Monthly Archives: July 2020

China CDC

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China CDC
http://www.chinacdc.cn/en/
No new digest content identified.

 

National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China
http://en.nhc.gov.cn/
News
July 4: Daily briefing on novel coronavirus cases in China
On July 3, 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the Chinese mainland reported 3 new cases of confirmed infections.

Beijing bans people in quarantine from public gatherings
Updated: 2020-07-03
BEIJING — Beijing has banned people who are in quarantine due to COVID-19 from taking part in public gathering activities, authorities said on July 2.
People under collective or home quarantine should not go outdoors, nor should they participate in “cross-room, cross-family and cross-yard” public gatherings, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing center for disease control and prevention, told a press conference.
The situation is gradually getting better in Beijing, but risks remain, Pang said.
Beijing reported one new confirmed domestically transmitted COVID-19 case on Wednesday, the municipal health commission said Thursday…

CDC director: More virus outbreaks likely, but nation can control them
2020-07-03
More COVID-19 outbreaks in China similar to the ongoing one in Beijing are likely because the pandemic has yet to be contained globally, but they will be brought under control quickly, a senior public health expert said.
“With the massive global pandemic going on, it is very natural that the outbreak occurred in Beijing, and it would be no surprise if a similar outbreak happened accidentally in another area in China,” said Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“However, I am confident that such local outbreaks will be effectively suppressed once they are identified, as we have experience in COVID-19 epidemic control in Wuhan and competent public health professionals, including community health workers and CDC workers.”
As of Wednesday, the outbreak in Beijing, which is linked with a major wholesale food market in the city, had resulted in 329 confirmed cases over the past three weeks…

 

Announcements

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Announcements

 

Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group [to 4 July 2020]
https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/frontiers-group/news-press/
News
No new digest content identified.

 

BARDA – U.S. Department of HHS [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.phe.gov/about/barda/Pages/default.aspx
No new digest content identified.

 

BMGF – Gates Foundation [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases
No new digest content identified.

 

Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.gatesmri.org/
The Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute is a non-profit biotech organization. Our mission is to develop products to fight malaria, tuberculosis, and diarrheal diseases—three major causes of mortality, poverty, and inequality in developing countries. The world has unprecedented scientific tools at its disposal; now is the time to use them to save the lives of the world’s poorest people
No new digest content identified.

 

CARB-X [to 4 July 2020]
https://carb-x.org/
CARB-X is a non-profit public-private partnership dedicated to accelerating antibacterial research to tackle the global rising threat of drug-resistant bacteria.
06.30.2020  |
CARB-X funds Eligo Bioscience to develop CRISPR-based therapeutics derived from bacteriophages to kill superbugs and prevent deadly infections in transplant patients
CARB-X is awarding up to US$1.82 million to Eligo Bioscience in Paris, France, with additional funding for a total award of up to US$7.05 million if project milestones are met, for the development of a new generation of highly-specific antimicrobials to prevent multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections in organ transplant patients.

 

CEPI – Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations [to 4 July 2020]
http://cepi.net/
Latest News
02 July 2020
Austria donates €2 million to CEPI to support COVID-19 vaccine programmes
The Government of Austria’s funding will support CEPI’s urgent work to advance the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

 

EDCTP [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.edctp.org/
The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) aims to accelerate the development of new or improved drugs, vaccines, microbicides and diagnostics against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as well as other poverty-related and neglected infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on phase II and III clinical trials
Latest news
03 July 2020
EDCTP and Africa CDC workshop report on disparities in research funding
EDCTP and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention published a report on gender-related and regional disparities in research and research capacity development. In collaboration with Africa CDC, EDCTP hosted a workshop on this topic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 19-20 November 2019. The selected participants – 97 researchers and key stakeholders from Africa and Europe – discussed practical solutions to address gender-related and regional imbalances in research and research capacity development. The report summarises the presentations and extensive discussions over the two days and presents the recommendations of the participants…
Go to the report

29 June 2020
EDCTP COVID-19 emergency funding for twenty research projects
…The 100 eligible applications went through an expedited and robust peer review which led to a ranked list of 47 proposals. Twenty proposals have been invited to grant preparation and some put on a reserve list while EDCTP continues to explore ways to fund these projects. The cash contribution from the European Union and the co-funding so far received so from France, Sweden, South Africa, and the United Kingdom is gratefully acknowledged…

 

Emory Vaccine Center [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.vaccines.emory.edu/
No new digest content identified.

