University of Johannesburg (UJ) & Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Covid-19 Democracy Survey 2021

Title:

UJ-HSRC COVID-19 DEMOCRACY SURVEY: Willingness to take a Covid-19 vaccine: A Research briefing

Authors:

Carin Runciman, Benjamin Roberts, Kate Alexander, Narnia Bohler-Muller & Martin Bekker

Published:

University of Johannesburg, 25 January 2021

https://www.uj.ac.za/newandevents/PublishingImages/Pages/UJ-HSRC-survey-shows-that-two-thirds-of-adults-are-willing-to-take-the-Covid-19-vaccine/2021-01-25%20Vaccine%20briefing%20(final).pdf

From the report:

Alongside debate on the availability of vaccines in South Africa, there is widespread concern about people’s willingness to be vaccinated. This briefing reports on findings from Round 3 of the University of Johannesburg (UJ)/Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Covid-19 Democracy Survey. This was conducted between 29 December 2020 and 6 January 2021. Only adults living in South Africa were included. We asked: ‘If a Covid-19 vaccine became available to you, would you take it?’ This was followed by an open-response question that allowed participants to explain their answer in their own words. Here we present key findings and offer critical insights into the public’s acceptance of the Covid-19 vaccine. This report provides crucial information for the public health campaign that will need to precede and accompany the vaccine roll out. 

AUSTRALLIA - Coronavirus: Vaccine scientist Nikolai Petrovsky says HIV warnings were ignored [The Australian, 11 December 2020]

Title:

Coronavirus: Vaccine scientist Nikolai Petrovsky says HIV warnings were ignored 

 

Author:

Natasha Robinson

 

Published:

The Australian, 11 December 2020

Click here to read

From the article:

The Federal government was warned by a prominent Australian vaccine scientist that the use of an HIV fragment protein in the University of Queensland COVID-19 vaccine would present “big problems” months before entering into a multimillion-dollar deal to buy 51 million doses of the protein-based candidate.

 

AUSTRALIA - Survey shows Aussies who will forgo a COVID-19 jab [Campus Review, 24 November 2020]

Title:

Survey shows Aussies who will forgo a COVID-19 jab

Author:

Dallas Bastian

Published:

Campus Review, 24 November 2020

https://www.campusreview.com.au/2020/11/survey-shows-aussies-who-will-forgo-a-covid-19-jab/

From the article:

Six per cent of Australians are certain they won’t get a COVID-19 jab once one is made available.

Russia to launch world’s first COVID-19 vaccine tomorrow, 12 August: All you need to know & Russia to register world's first covid vaccine this week despite warnings: 10 points

Title:
Russia to launch world’s first COVID-19 vaccine tomorrow, 12 August: All you need to know

Author:
Abigail Banerji

Published:
Firstpost, 11 August 2020
https://www.firstpost.com/health/russia-launch-worlds-first-covid-19-vaccine-tomorrow-12-august-need-know-8679581.html

From the article:
In a race to find a vaccine that will protect people from the novel coronavirus, six candidates from around the world are now in phase three of human trials. Recent reports from Russia claim that one of their candidates has completed all three phases of human clinical trials successfully. Russia will reportedly begin producing the vaccine soon and already has plans for a massive, country-wide vaccine drive.

SEE ALSO:
Russia to register world's first covid vaccine this week despite warnings: 10 points
[livemint, 10 August 2020]

From this article:
* The vaccine was developed by Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry and will be registered on 12 August, Deputy Health Minister Oleg Gridnev said last Friday.

* Russia’s race to allow civilian use of a potential coronavirus vaccine before clinical trials are complete could put people at risk, according to a local association of multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Sechenov University - Russian university completes clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine

Title:
Russian university completes clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine

Published:
clinicaltrialsarena.com, 13 July 2020
https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/russia-completes-covid19-vaccine-trial/

From the article:
Russia has become the first country to have completed clinical trials of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate, after Sechenov University said that it had concluded its study.

