New waves, new variants, old inequity: a continuing COVID-19 crisis

Saha, Senjuti; Tanmoy, Arif Mohammad; Tanni, Afroza Akter; Goswami, Sharmistha; Sium, Syed Muktadir Al; Saha, Sudipta; Islam, Shuborno; Hooda, Yogesh; Malaker, Apurba R.; Anik, Ataul Mustufa; Haq, Saidul; Jabin, Tasnim; Hossain, Mobarok; Tabassum, Nazifa; Rahman, Hafizur; Hossain, Jibon; Islam, Mohammad Shahidul; Saha, Samir K.

doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007031

Cited by 36 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Based on a technical report [53], about £2.5 million for Clinical Trial Phase I, £20 million for Clinical Trial Phase II, £65-250 million for Clinical Trial Phase III, and £20 million for Phase IV are needed. Adding it up, this number could reach as high as £292.5 million.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Inequities in COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-Out Strategy Programs: A Cross-Country Study Using a Machine Learning Approach

2022

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After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and its spread across the world, countries have adopted containment measures to stop its transmission, limit fatalities, and relieve hospitals from straining and overwhelming conditions imposed by the virus. Many countries implemented social distancing and lockdown strategies that negatively impacted their economies and the psychological wellbeing of their citizens, even though they contributed to saving lives. Recently approved and available, COVID-19 vaccines can provide a really viable and sustainable option for controlling the pandemic. However, their uptake represents a global challenge due to vaccine hesitancy and logistic–organizational hurdles that have made its distribution stagnant in several developed countries despite several appeals by the media, policy- and decision-makers, and community leaders. Vaccine distribution is also a concern in developing countries, where there is a scarcity of doses. The objective of the present study was to set up a metric to assess vaccination uptake and identify national socio-economic factors influencing this indicator. We conducted a cross-country study. We first estimated the vaccination uptake rate across countries by fitting a logistic model to reported daily case numbers. Using the uptake rate, we estimated the vaccine roll-out index. Next, we used Random Forest, an “off-the-shelf” machine learning algorithm, to study the association between vaccination uptake rate and socio-economic factors. We found that the mean vaccine roll-out index is 0.016 (standard deviation 0.016), with a range between 0.0001 (Haiti) and 0.0829 (Mongolia). The top four factors associated with the vaccine roll-out index are the median per capita income, human development index, percentage of individuals who have used the internet in the last three months, and health expenditure per capita. The still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the disparity in vaccine adoption across low- and high-income countries, which represents a global public health challenge. We must pave the way for universal access to vaccines and other approved treatments, regardless of demographic structures and underlying health conditions. Income disparity remains, instead, an important cause of vaccine inequity, which restricts the functioning of the global vaccine allocation framework and, thus, the ending of the pandemic. Stronger mechanisms are needed to foster countries’ political willingness to promote vaccine and drug access equity in a globalized society where future pandemics and other global health crises can be anticipated.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Inequities in COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-Out Strategy Programs: A Cross-Country Study Using a Machine Learning Approach

2022

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“…Multiple SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccines have been developed in record time, but the problems of vaccine hesitancy, 2 global vaccine distribution inequalities, 3 emergence of new variants 4 and fading postvaccination immunity 5,6 make the goal of reaching global herd immunity against SARS‐CoV‐2 unlikely. This emphasises the need for effective, cheap and widely available pharmacological treatment options.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safety and efficacy of fluvoxamine in COVID‐19 ICU patients: An open label, prospective cohort trial with matched controls

Čalušić

Marčec

Luksa

et al. 2021

Brit J Clinical Pharma

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Aims Fluvoxamine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and sigma‐1 receptor agonist, has so far shown promise in the prevention of COVID‐19 progression as an early treatment option in three trials. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of fluvoxamine in COVID‐19 patients if administered later in the course of the disease. Methods The study was designed as an open‐label, prospective cohort trial with matched controls. In April and May 2021, 51 ICU COVID‐19 patients hospitalised in the University Hospital Dubrava and University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Croatia, were treated with fluvoxamine 100 mg three times daily for 15 days in addition to standard therapy and they were prospectively matched for age, gender, vaccination against COVID‐19, disease severity and comorbidities with 51 ICU controls. Results No statistically significant differences between groups were observed regarding the number of days on ventilator support, duration of ICU or total hospital stay. However, overall mortality was lower in the fluvoxamine group, 58.8% ( n = 30/51), than in the control group, 76.5% ( n = 39/51), HR 0.58, 95% CI (0.36–0.94, P = .027). Conclusion Fluvoxamine treatment in addition to the standard therapy in hospitalised ICU COVID‐19 patients could have a positive impact on patient survival. Further studies on the effects of fluvoxamine in COVID‐19 patients are urgently required.

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“…Health care systems have been struggling to control the spread of COVID-19 and health care workers have been working under extremely tough conditions to heal infected individuals for approximately 2 years [3,4]. Although significant progress has been achieved due to effective health policies, lifestyle changes, legal regulations, and widespread vaccination programs, COVID-19 has still not been fully controlled, especially due to the emergence of new variants [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of clinical features and perinatal outcomes between pre-variant and post-variant periods in pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2: analysis of 1935 cases

Şahın

Tanaçan

Anuk

et al. 2022

Arch Gynecol Obstet

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Purpose To compare the clinical features and perinatal outcomes of pregnant women with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the pre-variant and post-variant periods. Methods This prospective cohort study includes pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 who were followed-up at Ankara City Hospital between 11, March 2020 and 15, September 2021. Demographic features, clinical characteristics and pregnancy outcomes were compared between the pre-variant ( n = 1416) and post-variant ( n = 519) groups. Results The rates of severe and critical cases significantly increased in the post-variant group (9.7% vs 2%, p < 0.001). The rates of respiratory support (26.8% vs 7.3%, p < 0.001), ICU admission (12.9% vs 1.8%, p < 0.001) and maternal mortality (2.9% vs 0.4%, p < 0.001) were significantly higher in the post-variant group. A significant increase was observed for pregnancy complications in the post-variant group (45.6% vs 18.8%, p = 0.007). The rates of preterm delivery (26.4% vs 4.4%, p < 0.001) and NICU admission (34% vs 18.8%, p < 0.001) were significantly higher in the post-variant group. Positive, weak, statistically significant correlations were observed between the post-variant period, disease severity and maternal mortality ( r = 0.19, r = 0.12 and p < 0.001). Conclusion Post-variant COVID-19 period was associated with a severe course of the disease and increased rates of adverse obstetric outcomes in pregnant patients.

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New waves, new variants, old inequity: a continuing COVID-19 crisis

Cited by 36 publications

References 8 publications

Assessing Inequities in COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-Out Strategy Programs: A Cross-Country Study Using a Machine Learning Approach

Assessing Inequities in COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-Out Strategy Programs: A Cross-Country Study Using a Machine Learning Approach

Safety and efficacy of fluvoxamine in COVID‐19 ICU patients: An open label, prospective cohort trial with matched controls

Comparison of clinical features and perinatal outcomes between pre-variant and post-variant periods in pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2: analysis of 1935 cases

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