 

European Medicines Agency [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/
News & Press Releases
Press release: International regulators provide guiding principles for COVID-19 clinical trials
Last updated: 01/07/2020

 

 

News: EMA and Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to share confidential COVID-19 information
Last updated: 30/06/2020

 

 

News: Meeting highlights from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) 22-25 June 2020
CHMP, Last updated: 26/06/2020

 

European Vaccine Initiative [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.euvaccine.eu/
Latest News
Towards a sustainable European vaccine infrastructure
Heidelberg, 3 July 2020
…The new project, TRANSVAC-DS (Design study for a European vaccine infrastructure), further builds on the outstanding success and lessons learned of the TRANSVAC1 and TRANSVAC2 projects (www.transvac.org) also funded by the EC and proposes the establishment of a truly sustainable European vaccine infrastructure. The TRANSVAC-DS consortium comprises twenty-five partners from eleven European countries (DE, FR, NL, NO, BE, PT, ES UK, IT, CH and DK) and includes leading academic and research organisations, other research infrastructures and vaccine alliances working in areas related to vaccine development…
Quick facts about TRANSVAC-DS:
Start Date: 01 June 2020
End Date: 31 May 2022
Coordinator: European Vaccine Initiative (EVI)
Project Funder: European Commission, Grant Number 951668
Total Funding: 1.88M EUR

 

FDA [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/default.htm
Press Announcements
July 2, 2020 – Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: Daily Roundup July 2, 2020

July 2, 2020 – Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Additional COVID-19 Combination Diagnostic Test Ahead of Flu Season

July 2, 2020 – FDA Approves New HIV Treatment for Patients With Limited Treatment Options

July 1, 2020 – Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: Daily Roundup July 1, 2020

June 30, 2020 – Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: Daily Roundup June 30, 2020

June 30, 2020 – Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Takes Action to Help Facilitate Timely Development of Safe, Effective COVID-19 Vaccines

June 29, 2020 – Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: Daily Roundup June 29, 2020

 

Fondation Merieux [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.fondation-merieux.org/
News, Events
No new digest content identified.

 

Gavi [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.gavi.org/
News releases
3 July 2020
New private sector commitments to fund access to future COVID-19 vaccines announced at international pledging summit
:: Global technology company TransferWise and a donor which asked to remain anonymous made significant financial commitments to Gavi’s Advance Market Commitment for COVID-19 Vaccines (Gavi COVAX AMC)
:: The new financing mechanism to support affordable access for developing countries is part of a broader COVAX Facility aimed at securing global access to eventual COVID-19 vaccines
:: The commitments were made at the Global Goal: Unite for our Future summit, organised by the European Commission and Global Citizen

 

GHIT Fund [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.ghitfund.org/newsroom/press
GHIT was set up in 2012 with the aim of developing new tools to tackle infectious diseases that No new digest content identified.

 

Global Fund [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/
Videos
Germany Pledges €150 Million to Global Fund COVID-19 Response at Global Citizen Summit
30 June 2020

 

Hilleman Laboratories [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.hillemanlabs.org/
No new digest content identified.

 

Human Vaccines Project [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.humanvaccinesproject.org/media/press-releases/
No new digest content identified.

 

IAVI [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.iavi.org/newsroom
Press Releases
No new digest content identified.

 

 

International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities [ICMRA]
http://www.icmra.info/drupal/en/news
Selected Statements, Press Releases, Research
No new digest content identified.

 

 

International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association [IGBA]
https://www.igbamedicines.org/
News
CILFA, the Argentinian Generic and Biosimilar Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, joins IGBA (1 July 2020)
IGBA, the International Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association, representing global manufacturers of generic and biosimilar medicines, announced today that the Cámara Industrial de Laboratorios Farmacéuticos Argentinos (CILFA) has been accepted and welcomed as a new IGBA Associate Member.

 

 

IFFIm
http://www.iffim.org/
Announcements
No new digest content identified.

 

IFRC [to 4 July 2020]
http://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/news/press-releases/
Selected Press Releases, Announcements
Asia Pacific, Bangladesh
Early action to save lives in Bangladesh amid severe flood forecast
Dhaka/Kuala Lumpur/Geneva, 30 June 2020: Urgent early action is being taken to protect lives in Bangladesh as floods threaten 4.1 million people in large areas across the country that are already grappling with COVID-19. The Global Flood Awareness Syst …
30 June 2020

 

IVAC [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/ivac/index.html
Updates
New COVID-19 Testing Trends Tool
July 2020
Here, we bring together data on diagnostic testing rates, the number of positive cases, and the percent of tests that are positive to help understand the state of the pandemic in each state.

