Uproar over efficacy of its Covid vaccine forces Moderna to pause plans to build factory in Kenya
The drugmaker said it had taken more than $1 billion in losses and write-downs related to the cancellation of previous orders from Africa.
Covid vaccine lies: ‘What we’ve learnt is that scientists cannot be trusted, they lie all the time’
According to Thacker, “If you’re going to be a corrupt journal the way Science Magazine has turned itself into a completely corrupt institution, then we need to begin to think about whether or not publicly funded research can be published in these journals.”
Editors of influential science journals face US House committee for disseminating falsehoods on Covid vaccines
A House investigation and Freedom of Information Act requests later revealed that a month before publication, Fauci and Collins reviewed drafts of the paper. A July 2023 report by the subcommittee found that Fauci, key virologists and government officials used the paper to suppress the Covid-19 lab-leak theory.
How loneliness sets in motion cravings for food, drugs and eagerness to seek them out
Some remedies for loneliness will come as no surprise. Increasing access to social activities, for example by housing people in communities with common areas, can help, Sommerlad says. Some researchers are also finding ways to tap into the neural mechanisms underlying loneliness directly, through exercise, for instance.
Loneliness: Why lack of social interaction is linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia
Loneliness is a slippery concept. It’s not the same as social isolation, which occurs when someone has few meaningful social relationships, although “they’re two sides of the same coin”, says old-age psychiatrist Andrew Sommerlad at University College London. Rather, loneliness is a person’s subjective experience of being unsatisfied with their social relationships.
Kenya government on strike: Authorities in East African nation ‘boycott’ doctors’ industrial action
The Kenyan health sector, which doctors say is underfunded and understaffed, is routinely beset by strikes. Talks between the two sides aimed at ending the ongoing strike have so far not borne any deal and other health workers, such as clinical officers, have also joined the doctors in the strike, domestic media reported on Tuesday.
Malaria vaccine rollout in tropical belt shines light on value of renewable power
The vaccine “cold chain” sees vaccines being stored and distributed through several layers, beginning with a national-level storage centre and cascading down to local facilities. In remote areas, where an electricity grid network is either absent or unreliable, the need for reliable refrigeration has long caused headaches, but huge progress has been made in recent years in developing fridges that use solar panels as a power source. Thousands of such devices are now in position across sub-Saharan Africa, ready to serve as the workhorse of the malaria vaccine rollout.
While abortion is now legal in much of Africa, few women know and providers don’t publicise it
More than 20 countries across Africa have loosened restrictions on abortion in recent years, but experts say that like Efua, many women probably don’t realise they are entitled to a legal abortion. And despite the expanded legality of the procedure in places like Ghana, Congo, Ethiopia and Mozambique, some doctors and nurses say they’ve become increasingly wary of openly providing abortions.
US abolishes centuries-old biased test that kept thousands of Blacks from getting kidney transplant
At issue is a once widely used test that overestimated how well Black people’s kidneys were functioning, making them look healthier than they really were – all because of an automated formula that calculated results for Black and non-Black patients differently. That race-based equation could delay diagnosis of organ failure and evaluation for a transplant, exacerbating other disparities that already make Black patients more at risk of needing a new kidney but less likely to get one.
PEPFAR: Pioneer of embattled global HIV programme recalls the hope after years of despair
Opponents say the HIV/Aids funding could be indirectly supporting abortion abroad, although the Biden administration and PEPFAR’s defenders say there is no evidence that it does. After a handful of conservative lawmakers threatened for months to block the funding unless restrictions were attached, a compromise was struck in late March that extends the funding for a year.