Coronavirus vaccine might be ready in first half of 2021 if things go ‘extraordinarily well’, says Imperial College professor [Independent, 10 June 2020]

Title:
Coronavirus vaccine might be ready in first half of 2021 if things go ‘extraordinarily well’, says Imperial College professor

Author:
Samuel Lovett

Published:
Independent, 10 June 2020
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-vaccine-imperial-college-oxford-trial-uk-covid-19-a9558456.html

From the article:
A Covid-19 vaccine being developed by scientists at Imperial College London could be ready and available in the first half of 2021, according to the team’s leading professor.

The race for a coronavirus vaccine runs on horseshoe crab blood: Pharmaceutical companies use the creature’s blue blood to test for contaminants [Smithsonian Magazine, 8 June 2020]

Title:
The race for a coronavirus vaccine runs on horseshoe crab blood

Author:
Alex Fox

Published:
Smithsonian Magazine, 8 June 2020
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/race-coronavirus-vaccine-runs-horseshoe-crab-blood-180975048/

From the article:
Humans owe a debt to the strange-looking, ancient horseshoe crab. Its blue blood is used in medicine to ensure that anything that gets injected or implanted into the human body is free of potentially life-threatening bacterial contamination. A special compound in the crab’s blood quickly clots in the presence of endotoxins, microbial byproducts that can be harmful, supplying a perfect natural test for purity. In the race to find a COVID-19 vaccine, horseshoe crab blood is very important.

But an estimated 50,000 crabs die during the annual blood harvest, and these ancient arthropods are also being threatened by pollution, overfishing and habitat loss due to sea level rise, reported Sarah Zhang in the Atlantic in 2018.

Abortion opponents protest COVID-19 vaccines' use of fetal cells [Science, 5 June 2020]

Title:
Abortion opponents protest COVID-19 vaccines' use of fetal cells

Author:
Meredith Wadman

Published:
Science, 5 June 2020
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/abortion-opponents-protest-covid-19-vaccines-use-fetal-cells

From the article:
Senior Catholic leaders in the United States and Canada, along with other antiabortion groups, are raising ethical objections to promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates that are manufactured using cells derived from human fetuses electively aborted decades ago. They have not sought to block government funding for the vaccines, which include two candidate vaccines that the Trump administration plans to support with an investment of up to $1.7 billion, as well as a third candidate made by a Chinese company in collaboration with Canada’s National Research Council (NRC). But they are urging funders and policymakers to ensure that companies develop other vaccines that do not rely on such human fetal cell lines and, in the United States, asking the government to “incentivize” firms to only make vaccines that don’t rely on fetal cells.

Vaccine for COVID-19 safe, effective in first human clinical trial, study says: The Phase I study in China included 108 patients, and a Phase II study already is underway

Title:
Vaccine for COVID-19 safe, effective in first human clinical trial, study says

Author:
Brian P Dunleavy

Published:
UPI, 22 May 2020
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/05/22/Vaccine-for-COVID-19-safe-effective-in-first-human-clinical-trial-study-says/2631590154893/

From the article:
"A potential vaccine for COVID-19 appears to be safe and able to generate an immune response against the virus, according to a study published Friday by The Lancet.  

The new study marks the first time the vaccine was tested in humans."

United States of America - AP-NORC poll: Half of Americans would get a COVID-19 vaccine [AP News, 27 May 2020]

Title:
AP-NORC poll: Half of Americans would get a COVID-19 vaccine 

Authors:
Lauran Neergaard & Hannah Fingerhut

Published:
AP News, 27 May 2020
https://apnews.com/dacdc8bc428dd4df6511bfa259cfec44

From the article:
"Only about half of Americans say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if the scientists working furiously to create one succeed, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.  

That’s surprisingly low considering the effort going into the global race for a vaccine against the coronavirus that has sparked a pandemic since first emerging from China late last year."