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To contrast with President Bolsonaro's Covid-19 response, this town in Brazil is allowing Pfizer to test the lasting effects of an entirely vaccinated (ages 12 and up) city.

There is public hesitancy to the vaccine and resistance to the vaccine mandate in Europe, but backlash has been stronger in the USA due to a more partisan environment fueling more staunch and extreme opinions. The author contends that blame against unvaccinated people and backlash against anti-vaxx sentiments is actually making people more resistant to getting vaccinated.

In Europe there is hesitancy to get vaccinated and resistance to vaccine mandates, but in the USA it is stronger because the partisan environment is making people have stronger opinions. The author also contends that blame against anti-vaxxers and backlash against anti-vaxx sentiments is actually making people more staunch in their opinions and hesitant to get vaccinated.

The Los Angeles School districts are now requiring vaccines for children 12 and up. Children must be vaccinated by October 19, or they will not be allowed to attend in-person school.

I think that the Los Angeles School district vaccination requirement is good news, especially since it is one of the larger school districts. I wonder which other school districts will follow this example, and I hope that other school districts will join the effort to protect their student's health.

Good to see the vaccination being taken seriously ! ^And I agree with Julia: I hope other school districts will do the most in order to preserve student health.

Recently, Russia announced that it had created the first Covid-19 vaccine. They were immediately met with skepticism by many Western countries, as well as from doctors around the world. I find it very interesting that Russia named their vaccine "Sputnik V" after Sputnik 1, the first space satellite; it seems like Russia wants to mirror the Space Race by racing to find a vaccine while other countries focus on trials to ensure a potential vaccine's safety and effectiveness.

Although it is obvious that this vaccine has not undergone enough testing for researchers to fully understand its efficiency or possible side effects, I find it interesting that western countries were so quick to dismiss it completely. I recently read an article on Dr. Fauci that explained his time as a health official during the AIDS crisis. Because scientists did not know how the virus spread and the majority of its victims were a part of the gay community, researchers refused to go off the strict track of trials usually regulated. In short, thousands and thousands of ill people were rapidly dying yet being told they could not undergo treatment for fear of bad side effects or results. After lots of protest from the LBGTQ community, Fauci, as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, allowed for more experimental drug treatment due to the deadliness of the virus. Today, he is regarded as a hero and a scientific humanist who did the right thing when it was necessary. Yet when Russia follows a similar track, it is regarded as rushed and faked for nice press or some Cold-War feud against the US. Although the death rate was much higher, and subsequently side effects would matter less if the patient would ultimately die without intervention (whereas with Covid, side effects could be catastrophic by worsening large groups of the population who would have otherwise survived), I find it interesting that Americans still harbor so much resentment towards Russia (or at least assume that everything must be a competition). I wonder how this was reported on in other countries.

"Partly because of skepticism about shots, Bulgaria has fully inoculated only 20 percent of adults, and Romania 32 percent, well below the European Union average of 70 percent."

I'd be interested to compare how anti-vax sentiments compare in America and in Eastern Europe. It's sad to see how availability is no longer a limiting factor for the vaccine, but it's people's willingness to get the vaccine. Though, I was glad to hear about the higher vaccination rates in most of the EU. Also, I had never seen the term "glass ceiling" used in a context that wasn't about sexism.

Russia is hitting its highest daily cases of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic despite being the first to authorize a vaccine. They have plentiful supplies but like the U.S., they are suffering from vaccine hesitancy. Putin is ordering a one-week lockdown starting October 30th.

On second thought (in response to my initial comment on "Amnesty International to close Hong Kong offices this year"), I think that maybe a decrease in freedom can also lead to an increase in equality (in this case fewer virus cases) in a non-economic situation. Although, this lockdown in Russia is in a way economic because poorer people will suffer more and have a harder time making money.

I was surprised to hear that Russia had such low vaccination rates since they were the first to authorize the vaccine. The article says that public attitudes are "lax", especially with conflicting signals from authorities, and I wonder if these lax views on vaccination relate in any way to nationalism or to their views on freedom vs. equality.

Fairly self-explanatory. It seems like Cuba wants approval from the UN to export more vaccines, and that there was a prior agreement for Venezuela to buy some vaccines from Cuba. However, the Venezuelan National Academy of Medicine seems to be concerned about the research that went into these vaccines.

