Many European countries suspended use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine earlier this month following initial reports of the symptoms, which have led to at least 15 deaths. Most resumed vaccinations after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended doing so on 18 March, saying the benefits of the vaccine outweigh any risks. EMA is continuing to investigate the matter and will convene a wide-ranging committee of experts on 29 March.

A rare clotting disorder may cloud the world’s hopes for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine

10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00628-0

SummaryBackgroundA new variant of SARS-CoV-2, B.1.1.7, emerged as the dominant cause of COVID-19 disease in the UK from November, 2020. We report a post-hoc analysis of the efficacy of the adenoviral vector vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222), against this variant.MethodsVolunteers (aged ≥18 years) who were enrolled in phase 2/3 vaccine efficacy studies in the UK, and who were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or a meningococcal conjugate control (MenACWY) vaccine, provided upper airway swabs on a weekly basis and also if they developed symptoms of COVID-19 disease (a cough, a fever of 37·8°C or higher, shortness of breath, anosmia, or ageusia). Swabs were tested by nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) for SARS-CoV-2 and positive samples were sequenced through the COVID-19 Genomics UK consortium. Neutralising antibody responses were measured using a live-virus microneutralisation assay against the B.1.1.7 lineage and a canonical non-B.1.1.7 lineage (Victoria). The efficacy analysis included symptomatic COVID-19 in seronegative participants with a NAAT positive swab more than 14 days after a second dose of vaccine. Participants were analysed according to vaccine received. Vaccine efficacy was calculated as 1 − relative risk (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vs MenACWY groups) derived from a robust Poisson regression model. This study is continuing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04400838, and ISRCTN, 15281137.FindingsParticipants in efficacy cohorts were recruited between May 31 and Nov 13, 2020, and received booster doses between Aug 3 and Dec 30, 2020. Of 8534 participants in the primary efficacy cohort, 6636 (78%) were aged 18–55 years and 5065 (59%) were female. Between Oct 1, 2020, and Jan 14, 2021, 520 participants developed SARS-CoV-2 infection. 1466 NAAT positive nose and throat swabs were collected from these participants during the trial. Of these, 401 swabs from 311 participants were successfully sequenced. Laboratory virus neutralisation activity by vaccine-induced antibodies was lower against the B.1.1.7 variant than against the Victoria lineage (geometric mean ratio 8·9, 95% CI 7·2–11·0). Clinical vaccine efficacy against symptomatic NAAT positive infection was 70·4% (95% CI 43·6–84·5) for B.1.1.7 and 81·5% (67·9–89·4) for non-B.1.1.7 lineages.InterpretationChAdOx1 nCoV-19 showed reduced neutralisation activity against the B.1.1.7 variant compared with a non-B.1.1.7 variant in vitro, but the vaccine showed efficacy against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2.

Efficacy of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern 202012/01 (B.1.1.7): an exploratory analysis of a randomised controlled trial

After South Africa bought AstraZeneca vaccines from the Serum Institute of India, results from a small local study with only mild and moderate infections showed that the vaccine was not effective against the 501Y.V2 variant. South Africa sold its AstraZeneca vaccines in March despite World Health Organisation (WHO) advice that the jab should still be used in countries where new variants are circulating.Some experts, including the government’s ministerial advisory committee on vaccines, say the move is in line with South Africa’s evidence-based approach to COVID-19 decisions, while the Democratic Alliance and a group of scientists argue it’s a missed opportunity.

Why South Africa isn’t using the AstraZeneca jabs it bought

Understanding COVID-19 is a 2-day course (April 20th and 21st) intended to provide interested high school students with exposure to concepts in biotechnology through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students will leave the course able to answer the following questions:

Understanding COVID-19 Registration Form

This short video seeks to inform high school students about an opportunity to attend a 2 day virtual course April 20 and 21 entitled "COVID-19: Evolution of a Pandemic". In this course students will learn where the virus came from, how it causes disease, why viruses are existential threats to humanity, how treatments are discovered and how vaccines are made. In addition, we will discuss how policy and advocacy influence the course of pandemics, when life will get back to normal, and how worried we should be about future pandemics and what we can do now to prevent future pandemics.

COVID Course 3 17 21

COVID-19 vaccine

Coronavirus PandemicData Explorer

Conspiracy theories attempt to explain events as the secretive plots of powerful people. While conspiracy theories are not typically supported by evidence, this doesn’t stop them from blossoming. Conspiracy theories damage society in a number of ways. To help minimise these harmful effects, The Conspiracy Theory Handbook, by Stephan Lewandowsky and John Cook, explains why conspiracy theories are so popular, how to identify the traits of conspiratorial thinking, and what are effective response strategies.

The Conspiracy Theory Handbook

Spain’s health ministry will soon launch a WhatsApp interactive channel to fight against disinformation on COVID-19 vaccines, El País reported. This should help reduce the percentage of Spaniards who still refuse to get vaccinated. EURACTIV’s partner EuroEfe reports.

