Virology

More coronaviruses in rodents

This week President Biden received the report he commissioned on the origin of SARS-CoV-2. As I predicted three months ago, nothing was learned, because to find the origin of the virus it is necessary to conduct extensive wildlife surveys. Consequently this week I would rather write about a new study ...

Are COVID-19 vaccine boosters needed?

The US Centers for Disease Control have concluded that a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine will be needed for protection against disease, but the science says otherwise. A review of the immune responses to infection will help explain why vaccine boosters are not needed. The graph below shows the relative ...

Estimate of infectiousness during COVID-19

Understanding the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is complicated by the large numbers of presymptomatic, asymptomatic, and mildly symptomatic (PAMS) patients. The reproductive number, R0, is a measure of population-level dynamics, but it cannot provide information on infectiousness of different groups such as PAMS subjects; when peak infectiousness occurs; and the effect ...

Heterologous Vaccine Regimens Might be Better

by Gertrud U. Rey Have you ever wondered if you can "mix and match" SARS-CoV-2 vaccines? For example, would it be ok to boost a first dose of the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca with a dose of the vaccine produced by Pfizer/BioNTech? The latest science shows that such a vaccine ...

Paul and the Mosquitos

From the authors of Paul Has Measles and Paul Stays Home comes Paul and the Mosquitos, an illustrated book for children about mosquito-borne diseases. In his camp, Paul and his friends discuss which is the most dangerous animal of all. They would never have imagined it would be the mosquito. ...
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