Researchers from the University of Oxford have today reported on findings on the vaccinated people who are at greatest risk from severe Covid-19 leading to hospitalisation or death from 14 days post the second dose vaccination, when substantial immunity should be expected. In a paper published in the British Medical Journal, they write that by updating the QCovid tool developed in 2020, which directly influenced UK policy in February 2021, adding 1.5 million people in February 2021 to list of those advised to shield, they are able to identify groups more at risk of hospitalisation or death from Covid-19.

During the decade-long economic recovery following the Great Recession, Black households lost much more wealth than white families, regardless of class or profession. Notably, while most other groups experienced an economic recovery between 2010 and 2019, Black professionals suffered losses in wealth, the authors found. Meanwhile, Black working-class families remained in the worst overall economic position. As a result, many Black families entered the COVID-19 pandemic in a state of financial precarity.

New findings about the causes and characteristics of overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic may be used to inform policies that could lower death rates even after COVID-19 is under control.

What The Study Did: This analysis of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in Massachusetts indicated structural disparity in vaccine distribution with lower vaccine coverage to infection risk in communities with increased socioeconomic vulnerability and larger proportions of Black and Latinx individuals.

While poor sleep was linked to higher levels of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, more teens actually obtained the recommended amount of sleep compared to pre-pandemic sleep patterns, according to a new study from McGill University. Changes to daily routines triggered by lockdowns allowed teenagers to follow their biological impulse to wake up and sleep later, reducing daytime sleepiness.

An international collaboration, involving 29 scientists from around the world, focused on understanding how SARS-COV-2 makes its worker proteins at the molecular level so we could develop novel antiviral drugs and block their production - all working from home but coming together weekly on Zoom to tackle this terrifying disease.

Variants of SARS Coronavirus-2 and Their Potential Impact on the Future of the COVID-19 Pandemic https://doi.org/10.15212/ZOONOSES-2021-1003 Announcing a new article publication for Zoonoses journal. In this commentary the authors Xin Li, Kelvin Kai-Wang To and Kwok-Yung Yuen from The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China and the Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China consider variants of SARS Coronavirus-2 and their potential impact on the future of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new study of the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca proposes a criterion for establishing a priority order in the administration of COVID-19 vaccines in the most advanced stage of the vaccination campaign when the elderly and vulnerable population has been already vaccinated.

Researchers describe a protocol for donning and doffing personal protective equipment in home settings for health care professionals who must interact with patients potentially infected with COVID-19. This protocol addresses gaps in COVID-19 related guidelines, specifically the process of donning and doffing PPE during home visits while supplementing PPE guidelines and protocols.

New research shows that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients undergoing anti-CD20 (aCD20) treatment – which depletes the B cells that contribute to the MS attacks – are able to mount robust T-cell responses to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, despite having a muted antibody response to the vaccines.