vaccines
How are the vaccines affected by the Delta variant?
Has the emergence of the Delta, or Indian, variant reduced the effectiveness of Covid vaccines and if so by how…
Why China’s vaccine diplomacy is running into difficulties
Tear gas and rubber bullets hold off the protestors marching to Government House in Bangkok. They’re looking for Prime Minister…
The problems posed by booster shots
It is already known that there will be a campaign of booster shots in the UK this autumn to boost…
Can Australia escape its Covid lockdown cycle?
In the early days of the pandemic, Australia was the envy of the world. The country was lauded as a…
Are booster shots necessary?
Will Britain become the first country in the world to have a large section of its population immunised against Covid-19…
The problem with not vaccinating teenagers
In the last week, the number of people testing positive for Covid has dropped by 36 percent. A fall in…
Can Boris and his ministers agree on the point of the Covid app?
What is the point of the Covid-19 app? Ministers seem to be as in the dark about the answer to…
Boris Johnson’s sombre ‘freedom day’ press conference
On the day that nearly all legal Covid restrictions go, one could be forgiven for presuming ministers would be in the…
The art of selling vaccines
I was bemused when I first saw the photograph of spaced-out chairs and vaccination booths in the Turbine Hall of the…
The rise of the unwhippable Tories
When the government announced a Commons vote on its decision to cut the foreign aid budget from 0.7 per cent…
Macron’s Covid crackdown is a risky bet
Will the French accept compulsory vaccination against Covid? Health passports to get on a plane or train? Children of 12…
Travel quarantine scrapped for double-jabbed
International travel rules will be relaxed on 19 June as part of the wider scrapping of social distancing rules and masks.…
What is the purpose of test and trace?
At yesterday’s press conference, Boris Johnson announced that his government was shelving plans for domestic ‘Covid certificates’ (i.e. vaccine passports),…
Boris’s ‘freedom day’ spells misery for many
The projection from Sajid Javid that Covid-19 infections could surge to a record 100,000 per day in a few weeks,…
Should we be mixing AstraZeneca and Pfizer shots?
To date, the Covid vaccination programme in Britain has involved two doses of one of three vaccines – AstraZeneca, Pfizer…
Boris Johnson delays the end of lockdown
Boris Johnson has this evening confirmed that he will delay the lifting of all Covid restrictions by four weeks to…
Why the vaccines should prevent a deadly third wave
Among the scientists and medics calling this week for caution in the government’s reopening of the economy was Dr Lisa…
Shot to pieces
The many failures of China’s vaccine programme
What the fight against HIV can teach us about defeating Covid-19
In the eighties, we were warned to beware an easily spread, deadly virus. The government’s ominous HIV adverts told us…
Berlin has been bounced into accepting Sputnik
Munich has had enough of the vaccine chaos in Berlin and Brussels. In a surprise announcement on Wednesday, Bavaria’s minister…
Johnson is in trouble over vaccine passports – and it’s showing
The biggest question facing Boris Johnson at this evening’s press conference was so-called vaccine passports. Plans for his scheme were…
Go with the flow: how helpful is mass testing?
Over half the adult population has been vaccinated, new infections and deaths have plummeted to their lowest level since last…
Talking down vaccines is a short-sighted tactic
How strange to have spent a year in a world where to hug someone outside of your household is not…
Could the Sputnik vaccine end Russia’s rift with the West?
Accounts differ. But it would appear that during a wide-ranging conference call earlier this week, the leaders of France and…
How the Sputnik vaccine brought down Slovakia’s Prime Minister
March was a dark month for Slovakia. Covid cases and deaths in the country were among the highest in Europe,…