Spain to launch Whatsapp channel to fight vaccine disinformation

Collective Intelligence, co-published by SAGE and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), with the collaboration of Nesta, is a global, peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes trans-disciplinary work bearing on collective intelligence across the disciplines. The journal embraces a policy of creative rigor in the study of collective intelligence to facilitate the discovery of principles that apply across scales and new ways of harnessing the collective to improve social, ecological, and economic outcomes. In that spirit, the journal encourages a broad-minded approach to collective performance. We welcome perspectives that emphasize traditional views of intelligence as well as optimality, satisficing, robustness, adaptability, and wisdom. In more technical terms, this includes issues related to collective output quality and assessment, aggregation of information and related topics (e.g., network structure and dynamics, higher-order vs. pairwise interactions, spatial and temporal synchronization, diversity, etc.), accumulation of information by individuals/components, environmental complexity, evolutionary considerations, and design of systems and platforms fostering collective intelligence.

Collective Intelligence

People in nine key European nations are noticeably more willing to get vaccinated against coronavirus

Europe is becoming more pro-vaccine

Ein Pharmakonzern soll die Impfstoffentwicklung gegen das Coronavirus eingestellt haben, weil es besser wäre, infiziert zu werden und sein Immunsystem arbeiten zu lassen. Aber diese Behauptung stimmt nicht.

Komplett verdrehte Aussage

Celebrities including comedians Romesh Ranganathan and Meera Syal and cricketer Moeen Ali have made a video urging people to get the Covid vaccine.

British Asian celebrities unite for video to dispel Covid vaccine myths

Committee says government’s lack of sufficient explanation has placed needless strain on public confidence

MPs’ report scathing on UK’s handling and sharing of Covid data

The risk of contagion is highest in indoor spaces but can be reduced by applying all available measures to combat infection via aerosols. Here is an overview of the likelihood of infection in three everyday scenarios, based on the safety measures used and the length of exposure

A room, a bar and a classroom: how the coronavirus is spread through the air

10.3390/fi12120210

This paper presents a long-term study on how the public engage with discussions around citizen science and crowdsourcing topics. With progress in sensor technologies and IoT, our cities and neighbourhoods are increasingly sensed, measured and observed. While such data are often used to inform citizen science projects, it is still difficult to understand how citizens and communities discuss citizen science activities and engage with citizen science projects. Understanding these engagements in greater depth will provide citizen scientists, project owners, practitioners and the generic public with insights around how social media can be used to share citizen science related topics, particularly to help increase visibility, influence change and in general and raise awareness on topics. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first large-scale study on understanding how such information is discussed on Twitter, particularly outside the scope of individual projects. The paper reports on the wide variety of topics (e.g., politics, news, ecological observations) being discussed on social media and a wide variety of network types and the varied roles played by users in sharing information in Twitter. Based on these findings, the paper highlights recommendations for stakeholders for engaging with citizen science topics.

Citizen Science on Twitter: Using Data Analytics to Understand Conversations and Networks

This workshop will provide design researchers with an introductory assessment of the landscape of current options in terms of the CARES experience methodology

HMW improve mask comfort, sociability AND Safety?

China has been praised for its "vaccine diplomacy," promising shots to developing countries and investing in vaccine candidates that do not require expensive cold storage to be effective. But as questions have been raised over the effectiveness of one of those vaccines, the country's state media has reacted aggressively, targeting not just critics but also other vaccines, in an apparent effort to tear down their reputation in the name of defending the Chinese shots.

Xi Jinping touts coronavirus cooperation as China persists with vaccine disinformation push

On Facebook, videos of people reporting disturbing side effects from the shots have been viewed by millions. Fact-checking efforts can't keep up.

They Claimed the Covid Vaccine Made Them Sick—and Went Viral

10.1136/bmj.n26

As the world looks to the new covid-19 vaccines with hope, there are major worries about how social media will affect uptake. Claire Wardle and Eric Singerman ask what the companies in charge should be doing to stem the misinformation tide

Too little, too late: social media companies’ failure to tackle vaccine misinformation poses a real threat

    Hungary has agreed to buy enough doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine to inoculate 1 million people against coronavirus, becoming the first EU member to turn to Moscow after complaining about the pace of the bloc’s own vaccine procurement programme.

Hungary buys Sputnik vaccines for 1m people, saying EU has been ‘too slow’

#AskWHO​ series: This was the live discussion of 27 January 2021 about COVID-19 virus variants with Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme, and Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Technical Lead on COVID-19. Questions from the audience were taken.

#COVID19​ LIVE Q&A virus variants with Dr M. Ryan and Dr M. Van Kerkhove - #AskWHO​ of 27 January 2021

10.3201/eid2702.203139

Efforts to address misinformation on social media have special urgency with the emergence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In one effort, the World Health Organization (WHO) designed and publicized shareable infographics to debunk coronavirus myths. We used an experiment to test the efficacy of these infographics, depending on placement and source. We found that exposure to a corrective graphic on social media reduced misperceptions about the science of 1 false COVID-19 prevention strategy but did not affect misperceptions about prevention of COVID-19. Lowered misperceptions about the science persisted >1 week later. These effects were consistent when the graphic was shared by the World Health Organization or by an anonymous Facebook user and when the graphics were shared preemptively or in response to misinformation. Health organizations can and should create and promote shareable graphics to improve public knowledge.

Addressing COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media Preemptively and Responsively

This episode of #StratComTalks​ looks at how this disinformation spreads vis-à-vis vaccination and how governments can prepare for this communications challenge.

#StratComTalks​ Vaccines and Disinformation

COVID-19 Situation Dashboard

We have curated the wealth of COVID-19 related video content relevant for behavioral scientists since the start of the pandemic. This Video Viewer is fed by videos we are collecting in SciBeh's knowledge base.