NHS website now open for the over 45s to book their vaccineBook a coronavirus vaccinationBook your coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination appointments using this service.nhs.uk

BREAKING: The government has confirmed that ALL over 50s have now been offered a vaccine, meeting its 15th April target 3 days early. The under 50s will now begin to be called forward for vaccinations from this week, starting with those in their late 40s.

The effect of antibody test result knowledge on transmission reducing behaviours

This study explored the effect knowledge of antibody status has on compliance with transmission reducing behaviours (TRBs). Participants (n=82) comprised of NHS Lothian staff and individuals enrolled in the BioResource study with community diagnosed and treated SARS-CoV-2 infections. They completed a baseline health beliefs questionnaire, provided blood samples for antibody testing and received result 2-4 weeks later. Around 2-4 weeks later, participants completed follow-up health belief questionnaires. The questionnaire was designed based on the constructs of the Health Belief Model, the most prominent framework for understanding why individuals may or may not act in the face of a threat. Fifty-six participants completed the follow-up health belief questionnaires. Knowledge of antibody status did not affect compliance with TRBs. Increased perceived benefits, cues to action and self-efficacy, and decreased perceived barriers, to comply with TRBs was significantly associated with higher compliance. No significant correlation was found between measures of susceptibility or severity and compliance with TRBs. Interventions to increase perceived benefits, cues to action and self-efficacy, and decrease barriers, to engaging in TRBs should be explored.

2021-04-13

10.31234/osf.io/unm7r

Prof Marie Scully identified correct diagnostic test at University College London hospital after seeing rare side-effect in patient Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Sarah BoseleyTue 13 Apr 2021 15.50 BSTLast modified on Tue 13 Apr 2021 21.50 BST1,5681568Marie Scully was alarmed and puzzled. “It didn’t make sense,” she said. The consultant haematologist at University College London hospital (UCLH) had seen patients with blood clots in the brain and low platelets before and, although it was unusual, she always knew why. But there was no reason for the condition of the young woman in her 30s she was treating in early March.“Now when you have blood clots in the brain like that there’s always a cause, and it was difficult to pinpoint the cause,” said Prof Scully. “It didn’t fit our normal diagnostic boxes, let’s say. She was a young woman with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, and she had a low platelet count.”

Tue 13 Apr 2021 15.50 BST

How UK doctor linked rare blood-clotting to AstraZeneca Covid jab

The prediction, based on modelling at University College London (UCL), was reported on by the Telegraph this morning.   Prof Paul Hunter, Professor in Medicine, The Norwich School of Medicine, University of East Anglia, said: “I am quite sceptical of the conclusions reported by the Dynamic Causal Modelling group at UCL that we will reach herd immunity on 9th April. For any infection herd immunity can only be said to have been achieved if a sufficient proportion of the population have acquired immunity either from immunization or natural infection to bring the R value below 1 that the disease with ultimately disappear. But for herd immunity to really happen that immunity has to last. At present we do not know how long the immunity generated by immunization will last nor what impact the emergence and spread of new variants will have on vaccine effectiveness.

April 8, 2021

expert reaction to non-peer reviewed modelling presented on a dashboard suggesting that ‘a herd immunity threshold (of 73.4%) will be reached this week on 9 April 2021’

The JCVI/MHRA recommendation to restrict Oxford/AZ in under-30s in the UK (where there is 'low' exposure risk) is *consistent* with the EMA recommendation not to do so in Europe (where there is 'medium' or 'high' exposure risk) meaning the risk/benefit balance changes.

... high exposure risk

... medium exposure risk

Here are the slides for: low exposure risk (as in the UK)

Balancing risks from Covid against the potential harms from the AZ vaccine. A great visualization of the relative risks from the Winton Centre @d_spiegel This is for low exposure risk (as now in the UK). Balance changes when higher exposure risk (eg in some parts of Europe)

And how much I value his valuable input, work and friendship.

I’m an introvert and being thrust into the centre of this controversy has been quite confronting. I’ve had a little processing time right now and I have a few things to say. I won’t repeat @GidMK and his wonderful thread but I will say 1 this slander of us both has been 1/n

“If we look in individuals under 60, then we do see more cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, than we would expect to see from the background”, says Arlett.