 

IVI [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.ivi.int/
Selected IVI News & Announcements
LINE and International Vaccine Institute Release BT21 Donation Stickers to Promote Global Vaccination and Vaccine Development
LINE FRIENDS’ BT21 characters featured in IVI sticker set to raise funds for child immunization initiatives and COVID-19 vaccine development
SEONGNAM, South Korea – June 30, 2020 – LINE Corporation today released a set of animated stickers together with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) featuring LINE FRIENDS’ BT21 characters. With all sales proceeds going to IVI, this sticker initiative is one more demonstration of LINE’s mission of “Closing the Distance,” which includes taking actions to help people and improve their lives…
*Sticker download URL: https://line.me/S/sticker/17793

 

JEE Alliance [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.jeealliance.org/
Selected News and Events
No new digest content identified.

 

MSF/Médecins Sans Frontières [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.msf.org/
Latest [Selected Announcements]
Lebanon
COVID-19 and economic downfall reveal migrant workers’ mental health cr…
Report 3 Jul 2020

Women’s health
Women and girls face greater dangers during COVID-19 pandemic
Project Update 2 Jul 2020

Mozambique
“It was like the end of the world” during attack in northern Mozambique
Voices from the Field 30 Jun 2020

Syria
Life in an open-air prison: living under the bombs in Idlib
Voices from the Field 29 Jun 2020

Venezuela
MSF helps fight against malaria in Venezuela’s Sucre state
Project Update 29 Jun 2020

 

National Vaccine Program Office – U.S. HHS [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.hhs.gov/vaccines/about/index.html
NVAC 2020 Meetings
September 23-24, 2020 Meeting (Virtual)

 

NIH [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases
Selected News Releases
NIH ACTIV vaccine working group weighs role of human challenge studies for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development
July 1, 2020 — The authors conclude that large, randomized, controlled trials of SARS-CoV-2 are the fastest and most effective path forward for establishing vaccine safety and efficacy.

NIH study shows genomic variation causing common autoinflammatory disease may increase resilience to bubonic plague
June 29, 2020 — Genomic variants that cause common periodic fever have spread in Mediterranean populations over centuries, potentially protecting people from the plague.

 

PATH [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.path.org/media-center/
Selected Announcements
Join PATH Virtually at AIDS 2020
July 2, 2020 by PATH
Driving client-centered, differentiated services to turn the tide towards HIV epidemic control

 

Sabin Vaccine Institute [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.sabin.org/updates/pressreleases
Statements and Press Releases
Withdrawing Funding from the World Health Organization Will Have Dangerous Consequences
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Sabin Vaccine Institute condemns Trump administration decision to pull financial support from the World Health Organization; Urges reconsideration

 

UNAIDS [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.unaids.org/en
Selected Press Releases/Reports/Statements
AIDS 2020
The 23rd International AIDS Conference – known as AIDS 2020 – will take place from 6 to10 July 2020 with the theme, Resilience.

1 July 2020
Providing support to COVID-19-hit households in Côte d’Ivoire

30 June 2020
Delivery of PrEP at home in the Republic of Moldova

29 June 2020
UNAIDS supporting people stranded in Egypt to access HIV treatment

 

UNICEF [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.unicef.org/media/press-releases
Selected Press releases/Announcements
Press release
02/07/2020
COVID-19: EU Humanitarian Air Bridge helps deliver over 50 tonnes of UNICEF supplies for vulnerable children and families

Statement
30/06/2020
Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore ahead of the 2020 Brussels video conference on supporting the future of Syria and the region

Press release
30/06/2020
Not just numbers: Syrian families identify their needs and concerns as war enters tenth year
Education in high demand: Syrian families say education for children greatest challenge

Press release
29/06/2020
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore remarks at the 2020 Executive Board Annual Session
As prepared

 

Unitaid [to 4 July 2020]
https://unitaid.org/
Featured News
02 July 2020 | Press releases
ACT-Accelerator moves to expand access to dexamethasone for low- and middle-income countries for COVID-19 treatment
Geneva – Unitaid and Wellcome have joined forces with partners in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) to expand access to dexamethasone for low- and middle-income countries as part ensuring equitable access to therapeutics in the COVID-19 response.
[See Milestones above for detail]

 

Vaccination Acceptance Research Network (VARN) [to 4 July 2020]
https://vaccineacceptance.org/news.html#header1-2r
Announcements
No new digest content identified.

