Does the government really need to provide financial support for COVID vaccine development?

Based on an a medRχiv working paper by Vu by et al. (2020), the answer from an analysis of other emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) is an overwhelming ‘yes’. The authors analyze hypothetical investment returns of a portfolio of 141 pre-clinical emerging infectious disease (EID) vaccine development programs across different emerging infections without a vaccine. These…

Do travel bans work?

According to Vox, the answer is ‘no’.  The reason isn’t because travel bans don’t work in theory; it is because in practice travel bans  are never perfectly enforceable and thus may cause more harm than they help. But there’s a very clear problem with using a travel ban to stop Ebola: it renders useless the…

Hepatitis C Around the World

The global burden of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is distressing. “[A]n estimated 130–170 million persons (2%–3% of the world’s population) are living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection [1]. This infection, particularly in its chronic form, is associated with sizable morbidity and mortality. More than 350 000 deaths are attributed to HCV infection each…

World TB Day 2010

Today, March 24th, is World Tuberculosis Day.  According to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, there were 9.4 million new TB cases in 2008 and 1.8 million deaths.  The CDC website has more information on what can be done to stop the spread of TB. There is lots of coverage of the TB Day activities from…