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Category Archives: Medicine

MIT machine learning models find gaps in coverage by Moderna, Pfizer, other Warp Speed COVID-19 vaccines

ZDNet – “Vaccines to block COVID-19 that are in development by Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and others, and that are currently in Phase III clinical trials, may not do as well covering people of Black or Asian genetic ancestry as they do for white people, a study released Wednesday by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology indicated.… Continue Reading

Legal Issues in COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Deployment

CRS report via LC – Legal Issues in COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Deployment, Updated November 25, 2020 – “Private companies, universities, and governmental entities are working to develop a vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Vaccines are biological products regulated under the Public Health Service Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C… Continue Reading

At every turn the distortion of data has been central to the U.S. government’s disastrous response to the coronavirus

Highline – HuffPo – “This is an accounting of the damage…The administration has failed on so many different fronts in its handling of the coronavirus, creating the overall impression of sheer mayhem. But there is a common thread that runs through these government malfunctions. Precise, transparent data is crucial in the fight against a pandemic—yet… Continue Reading

Federal system for tracking hospital beds and COVID-19 patients provides questionable data

Science Magazine: “Across the United States, COVID-19 wards like this one at University of Wisconsin Health in Madison are filling up fast, but federal data on their patient numbers and available beds are suspect, which could hinder getting personal protective equipment, other supplies, or medicines to where they are needed most…HHS Protect’s problems are a national issue,… Continue Reading

These are the charities where your money will do the most good

Vox: “Giving to charity is great, not just for the recipients but for the givers, too. But it can be intimidating to know how to pick the best charity, especially when there are thousands of worthy causes to choose from, and especially when the world’s in the midst of a massive pandemic and economic calamity… Continue Reading

Science and Scientists Held in High Esteem Across Global Publics

Pew Report – “Yet there is ambivalence in many publics over developments in AI, workplace automation, food science – As publics around the world look to scientists and the research and development process to bring new treatments and preventive strategies for the novel coronavirus, a new international survey finds scientists and their research are widely… Continue Reading

COVIDcast Real-time COVID-19 Indicators

Carneige Mellon University – The Delphi Blog: “Delphi uses information from the survey as part of its public COVIDcast map, to inform its forecasts (currently in development) of the pandemic’s spread, and to assist public health agency partners. By providing daily data from all parts of the United States, the survey allows comparisons between regions… Continue Reading

Live tracker notes COVID cases, deaths by congressional districts

The Harvard Gazette: “Researchers at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, and Microsoft AI for Health have created a COVID-19 live tracker that monitors the current status of virus cases and deaths, as well as the reduction of new cases, in… Continue Reading

Evidence Builds That an Early Mutation Made the Pandemic Harder to Stop

The New York Times – “As the coronavirus swept across the world, it picked up random alterations to its genetic sequence. Like meaningless typos in a script, most of those mutations made no difference in how the virus behaved. But one mutation near the beginning of the pandemic did make a difference, multiple new findings suggest,… Continue Reading

Moderna chief medical officer: Vaccinated adults could still infect the unvaccinated with COVID-19

Fast Company – The vaccines ‘do not show that they prevent you from potentially carrying this virus . . . and infecting others.’…The problem is, it is yet unknown if any of the three vaccines—including Moderna’s—will make the transmission of the virus from a vaccinated person to an unvaccinated person impossible. Or, to put it… Continue Reading

How Many Americans Are About to Die?

The Atlantic – A new analysis shows that the country is on track to pass spring’s grimmest record. “…Case numbers have nearly quadrupled since late September, when roughly 700 people a day were dying. If 1.8 percent of confirmed cases are translating into recorded deaths 22 days later, the U.S. is about to enter some… Continue Reading