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from ABC
Public & Government Service in Sydney, Australia
We've never made a successful vaccine for a coronavirus before. This is why it's so difficult
For those pinning their hopes on a COVID-19 vaccine to return life to normal, an Australian expert in vaccine development has a reality check — it probably won't happen soon. The reality is that this particular coronavirus is posing challenges that scientists haven't dealt with before, according to Ian Frazer from the University of Queensland. Professor Frazer was involved in the successful development of the vaccine for the human papilloma virus which causes cervical cancer — a vaccine which took years of work to develop. He said the challenge is that coronaviruses have historically been hard to make safe vaccines for, partly because the virus infects the upper respiratory tract, which our immune system isn't great at protecting. And while we have vaccines for seasonal influenza, HPV and other diseases, creating a new vaccine isn't as simple as taking an existing one and swapping the viruses, said Larisa Labzin, an immunologist from the University of Queensland.
We've never made a successful vaccine for a coronavirus before. This is why it's so difficult
For those pinning their hopes on a COVID-19 vaccine to return life to normal, an Australian expert in vaccine development has a reality check — it probably won't happen soon. The reality is that this particular coronavirus is posing challenges that scientists haven't dealt with before, according to Ian Frazer from the University of Queensland. Professor Frazer was involved in the successful development of the vaccine for the human papilloma virus which causes cervical cancer — a vaccine which took years of work to develop. He said the challenge is that coronaviruses have historically been hard to make safe vaccines for, partly because the virus infects the upper respiratory tract, which our immune system isn't great at protecting. And while we have vaccines for seasonal influenza, HPV and other diseases, creating a new vaccine isn't as simple as taking an existing one and swapping the viruses, said Larisa Labzin, an immunologist from the University of Queensland.
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from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Why the Pandemic Is the Right Time to Issue an Atrocity Determination for Rohingya
Rohingya refugees have endured tremendous brutality at the hands of the Burmese military. In refugee camps, social distancing is a literal impossibility, and access to medical care is limited. Clean water is scarce, making sanitation difficult at best. The situation demands U.S. leadership. In the face of COVID-19, countries are asking what is possible. Issuing an atrocity determination is just that. The Secretary of State can literally issue a determination at any point in time. In the case of the Rohingya, it should be easily accomplished because a report commissioned by the State Department has already found reasonable grounds to conclude that genocide and crimes against humanity took place.
How Best to Leverage Trump’s Halt to WHO Funding Over COVID-19 Missteps
The WHO needs to be held accountable and reformed to prevent repetition of these missteps, but the U.S. should be focused on how best to pursue that goal. The details of the president’s policy are unclear, particularly with respect to how it will be implemented and its impact. The U.S. should clarify what it expects of WHO in order to restore U.S. confidence and support in the future.
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from iFIBER One News
5,000 Grant PUD-managed fish die due to power failure
The Grant PUD-managed fish population took a deadly hit due to equipment failure at a remote fish-acclimation facility in Okanogan County on April 11. The mishaps resulted in the death of 5,000 of Grant PUD’s approximately 20,000 juvenile steelhead. Grant PUD has been investigating the matter. Utility officials discovered that the power failure was caused by trees falling on area powerlines. They determined that the backup generator was activated, but a faulty transfer switch prevented power to the apparatus. Further inspection revealed that a loose connection caused the failure. Power is critical to fish acclimation facilities as it keeps pumps working, circulating water to keep it oxygenated in the tanks. The fish died when the oxygen became depleted.
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from Newsweek
LEFT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, American weekly news magazine
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser yesterday ordered a one-month extension of the state of emergency, as cases in the region grow at a rapid pace. Federal officials in the nation's capital expect a New York-like epidemic in the District, Maryland and Virginia, one that could potentially cripple the government. "No one wants to talk evacuation, especially when there's nowhere to go," says a senior military officer working on continuity of government planning; he requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the record. But a little-known military task force charged with evacuating Washington has already been activated, a task force charged with the most sensitive government mission of "securing" Washington in the face of attackers, foreign and domestic—and if necessary, moving White House and other key government offices to alternate locations.
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from Rolling Stone
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
In the midst of an unprecedented global coronavirus pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, it can be hard to make sense of the destruction COVID-19 has wrought. In this context, the proliferation of conspiracy theories downplaying the dangers of the virus is sadly unsurprising, though disheartening and dangerous nonetheless. One such theory making the rounds on social media is the idea that death certificates have been knowingly manipulated by medical examiners to inflate the number of COVID-19 deaths, part of a larger right-wing talking point that the government is using the pandemic as an excuse to infringe on American rights. ... One video that has been circulating on social media features a Montana physician named Dr. Annie Bukacek questioning the number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States (more than 26,000, as of Wednesday, April 15th)
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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