The corona crisis shows us what a virus can do when no vaccine is available. What does this do to the sentiments around vaccination? It’s early February and the first son of Frederike and Peter is born: Tim. As far as Peter is concerned, Tim gets his vaccinations when the time is right. But Frederike has doubts. She’s surrounded by people who are ‘fiercely anti’ and, to a certain degree, she understands them. But she also calls herself rational, not
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Anthropologist Agustin Fuentes emphasizes COVID-19 is not just a biological event For months, we’ve been obsessed by the virus. But according to Agustin Fuentes, COVID-19 is about our social, economical, political and health infrastructures. We should no longer regard COVID-19 as a biological event. At least, that’s what anthropologist Agustin Fuentes of Notre Dame University in Indiana, argues. Of course, he recognizes the virus SARS-CoV-2 is a biological entity, and COVID-19 is characterized by significant morbidity and mortality. But we
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'Korean Dr Fauci' Woo-Joo Kim about his country's approach Should western countries adopt the approach of countries like South Korea? Or is their success too particular or even temporary? The ‘Korean Dr. Fauci’ Woo-Joo Kim explains his country’s strategy, its strengths and its weaknesses. And he shows his marvel about some of the western measures – or lack of them. Reporters Online exclusive The international press has lauded the Korean approach of the novel coronavirus, based on mask wearing, mass
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Last week I was pointed at an interesting analysis of the global coronavirus approaches. The author, dr. Daxin Ni, a deputy director of the public health emergency center at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and former steering committee member of WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), compared two general approaches: the SARSlike and pandemic flu-like approach. Although I want to emphasize this is not my analysis and I do not necessarily agree with all
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Science Magazine / sciencemag.org Researchers in four countries will soon start a clinical trial of an unorthodox approach to the new coronavirus. They will test whether a century-old vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), a bacterial disease, can rev up the human immune system in a broad way, allowing it to better fight the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 and, perhaps, prevent infection with it altogether. The studies will be done in physicians and nurses, who are at higher risk of
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The corona crisis from within At the daycare of the three-year-old son of Jop de Vrieze and Zvezdana Vukojevic, a boy turned out to be infected with the corona virus. In the meantime, the epidemic is also unfolding in the Netherlands. Originally posted in De Groene Amsterdammer (in Dutch) The phones vibrate almost simultaneously. At 4:22 PM on Friday afternoon, we receive an email from our childcare Compananny with the subject: "Parent has corona virus infection". We quick scan: "Unfortunately
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A HEALTHY DOSE OF SUSPICION Until recently, conspiracy thinkers were mainly studied to find out what derailed them. But a new generation of researchers is taking them more seriously. 'The important thing is not whether the theories are correct, but where the distrust is coming from." Originally published in Dutch in EOS Magazine 20-2-2018 The 1990s. The age of The X-Files and other tv series full of dark practices, extraterrestrial life and government cover-ups. The young Jaron Harambam (1983), who
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A SHOT OF HOPE Published in Science Magazine, November 29, 2019 MALAWI—In a small room at the Phalula Health Centre in southern Malawi's Balaka district, two young mothers are sitting on a wooden bench, each with a 5-month-old baby on their lap. Across from them, behind a desk, sits Alfred Kaponya, a community health worker. A colleague is busy preparing a vaccine, tapping the syringe to dislodge bubbles. Kaponya explains the procedure to the women, writes down the vaccines' serial
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After the stillbirth of their son, journalists Jop de Vrieze and Zvezdana Vukojevic are in search of answers within the Dutch system of natal care. Gynecologist: ”Could we have saved him? Maybe, yes.” “Couldn’t you have called sooner?” Fifteen minutes earlier I stepped into our midwife practice, because I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt my unborn son moving in my belly. At first, I almost got sent home, both consultation rooms were occupied. “Just lie down
Lees verderA modern day do-over of a mid-20th century pupillometry experiment raises the question: What should we make of a failed replication? December 6, 2018 by Jop de Vrieze Anyone who enters the field of pupillometry — the study of pupil size — stumbles upon one classic research paper: “Pupil Size as Related to Interest Value of Visual Stimuli.” The study was published in Science in 1960 by psychologists Eckhard H. Hess and James M. Polt of the University of Chicago.
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