CVST is much more common in women in general and about 2/3 of AZ vaccinees in Europe were women, says Peter Arlett. "this is why it is at this stage, difficult to disentangle the fact that there has been a preponderance of reports of this very rare potential side effect in women"

I asked about numbers for Europe: 62 cases of cerebral venous thromboses so far, says Cooke with 9,2 million people vaccinated with AZ. "If we look at the age-adjusted exposure, we calculate a risk of one per 100,000 in the under 60s."

“Our position has not changed”, says @EMA_News head Emer Cooke about AZ vaccine. “According to the current scientific knowledge, there is no evidence that would support restricting the use of this vaccine in any population."

"reports emerging of rare types of multiple thrombosis, bleeding, and thrombocytopenia .. similar to disseminated intravasc. coagulation ... in otherwise healthy individuals shortly after receiving ..AstraZeneca ..vaccine. These outcomes are not included in the present analysis."

The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech protects against symptomatic Covid for up to six months, an updated analysis of clinical trial data has found.In a statement released on Thursday, the companies reported efficacy of 91.3% against any symptoms of the disease in participants assessed up to six months after their second shot. The level of protection is only marginally lower than the 95% achieved soon after vaccination.

Pfizer vaccine has 91% efficacy for up to six months, trial shows

A survey of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from the UK has detected a number of variants that had been assigned to the B.1.1.7 lineage but which do not contain the full set of B.1.1.7 ‘lineage defining’ mutations [1]. Examination of these sequences revealed that some genome sections carry mutations characteristic of B.1.1.7, whilst other sections carry mutations specific to another lineage (Figure1; Table 1). Long runs of mutations along the SARS-CoV-2 that match different lineages are strongly indicative of virus recombination. In four instances (recombinant groups A-D) the same mosaic genome structure is observed in multiple closely-related genomes sampled from different infected people (Figure S1). These sequences are therefore highly unlikely to be artefactual (see discussion below). Additionally, we detected a further four mosaic virus genomes, each represented by only one genome sequence (Figure S2). These are also likely to be recombinants, but with a lower level of confidence.

Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 genomes involving lineage B.1.1.7 in the UK

On 30 December 2020, the UK announced a deviation from the recommended protocol for the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine, prolonging the interval between doses from 3 to 12 weeks.12 Similar decisions were made for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, for which a longer gap between doses had been shown to improve efficacy in some age groups.3The stated intention was to maximise benefit with limited supplies and to minimise hospital admissions and deaths. For the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the decision to delay the second dose was based on extrapolations from phase III trial data showing an efficacy of 89% 15-21 days after the first dose.45At the time, Pfizer did not support the decision, stating that high efficacy could not be guaranteed.6

Delaying the second dose of covid-19 vaccines

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n710

A small subset of Facebook users is reportedly responsible for the majority of content expressing or encouraging skepticism about Covid-19 vaccines, according to early results from an internal Facebook study.The study, first reported by the Washington Post, confirms what researchers have long argued about how the echo chamber effect can amplify certain beliefs within social media communities. It also shows how speech that falls short of outright misinformation about vaccines, which is banned on Facebook, can still contribute to vaccine hesitancy.A document outlining the study – which has not been publicly released – was obtained by the Washington Post. Researchers at Facebook divided users, groups and pages into 638 “population segments” and studied them for “vaccine hesitant beliefs”, according to the Post. This could include language such as “I am worried about getting the vaccine because it is so new”, or “I don’t know if a vaccine is safe”, rather than outright misinformation.

Small number of Facebook users responsible for most Covid vaccine skepticism – report

Thousands of adolescent girls across south-east Asia and the Pacific are being forced to leave school and get married instead as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a charity has warned, saying “a generation of girls could be lost”.

Pandemic forcing girls in south-east Asia and Pacific out of school and into marriage – study

Historical and experimental analyses suggest contradictory deviations from efficient reasoning. In some cases, people tend to oversimplify and ignore important factors like germs, while in others they seem to overcomplicate and consider non-existent factors like imaginary demons. The current study shows how this apparent contradiction can be the product of a tendency to rely on small samples of past experience. Simulations demonstrate that reliance on small samples triggers apparent over-simplicity when simple choice rules are counterproductive but better for most sets of samples; the opposite over-complexity bias emerges when the optimal rule is simple but fails in most samples. The descriptive value of this hypothesis is demonstrated in two preregistered studies with 300 Mechanical-Turk participants. Study 1 shows the qualitative pattern predicted by the reliance on the small-samples hypothesis. Study 2 compares alternative formulations of the sampling process and clarifies the importance of a distinction between choice and sampling processes.

