Health

Hand s' businessman show coronavirus

Covid-19: Keeping a close eye on the models

As many European countries start to relax Covid-19 restrictions and reopen to foreign visitors whilst still rolling out vaccination programmes, it is more important than ever to stay one step ahead of the virus by accurately monitoring cases and predicting outbreaks.

Covax vaccine against COVID-19. Glass medical vials with liquid on the background Covax company logo. Ampoules with coronavirus vaccine on a medical glass table

COVAX and the challenges of worldwide vaccine access

Vaccines are showing us a way out of the coronavirus pandemic, but vaccine access is still shockingly inequitable. Over a billion doses have been administered since December 2020, but the vast majority have gone to citizens of high-income countries. The COVAX initiative, a unique collaboration led by the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO), aims to combat this injustice.

Pollution global Issue

Studying the exposome: ‘On the front line for people and the planet’

Climate and public health cannot be considered separately. The scientific community is increasingly talking about the need to study the so called exposome (the sum of all environmental factors we are exposed to) with the same level of attention with which the human genome has been studied up to now. A new European science network aims to respond to this multidisciplinary challenge.

The young woman with medical mask on her face stands on the crowded street

How the coronavirus pandemic is changing us

These stressful and unprecedented circumstances we are living in due to the current pandemic have a deep internal effect on us, which is altering who we are as individuals, our relationships with others, and how we perceive our place in society. Even our brain's hippocampus may have shrunk — but are these changes in our brains and behaviour short-term effects or could they change us and society more profoundly?

Wayne Koff, COVID-19 illustration in microscope

Prof. Wayne Koff : ‘AI can help us design better, safer and faster vaccines’

Wayne Koff, PhD, is the founding president and Chief Executive Officer of the Human Vaccines Project. Human Vaccines Project Prior to joining the Project, from 1999 to 2016, Koff served as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Research and Development at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in New York City, leading IAVI’s ...

COVID-19 illustration in microscope Heidi Larson interview

Professor Heidi Larson: “This is a key moment to build trust in countries and socio-economic groups with relatively low confidence in vaccines.”

For over a decade, Heidi Larson, Professor of Anthropology, Risk and Decision Science at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has been leading global efforts to monitor public confidence in immunisation programmes. As COVID-19 vaccination programmes are rolled out across the EU, this is a key moment to build trust in countries and ...

Coronavirus mutation vector background with disease molecules on blue. Medical research or pandemic virus prevention banner with COVID-19 abstract images under microscope. Europe coronavirus mutation

SARS-CoV-2: the challenges of mutation and possible strategies

The efficacy of the current COVID-19 vaccines might be lower against the new variants of SARS-CoV-2. The new strain that emerged in the United Kingdom has a higher transmissibility than previous strains of the virus. We asked scientists whether the new mutations are a threat to the current public health measures and to COVID-19 vaccines.

Ampoules with Covid-19 vaccine on a laboratory bench to fight the coronavirus sars-cov-2 pandemic

Covid-19: different types of vaccines and how they work

A range of Covid-19 vaccines are being developed worldwide and the differences between them can be confusing. How do the new mRNA vaccines work? What about vector vaccines? We asked scientists to give us an insight into the different types of Covid-19 vaccines.