• U.S. Accuses Russia of Spreading Disinformation About Western COVID Vaccines

    The United States has accused Russian intelligence agencies of spreading disinformation about Western vaccines against the coronavirus in an attempt to undermine global confidence in their safety. The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which monitors foreign disinformation efforts, told the Wall Street Journal that four websites it claims are associated with Russian intelligence have been publishing articles questioning the efficacy of the vaccines and raising questions about their side effects.

  • WHO Cancels Interim Report on China COVID Investigation

    The World Health Organization (WHO) investigators who recently visited China to determine the origins of the emergence of the COVID-19 virus will not release a promised interim report of their findings. the WHO team decided not to release its interim account “amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington.” Another international group of scientists has called for the WHO to conduct a new inquiry into COVID’s origins.

  • We Need a Global Outbreak Investigation Team: Experts

    The inconclusive WHO report about the origins of the COVID-19 virus, and the deference the investigative team showed China and the narrative China was interested in advancing, have led experts to question whether WHO is the right body to investigate the origins of epidemic outbreaks. The WHO can only enter member countries and engage in research there on those countries’ terms, and it has no real powers of enforcement. Different ideas are proposed as alternatives to the investigative function of the WHO.

  • 1918 Pandemic Second Wave Had Fatal Consequences

    In the event of a pandemic, delayed reactions and a decentralized approach by the authorities at the start of a follow-up wave can lead to longer-lasting, more severe and more fatal consequences, researchers have found. The researchers compared the Spanish flu of 1918 and 1919 in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, with the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.

  • Safeguarding the Nation’s Public Transit Systems

    While millions of Americans are working from home due to the ongoing pandemic, using public transportation remains a daily necessity for many. Public health measures like wearing a mask, installing new ventilation systems and filters, and reducing capacity all help to keep commuters safe – but there is always more that can be done to ensure the continued safety and security of mass transit nationwide.

  • Integrated Approaches to Disease Elimination

    The novel coronavirus pandemic has demanded an unprecedented, coordinated global response, which has culminated in increased global funding, and more importantly, increased attention to healthcare. But whilst efforts to produce and rollout effective diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines in record time are being widely acclaimed, there is a danger that this focus on COVID-19 threatens to derail decades of progress in the control and elimination of preventable infectious diseases, including malaria, polio and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).

  • Guinea Reports Deadly Ebola Outbreak as Vaccination Begins in DRC

    Health officials in Guinea yesterday reported an Ebola outbreak in the southeast, marking the first reappearance of the virus in the country since West Africa’s massive outbreak that spanned 2014 to 2016. Also, another illness was confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is battling a flare-up in North Kivu province, the epicenter of a 2-year outbreak—the world’s second largest—that was declared over in June of 2020.

  • China Probe: SARS-CoV-2 Jump from Go-Between Host Most Likely Scenario

    Representatives from China and an international joint mission team led by the World Health Organization (WHO) Monday in Wuhan detailed the results of a 2-week probe into the zoonotic source of the outbreaks, which didn’t reveal a definitive source but did shed new light on the events. At the nearly 3-hour briefing, officials laid out four main theories, some of them less likely possibilities.

  • How China Is Controlling the COVID Origins Narrative — Silencing Critics and Locking Up Dissenters

    Just over a year has gone by since the novel coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan and the world still has many questions about where and how it originated. The Chinese government has greatly restrained any attempts to investigate the origins of COVID-19 — both internally and by foreign experts — while at the same time advocating alternate theories that the pandemic originated elsewhere. The top leadership sees control over this narrative as vital to its hold over the Chinese population and the boosting of its international reputation.

  • Climate Change May Have Driven the Emergence of SARS-CoV-2

    Global greenhouse gas emissions over the last century have made southern China a hotspot for bat-borne coronaviruses, by driving growth of forest habitat favored by bats.

  • Conspiracies, Contagion, and Convergence: Troubling Trends and COVID-19

    For hundreds (if not thousands) of years, disease outbreaks have been accompanied by exaggerated or downright false claims of origin, spread, and treatment. Some of these claims are misinformation—incorrect information spread without an intent to mislead. On the other hand, disinformation is deliberately misleading or biased information. While misinformation and disinformation are both dangerous, disinformation is more insidious. What the COVID-19-related disinformation shows is that there is a potential convergence of various communities spreading similar conspiracy theories.

  • A Third of Americans Say They Are Unlikely or Hesitant to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

    News reports indicate COVID-19 vaccines are not getting out soon enough nor in adequate supplies to most regions, but there may be a larger underlying problem than shortages. A new study found that more than a third of people nationwide are either unlikely or at least hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them.

  • The Evolution of COVID-19 Dark Web Marketplaces Before the Vaccine

    In new research, data scientits highlight the importance of the continuous monitoring of dark web marketplaces (DWMs), especially in light of the current shortage and availability of COVID-19 vaccines.

  • Food Export Restrictions Could Skyrocket Global Food Crop Prices

    Recent events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, locust infestations, drought and labor shortages have disrupted food supply chains, endangering food security in the process. A recent study shows that trade restrictions and stockpiling of supplies by a few key countries could create global food price spikes and severe local food shortages during times of threat.

  • Experts Tout Delaying 2nd COVID Vaccine Dose as U.S. Deaths Mount

    Following record COVID-19 deaths in January, several U.S. experts extolled the benefits of vaccinating as many people as possible with one dose of COVID vaccine before ensuring people receive the recommended second dose. Such a dosing strategy has already been used in the United Kingdom and Israel, two countries further ahead in vaccinating their populations than the United States.