Moderna accepted $2.5 billion in taxpayer money to develop its Covid-19 vaccine. But as the world faces a dire vaccine shortage, U.S. and overseas officials are having trouble persuading the company to license its technology.
A meeting of the World Trade Organization’s intellectual property council ended Thursday without action on a proposal to suspend patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines. The United Kingdom and some wealthy European Union nations, led by Germany, continue to oppose a patent waiver, which was first proposed over a year ago by India and South Africa and backed by over 100 WTO member nations. Since then, the world has recorded over 3.8 million COVID-19 deaths.
This week is World Immunization Week so we are sharing this fun image of Navy recruits receiving inoculations at the U.S. Naval Training Station in San Diego in the 1920s. If you are a military veteran, you probably remember this experience!
My thoughts are with those this Easter who were caught in the crisis.
Those who couldn’t manage to get any chocolate eggs this year for their families, but more than ever the families who have family members ill or deceased from the virus.
I am not religious but I want to cast a light on those less fortunate amisdt this crisis around the world ❤️
If they’re concerned, and speaking publicly about it, and especially that they’re talking to their family about their concerns, then you should already be taking early measures and start to take mental and physical stock. Will you be okay if the worst happens and you can’t or don’t want to leave your home for an extended period of time?
Now is the time to prepare, BEFORE the S H’s the F, when the stores are all stocked, life is normal and services, amenities and logictics are running at a normal capacity.
This isn’t to fear monger. It’s to bring the reality of disasters to light and ensure you are prepared.
If they’re concerned, and speaking publicly about it, and especially that they’re talking to their family about their concerns, then you should already be taking early measures and start to take mental and physical stock. Will you be okay if the worst happens and you can’t or don’t want to leave your home for an extended period of time?
Now is the time to prepare, BEFORE the S H’s the F, when the stores are all stocked, life is normal and services, amenities and logictics are running at a normal capacity.
This isn’t to fear monger. It’s to bring the reality of disasters to light and ensure you are prepared.
Worldwide, people donate 88 million units of blood – enough to fill 32 Olympic-sized swimming pools – annually. However, that meets less than 60% of the 150 million units needed each year.
A single unit of blood may be divided into various components to meet the needs of multiple patients. These components include red cells concentrates, fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitates and platelet concentrates. Of donated blood, 91% collected in high-income countries, 72% in middle-income countries, and 31% in low-income countries is separated into blood components. More than 23 million units of blood components are given to patients in the United States alone every year.
World Blood Donor Day is celebrated annually on June 14 in memory of the birthday of Karl Landsteiner, the Austrian doctor who first recognized the ABO blood grouping and who helped identify the Rhesus factor that combine to form the two most commonly used blood group systems. The 2018 theme for the event is “Be there for someone else. Give blood. Share life.”
I just realized both op and the commenter are insane trad christains so im deleting my reblog (because im not platforming their shit – this is ALSO why im censoring their URLs I’m not going to give them traffic) and instead reposing it with the following links/information:
1) The WHO still actively hosts a guide on how to create safe milk substitutes when access to breastmilk/milk substitutes are unavailable on the Institutional Repository for Information Sharing (iris). The guide is called “Infant Feeding in Emergencies: A Guide for Mothers”. Relevant information starts on page 38.
2) Here is a link to the archived guide WITH THE CAUTION that I was not able to find out why its no longer provided by the WHO or iris. It could be that the information is out of date. I am only sharing it because I think the visuals may be helpful for people who have trouble reading written directions. Consult the above link first, then refer to this guide only if you need clarification on how to perform certain actions. Link to archive.
3) The language in that second comment throws up so may red flags. I cropped it to only the information needed to understand the context of this post because I find it immensely suspect. The repeated allusions to 2020 for no apparent reason (but I can guess why, as an infection disease scientist) come across as loaded or dog-whistely. I would advise against sharing the OP for that reason. But because the information being provided is important and not well known, I’m making this alternative post for people to reblog.
4) The implication that the WHO is censoring information based on a 404 page is a really flimsy and extreme conclusion to jump to. The “Infant Feeding in Emergencies” guide I linked above also goes to a 404 page on the WHO’s main website - but again, can be accessed through iris instead. So no, the information on how to feed infants in a food crisis is not being censored by the WHO.
5) A more likely cause for the guide disappearing is that the link broke and they didn’t fix it. If you look at the original URL it indicates the guide was posted in a subcategory on the WHO’s website about International Crises, specifically in the Middle East. If you try to type in a shortened versions of that URL (specifically https://www.who.int/hac/crises/ or the slightly modified http://www.who.int/hac/crises/en/) you’ll see that the subdomain that was present with relevant info breaks around 2020. In fact, while testing this hypothesis, I came across this information page in a November 2021 version of the URL https://www.who.int/home/cms-decommissioning (which I was redirected to automatically from http://www.who.int/hac/crises/en/):
There is no nefarious conspiracy theory. The link simply broke - as many many many many links do on the internet. The second commenters reply is proven bunk by a little bit of fact checking.
sorry for the long post, but I think the information on infant nutrition substitutes is genuinely useful, lifesaving info – but i’m not going to give more people with dangerous ideological views spouting nonsense a platform.
Using the same principles that the body uses to defend itself, scientists use vaccines to trigger the body’s adaptive immune system, without exposing humans to the full strength disease. This has resulted in many vaccines, which each work uniquely, separated into many different types.
First, we have live attenuated vaccines. These are made of the pathogen itself, but a much weaker and tamer version.
Next, we have inactive vaccines, in which the pathogens have been killed. The weakening and inactivation in both types of vaccine ensures that pathogens don’t develop into the full-blown disease. But just like a disease, they trigger an immune response, teaching the body to recognize and attack by making a profile of pathogens in preparation.
Another type, the subunit vaccine, is only made from one part of the pathogen, called an antigen, the ingredient that actually triggers the immune response. By even further isolating specific components of antigens, like proteins or polysaccharides, these vaccines can prompt specific responses.
Scientists are now building a whole new range of vaccines called DNA vaccines. For this variety, they isolate the very genes that make the specific antigens the body needs to trigger its immune response to specific pathogens. When injected into the human body, those genes instruct cells in the body to make the antigens. This causes a stronger immune response and prepares the body for any future threats, and because the vaccine only includes specific genetic material, it doesn’t include any other ingredients from the rest of the pathogen.
If these vaccines become a success, we might be able to build more effective treatments for invasive pathogens in years to come.
