been found to have a substantially higher risk of needing hospital treatment for covid than those who are vaccinated. Between February and September 2021, 98% of the 1714 pregnant women admitted to hospital with symptomatic covid were unvaccinated.1The UKHSA’s latest surveillance report2 showed that between January and August 2021 a total of 355 299 women gave birth, of whom 24 759 (22%) had received at least one dose of covid-19 vaccine before delivery. But while vaccine coverage in the pregnant population is increasing, uptake in younger women, those in the most deprived areas, and in ethnic minority communities, particularly in black women, still lags.

This report has been published to share the detailed variant surveillance analyses which contribute to the variant risk assessments and designation of new variants of concern (VOC) and variants under investigation (VUI). This specialist technical briefing contains early data and analysis on emerging variants and findings have a high level of uncertainty. A separate report is published covering surveillance data on all other VOCs and VUIs. In summary: 1. There are 4 current VOCs and 9 VUIs (Table 1). The new Variant UnderInvestigation is VUI-21NOV-01, B.1.1.529.2. Delta remains the predominant variant accounting for approximately 99.8% ofsequenced cases in England from 10 October to the 22 of November 2021.3. The Delta sublineage (VUI-21OCT-01) AY.4.2 continues to increase as a proportion of cases in the UK. It accounts for 15.2% of Delta cases in the most recent complete week of sequencing (11 November 2021 to 7 November 2021). In more recent weeks, sequencing data is incomplete, however AY.4.2 accounts for 17.8% of Delta cases in the week 8 November 2021 to 14 November 2021 and 20.3% in the week 15 November 2021 to 21 November 2021.4. The logistic growth rate for (VUI-21OCT-01) AY.4.2 is estimated to be 15% per week compared to other circulating variants. Growth rate is context dependent and cannot be interpreted as a change in biological transmissibility.5. Secondary attack rates amongst contacts of cases with (VUI-21OCT-01) AY.4.2 remain higher than those observed for other Delta cases for all categories (Table 6).6. An updated analysis using more recent data confirms that there is no evidence that VUI-21OCT-01 (AY 4.2) causes more severe disease than other Delta variants.7. Genomes from a new variant B.1.1.529 have been uploaded to GISAID by South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong. It has a large number of mutations which are likely to be biologically significant, and which may change the behaviour of the virus with regards to immune escape, transmissibility, and susceptibility to some treatments. There are currently no detected cases in the UK. This variant was designated VUI-21NOV-01 on 25 November 2021 and is currently undergoing further rapid assessment.All risk assessments are published separately online, except for Gamma, which was published within Technical Briefing 7 and Alpha within Technical Briefing 9. As Delta is the dominant variant in the UK, epidemiological data in the weekly surveillance report is also relevant.

Only 2.5% of the world’s COVID vaccines have gone to African countries. As a result of vaccine hoarding by rich countries, more than 100-million COVID doses could go to waste this year. Rather than focusing on the high levels of vaccine equity, pharmaceutical companies are trying to shift the blame onto vaccine hesitancy on the continent.

AstraZeneca shots were destroyed in August following a change in vaccination policy

Misinformation has been a pressing issue since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, threatening our ability to effectively act on the crisis. More recently, the availability of vaccines in developed countries has not always translated into high vaccination rates, with online misinformation often presented as the culprit. Yet little is known about the actual effects of fake news on behavioural intentions. Does exposure to misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines indeed affects people’s intentions to receive such a vaccine? This paper attempts to answer this question through three preregistered experiments (N=3463). In Study 1, participants (n=1269) were exposed to fabricated pro- or anti-vaccine information or to neutral true information, and then asked about their intentions to get vaccinated, alongside a few other behavioural intentions. In Study 2, participants (n=1863) were exposed to true pro- and anti-vaccine information, while Study 3 (n=1548) compared the effects of single and multiple exposures to novel misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. The results showed that exposure to false information on the vaccines did not affect the participants’ intentions to get vaccinated, even when multiple exposures led them to believe that the headlines were more accurate than in the single exposure conditions. An exploratory meta-analysis of studies 1 and 3 (n=2683) showed that exposure to false information about COVID-19 vaccines, regardless of whether it was in favour of or against vaccines, increased vaccination intentions. We conclude by cautioning researchers against equating exposure to misinformation or perceived accuracy of false news with actual behaviours.

