Little to no appetite for paid vaccines: Rural survey As the government, medical authorities and researchers scramble to launch a vaccine, here are findings from a survey called ‘Covid-19 Vaccine and Rural India’ that gauged appetite for paid vaccines in India. The survey, carried out by Gaon Connection, a rural media platform, found that less than half (44%) of the respondents from rural households were willing to pay for vaccination against Covid-19. 36% of the respondents said they would not pay for it. The survey was conducted across 60 districts in 16 States and one Union Territory with a sample size of 6,040 households. The interviews were done face-to-face, the writer of the article says.
Keller and colleagues examined specifically the proteins that make up the viral envelope the outermost layer of the virus. And the outermost point at the envelope is the spoke protein, the coronavirus’s key tool in infecting the human cell. The researchers said virus adsorption at non-living surfaces most likely involves the spike protein. “Understanding S1 spike protein interaction with fomite surfaces thus represents an important milestone on the road to fighting the spread of Covid-19,” they write in their paper.
To examine the adsorption of virus particles on non-living surfaces, the research used high-speed atomic force microscopy. The surfaces in the experiments were brought into contact with electrolytes carrying proteins that the researchers had isolated from the virus. To understand how coughed-out, virus-laden droplets would interact with these surfaces when landing on them, the researchers adjusted the salt concentrations and pH values of the electrolytes so that
E-Mail
Advanced Nano-Biomed Research, a journal that is part of the Advanced Science series.
It is generally known that coronaviruses are primarily transmitted via the air. However, several studies have now also identified transmission through contaminated surfaces as an important factor. There is increasing evidence that they can play a key role in the spread of viral infections. So far, however, little is known about the physical-chemical mechanisms of the interactions and how these interactions influence the viability and infectivity of the viruses, explains physicist Dr Adrian Keller, who heads the Nanobiomaterials working group at Paderborn University. According to Keller, appropriate knowledge is not only important with regard to the development of antiviral coatings, but also for the adaptation of sterilisation and disinfection protocols when, for example, there are shortages of personal protective equipment and disinfectants.