BIRCH team
COVID-19 vaccine COVID-19 variants Wes Van Voorhis UW Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness
January 29, 2021 | Health News

United World Antiviral Research Network (UWARN) Partners Collaborate to Expand Understanding of New COVID Variants, Key to Future Vaccine Development

The recent recognition of new COVID-19 variants, first detected in South Africa (B.1.135, 501Y.V2), Brazil (P1) and the UK (B.1.1.7) – and the variants’ potential to disrupt vaccine effectiveness and protection from prior COVID-19 infection – is an urgent concern that UWARN partners around the globe are collaborating on to understand.

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COVID-19 Ventilation UW Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness COVID-19 Literature Situation Report
December 22, 2020 | Health News

Summary of Evidence Related to Indoor Ventilation to Reduce SARS-CoV-2 Transmission

This updated in-depth summary (previously released on December 21, 2020) is issued in response to new information that we received about updated definitions of aerosol particles that show that larger respiratory particles (<100 μm) can remain airborne for extended periods, and that in enclosed areas with poor ventilation, these aerosols containing infectious SARS-CoV-2 can spread beyond 6 feet and build up in a room. We apologize for not including this information in the earlier version of this summary.

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Beth Bell COVID-19 vaccine
December 22, 2020 | Health News

Who Gets COVID-19 Vaccine Next? Older Adults and 'Frontline Essential Workers,' CDC Advisers Recommend (quotes Beth Bell)

By Jacqueline Howard and Jen Christensen, CNN

(CNN)Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted 13-1 on Sunday to recommend that both older adults, ages 75 and older, and "frontline essential workers" including first responders be next in line to receive Covid-19 vaccines.

That would put those people in "Phase 1b" of allocating the vaccine nationwide.

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Climate and health Kristie Ebi
December 09, 2020 | Health News

The Health Effects of Climate Change (includes Kris Ebi)

The December 2020 issue of Health Affairs is the first-ever focused exclusively on the intersection of climate and health. It covers topics including the health sector’s contribution to carbon emissions and other forms of pollution, how communities are affected by and adapting to the changing climate, and policies to protect against further damage. Kristie Ebi, UW CHanGE, served as theme adviser of the issue. 

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