A coronavirus pandemic linkfest is for now a weekly feature here on Abnormal Returns. Please stay safe and find a vaccination site near you. You can read last week’s edition here.
Quote of the Day
"In other words, the pattern of resistance to the coronavirus vaccines looks less like COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and more like COVID-19 denialism."
(David A. Graham)
J&J pause
- Why the J&J pause was a disaster. (marginalrevolution.com)
- We really won't ever know how many lives the J&J ($JNJ) pause cost. (surowiecki.medium.com)
- The J&J ($JNJ) pause has caused widespread fear of it. (washingtonpost.com)
Second doses
- The vast majority of Americans are getting their second doses. (nytimes.com)
- A single-dose does not mean you are fully vaccinated. (washingtonpost.com)
- One dose is good. A second dose is ten-times better. (nytimes.com)
Companies
- Moderna ($MRNA) is planning to double vaccine production in 2022. (msn.com)
- BioNTech ($BTNX) is confident that the vaccine will work against the Indian variant. (ft.com)
- The Novavax ($NVAX) vaccine is coming but needs to overcome some manufacturing bottlenecks. (politico.com)
- Vaccitech ($VACC), the company that owns the technology behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, has gone public. (ft.com)
- A walk through how Pfizer ($PFE) makes the Covid vaccine is fascinating. (nytimes.com)
Vaccines
- The Covid vaccines are even better than advertised. (bloomberg.com)
- Why some people actually prefer to have vaccine side effects. (npr.org)
- Can you drink after getting vaccinated? Yes, but don't go crazy. (fastcompany.com)
- What's behind the controversy over Russia's Sputnik-5 vaccine? (statnews.com)
Vaccine hesitancy
- Naomi Oreskes, "But physics and chemistry will never tell us how to design an effective vaccination program or solve the problem of the crossing pedestrian, in part because they do not help us comprehend human behavior." (scientificamerican.com)
- Vaccine hesitancy is not fixed. What we can do to increase vaccination numbers. (statnews.com)
- Want more people to get vaccinated? Pay them. (slate.com)
- West Virgina is paying 16-35 year olds a $100 savings bond to get vaccinated. (npr.org)
- Why we should increase the reimbursement rate for retail pharmacies. (bloomberg.com)
- How unvaccinated nursing home workers are seeding infections. (newyorker.com)
India
- The B.1.617 variant is driving India's surge. (ft.com)
- The U.S. is planning to ban travel from India. (ft.com)
- Why India's surge is a problem for the rest of the world. (theatlantic.com)
Global
- The U.S. is risking a backlash by holding on so tight to vaccine supplies. (washingtonpost.com)
- How the U.S. can be the vaccine factory for the world. (marginalrevolution.com)
- How Israel got back to a semblance of normal. (washingtonpost.com)
- Why some countries will not get vaccinated until 2023. (vox.com)
- 85% of adults in Gibraltar have been vaccinated. Things are back to normal. (wsj.com)
Ventilation
- Why we can eliminate outdoor masking. (slate.com)
- In a poorly ventilated space, social distancing doesn't really matter. (cnbc.com)
- Why indoor dining is still risky until more people are vaccinated. (vox.com)
Treatment
- A centralized health system, like the NHS, makes it easier to conduct treatment trials like that for dexamethasone. (vox.com)
- Remdesivir has become a standard treatment for hospitalized Covid patients. (fortune.com)
Testing
- At-home testing strips are still too expensive for regular use. (wsj.com)
- The CDC and NIH as running an at-home testing trial. (washingtonpost.com)
Data
- The U.S. death rate in 2020 was the highest above normal since the 1918 flu pandemic. (nytimes.com)
- The surge in Michigan is largely centered on younger populations. (nytimes.com)
Public health
- The CDC is really bad at messaging. (theatlantic.com)
- Why it still fees like we are having to make our own risk assessments. (vox.com)
- How to prepare for the next pandemic? A three step-plan to rapidly develop and produce new vaccines. (theatlantic.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: the influencer era. (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
- When can we declare the pandemic over? Not yet. But it's worth asking. (nytimes.com)
- Some athletes are still struggling with the after-effects of Covid. (washingtonpost.com)
- Pseudo-medicine has exploded during pandemic. (scientificamerican.com)
- We don't really know about if/when we reach 'herd immunity.' (theatlantic.com)