Will I be immune after getting the vaccine?
Since early 2020, people have been banking on a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine to help secure a return to normal life. The rollout of Australia s first COVID-19 vaccine, the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, is now only a few weeks away.
All of the coronavirus vaccines currently in use around the world are given in two doses, a few weeks apart. But, the protection the jabs will give you isn’t instant.
RMIT immunologist Dr Kylie Quinn said it takes about two weeks for the body to start generating enough antibodies to protect itself against the virus, but ‘protection’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘immunity’.
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The Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity said global supply chain issues affecting the Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID vaccines was a big problem . I am very concerned about that. We are in the middle of a global pandemic, Professor Sharon Lewin said.
Speaking to Virginia Trioli on Mornings, Professor Lewin said the shortages were particularly worrying for countries struggling to contain COVID outbreaks. We re doing very well in Australia. that doesn t mean we don t need a vaccine, but I don t think we have that same urgency.
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COVID-19 triggers huge rise in donations for research
The COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of 2020 sparked a huge rise in private philanthropic giving by billionaires and big private company charitable foundations in China with a substantial amount going towards research and development of vaccines, antiviral drugs and other treatments being developed by teams of scientists throughout China but particularly at elite universities and research centres.
A research report on
Pandemic Philanthropy in China by Bridge Consulting’s Beijing Office calculated that some CNY1.8 billion (US$279 million) was contributed to research and development (R&D) in China in the first half of 2020 after a strict lockdown was declared on 23 January 2020 in Wuhan, where the virus is thought to have originated.
2021-01-07 02:36:04 GMT2021-01-07 10:36:04(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
SYDNEY, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) Australian researchers have found if the immune system is mounting a systemic response throughout the entire body, its ability to deal with localized infections will be hampered.
Lead researcher, University of Melbourne Professor and laboratory head at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity Scott Mueller told Xinhua Wednesday the findings could also affect the effectiveness of vaccines in people experiencing a systemic infection like a chronic disease or an acute inflammation.
By using mice models, researchers from the institute uncovered how the immune system balances local and systemic immune responses and the relevant paper was published in Cell Reports recently.
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GPS data could help map COVID-19 transmission risk
The study found de-identified GPS data could be used to identify areas with heightened COVID-19 transmission risk.
Human mobility data gathered from de-identified mobile devices could help map coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission and support contact tracing efforts, according to new research.
The Australian research, published today in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, analysed the Cedar Meats outbreak in Melbourne, the Crossroads Hotel outbreak in Western Sydney and community transmission in Victoria between June and July 2020.
The transmission patterns were then compared to near-real-time population mobility GPS data gathered from the Facebook Data for Good program.