Especially in the beginning of the pandemic, food shopping, an already anxiety-provoking task for individuals prone to eating disorders, became even more difficult.

Exclusive: Greatest risk for pregnant women with Covid is premature birth and ‘it’s not recognised or talked about’

Almost 60% of targeted group yet to be vaccinated as Labour analysis suggests rollout will take until February

Doctors tested positive or developed symptoms ‘within days’ of conference at which alternative treatments were discussed

The struggle to educate people about COVID-19 vaccines continues, and what happened in Scarborough shows it can be won. Home to people who would otherwise be less likely to get the shot than most Torontonians, the former borough has VaxFacts, which is not just a made-in-Scarborough success at beating vaccine hesitancy but “actually a movement,” says its founder Dr. Latif Murji.

What was claimed Pfizer has changed the formulation of its Covid-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11 to include an ingredient used to stabilise heart attack patients. Our verdict The FDA recently approved the inclusion of tromethamine in paediatric doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. It was included to extend the vaccine’s shelf life, and is not currently used in the UK. It is used to treat a condition which may result from illness following a heart attack.

Sender-receiver games are simple models of information transmission that provide a formalism to study the evolution of honest signaling and deception between a sender and a receiver. In many practical scenarios, lies often affect groups of receivers, which inevitably entangles the payoffs of individuals to the payoffs of other agents in their group, and this makes the formalism of pairwise sender-receiver games inapt for where it might be useful the most. We therefore introduce group interactions among receivers and study how their interconnectedness in higher-order social networks affects the evolution of lying. We observe a number of counterintuitive results that are rooted in the complexity of the underlying evolutionary dynamics, which has thus far remained hidden in the realm of pairwise interactions. We find conditions for honesty to persist even when there is a temptation to lie, and we observe the prevalence of moral strategy profiles even when lies favor the receiver at a cost to the sender. We confirm the robustness of our results by further performing simulations on hypergraphs created from real-world data using the SocioPatterns database. Altogether, our results provide persuasive evidence that moral behavior may evolve on higher-order social networks, at least as long as individuals interact in groups that are small compared to the size of the network.

"NHS staff have run off adrenalin for the past year and that adrenalin is running out. We're all coming to the point where we're all just crashing and burning out."

Neil Ferguson, a leading epidemiologist, said the country had almost reached a state of herd immunity as it settled into a new normal of about 40,000 cases a day. Other experts disagreed.

Back in July 2020, Vanity Fair reporter Katherine Eban wrote a shocking expose which exposed the depths of callousness and cold-hearted political calculation which the Trump Administration used to guide their horrific response to the COVID-19 pandemic when it reached U.S. shores:

COVID-19 vaccines are effective. However, some people who are fully vaccinated will still get COVID-19 if they are exposed to the virus that causes it. These are called "vaccine breakthrough cases." We are tracking vaccine breakthrough cases in Minnesota and monitoring trends. Vaccination can make illness less severe in people who get vaccinated but still get sick. Fully vaccinated people are also much less likely to be hospitalized or die than people with similar risk factors who are not vaccinated.

Amplifying the crisis is no way to rebuild trust

Österreich will im Februar die allgemeine Impfpflicht einführen. Eine Maßnahme, die sich laut SPIEGEL-Umfrage auch die große Mehrheit der Deutschen wünscht. Besonders ältere Menschen sind dafür.

Preprint data show that a three-dose combo of Soberana jabs has 92.4% efficacy in clinical trials.