10.31234/osf.io/vscz4

On the Impact of Germs and Demons

A dad sat down in March 2020 and started a Google doc to keep a record of resources for friends and family, track the progress of life and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and tried to stay sane. This continued for a year.

One dad’s COVID-19 diary 1 year later

10.31234/osf.io/hcv46

High-quality, centre-based education and care during the early years benefits cognitive development, especially in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. During the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns, access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) was disrupted. We investigate how this period affected the developmental advantages typically offered by ECEC. Using parent-report data from 189 families living in the UK, we explore associations between time spent in ECEC by 8-to-36-month-olds, their socioeconomic background, and their growth in language and executive functions between Spring and Winter 2020. Receptive vocabulary growth was greater in children who continued to attend ECEC during the period, with a stronger positive effect for children from less advantaged backgrounds. Growth of cognitive executive functions was boosted by ECEC attendance during the period, regardless of socioeconomic background. Our findings highlight the importance of high-quality ECEC for the development of key skills and for levelling socioeconomic inequalities.

10.31234/osf.io/74gkz

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) during COVID-19 boosts growth in language and executive function

Data are subject to change due to ongoing investigations and data quality improvements. Thecollege and university category includes the entire campus, other college/university-owned buildings, as well as off-campus residences in which students live. The school building category includes all staff and students involved in any activities in the buildingin and out of the classroom, suchascommunity servicesand sports.Congregate residential buildings include homeless shelters, residential substance use disorder programs, and group homes. It does not include apartment buildings, condominiums, or cooperatives.The place of worship category includes persons involved in activities both within the building (e.g. prayer services, communion, sacraments, services, meetings), on its premises (e.g. service held outside), and offsite activities (e.g. food distribution locations, volunteer activities). Community-based or social services programs include housing assistance programs, food distribution programs, non-residential substance use disorder programs, etc. Personal care services include hair salons, barber shops, nail salons, waxing centers, spas, etc.Healthcare settings are excluded.

COVID-19 OutbreakData Guide

As children return to classrooms next week, official government guidance recommends primary school pupils need not don face coverings. However, a London council has advised the 56 primaries under its control that masks should be worn by children as young as four. The government says: “The Department for Education are in contact with the local council on that matter.”

Should primary schoolchildren be made to wear masks?

10.31234/osf.io/2er67

Negativity has historically dominated news content; however, little research has examined how news organizations use affect on social media, where content is generally positive. In the current project we ask a few questions: Do news organizations on Twitter use negative or positive language and which type of affect garners more engagement on social media? Does the political orientation of new organizations impact the affect expressed and engagement tweets receive on social media? The goal of this project is to examine these questions by investigating tweets of 24 left- and 20 right-leaning news organizations (140,358 tweets). Results indicated that negative affect was expressed more than positive affect. Additionally, negativity predicted engagement with news organizations’ tweets, but positivity did not. Finally, there were no differences in affect between left- and right-leaning political orientations. Overall, it appears that for news organizations, negativity is more frequent and more impactful than positivity.

Left- and Right-Leaning News Organizations' Negative Tweets are More Likely to be Shared

External input is any kind of physical stimulation created by an individual’s surroundings that can be detected by the senses. The present research established a novel conceptualization of this construct by investigating it from the perspective of three research areas that tap into its different aspects but have so far been disconnected—materialism, social motives, and sensation seeking. Studies 1-5 focused on individual differences regarding external input (i.e., the needs for material, social, and sensation seeking input). It was established that the three needs are positively related and constitute different dimensions of the overarching construct of external input, that the needs for social and sensation seeking input have negative consequences for how people experience long-term input deprivation (i.e., COVID-19 restrictions), and that the need for material input has negative consequences for people’s experiences of short-term input deprivation (i.e., sitting in a chair without doing anything else but thinking). Finally, Study 6 focused on external input as a situational characteristic and showed that the degree of sensation seeking input constituting various situations is a more important predictor, relative to social and material input, of how enjoyable and meaningful people perceive the situations and of their willingness to engage in them. Overall, the present research established a novel construct that has fundamental implications for people’s experiences and actions in a range of different contexts.

