A coronavirus pandemic linkfest is unfortunately now a weekly feature here on Abnormal Returns. You can read last week’s edition here. Please be careful, get a flu shot and please stay safe.
Quote of the Day
"In short, vaccination must go hand-in-hand with virus suppression, not become a substitute for it. A successful vaccine rollout will count for little if the country then becomes a crucible for resistant variants."
(Anjana Ahuja)
Variants
- Denmark shows the UK variant is much more transmissible. (washingtonpost.com)
- The new variants are going to work they way across the U.S. (nytimes.com)
- Why we are seeing Covid variants. (vox.com)
- Variants mean we need to accelerate vaccine efforts. (statnews.com)
- The Moderna ($MRNA) vaccine seems to be effective against the UK variant, less so against the South African variant. (nytimes.com)
- The Pfizer ($PFE)-BioNTech ($BTNX) vaccines works against the major variants in the lab. (wsj.com)
- The Novavax ($NVAX) vaccine is less effective against the South African variant. (statnews.com)
- Why high-risk settings should mandate vaccinations. (scientificamerican.com)
Pfizer
- Pfizer ($PFE) has moved up its timing of the first 100 million doses by formalizing the sixth dose in the vials. (bloomberg.com)
- Why the whole vaccine supply chain matters: the case of low dead-volume syringes. (marginalrevolution.com)
- Sanofi is going to begin manufacturing the Pfizer ($PFE)-BioNTech ($BTNX) vaccine. (bloomberg.com)
Vaccines
- The J&J ($JNJ) one-dose Covid vaccine is effective but lags the mRNA vaccines. (statnews.com)
- How AstraZeneca ($AZN) fell behind its production targets. (wsj.com)
- Why isn't the Oxford-AstraZeneca ($AZN) vaccine available in the US? (marginalrevolution.com)
- Why vaccinating the most vulnerable populations first is going to have a big impact on key metrics. (ft.com)
- Vaccines alone are not going to end the pandemic. (nytimes.com)
- How vaccines goes from the lab into people's arms. (technologyreview.com)
- Social media sites can't keep up with vaccine misinformation. (wired.com)
Vaccine administration
- West Virginia leads the country in getting shots in arms. (nytimes.com)
- Big companies are offering their assistance in getting people vaccinated. (nytimes.com)
- Need to speed up a vaccination waiting line? Bring in a Chick-fil-A store manager. (gardenandgun.com)
- The Medical Reserve Corps is being used to help administer vaccines. (npr.org)
- First-hand accounts about what it is like to administer the Covid vaccines. (nytimes.com)
- Why the vaccination process is so emotional on both sides of the needle. (indystar.com)
- There aren't a lot of happy Covid stories. This is one of them. (apnews.com)
- Getting vaccinated? What you need to know. (wsj.com)
- Just get vaccinated. (kottke.org)
Global
- Japan is going to require local clinical trials before approving a Covid vaccine. (ft.com)
- Why the U.S. won't be able to replicate Israel's vaccination rollout. (theatlantic.com)
- Wealthy countries are going to have to step up the flow of vaccines to poorer countries. (nytimes.com)
- It's not as easy to scale up vaccine manufacturing worldwide. (unherd.com)
- Many poor countries may not have access to coronavirus vaccines until 2023. (eiu.com)
Masks
- Why we should be encouraging people to wear better face masks. (bloomberg.com)
- Like everyone else, sports teams could use better masks. (wsj.com)
- Everyone should be wearing a N95 mask now. (washingtonpost.com)
- Why N95 masks are still in short supply. (npr.org)
Treatment
- This obscure cancer treatment seems to be effective against Covid-19. (sfchronicle.com)
- Convalescent plasma has been a disappointment. (wired.com)
- Many Covid long haulers are receiving piecemeal treatment, at best. (statnews.com)
- Long-haulers are doing their own research to find out more about their conditions. (wsj.com)
- Just a reminder that the human immune system is 'bafflingly complex.' (wired.com)
- Covid is accelerating burnout among doctors and nurses. (wsj.com)
Data
- The numbers are finally easing in the U.S. (theatlantic.com)
- U.S. coronavirus data is incomplete and inconsistent. (wsj.com)
- Can social media have been used to identify Covid outbreaks earlier? (bigthink.com)
- We don't really know if curfews reduce the spread of the virus. (nytimes.com)
- In Trump areas, unexplained deaths are less likely to be attributed to Covid. (statnews.com)
- How to turn on your coronavirus notifications app. (washingtonpost.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: empty gas tanks. (abnormalreturns.com)
- There's only one way through the pandemic tunnel. (abnormalreturns.com)
- The 'Swiss cheese model' and the importance of avoiding single points of failure in pandemic and life. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Get used to the term 'digital health passport' as the coronavirus vaccine rolls out nationwide. (abnormalreturns.com)
- On the challenge of holding two competing thoughts on the pandemic in your head a the same time. (abnormalreturns.com)
Mixed media
- By this ranking, the U.S. has one of the worst Covid performances in the world. (interactives.lowyinstitute.org)
- "Evidence increasingly indicates that male sex is a risk factor for more severe disease and death from COVID-19." (science.sciencemag.org)
- Wuhan may be relatively virus-free but that doesn't mean things are anywhere near normal. (wsj.com)
- Why one teacher is guilty about getting vaccinated. (washingtonpost.com)