Interesting. For a long time (under Castro) Cuban doctors were held in high respect in the developing world.

Pfizer announced that it would fully vaccinate everyone in the city over the age of 12 so it can carry out a study of the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.

Researchers have found that men produce weaker immune responses to the corona virus than women, and that men over 60 may need to depend of a vaccine more than others. These findings suggest that vaccine dosing may vary depending on the sex of the patient, and the FDA has asked companies pursuing vaccines to release data analyzed by participants' sex.

This was very interesting. A closer look suggests that older men have a much weaker activation of T cells which directly correlates to their poor responses to the disease. Even very old women aged 90 years old have a "decent immune response".

Hi Maya! This is such an interesting topic. I had always just assumed that everyone would get the same amount of vaccines. I am concerned how this will impact minorities. In the past, doctors and researchers have mostly examined only how sex (not race, ability, ect) plays a role in dosage (which has caused problems for minority populations). I am curious if researchers will examine how these other factors play a role in dosage rather than just sex.

China has begun giving tens if not hundreds of thousands of people who they consider to be essential workers coronavirus vaccines that have yet to pass phase 3 clinical trials, sparking world wide unrest regarding the risk to both those who are taking vaccines with potentially dangerous side effects and others who they may infect due to them not taking safety precaution since they believe themselves to be immune.

It is quite interesting to see this idea of "my body, my choice" being used in a different situation by a different group of people.

It is interesting to see that the exact same protests are happening in countries like the UK and the Netherlands against these vaccine passports and mandates.

I have the answering slogan: "My community, my responsibility to vaccinate." rrrrrrrrrrrrr.... and thanks, Sam, for noting that this is happening elsewhere in the world as well.

It is always interesting to compare vaccination rates in other nations. I feel like people often use Venezuela as an example of a "dysfunctional" country, but their vaccination rates aren't that bad considering the state of their economy.

Amid the nation's worst Covid-19 outbreak, patients are trapped in remote communities and doctors are prioritizing treatment based on who is most likely to survive.

It amazed and disgusted me that the people defying the vaccine and the mask mandates in Alaska have been protesting by wearing the Star of David; likening their situation to the holocaust.

Stories like this are a reminder that Covid is still very much an emergency situation. As a vaccinated person in a community with low hospitalization rates, it can be easy to feel distant from the issue at hand.

This article not only touches upon the dangerous and negative effects of the Ebola outbreak, but calls into questions an ethical controversy regarding preferential treatment when it comes to medical care. As the need for a cure escalates, the time allotted for the testing and developing of an anti-Ebola drug diminishes. Thus, medicine that has not been thoroughly tested has been distributed to two white Americans infected with the virus. This begs the question: Why these two? Does it have to do with their race or anti-African biases? And once the drug is fully developed, who will receive the treatment first? Who will be prioritized? Additionally, this contentious matter has added to the already distrustful African view of Western pharmaceuticals and relief efforts.

I found it interesting that not only did the article touch on the ethical questions of who to give the first available drugs to, from a standpoint of where it would be most effective rather than just where it would be most convenient. The part of the article where acceptance of the drug came into question was another touchy matter. The attempt to administer the drug as a solution to the Ebola break out is difficult because of the nature of the illness and the apprehension towards Western Medicine. Even though the medicine is available there's no telling if this quick fix will actually contain and solve the crisis just as Arthur Kaplan says at the end of the article.

The article brings to light interesting conflicts between African countries and the western industries of medicine. I feel like it would be effective to offer medical education to the local inhabitants in the infected african countries. That way their knowledge can help them avoid getting the disease. Furthermore, they would have more knowledge to help them decide whether or not they would like to take the drug that is possibly a functioning vaccination, rather than just not giving the sick African patients the option. The complexity of this problem is interesting because it deals with issues of ethics and trust.

President Biden is sending more vaccine doses to the developing world. This is a good thing, I think, considering that a lot of Americans don't even want it. But, is it a good thing that Biden even has to do this in the first place?

This is really interesting to me, but I wonder how people across the U.S. feel about it. Also, does Biden need any kind of congressional approval or is this within the scope of executive powers.

Interesting seeing this vs the US

A little sad to see that in comparison, only 55% of California adults are full vaccinated