Daily briefing: What the science says about long COVID

Explainer

Within only a few months, pharmaceutical companies have produced a whole lot of thousands and thousands of doses of COVID-19 vaccine. But the world needs billions — and as fast as possible. Companies say they might make sufficient vaccines to immunize most of the world’s inhabitants by the finish of 2021. But this doesn’t take note of political delays in distribution, equivalent to nations imposing export controls — or that the overwhelming majority of doses are going to wealthier nations. Discover the way it could be potential to vaccinate the world, from unleashing the energy of mRNA vaccines, to the battle for short-term intellectual-property reduction.

Nature | 11 min read

News

A scientific trial of the Sinopharm vaccine in Peru has sparked outrage after researchers inoculated politicians and family members, violating trial regulations — and damaging public trust. The scandal emerged on 10 February, when native media revealed that in October 2020, then-president Martín Vizcarra had obtained two doses of the jab. It has triggered a collection of high-profile resignations at universities and in authorities. The public had seen the vaccine trial, and a subsequent deal for 38 million Sinopharm vaccine doses, as a turning level in the battle towards COVID-19.

Nature | 7 min read

Literature assessment

A complete assessment of the present literature reveals the prolonged effects of post-acute COVID-19 syndrome — also called long COVID. COVID-19 often lasts not more than 4 weeks from the onset of signs, however some individuals expertise issues equivalent to fatigue, shortness of breath, ‘brain fog’ and chest ache for a while afterwards. “It is clear that care for patients with COVID-19 does not conclude at the time of hospital discharge,” surmise the authors. “It is crucial for healthcare systems and hospitals to recognize the need to establish dedicated COVID-19 clinics, where specialists from multiple disciplines are able to provide integrated care.”

Nature Medicine | 50 min read

Physician-scientist Martin Landray describes how he and Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, deliberate the influential Recovery drug trial on a London bus in March 2020. (BBC | 7 min read)