Censorship concerns in Hong Kong and immunological memory
Somehow, we've made it to the final month of 2020. The year that we thought would never end may in fact come to an actual close. Vaccines are on the brink of government approvals and the world now turns its attention to how these life-saving shots are going to be effectively and equitably distributed to our global population. Amid this historic event, we can't forget that the post-COVID-19 world we'll be returning to isn't always an easy one. This week, we have news for you about ongoing censorship concerns in Hong Kong, attacks against female journalists and the complexity of the internet's misinformation problem.
In our science section, Dr. Seema Yasmin tells us resoundingly that no, the flu shot does not contain any live virus and it can't increase your chances of getting COVID-19. In fact, the flu shot is more important than ever this year. Dr. Yasmin also tells us about immunological memory to COVID-19 and explains a key part of the Astra Zeneca vaccine production.
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Stay safe and happy reading, Checklisters.
Book Talk
Destroy the Internet Advertising Economy With This One Weird Trick
2 December 2020
The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and Meedan welcome OII Visiting Policy Fellow and Meedan Board Member Tim Hwang, discussing his new book ‘Subprime Attention Crisis’ with Dr Scott A. Hale, a Senior Research Fellow at the OII and Director of Resarch at Meedan.
Tim is a writer and researcher focusing on public policy and emerging technologies. This session will be a deep-dive conversation exploring how the modern online advertising economy really works, how fragile it may be in reality, and how we might move the internet towards a more sustainable future.
Your COVID-19 questions
Journalist and medical doctor, Dr. Seema Yasmin shares weekly highlights from Meedan's public health journalism tool, learnaboutcovid19.org.
What is immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 and can it last for more than six months after infection?
Dr. Seema says: "Immunological memory, just as it sounds, is the ability of your immune system to recognize a pathogen it has previously encountered. Researchers want to understand how long a person who has had COVID-19 might be immune to reinfection -- and how the immune system’s memory might protect them from a second bout of illness. A recent study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found signs of immunological memory in a small group of people months after they had been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. We’re still learning how long an immune response persists after infection and how that might protect against reinfection. But with reports of people suffering COVID-19 twice (and sometimes getting more severely ill the second time around), it’s important to wear a mask, physically distance and avoiding gatherings if you have been previously infected."
What is the context behind the misinformation about fetal cells used in the Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine?
Dr. Seema says: "The COVID-19 pandemic is occurring alongside a viral misinfodemic with false news about vaccines and treatments spreading in tandem with the infection. One recent piece of false news hopes to put people off getting vaccinated by falsely claiming that the Oxford University/Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine contains bits of tissue from aborted fetuses. In one video, a spreader of inaccurate information says receiving the vaccine could cause a person’s DNA to change. This is false. The vaccine does not contain pieces of these tissues and receiving the Oxford University/Astra Zeneca vaccine would not change a person’s DNA. Scientists do use human cells in the lab when making vaccines because the first step to creating a vaccine involves growing the virus they are trying to protect us from. To do this, sometimes cells that were originally taken from a sample of embryonic tissue are used. (One example is HEK 293 cells that come from embryonic kidney tissue and MRC-5 cells which were taken in the 1960s from a fetus.) This does not mean the vaccine contains these tissues or that the vaccine changes human DNA. These cells and lab methods have been used to create safe and effective vaccines for more than half a century."
Does a flu shot increase you chances of getting COVID-19?
Dr. Seema says: "No! The flu shot does not contain live virus of any kind. It can’t cause flu and it does not increase your chances of getting COVID-19. In fact, the flu vaccine both protects you directly from flu and indirectly from COVID-19. That’s because getting infected with flu leaves your body more vulnerable to other infections (most of the 50 million or so people who died from flu during the 1918 pandemic are now believed to have died from bacterial infections they got on top of the flu). It’s always important for everyone over the age of six months to get their flu shot but it’s even more important to get vaccinated against flu during a pandemic when the health care system is already overwhelmed and getting the flu would increase your risk of getting severely ill with COVID-19."
Today's top stories
Covid-19 vaccines face a varied misinformation movement online (NBC News)
Facebook is taking action against large anti-vaccination pages on its platform, ahead of the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine worldwide. However, new research shows that a big threat to public trust in a COVID-19 vaccine comes from smaller, better-connected Facebook groups that gravitated to anti-vaccination messaging in recent months.
"While the anti-vaccination activists’ favored platform, Facebook, has taken a number of steps recently to limit the reach of anti-vaccine content, the movement has thrived during the pandemic — a success largely due to a pivot toward Covid-19 misinformation and a communication strategy that’s allowed the anti-vaccination message to circumvent platforms’ policy enforcement and reach users outside its network." — NBC News
Lay-offs at Hong Kong TV station stoke new concerns over media freedom (Reuters)
A Hong Kong television station said on Tuesday about 100 staff were “affected” by a shake-up as it seeks to remain competitive in a challenging economic environment, a move that has re-ignited worries over media freedom in China’s freest city.
"The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including freedom of speech. Protesters who took to the streets for months last year complain that Communist Party rulers in Beijing are whittling away at those freedoms, a charge Beijing denies.
The Hong Kong Journalists’ Association said it was watching the situation closely as media have already come under pressure in the wake of a new national security law introduced by Beijing on June 30." — Reuters
Online attacks on women journalists leading to ‘real world’ violence, new research shows (International Center for Journalists)
Twenty percent of women journalists and media workers who participated a survey run by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported being targeted with offline abuse and attacks that they believe were connected with online violence they had experienced.
"This trend of online attacks against women journalists only appears to be increasing over time. Back in 2014, when these issues first began to attract mainstream media attention, a survey of nearly 1000 women journalists conducted by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) and the International News Safety Institute (INSI), which was supported by UNESCO, found that 23% of women respondents had experienced ‘intimidation, threats or abuse’ online in relation to their work. A follow-up survey conducted by IWMF and Trollbusters in 2018, involving a smaller but still substantial sample, found that 63% of women respondents had been harassed or abused online at least once." —ICFJ
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