India Coronavirus Dispatch: How Covid is pushing women out of jobs in UP

'Covid passports' for international travel, status of front-runners in vaccine race, why vaccines should not be made too expensive-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

How the pandemic is pushing women out of jobs in UP

The lockdown and the resulting economic downturn have aggravated gender inequities, several reports have shown. Women have lost jobs and livelihoods, many are on the frontlines fighting the pandemic as health and social care workers, while also shouldering increased domestic workload. In a state like Uttar Pradesh, which has social and cultural restrictions on women’s mobility, the effects of the current crisis are bound to be even more gender-skewed, experts said. Read more here

8 Covid vaccines that look most likely to lead us out of pandemic — and where they stand

As an entire year seems to have been lost to coronavirus, all eyes are on 2021 to answer some big questions about the thing everyone is waiting for, a Covid-19 vaccine. When will one be available? How much will it cost? How long before there is enough for herd immunity to be achieved? Will one vaccine be more safe or efficacious than others?

There are over 100 vaccine candidates in various stages of development across the world, with many different technologies at play. This explainer will take you through the most promising vaccine candidates currently under trial, the companies manufacturing them, and explain what stage of development they are in, and the plans devised for their phased delivery and distribution. Read more here

Explained: The optimal temperature for storage of front-runner Covid-19 vaccines

There are several vaccines for Covid-19 in the works. As some enter the final stages of testing, the next big challenge is storage and transportation. The storage of a vaccine depends on the temperature they need to be kept at for their potency to remain intact. This varies with each vaccine candidate, even if they are developed using the same technology. Read more here

Covid passports emerge as key for the aviation industry to restart international travel

Global airline lobby IATA is working on a mobile app that will help travellers demonstrate their coronavirus-free status, joining a push to introduce so-called Covid passports as vaccines for the disease near approval.

The Travel Pass will display test results together with proof of inoculation, as well as listing national entry rules and details on the nearest labs, the International Air Transport Association said Monday. The app will also link to an electronic copy of the holder’s passport to prove their identity. Read more here

Opinion: Why rich countries & their pharma companies shouldn’t make Covid vaccines too expensive

The world is unequal enough and the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to make things more unequal still. Poorer countries have had to take on debt they will struggle to pay back. Their more fragile healthcare systems and crowded cities forced them into stricter and more economically harmful lockdowns, and poverty rates have risen dramatically. Now, they rightly fear a staggered recovery from the pandemic will further disadvantage them, given how expensive vaccine rollouts look to be, argues Mihir Swarup Sharma, an Indian economist who is a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. Read more here

Covid-19 Vaccines Were Developed in Record Time. Are They Safe?

There are now two Covid-19 vaccines that, at least according to preliminary reports, appear to be 94.5% and 95% effective. Both were developed in a record-breaking 11 months or so. How were these vaccines developed so quickly? How is safety assured when vaccine development is so fast? Are these vaccines riskier than others? Read more here