Vaccines are an important tool for governments and health agencies to contain and curb the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, despite their effectiveness and safeness, a substantial portion of the population worldwide is hesitant to get vaccinated. In the current study, we examined whether fear of COVID-19 predicts vaccination willingness. In a longitudinal study (N = 938), fear for COVID-19 was assessed in April 2020 and vaccination willingness was measured in June 2021. Approximately 11% of our sample indicated that they were not willing to get vaccinated. Results of a logistic regression showed that increased fear of COVID-19 predicts vaccination willingness 14 months later, even when controlling for several anxious personality traits, infection control perceptions, risks for loved ones, self-rated health, previous infection, media use, and demographic variables. These results show that fear of COVID-19 is a relevant construct to consider for predicting and possibly influencing vaccination willingness. Nonetheless, sensitivity and specificity of fear of COVID-19 to predict vaccination willingness were quite low and only became slightly better when fear of COVID-19 was measured concurrently. This indicates that other potential factors, such as perceived risks of the vaccines, probably also play a role in explaining vaccination willingness.

BACKGROUND: Social interactions are vital for our wellbeing, particularly during times of stress. PURPOSE: We investigated the real-time effect of social interactions on changes in stress and mood using an ecological momentary assessment approach in 732 participants during COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020 and in a subsample of these participants (n= 281) during a further lockdown in winter 2020. METHODS: Participants reported their stress and mood in a smartphone app five times per day for seven days and indicated the nature and frequency of their recent social interactions. RESULTS: Overall, social interactions and their frequency were associated with enhanced momentary mood. In person interactions, but not those that were not in person (e.g., via audio, video, or text), were linked to lower stress, especially if they were with closer others. Individuals scoring high on trait loneliness benefited least from social interactions in terms of their momentary mood, whereas those scoring high on trait depressive symptoms benefited the most. Our key findings replicated across both lockdowns. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the benefits and limits of social interactions for improving momentary mood and stress during psychologically demanding periods and highlight how clinically relevant individual differences can modulate these effects.

The delta variant could be overtaken by AY.4.2, a more transmissible coronavirus variant that may be less likely to cause symptoms, while another variant from central Africa is being closely monitored

The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic

Artificial intelligence can be used to scour the crowdsourced encyclopedia for contradictory information and flag it to human editors

The CVnCoV (CureVac) mRNA vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 has recently been evaluated in a phase 2b/3 efficacy trial in humans1. CV2CoV is a second-generation mRNA vaccine with non-modified nucleosides but optimized non-coding regions and enhanced antigen expression. Here we report a head-to-head study of the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of CVnCoV and CV2CoV in nonhuman primates. We immunized 18 cynomolgus macaques with two doses of 12 ug of lipid nanoparticle formulated CVnCoV, CV2CoV, or sham (N=6/group). CV2CoV induced substantially higher binding and neutralizing antibodies, memory B cell responses, and T cell responses as compared with CVnCoV. CV2CoV also induced more potent neutralizing antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the delta variant. Moreover, CV2CoV proved comparably immunogenic to the BNT162b2 (Pfizer) vaccine in macaques. While CVnCoV provided partial protection against SARS-CoV-2 challenge, CV2CoV afforded more robust protection with markedly lower viral loads in the upper and lower respiratory tract. Binding and neutralizing antibody titers correlated with protective efficacy. These data demonstrate that optimization of non-coding regions can greatly improve the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a non-modified mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in nonhuman primates.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives and resulted in high levels of stress. While the evidence at the societal level is clear, there have been no population-based studies of pandemic-based stress focusing on individuals who identify as sexual minorities. Drawing on representative data collected during the pandemic, National Couples’ Health and Time Use Study, we find that partnered (cohabiting or married) individuals who identified as sexual minorities experienced higher levels of stress than individuals who identified as heterosexual. However, variation exists observed among sexual minority adults. Although economic resources, discrimination, social and community support and health conditions are tied to reported stress levels they do not explain differentials according to sexual identity. These results provide evidence that sexual minority adults faced greater stress during the pandemic and the importance of recognizing that sexual minorities are not a monolithic group with varying stress responses to the pandemic.