 

Vaccine Confidence Project [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.vaccineconfidence.org/
Latest News & Archive
No new digest content identified.

 

Vaccine Education Center – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center
No new digest content identified.

 

Wellcome Trust [to 4 July 2020]
https://wellcome.ac.uk/news
Opinion | 30 June 2020
This virus isn’t going away. The only way to beat it is to work together
Jeremy Farrar, Director Wellcome
Six months on from the first case of COVID-19, the pandemic is accelerating and spreading into new areas. Jeremy Farrar talks about the lessons we learned and the long-term solutions.

 

The Wistar Institute [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.wistar.org/news/press-releases
Press Released
No new digest content identified.

 

WFPHA: World Federation of Public Health Associations [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.wfpha.org/
Latest News
WFPHA Joins The Launch of The Global Sustainable Health Equity Movement
Tuesday, 30 June 2020
[See Milestones above for detail]

 

World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.oie.int/en/for-the-media/press-releases/2020/
Press Releases
No new digest content identified.

 

 

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ARM [Alliance for Regenerative Medicine] [to 4 July 2020]
https://alliancerm.org/press-releases/
Press Releases
No new digest content identified.

 

BIO [to 4 July 2020]
https://www.bio.org/press-releases
Press Releases
No new digest content identified.

 

DCVMN – Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturers Network [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.dcvmn.org/
News
No new digest content identified.

 

IFPMA [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.ifpma.org/resources/news-releases/
Selected Press Releases, Statements, Publications
IFPMA Statement – Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator) Investment Case
26 June 2020
…We are proud to be a founding partner of the ACT-Accelerator and are fully committed to the goal of the COVAX pillar to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to safe, effective, and affordable COVID-19 vaccines.
Access to COVID-19 vaccines is a collective responsibility that calls for highly coordinated and collaborative action by public and private actors alike and global solidarity to end the COVID-19 pandemic

 

ICBA – International Council of Biotechnology Associations [to 4 July 2020]
https://internationalbiotech.org/
News
No new digest content identified.

 

PhRMA [to 4 July 2020]
http://www.phrma.org/
Selected Press Releases, Statements
How biopharmaceutical researchers are ensuring COVID-19 vaccines will be safe and effective
Richard Moscicki, M.D.   |     June 29, 2020

 

Journal Watch

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Journal Watch
Vaccines and Global Health: The Week in Review continues its weekly scanning of key peer-reviewed journals to identify and cite articles, commentary and editorials, books reviews and other content supporting our focu-s on vaccine ethics and policy. Journal Watch is not intended to be exhaustive, but indicative of themes and issues the Center is actively tracking. We selectively provide full text of some editorial and comment articles that are specifically relevant to our work. Successful access to some of the links provided may require subscription or other access arrangement unique to the publisher.
If you would like to suggest other journal titles to include in this service, please contact David Curry at: david.r.curry@centerforvaccineethicsandpolicy.org

 

Short- and long-term impact of vaccination against cytomegalovirus: a modeling study

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BMC Medicine
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcmed/content
(Accessed 4 July 2020)

 

Short- and long-term impact of vaccination against cytomegalovirus: a modeling study
Infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) is highly prevalent worldwide and can cause severe disease in immunocompromised persons and congenitally infected infants. The disease burden caused by congenital CMV infec…
Authors: Ganna Rozhnova, Mirjam E. Kretzschmar, Fiona van der Klis, Debbie van Baarle, Marjolein Korndewal, Ann C. Vossen and Michiel van Boven
Citation: BMC Medicine 2020 18:174
Content type: Research Article
Published on: 2 July 2020

 

The CRISPR babies controversy: Responsibility and regulation in the spotlight

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EMBO Reports
Volume 21 Issue 7 3 July 2020
https://www.embopress.org/toc/14693178/current

 

Opinion 28 May 2020
The CRISPR babies controversy: Responsibility and regulation in the spotlight
Morgan Meyer
The genome editing of human embryos by He Jianjui and the announcement to do so by Denis Rebrikov should spur the research community into discussing robust and transparent governance for human germline modification.

