Media/Policy Watch
This watch section is intended to alert readers to substantive news, analysis and opinion from the general media and selected think tanks and similar organizations on vaccines, immunization, global public health and related themes. Media Watch is not intended to be exhaustive, but indicative of themes and issues CVEP is actively tracking. This section will grow from an initial base of newspapers, magazines and blog sources, and is segregated from Journal Watch above which scans the peer-reviewed journal ecology.
We acknowledge the Western/Northern bias in this initial selection of titles and invite suggestions for expanded coverage. We are conservative in our outlook in adding news sources which largely report on primary content we are already covering above. Many electronic media sources have tiered, fee-based subscription models for access. We will provide full-text where content is published without restriction, but most publications require registration and some subscription level.
The sheer volume of vaccine and pandemic-related coverage is extraordinary. We will strive to present the most substantive analysis and commentary we encounter.
The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/
Accessed 29 May 2021
[No new, unique, relevant content]
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Accessed 29 May 2021
[No new, unique, relevant content]
The Economist
http://www.economist.com/
Accessed 29 May 2021
Possible, but far from proven – Assessing the theory that covid-19 leaked from a Chinese lab
The evidence so far is circumstantial
May 29th 2021 edition
Financial Times
https://www.ft.com/
Accessed 29 May 2021
Malaysia announces ‘total lockdown’ after surge in cases and deaths
May 28, 2021
Covid-19 vaccines
WHO reboots IP sharing scheme for Covid shots, drugs and tests
May 27, 2021
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/
Accessed 29 May 2021
May 29, 2021
Some Countries With The Highest Vaccination Rates Are Facing A Surge In Covid Deaths And Infections–Experts Say Complacency Is Partly To Blame
Countries with much higher vaccination rates than the U.S. are experiencing deadly outbreaks of Covid-19.
By Robert Hart Forbes Staff
May 28, 2021
Employers Can Require Workers To Get Vaccinated, Government Says
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also said employers can offer vaccine incentives to their workers, such as cash stipends.
By Jack Brewster Forbes Staff
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/
Accessed 29 May 2021
Snapshot May 26, 2021
India’s Cascading COVID-19 Failures
The staggering cost of an unscientific response to the pandemic.
Ramanan Laxminarayan
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/
Accessed 29 May 2021
Latin America’s Vaccine Stars and Struggles
Technology transfers to produce shots are slowly underway in the region.
By Catherine Osborn May 21, 2021
New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/
Accessed 29 May 2021
Annals of Inquiry
The Sudden Rise of the Coronavirus Lab-Leak Theory
Scientists and political commentators are no longer dismissing the possibility that COVID-19 emerged from a Chinese laboratory. What changed?
By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
May 27, 2021
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Accessed 29 May 2021
Europe
Hundreds Protest Vaccine Passports in London
Demonstrators opposing coronavirus vaccines and the idea of vaccine passports gathered in central London on Saturday.
By The Associated Press and Reuters
May 29, 2021
Americas
‘Like a Dream’: Latin Americans Head to U.S. for Covid Shots
Frustrated with the lagging pace of vaccinations at home, well-off Latin Americans have been flying north for a shot — and feeling guilty about those left behind.
By Ernesto Londoño, Daniel Politi and Santi Carneri
May 29, 2021
U.S.
California to Give $116.5 million to Vaccinated Residents
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California announced on Thursday a $116.5 million giveaway to residents who have received a coronavirus vaccination in an effort to motivate people to get a shot.
Asia Pacific
Japan extends a state of emergency until one month before the Olympics.
With infections still high, restrictions in nine prefectures will remain in place until at least June 20, casting more doubt on the start of the Summer Games in Tokyo.
By Hisako Ueno and Motoko Rich
May 28, 2021
Opinion
Vaccinate the World! The Best Investment Ever.
Here’s a way for Biden to assert United States leadership to benefit the world and safeguard the American economy.
By Nicholas Kristof
PRINT EDITION May 27, 2021, Page A18
Business
Influencers Say They Were Urged to Criticize Pfizer Vaccine
A disinformation effort to reduce public confidence in Covid-19 vaccines tried to enroll social media commentators in France and Germany.
By Liz Alderman
Opinion Guest Essay
This Is the Wrong Way to Distribute Badly Needed Vaccines
May 24, 2021
By Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Govind Persad
…But to be fair and successful, Covax must abandon its purely population-based distribution formula, developed by W.H.O., which has led to precious vaccine doses being destroyed or left sitting in freezers in countries without many cases or which lack the ability to distribute them effectively. Fair distribution of vaccines must be based primarily on need…
…Need should be the principal criterion for distributing vaccines among countries, but not the only one. Before vaccines are sent, countries must be able to distribute and administer them. Vaccinations — not vaccines — are what save lives. Support must be provided to countries like South Sudan, Malawi and Ivory Coast to upgrade their capacity to distribute vaccines…
..As the global supply of vaccines expands, vaccine manufacturers and nations expecting to have extra doses, including the United States and Britain, must decide which countries to help and how many doses to send to global organizations like Covax.
But if Covax’s distribution criteria remain unresponsive to need, countries with spare doses should bypass the organization and distribute them where they will reduce deaths the most. It would be morally indefensible to give vaccines to Covax to send to countries with few cases or that are unable to deliver vaccines, while outbreaks rage elsewhere…
How to Allocate Vaccines Fairly: Covax’s View
May 27, 2021 Letter to the Editor:
Re “The Wrong Way to Distribute Vaccines,” by Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Govind Persad (Opinion guest essay, May 25):
The suggestion that it is unethical to allocate vaccines equitably across all nations when some countries are faring worse against the ravages of Covid-19 than others misses one crucial fact: Vaccines are at their most effective when preventing surges of the virus, not combating them once they have taken hold.
When outbreaks occur, the critical tools available to governments are of the nonpharmaceutical variety, such as lockdowns, distancing and mask wearing. Vaccines are also a part of the solution, but with up to three months needed for a two-dose Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccination, followed by a two-week wait in order to achieve full protection, they are not an acute intervention even if there are enough to go around.
We don’t know where the next surge will hit or when the next variant will emerge, which is why Covax’s goal to protect the most vulnerable everywhere is, at this stage of the pandemic, the right thing to do. This not only means maximizing the chances of survival for the health workers, elderly and vulnerable whose lives are most at risk, but also minimizing the chances that new, more dangerous variants will come along.
The real issue with vaccines today is not how to divvy up a small slice of the pie for less wealthy nations but how to make their slice bigger, which is why governments and manufacturers of vaccines must do everything in their power to get as many doses as possible to Covax now.
Seth Berkley
Soumya Swaminathan
Richard Hatchett
Dr. Berkley is chief executive of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Dr. Swaminathan is chief scientist of the World Health Organization. Dr. Hatchett is chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Their organizations co-lead Covax.
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
Accessed 29 May 2021
[No new, unique, relevant content]
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 