India was not affectedly too badly at the beginning of the pandemic, but faced a much more severe crisis from April 2021. In the capital, Delhi, the virus had already been more widespread than in the rest of the country during the 1st wave, with more than 55% of inhabitants having been infected by January. […]

The aim of vaccines is to prevent death or invalidity caused by a pathogenic agent. Their development is long and difficult, in the main because they must be able to be given safely to people in good health. This is why vaccines do not exist against the majority of diseases. However, though it takes on […]

Mental illness has been a major public health concern across the world for several decades. Amongst its various forms, those recognised as being the most disabling are depressive and anxiety disorders. These illnesses affect men and women of all ages. Despite numerous campaigns to combat these problems, they have not lessened since the 1990s.  The […]

Safe and effective vaccines to protect against serious forms of COVID-19 are now available. But slow up-take and low levels of vaccine coverage are dangerous for public health. Developed countries are struggling to achieve more than 70% coverage of the population vaccinated. Some governments have put financial incentive schemes in place to encourage individuals to […]

Infection by SARS-CoV-2 produces B cell responses that express powerful antibodies against the virus. The B cells evolve for at least a year after infection. During this evolution, the effectiveness of the antibodies produced increases, making them notably more potent against emerging variants. Vaccination is different from natural infection (path of virus administration, nature and […]

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is an adenovirus vectored vaccine expressing the spike protein of the Wuhan ancestral strain. It has 85% efficacy against severe forms of the disease and is administered in a single dose. It is helpful for countries with difficulties accessing vaccines. However, while we know that a supplementary dose of an […]

Israel initiated a massive vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2 very early on in the outbreak. More than half of the population had been fully vaccinated (2 doses) by the end of March 2021. Incidence fell from 900 cases per million inhabitants per day in mid-January, to less than 2 by June 2021. However, the emergence of […]

Hospital treatment of COVID-19 has changed significantly over the course of the pandemic. ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) is a form of cardio-respiratory support, also called extracorporeal circulation, which is proving beneficial. The system uses a machine that temporarily replaces the heart and the lungs in the blood circulation and oxygenation. Blood circulation is thereby diverted […]

Since March 2020, the entire world has been destabilised by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the extraordinarily rapid development of the production and distribution of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 (although geographically unequal) the  world sees hope that we might be able to resolve this crisis just 15 months after the beginning of the pandemic. Two vaccines […]