 

A systematic review of global health capacity building initiatives in low-to middle-income countries in the Middle East and North Africa region

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A systematic review of global health capacity building initiatives in low-to middle-income countries in the Middle East and North Africa region
Low-and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are facing increasing global health challenges with a reduced ability to manage them. Global Health Capacity Building (GHCB) initiatives have the potential to improve health workforce performance and health outcomes, however little is known about the GHCB topics and approaches implemented in this region. This is the first systematic review of GHCB initiatives among LMICs in the MENA region

 

Authors: Hady Naal, Maria El Koussa, Melissa El Hamouch, Layal Hneiny and Shadi Saleh
Content type: Review
3 July 2020

 

Health-education to prevent COVID-19 in schoolchildren: a call to action

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Health-education to prevent COVID-19 in schoolchildren: a call to action
There is currently considerable international debate around school closures/openings and the role of children in the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Whilst evidence suggests that children …

 

Authors: Darren J. Gray, Johanna Kurscheid, Mary Lorraine Mationg, Gail M. Williams, Catherine Gordon, Matthew Kelly, Kinley Wangdi and Donald P. McManus
Citation: Infectious Diseases of Poverty 2020 9:81
Content type: Opinion
Published on: 1 July 2020

 

Urgent call for a global enforcement of the public sharing of health emergencies data: lesson learned from serious arboviral disease epidemics in Sudan

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International Health
Volume 12, Issue 4, July 2020
https://academic.oup.com/inthealth/issue/12/4

 

COMMENTARIES
Urgent call for a global enforcement of the public sharing of health emergencies data: lesson learned from serious arboviral disease epidemics in Sudan
Ayman Ahmed
International Health, Volume 12, Issue 4, July 2020, Pages 238–240, https://doi.org/10.1093/inthealth/ihz122

 

Artificial intelligence: opportunities and implications for the health workforce

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International Health
Volume 12, Issue 4, July 2020
https://academic.oup.com/inthealth/issue/12/4

 

Artificial intelligence: opportunities and implications for the health workforce
Indrajit Hazarika
International Health, Volume 12, Issue 4, July 2020, Pages 241–245, https://doi.org/10.1093/inthealth/ihaa007
Abstract
Healthcare involves cyclic data processing to derive meaningful, actionable decisions. Rapid increases in clinical data have added to the occupational stress of healthcare workers, affecting their ability to provide quality and effective services. Health systems have to radically rethink strategies to ensure that staff are satisfied and actively supported in their jobs. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to augment provider performance. This article reviews the available literature to identify AI opportunities that can potentially transform the role of healthcare providers. To leverage AI’s full potential, policymakers, industry, healthcare providers and patients have to address a new set of challenges. Optimizing the benefits of AI will require a balanced approach that enhances accountability and transparency while facilitating innovation.

 

Zoonoses: beyond the human–animal–environment interface

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The Lancet
Jul 04, 2020 Volume 396 Number 10243 p1-70
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/current

 

Editorial
Zoonoses: beyond the human–animal–environment interface
The Lancet
…Sounding the alarm about the risk of zoonotic pandemics has largely been the preserve of a handful of scientists and global health experts. Until now. COVID-19 has coalesced the research community around calls for establishing broad transformational change. This pandemic is a sobering warning against exploiting the natural world without pause, and that zoonoses affect not only health but the whole fabric of society. COVID-19 will not be the last, and perhaps not the worst, zoonotic pandemic. Climate change has shown how an existential threat to human civilisation can galvanise a sense of urgency in a whole-of-society response. Tackling zoonoses needs exactly the same.

 

Prioritising children’s rights in the COVID-19 response

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The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
Jul 2020 Volume 4 Number 7 p479-554, e17-e25
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/issue/current

 

Editorial
Prioritising children’s rights in the COVID-19 response
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
Although substantial progress has been made in many aspects of child health in the past two decades, the COVID-19 pandemic and its wide-ranging effects are threatening some of these hard-won gains. Public health measures such as lockdown, school closures, and restrictions in population movement—while necessary to halt virus transmission—are causing prolonged disruption to societal functioning and exacerbating inequalities worldwide. The global Human Development Index (HDI) is projected to decline this year for the first time since 1990, effectively erasing all progress in human development made in the past 6 years…

 

The European artificial intelligence strategy: implications and challenges for digital health

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Lancet Digital Health
Jul 2020 Volume 2 Number 7 e331-e379
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/issue/current

 

Viewpoint
The European artificial intelligence strategy: implications and challenges for digital health
I Glenn Cohen, Theodoros Evgeniou, Sara Gerke, Timo Minssen
Summary
In February, 2020, the European Commission published a white paper on artificial intelligence (AI) as well as an accompanying communication and report. The paper sets out policy options to facilitate a secure and trustworthy development of AI and considers health to be one of its most important areas of application. We illustrate that the European Commission’s approach, as applied to medical AI, presents some challenges that can be detrimental if not addressed. In particular, we discuss the issues of European values and European data, the update problem of AI systems, and the challenges of new trade-offs such as privacy, cybersecurity, accuracy, and intellectual property rights. We also outline what we view as the most important next steps in the Commission’s iterative process. Although the European Commission has done good work in setting out a European approach for AI, we conclude that this approach will be more difficult to implement in health care. It will require careful balancing of core values, detailed consideration of nuances of health and AI technologies, and a keen eye on the political winds and global competition.