Five percent of unvaccinated adults said they have left a job due to a vaccine mandate, according to a survey released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. One-quarter of workers surveyed by KFF in October said their employer has required them to get vaccinated, up from 9% in June and 19% last month.A nationwide vaccination or testing mandate covering businesses with 100 or more employees announced by President Joe Biden last month has yet to be officially implemented by the Labor Department.

'We need to flex our mental and emotional muscles outside the point of desperation' Ella Rhodes hears from Dr Audrey Tang about her forthcoming British Psychological Society webinars.

Effective decision-making in practice. It is so easy to know the theory behind a ‘good decision’ but if you (or the clients you support) have ever fretted over a decision that isn't really a decision, or a judged decision making ability on outcome rather than process, this session will provide exercises to explore decision making in practice, and offer ways of improving confidence in choices.

Going into this week, Leonardo Vicente was preparing for the worst.New York’s hospital and nursing home employees were mandated to receive at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot by Monday, September 27th to keep their jobs. But ahead of the deadline, barely half—56%—of the staff at the Highbridge Woodycrest Center, the nursing home Vicente runs in the Bronx, had done so.Highbridge has a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which keeps track of the quality of care in nursing homes around the country, and is well-staffed compared to many other facilities in the area. But it was facing a huge exodus of employees under the mandate. Functioning with nearly half the staff out would be difficult, but Vicente figured he’d be able to weather the storm.

Just over two months since ‘Freedom Day’ and in many places it feels like Covid-19 is a distant memory. Masks have been abandoned, schools are ‘back to normal’, people are crowding back on tubes; meanwhile you still can’t go into a vet’s consulting room with your pet. So where exactly are we with regards to Covid-19 in England? I’m going to try and tackle some of the questions I get asked regularly. I’ve met people who have been double jabbed who have caught Covid-19 and become very unwell. Is it really true that the vaccines protect against severe illness?

Biobanking infrastructures, which are crucial for responding early to new viral outbreaks, share pathogen genetic resources in an affordable, safe, and impartial manner and can provide expertise to address access and benefit-sharing issues. The European Virus Archive has had a crucial role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic by distributing EU-subsidised (free of charge) viral resources to users worldwide, providing non-monetary benefit sharing, implementing access and benefit-sharing compliance, and raising access and benefit-sharing awareness among members and users. All currently available SARS-CoV-2 material in the European Virus Archive catalogue, including variants of concern, are not access and benefit-sharing cases per se, but multilateral benefit-sharing has nevertheless occurred. We propose and discuss how a multilateral system enabling access and benefit-sharing from pathogen genetic resources, based on the European Virus Archive operational model, could help bridge the discrepancies between the current bilateral legal framework for pathogen genetic resources and actual pandemic response practices.

Bosses at the University of Bristol have announced that stuff and students must wear face masks inside all buildings on campus, as coronavirus case numbers in the city rise again. Everyone will have to wear a covering indoors from now on, unless they are medically exempt. According to bosses, the decision was made because of increasing infection rates in Bristol and "extreme pressure" on the NHS.

More than 4.2 billion people worldwide have received a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, equal to about 54.7 percent of the world population. This map shows the stark gap between vaccination programs in different countries.

Under the licensing agreement, Pfizer will not receive royalties from the manufacturers, making the treatment cheaper

Covid case rates in England are now highest among children aged five to nine, latest weekly surveillance figures reveal.

The SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant transmits much more rapidly than prior SARS-CoV-2 viruses. The primary mode of transmission is via short range aerosols that are emitted from the respiratory tract of an index case. There is marked heterogeneity in the spread of this virus, with 10-20% of index cases contributing to 80% of secondary cases while most index cases have no subsequent transmissions. Vaccination, ventilation, masking, eye protection, and rapid case identification with contact tracing and isolation can all reduce transmission of this virus.

