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 Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/
Accessed 13 June 2020
Health
Coronavirus Researchers Tried to Warn Us
Before the pandemic hit, they struggled to get funding that might have hastened treatments for COVID-19.
Charles Schmidt and Undark
The now-prophetic words could be found at the end of a research paper published in the journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews in October of 2007: “The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, is a time bomb.”
The warning—made nearly 13 years ago and more than four years after the worrying first wave of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, killed nearly 800 people globally—was among the earliest to predict the emergence of something like SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Many other warnings would follow…
Ideas
The Virus Will Win
Americans are pretending that the pandemic is over. It certainly is not.
June 12, 2020
Yascha Mounk, Contributing writer at The Atlantic
A second wave of the coronavirus is on the way. When it arrives, we will lack the will to deal with it. Despite all the sacrifices of the past months, the virus is likely to win—or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it already has.
In absolute terms, the United States has been hit harder than any other country. About a quarter of worldwide deaths have been recorded on these shores. And while the virus is no longer growing at an exponential rate, the threat it poses remains significant: According to a forecasting model by Morgan Stanley, the number of American cases will, if current trends hold, roughly double over the next two months.
But neither the impact of mass protests over police brutality nor the effect of the recent reopening of much of the country—including the casinos in Las Vegas—is reflected in the latest numbers. It can take at least 10 days for people to develop symptoms and seek out a test, and for the results to be aggregated and disseminated by public-health authorities.
Even so, the disease is slowly starting to recede from the public’s attention. After months of dominating media coverage, COVID-19 has largely disappeared from the front pages of most national newspapers. In recent polls, the number of people who favor “reopening the economy as soon as possible” over “staying home as long as necessary” has increased. And so it is perhaps no surprise that even states where the number of new infections stands at an all-time high are pressing ahead with plans to lift many restrictions on businesses and mass gatherings…
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Accessed 13 June 2020
[No new, unique, relevant content]
The Economist
http://www.economist.com/
Accessed 13 June 2020
[No new, unique, relevant content]
Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/home/uk
Accessed 13 June 2020
Coronavirus pandemic
Covid-19 cases spike in several US states | DC Lockdown Diary
June 13, 2020
Coronavirus pandemic
OECD warns of deepest economic scars in peacetime for a century
June 10, 2020
Coronavirus pandemic
Anthony Fauci warns pandemic has further to run
June 9, 2020
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/
Accessed 13 June 2020
Jun 12, 2020
The Hideous Truths Of Testing Vaccines On Humans
Sixty years ago, a monstrous hepatitis experiment was performed on mentally disabled children at Willowbrook State School that raises serious ethical questions about vaccine challenge trials for Covid-19.
By Leah Rosenbaum Forbes Staff
Jun 12, 2020
Coronavirus Vaccine Options Would Help The Economy
Corporations with cash who would benefit greatly from a vaccine should use their resources to speed development. Buying vaccine options would do that.
By Bill Conerly Senior Contributor
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/
Accessed 13 June 2020
Snapshot June 13, 2020
Democracy Versus the Pandemic
The downward democratic spiral can still be reversed, but it will require mobilized civil societies, effective democratic management of the health crisis, and a renewal…
Larry Diamond
Comment July/August 2020
When the System Fails
The pandemic has revealed both the limits of the existing multilateral system and the horrific costs of the system’s failure.
Stewart Patrick
Foreign Policy
http://foreignpolicy.com/
Accessed 13 June 2020 | [No new, unique, relevant content]
[No new, unique, relevant content]
The Guardian
http://www.guardiannews.com/
June 13, 2020
Fauci says US might not see ‘second wave’ of Covid-19 cases …
New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/
Accessed 13 June 2020
U.S. Journal
Can Coronavirus Contact Tracing Survive Reopening?
Massachusetts created a pioneering program to track COVID-19 cases. Its challenges are multiplying as the state reopens.
By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
June 12, 2020
Daily Comment
What the W.H.O. Meant to Say About Asymptomatic People Spreading the Coronavirus
The W.H.O. official’s words were terribly misleading, but the organization quickly clarified that social distancing and masks are not just for those who clearly have symptoms.
By Amy Davidson Sorkin
June 11, 2020
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Accessed 13 June 2020
Sunday Review
Don’t Leave the W.H.O. Strengthen It.
The organization is still the world’s best hope for fighting pandemics.
By The Editorial Board June 13, 2020
Science
Guaranteed Ingredient in Any Coronavirus Vaccine? Thousands of Volunteers
Two sisters in Missouri were among the first to have an unproven coronavirus vaccine injected in their bodies. If it makes it to market, it would also be the first DNA vaccine for any disease.
By Heather Murphy June 13, 2020
Business
AstraZeneca Agrees to Make COVID-19 Vaccine for Europe
Drugmaker AstraZeneca struck a deal Saturday to supply up to 400 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to European Union countries, the latest in a series of agreements as scientists, governments and pharmaceutical companies race to combat the virus.
By The Associated Press June 13, 2020
World
Coronavirus Live Updates: Chile’s Health Minister Resigns Amid Criticism
China closed a market that handles 90 percent of Beijing’s fresh fruit and vegetables after dozens of people tested positive. Florida sees a record number of new cases for the third day in a row.
Opinion
Could Trump Turn a Vaccine Into a Campaign Stunt?
In a desperate search for a boost, he could release a coronavirus vaccine that has not been shown to be safe and effective as an October surprise.
By Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Paul A. Offit
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
Accessed 13 June 2020
Can old vaccines from science’s medicine cabinet ward off coronavirus?
Carolyn Y. Johnson and Steven Mufson · Health · Jun 11, 2020
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 