The U.S. faces one of the most consequential public health campaigns in history right now: to vaccinate the population against COVID-19 and, especially, to get shots into the arms of people who cannot easily navigate getting vaccinated on their own. Time is of the essence. As new, potentially more dangerous variants of this coronavirus spread to new […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
We’re building a vaccine corps of medical and nursing students – it could transform efforts to vaccinate underserved areas
Mandatory vaccinations for students would be a mistake
Formal approval of Covid-19 vaccines means that colleges and universities around the world will soon face a fraught choice, if not a Faustian bargain: whether to mandate vaccinations for campus communities. In an era when even the smallest colleges possess a student health infrastructure capable of delivering mass inoculations, the temptation to vaccinate by fiat […] … learn more→
Children developing debilitating anxiety during pandemic
Let’s face it: who doesn’t have anxiety related to the coronavirus pandemic? Children are flexible by nature. They have an innate ability to just go with the flow. (More adults could stand to hone this skill…myself included.) For better or for worse, children can adapt to anything. However, you don’t want your child to learn […] … learn more→
Universities should take the psychological pulse of their staff during lockdowns
Notwithstanding the reaction of students at the University of Manchester to the sight of fences being erected around their halls of residence last week, universities have escaped the worst of England’s second lockdown. Unlike restaurants, pubs and other “non-essential” businesses, universities have not been required to close during the lockdown, which began last week. Higher […] … learn more→
To question the biomedical consensus is not to lack moral accountability
“While academic sparring can keep a few sociologists amused during lockdown, we need to remember our moral accountability to a society in crisis.” The medical professor who wrote those words in an early pre-print advocating the use of face coverings deleted them from subsequent versions. It is, however, one of the more forthright expressions of […] … learn more→
Isolation chronicles: Day 131
Right now, writing this, I’m on Day 131 of COVID life. The last time I wrote about it, I was only 10 days in. Revisit that first post if you want to get an idea of the isolation context that I’m in. Here in Melbourne, Australia, we are in Lockdown 2.0 and experiencing the highest numbers […] … learn more→
Universities’ Covid planning must take account of age-related risk
As lockdowns around the world begin to be eased (even for people who aren’t government advisors), some universities are planning to re-open as physical spaces in September. But is this really wise? How much danger will that create for employees, and how should university leaders seek to minimise the risks? In our judgment, the most […] … learn more→
The valley of deep (COVID) shit
In my last #pandemicpost I asked – should you quit (go part time or pause) your PhD in this global pandemic? One month later, not to put too fine a point on it: the world is in pretty deep shit. Everyday life has not got back to anything resembling ‘normal’. There’s a dawning realisation that we may […] … learn more→
How not to fall for coronavirus BS: avoid the 7 deadly sins of thought
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing a great deal of anxiety, we might come to think people are irrational, selfish or downright crazy. We see people showing up to public venues en masse or clearing supermarket shelves of toilet paper. Experts are often ignored. We hear inconsistent information and arguments filled with fallacious reasoning being accepted […] … learn more→
Would a Longitude Prize speed production of a Covid-19 vaccine?
The human and economic costs of the current coronavirus outbreak seem to be increasing exponentially as the search for a vaccine goes on. Great efforts in that regard are being made by academics and companies alike, and success seems inevitable given enough time. However, the exponentially increasing human and economic costs of the pandemic raise […] … learn more→
