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Maria Elena Bottazzi interview: Doc holding vaccine vial close up

A scientist’s opinion: interview with Maria Elena Bottazzi on vaccines in low- and middle-income countries

Maria Elena Bottazzi, born in Italy, raised in Honduras, is a microbiologist and infectious disease expert at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, United States). She and her colleague Peter Hotez led a team in India to develop the Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax, get it manufactured, and then give it away to low- and middle-income countries, patent-free. ...

Doc holding vaccine vial close up

Low cost and open source: vaccines in developing countries

In South Africa, a scientific knowledge transfer hub is working to create a Covid-19 vaccine based on the publicly available sequence of Moderna's mRNA vaccine, without Moderna's involvement but with its approval. In India, scientists are also testing a vaccine to fight SARS-CoV-2. These seem to be big steps for developing countries in order to ...

Petro Terblanche interview: Doc holding vaccine vial close up

A scientist’s opinion: interview with Petro Terblanche on the first African vaccine hub

Petro Terblanche is Health Science Professor at North-West University and is Managing Director at Afrigen Biologics in South Africa. Next to developing an open source vaccine, Afrigen hosts a global vaccine hub to build capacity and capabilities in low- and middle-income countries to design, develop and produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. Professor Terblanche, as managing ...

SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19 virus variants alpha, beta, delta, omicron - 3D illustration

Omicron, another chapter in the Covid-19 pandemic

Before the winter holidays, a new, more transmissible variant was discovered. By now, Omicron is responsible for most new infections in Europe. What do we know so far? And what are the future possible scenarios?

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?

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.

Ayman El-Mohandes, Bottles coronavirus vaccine. sars-cov-2 / COVID-19. Some ampoules with ncov-2019 vaccine in a box. to fight the coronavirus pandemic

An expert’s opinion: An interview with Ayman El-Mohandes on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and public health messaging

Ayman El-Mohandes, Dean of City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) and co-coordinator of a global survey on potential hesitancy to accept a proven, safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, speaks to us about the findings and their implications for halting the spread of the virus. What does ...

Melinda Mills, Bottles coronavirus vaccine. sars-cov-2 / COVID-19. Some ampoules with ncov-2019 vaccine in a box. to fight the coronavirus pandemic

An expert’s opinion: An interview with Melinda Mills on the behavioural factors underlying COVID-19 vaccine uptake

We speak with Melinda Mills, Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at the University of Oxford and lead author of the British Academy and Royal Society report on Vaccine Deployment. She calls for open dialogue about vaccine concerns and the need to help people spot misinformation. How did the Vaccine Deployment report come ...