 

A wake-up call: COVID-19 and its impact on children’s health and wellbeing

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Lancet Global Health
Jul 2020 Volume 8 Number 7 e860-e972
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/issue/current

 

Comment
A wake-up call: COVID-19 and its impact on children’s health and wellbeing
Henrietta H Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF
As cases of COVID-19 surge worldwide and threaten to overwhelm life-saving health services, the survival of mothers and children is at great risk.

In The Lancet Global Health, Timothy Roberton and colleagues1 present startling new evidence on the potential rise in maternal and child mortality in low-income and middle-income countries if essential health services are disrupted as a result of COVID-19. Building on lessons learned from previous outbreaks of Ebola virus disease and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the authors estimate a devastating increase in the numbers of maternal and child deaths resulting from reductions in routine health service coverage.

Left unchecked, these reductions (due to, for example, disruptions in medical supply chains or the availability of human and financial resources) along with declines in the uptake of health services by communities fearful of infection will be more catastrophic for mothers and children than COVID-19 itself. The projection of an additional 1·2 million child deaths and 56 700 maternal deaths in 118 countries if coverage of essential services drops by around 45% for 6 months is alarming. It is also avoidable if we act now.

These findings reinforce the multi-part approach that UNICEF has adopted from the start of the outbreak.2 First, we are working to prevent COVID-19 transmission and treat those who fall sick. Second, we are working to address the effects of the policy responses aimed at containing the spread, including maintaining routine health services for all children and mothers, ensuring continuity of learning, keeping mothers and children safe and protected from violence, and scaling up social protections to keep children and their families afloat. Third, we are working to strengthen the systems that underpin all of these services…

Continue reading →

Early estimates of the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and child mortality in low-income and middle-income countries: a modelling study

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Lancet Global Health
Jul 2020 Volume 8 Number 7 e860-e972
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/issue/current

 

Articles
Early estimates of the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and child mortality in low-income and middle-income countries: a modelling study
While the COVID-19 pandemic will increase mortality due to the virus, it is also likely to increase mortality indirectly. In this study, we estimate the additional maternal and under-5 child deaths resulting from the potential disruption of health systems and decreased access to food…Our estimates are based on tentative assumptions and represent a wide range of outcomes. Nonetheless, they show that, if routine health care is disrupted and access to food is decreased (as a result of unavoidable shocks, health system collapse, or intentional choices made in responding to the pandemic), the increase in child and maternal deaths will be devastating. We hope these numbers add context as policy makers establish guidelines and allocate resources in the days and months to come.
Timothy Roberton, Emily D Carter, Victoria B Chou, Angela R Stegmuller, Bianca D Jackson, Yvonne Tam, Talata Sawadogo-Lewis, Neff Walker

 

Safety and immunogenicity of a candidate Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus viral-vectored vaccine: a dose-escalation, open-label, non-randomised, uncontrolled, phase 1 trial

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Lancet Infectious Diseases
Jul 2020 Volume 20 Number 7 p755-874, e148-e179
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current

 

Articles
Safety and immunogenicity of a candidate Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus viral-vectored vaccine: a dose-escalation, open-label, non-randomised, uncontrolled, phase 1 trial
Pedro M Folegatti, et al

 

Safety and immunogenicity of a modified vaccinia virus Ankara vector vaccine candidate for Middle East respiratory syndrome: an open-label, phase 1 trial

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Lancet Infectious Diseases
Jul 2020 Volume 20 Number 7 p755-874, e148-e179
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current

 

Safety and immunogenicity of a modified vaccinia virus Ankara vector vaccine candidate for Middle East respiratory syndrome: an open-label, phase 1 trial
Till Koch, et al

 

Safety and immunogenicity of the tetravalent, live-attenuated dengue vaccine Butantan-DV in adults in Brazil: a two-step, double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled phase 2 trial

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Lancet Infectious Diseases
Jul 2020 Volume 20 Number 7 p755-874, e148-e179
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current

 