Researchers said results highlight the need to continue with face coverings, social distancing and handwashing alongside vaccine programmes

The COVID pandemic has intensified crime activity around the world. The article is devoted to the analysis of the impact of the pandemic on international crime. Particular attention is paid to strengthening the activities of cybercriminals, including in the transport industry. See more

Intervention studies with developmental samples are difficult to implement, in particular when targeting demographically diverse communities. Online studies have the potential to examine the efficacy of highly scalable interventions aimed at enhancing development, and to address some of the barriers faced by underrepresented communities for participating in developmental research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we executed a fully remote randomized controlled trial (RCT) language intervention with third and fourth-grade students (N = 255; age range 8.19-10.72 years, mean = 9.41, SD = 0.52) from diverse backgrounds across the United States. Using this as a case study, we discuss both challenges and solutions to conducting an intensive online intervention through the various phases of the study, including recruitment, data collection, and fidelity of intervention implementation. We provide comprehensive suggestions and takeaways and conclude by summarizing some important tradeoffs for researchers interested in carrying out such studies.

There is now a growing understanding that translational research must be co-created in collaboration with community partners and that solutions to real-world social problems require stepping outside the academic silo. Fewer than half of psychology programs in Canada, however, offer courses in community-based research or evaluation, leaving a gap in skill development amongst the next generation of scholars. In an effort to partially fill this learning gap, the current paper provides insights into lessons learned from the perspectives of researchers and community partners alike, who have been mutually engaging in community-based research over the last 25 years. Ultimately this paper seeks to provide a roadmap for conducting community-based research and illustrates why it should be a central component to research seeking to answer critical questions in psychological science. First, we provide a conceptual foundation of community-based research. Next, using three specific community-based research projects as examples, we share the challenges and benefits of conducting research in the community context. Finally, we highlight future directions for increasing the uptake of community-based research in Canada.

Given that being misinformed can have negative ramifications, finding optimal corrective techniques has become a key focus of research. In recent years, several divergent correction formats have been proposed as superior corrective methods based on distinct theoretical frameworks. However, these correction formats have not been compared in controlled settings, so the suggested superiority of each format remains speculative. Across four experiments, the current paper investigated how altering the format of corrections influences peoples’ subsequent reliance on misinformation. We examined whether myth-first, fact-first, fact-only, or myth-only correction formats were most effective, using a range of different materials and participant pools. Experiments 1 and 2 focused on climate change misconceptions; participants were Qualtrics online panel members and students taking part in a massive open online course, respectively. Experiments 3 and 4 used misconceptions from a diverse set of topics, with Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdworkers and university student participants. We found that the impact of a correction on beliefs and inferential reasoning was largely independent of the specific format used. The clearest evidence for any potential relative superiority emerged in Experiment 4, which found that with a delayed retention interval, the myth-first format was more effective at myth correction than the fact-first format. However, in general it appeared that as long as the key ingredients of a correction were presented, format did not appear to make a considerable difference. This suggests that simply providing corrective information, regardless of format, is far more important than how the correction is presented.

There have been warnings from doctors and the UK's Health Security Agency that waning immunity is leading to deaths even of people who have had two doses of a Covid vaccine. So how much protection are we left with?

2 Abstract Background In September 2021, the UK Government introduced a booster programme targeting individuals over 50 and those in a clinical risk group. Individuals were offered either a full dose of the BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine or a half dose of the mRNA-1273 (Spikevax, Moderna) vaccine, irrespective of the vaccine received as the primary course. Methods We used a test-negative case-control design to estimate the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of the booster dose BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) in those aged over 50 against symptomatic disease in post booster time intervals compared to individuals at least 140 days post a second dose with no booster dose recorded. In a secondary analysis, we also compared to unvaccinated individuals and to the 2 to 6 day period after a booster dose was received. Analyses were stratified by which primary doses had been received and any mixed primary courses were excluded. Results The relative VE estimate in the 14 days after the BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) booster dose, compared to individuals that received a 2-dose primary course, was 87.4 (95% confidence interval 84.9-89.4) in those individuals who received 2 doses ChAdOx1-S (Vaxzevria, AstraZeneca) as a primary course and 84.4 (95% confidence interval 82.8-85.8) in those individuals who received 2 doses of BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) as a primary course. Using the 2 to 6 day period post the booster dose as the baseline gave similar results. The absolute VE from 14 days after the booster, using the unvaccinated baseline, was 93.1(95% confidence interval 91.7-94.3) in those with ChAdOx1-S (Vaxzevria, AstraZeneca) as their primary course and 94.0 (93.4-94.6) for BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) as their primary course. Conclusions Our study provides real world evidence of significant increased protection from the booster vaccine dose against symptomatic disease in those aged over 50 year of age irrespective of which primary course was received.