To Sit Quietly in a Room Alone: The Psychology of Social, Material, and Sensation Seeking Input

10.31234/osf.io/zpf6b

The article presents the results of research aimed to identify the predictors of psychological distress among Poles seven months after the occurrence of the first case of COVID-19. In order to gather the research material, the CAWI on-line survey method was applied and carried out within the framework of the Ariadna Research Panel on the sample of 1079 Poles aged 15 and over. The results of the conducted research indicate that Polish society experienced psychological distress as a result of the first wave of the pandemic. According to the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), no mental disorders were observed among 36% of Poles, mild mental disorders were observed among 23% of respondents, average levels of disorders were observed among 18% of respondents, whereas high levels of disorders were observed among 23% of respondents. A hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to identify the predictors of psychological distress. In the first stage, socio-demographic variables explained 20% of the distress variance. In the second stage, the variables measuring social nuisances of the pandemic were introduced, which increased the percentage of the explained stress variance to 33%. In the third stage, the introduced psychological variables increased the percentage of the explained variance to 73%. The main factor which increased stress levels was neuroticism. The conducted analyses have shown that the lack of social, economic and psychological capital significantly increases the susceptibility to distress when a threat to life and health lasts for a prolonged period of time.

PREDICTORS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS OCCURRING AFTER THE FIRST WAVE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN POLAND

10.31234/osf.io/2k8px

Business groups and opposition politicians have this week criticised Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon over coronavirus lockdown easing plans that are more cautious than those of UK prime minister Boris Johnson for England.But data from the pandemic’s winter wave suggest that Sturgeon’s greater willingness to maintain restrictions has helped Scotland keep deaths and infections lower than in England.While deaths per million people in Scotland attributed to coronavirus exceeded those in England for more than a month in October and November last year, they went on to peak at a lower level. Excess deaths, seen as the best measure of the pandemic’s overall impact, have since December also been lower in Scotland.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Wearing glasses might give you an extra layer of protection against COVID.A new study out of India found people who wear glasses are three times less likely to get the virus.Researchers suggest that's because they're less likely to touch their eyes-- which can be a significant route of infection.A previous study conducted in China found just 5% of those hospitalized with COVID wore glasses, while about 30% of the population wears glasses.

Coronavirus: Glasses wearers less likely to get COVID, study says

Air New Zealand will trial a digital vaccine passport in April on flights between Auckland and Sydney with Qantas investigating similar technology.As vaccination begins in Australia, attention has turned to the potential resumption of international travel and how Australia could track whether potential visitors have been vaccinated.Several tech companies have been working with the World Health Organization to develop a secure digital vaccination record system that could be used to prove to airlines and governments that passengers have had a Covid vaccine.

Air New Zealand to trial Covid vaccine passport on Sydney flights

What is already known about this topic? Two COVID-19 vaccines have received Emergency Use Authorization for administration in the United States. In preauthorization clinical trials, local and systemic reactions were reported; no serious safety problems were detected. What is added by this report? Monitoring, conducted as part of the U.S. vaccination program, indicates reassuring safety profiles for COVID-19 vaccines. Local and systemic reactions were common; rare reports of anaphylaxis were received. No unusual or unexpected reporting patterns were detected. What are the implications for public health practice? Health care providers and vaccine recipients can be reassured about the safety of Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Counseling vaccine recipients to expect transient local and systemic reactions might ease concerns and encourage completion of the 2-dose vaccination series.

First Month of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Monitoring — United States, December 14, 2020–January 13, 2021

10.1136/bmj.n516

New pledges by leaders of the G7 group of richest countries to intensify cooperation on covid-19 and commit $7.5bn (£5.3bn; €6.2bn) to sharing supplies of vaccine around the world are insufficient, a leading charity has said.Oxfam said that steps to increase the supply of vaccines to poorer countries, though welcome, would not be enough to deal with the covid-19 threat and to redress “immoral” inequalities of access.Meanwhile, the UK is being urged to act more quickly on its commitment to make “surplus” vaccines available to developing countries and to explain when it would have spare doses.

Covid-19: Plans to share vaccines aren’t enough, says charity