Safety and immunogenicity of the tetravalent, live-attenuated dengue vaccine Butantan-DV in adults in Brazil: a two-step, double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled phase 2 trial
Esper G Kallas, et al

 

Safety and immunogenicity of a parenteral trivalent P2-VP8 subunit rotavirus vaccine: a multisite, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

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Lancet Infectious Diseases
Jul 2020 Volume 20 Number 7 p755-874, e148-e179
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/issue/current

 

Safety and immunogenicity of a parenteral trivalent P2-VP8 subunit rotavirus vaccine: a multisite, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Michelle J Groome, et al

 

Education and wealth inequalities in healthy ageing in eight harmonised cohorts in the ATHLOS consortium: a population-based study

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Lancet Public Health
Jul 2020 Volume 5 Number 7 e361-e413
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/issue/current

 

Articles
Education and wealth inequalities in healthy ageing in eight harmonised cohorts in the ATHLOS consortium: a population-based study
Yu-Tzu Wu, et al on behalf of the ATHLOS consortium
Background
The rapid growth of the size of the older population is having a substantial effect on health and social care services in many societies across the world. Maintaining health and functioning in older age is a key public health issue but few studies have examined factors associated with inequalities in trajectories of health and functioning across countries. The aim of this study was to investigate trajectories of healthy ageing in older men and women (aged ≥45 years) and the effect of education and wealth on these trajectories.
Interpretation
The apparent difference in baseline healthy ageing scores between those with high versus low education levels and wealth suggests that cumulative disadvantage due to low education and wealth might have largely deteriorated health conditions in early life stages, leading to persistent differences throughout older age, but no further increase in ageing disparity after age 70 years. Future research should adopt a lifecourse approach to investigate mechanisms of health inequalities across education and wealth in different societies.

 

Mapping and characterization of structural variation in 17,795 human genomes

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Nature
Volume 583 Issue 7814, 2 July 2020
http://www.nature.com/nature/current_issue.html

 

Article | 27 May 2020
Mapping and characterization of structural variation in 17,795 human genomes
Structural variants in more than 17,000 human genomes are mapped and characterized using whole-genome sequencing, showing how this type of variation contributes to rare deleterious coding and noncoding alleles.
Haley J. Abel, David E. Larson[…] & Ira M. Hall

 

Whole-genome sequencing of a sporadic primary immunodeficiency cohort

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Nature
Volume 583 Issue 7814, 2 July 2020
http://www.nature.com/nature/current_issue.html

 

Article | 06 May 2020
Whole-genome sequencing of a sporadic primary immunodeficiency cohort
Whole-genome sequencing analysis of individuals with primary immunodeficiency identifies new candidate disease-associated genes and shows how the interplay between genetic variants can explain the variable penetrance and complexity of the disease.
James E. D. Thaventhiran, Hana Lango Allen[…] & Kenneth G. C. Smith

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Whole-genome sequencing of patients with rare diseases in a national health system

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Nature
Volume 583 Issue 7814, 2 July 2020
http://www.nature.com/nature/current_issue.html

 

Article | 24 June 2020
Whole-genome sequencing of patients with rare diseases in a national health system
Whole-genome sequencing and phenotype data sharing are introduced in a national health system to streamline diagnosis and to discover coding and non-coding variants that cause rare diseases.
Ernest Turro, William J. Astle[…] & Willem H. Ouwehand

 

Effective study design for comparative functional genomics

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Nature Reviews Genetics
Volume 21 Issue 7, July 2020
https://www.nature.com/nrg/volumes/21/issues/7

 

Comment | 24 April 2020
Effective study design for comparative functional genomics
Comparative studies struggle to balance technical properties with the need to obtain samples from multiple species. The authors argue for extensive record keeping and reporting of metadata to minimize the effect of confounders and increase the robustness of inferences from these studies.
Joanna L. Kelley  & Yoav Gilad

 

COVID-19 vaccines: neutralizing antibodies and the alum advantage

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Nature Reviews Immunology
Volume 20 Issue 7, July 2020
https://www.nature.com/nri/volumes/20/issues/7

 

Comment | 04 June 2020
COVID-19 vaccines: neutralizing antibodies and the alum advantage
Here, Peter Hotez and colleagues discuss the advantages of using an aluminium-based adjuvant in candidate COVID-19 vaccines.
Peter J. Hotez, David B. Corry[…] & Maria Elena Bottazzi

 

 

Next-generation stem cells — ushering in a new era of cell-based therapies

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Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
Volume 19 Issue 7, July 2020
https://www.nature.com/nrd/volumes/19/issues/7