This is *100X* the *yearly* U.S. death toll from measles *before* we crushed it with vaccines.

Between March 1 and September 11, 4 per per cent of the people who contracted COVID in NSW were fully vaccinatedThe vaccines are effective at helping people avoid serious illnessHowever, some people remain vulnerable despite being fully vaccinated

#DailyCovidUpdate | Age Distribution of English ADULT Vaccination Uptake [15th October 2021] The full live dataset can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1klICUxemLzoQ5Hbe1fRQdyzbIW1c3-s5b2I1jkv4R_E/preview

#DailyCovidUpdate | Age Distribution of English Deaths [15th October 2021] [n=63] [Latest Data: Oct 10th] 0-9: 0% (0) 10-19: 0% (0) 20-29: 0% (0) 30-39: 0% (0) 40-49: 4.76% (3) 50-59: 7.94% (5) 60-69: 11.11% (7) 70-79: 28.57% (18) 80-89: 30.16% (19) 90+: 17.46% (11)

#DailyCovidUpdate | Age Distribution of English Cases [15-10-21] n=36,906 0-9: 11.75% (4338) 10-19: 33.98% (12542) 20-29: 6.39% (2358) 30-39: 10.53% (3887) 40-49: 15.60% (5756) 50-59: 10.86% (4009) 60-69: 5.84% (2157) 70-79: 3.65% (1348) 80-89: 1.09% (402) 90+: 0.30% (109)

#DailyCovidUpdate | Vaccines [15th October 2021] 43,489 first and 27,991 second doses were administered yesterday. On average, 33,346 first and 27,149 second doses are being administered per day. Total First Doses: 49,335,154 [73.55%] Total Second Doses: 45,297,231 [67.53%]

#DailyCovidUpdate | Cases by Specimen [15th October 2021] 44,932 positive cases were reported today. The 7-day average is 36,573.00 Orange bars denote the dates on which the new cases were tested. December 29th is the peak overall at 81,478 cases.

#DailyCovidUpdate | Deaths by Date of Occurrence [15th October 2021] 145 deaths were reported today within a 28-day cutoff. The 7-day average is 102.71 Orange bars denote the dates on which the new deaths occurred. January 19th is the peak overall at 1,359 deaths.

#DailyCovidUpdate | Admissions by Nation [15 Oct 2021] [Latest Data: Oct 11th] On Oct 11th, there was a total of 827 admissions, compared to 793 a week previous. 685 were from England (627) 73 were from Scotland (120) 32 were from N. Ireland (26) 37 were from Wales (20)

UK #DailyCovidUpdate | 15th October 2021 - Cases: 8,361,651 (+44,932) - Average Cases: 40,148.86 - Deaths (28-day): 138,379 (+145) - Deaths (60-day): 158,320 (+167) - Average Deaths: 116.86 - Vaccine [1st dose]: 49,335,154 (+43,489) - Vaccine [2nd dose]: 45,297,231 (+27,991)

Characteristics of people testing positive for COVID-19 from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey. This survey is being delivered in partnership with University of Oxford, University of Manchester, UK Health Security Agency and Wellcome Trust. This study is jointly led by the ONS and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) working with the University of Oxford and Lighthouse Laboratory to collect and test samples. 

The US has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children aged five to 11, clearing the way for millions of young Americans to get vaccinated.