Inoculating against misinformation and Arab Spring exiles look back
We hope you're doing well and staying safe. We have an article for you this week on Arab Spring exiles looking back ten years later, as well as an update on a new vaccine-related public health campaign by researchers in Latin America. Our in-house medical expert also explains COVAX, and talks about whether vaccinated people can still spread COVID-19.
If you have questions or concerns related to COVID-19, you can share them with us, and catch Dr. Seema Yasmin's weekly highlights below.
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Your COVID-19 questions
Journalist and medical doctor, Dr. Seema Yasmin shares weekly highlights from Meedan's public health journalism tool, learnaboutcovid19.org.
What do we know so far about COVAX?
Dr. Seema says: "COVAX is a collaboration of the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, and GAVI (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation). The collaboration is essentially the vaccine part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) which aims to accelerate development, production and—crucially—equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. Equity is important, both as a moral principal and a protector of public health. As we are seeing, vaccine supply is unable to meet demand, and vaccine nationalism—wealthier nations prioritizing their needs at the expense of other, usually poorer, nations—is jeopardizing efforts to control the pandemic. Countries that sign up for the COVAX facility program make a commitment to the fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, ensuring that each country—so far around 190 have signed up—receive enough vaccine to protect the most vulnerable 20 percent of their population by the end of 2021. The Trump administration opted out of COVAX. The Biden administration has joined the effort."
If someone receives the vaccine, can they still be a carrier?
Dr. Seema says: "Yes. This is why it’s important to wear a mask, physically distance, and limit contact with other people even after you are fully immunized against COVID-19. The clinical trials for the currently authorized vaccines showed them to be very good at protecting vaccinated people from becoming severely sick with COVID-19, but we don’t know if the vaccines make people less contagious. It’s possible that someone who is vaccinated could become infected and not get sick themselves, but could still pass the infection on to someone else who is not yet vaccinated. That person could becoming severely ill or die. While many COVID-19 vaccine trials were not designed to study if vaccines make people less contagious, we might be able to learn this information in a real-world setting now that millions of people are getting vaccinated. But until we have evidence that vaccines prevent viral transmission, we have to continue wearing masks and taking other precautions to limit the spread of infection."
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Arab Spring exiles look back 10 years after Egypt uprising (Associated Press)
In their own words, exiled Egyptians speak about the oppressive conditions enforced by current president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that have led them to flee the country. Since assuming power through a military coup, Sisi has cracked down on free speech, activists, academics, and artists.
"A decade later, thousands are estimated to have fled abroad to escape the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi that is considered even more oppressive. The significant loss of academics, artists, journalists and other intellectuals has, along with a climate of fear, hobbled any political opposition."
Pesquisadores da USP criam áudios para combater fake news sobre vacinas (Boas Noticias)
Researchers from USP created a series of audio messages to combat false information about vaccines. The idea is to contain the wave of fake news transmitted on WhatsApp during the pandemic.
Each piece of audio, which can be easily downloaded and shared, presents a coronavirus-related question and then an expert's answer. "How Coronavac is made" and "What is the effectiveness of a vaccine and how did we find it out" are among the available content.
"Most of the fake news about vaccines and coronaviruses are disseminated by audios sent by people who are talking to someone in their family. This goes far more than videos and any correct information," says the graduate student at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP) from USP Wasim Syed, in an interview with Jornal da USP.
Inoculating against misinformation
Melisa Basol is a Gates scholar and received an MPhil in Social and Developmental Psychology (Distinction) from Cambridge. We caught up with Melisa a few weeks ago to talk about a theory that suggests we might be able to inoculate people against misinformation the same way we inoculate them against disease.