 

Review Article | 06 April 2020
Next-generation stem cells — ushering in a new era of cell-based therapies
Primary stem cells have long been used therapeutically for applications such as bone marrow transplantation. This Review discusses how cell-engineering approaches are enabling the development of next-generation stem cell therapies with improved function, specificity and responsiveness, thereby expanding their applications into areas such as delivering drugs and oncolytic viruses to tumours and promoting tissue repair in various diseases.
Erin A. Kimbrel  & Robert Lanza

 

A Half-Century of Progress in Health: The National Academy of Medicine at 50: Four Decades of HIV/AIDS — Much Accomplished, Much to Do

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New England Journal of Medicine
July 2, 2020 Vol. 383 No. 1
http://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/medical-journal

 

Perspective
A Half-Century of Progress in Health: The National Academy of Medicine at 50: Four Decades of HIV/AIDS — Much Accomplished, Much to Do
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., and H. Clifford Lane, M.D.

 

Parental Hesitancy About Routine Childhood and Influenza Vaccinations: A National Survey

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Pediatrics
Vol. 146, Issue 1 1 Jul 2020
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/

 

Articles
Parental Hesitancy About Routine Childhood and Influenza Vaccinations: A National Survey
Allison Kempe, Alison W. Saville, Christina Albertin, Gregory Zimet, Abigail Breck, Laura Helmkamp, Sitaram Vangala, L. Miriam Dickinson, Cindy Rand, Sharon Humiston, Peter G. Szilagyi
Pediatrics, Jul 2020, 146 (1) e20193852

 

Improving HPV Vaccination Rates: A Stepped-Wedge Randomized Trial

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Pediatrics
Vol. 146, Issue 1 1 Jul 2020
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/

 

Improving HPV Vaccination Rates: A Stepped-Wedge Randomized Trial
Rebecca B. Perkins, Aaron Legler, Emily Jansen, Judith Bernstein, Natalie Pierre-Joseph, Terresa J. Eun, Dea L. Biancarelli, Thomas J. Schuch, Karin Leschly, Anny T.H.R. Fenton, William G. Adams, Jack A. Clark, Mari-Lynn Drainoni, Amresh Hanchate
Pediatrics, Jul 2020, 146 (1) e20192737

 

The Ethics of Creating a Resource Allocation Strategy During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Pediatrics
Vol. 146, Issue 1 1 Jul 2020
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/

 

Special Articles
The Ethics of Creating a Resource Allocation Strategy During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Naomi Laventhal, Ratna Basak, Mary Lynn Dell, Douglas Diekema, Nanette Elster, Gina Geis, Mark Mercurio, Douglas Opel, David Shalowitz, Mindy Statter, Robert Macauley
Pediatrics, Jul 2020, 146 (1) e20201243
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of medicine and raises numerous moral dilemmas for clinicians. Foremost of these quandaries is how to delineate and implement crisis standards of care and, specifically, how to consider how health care resources should be distributed in times of shortage. We review basic principles of disaster planning and resource stewardship with ethical relevance for this and future public health crises, explore the role of illness severity scoring systems and their limitations and potential contribution to health disparities, and consider the role for exceptionally resource-intensive interventions. We also review the philosophical and practical underpinnings of crisis standards of care and describe historical approaches to scarce resource allocation to offer analysis and guidance for pediatric clinicians. Particular attention is given to the impact on children of this endeavor. Although few children have required hospitalization for symptomatic infection, children nonetheless have the potential to be profoundly affected by the strain on the health care system imposed by the pandemic and should be considered prospectively in resource allocation frameworks.

 

The challenges of modeling and forecasting the spread of COVID-19

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PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/

 

Inaugural Article
The challenges of modeling and forecasting the spread of COVID-19
Andrea L. Bertozzi, Elisa Franco, George Mohler, Martin B. Short, and Daniel Sledge
PNAS first published July 2, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006520117
Significance
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed epidemic modeling at the forefront of worldwide public policy making. Nonetheless, modeling and forecasting the spread of COVID-19 remain a challenge. Here, we present and detail three regional-scale models for forecasting and assessing the course of the pandemic. This work is intended to demonstrate the utility of parsimonious models for understanding the pandemic and to provide an accessible framework for generating policy-relevant insights into its course. We show how these models can be connected to each other and to time series data for a particular region. Capable of measuring and forecasting the impacts of social distancing, these models highlight the dangers of relaxing nonpharmaceutical public health interventions in the absence of a vaccine or antiviral therapies.