BioNTech, which co-developed a revolutionary mRNA covid-19 vaccine in partnership with Pfizer, hopes to revolutionise another area of pharmaceuticals: vaccine manufacturing. It is developing vaccine factories to sit inside a series of standard metal shipping containers, which it plans to send to parts of the world that lack their own vaccine-manufacturing capabilities-notably Africa. Each facility, BioNTech says, will be able to produce up to 60m doses of covid vaccines and other vaccines each year, and will cost "significantly less" than conventional factories. If so, this could be the future of drugmaking. https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/biontech-plans-to-make-vaccines-in-shipping-containers/

The 2022 LinkedIn Jobs on the Rise list reveals the 15 fastest-growing job titles over the past five years and the trends defining

"The safest situation, especially for prolonged contact in crowded settings, is when everyone is wearing well-fitting N95 respirators." "Now it’s understood the virus is airborne. Virus-laden particles build up in the air over time indoors because of breathing and speaking. "It’s time to rethink and upgrade masks for you and your family." Here are excellent explainers on why we need to think differently about masks in response to Omicrom from:> The Conversation > https://bit.ly/3qQy8lr> The ABC > https://ab.co/3nQ8xr4And more about re-use of N95s - https://lnkd.in/ggycyNT7

The Canadian province of Quebec will charge a health tax to residents who are not vaccinated against Covid-19.Only about 12.8% of

It's time for authorities to recognise that RAT's (rapid antigen tests, also called lateral flow tests) are very useful and should be made readily available in Australia. RAT's are taken in a similar way to PCR tests, but use technology more akin to pregnancy tests. They are much cheaper and faster.Millions of RAT's were rolled out to households across the UK mid year so that people could take swabs and test themselves at home. The “rapid testing” method allows people to find out whether they are asymptomatic carriers of Covid-19 and can yield results within 30 minutes. Advertising in the UK shows how RAT's are used in conjunction with PCR tests.

PA Hospital lung cancer researcher Dr Arutha Kulasinghe has collaborated with local and overseas researchers to identify a genetic marker called IFI27 in the lung tissue and blood of people with Covid-19 which can be used to identify how severe the virus is likely to be in Covid-19 patients and signal whether they need to be hospitalised or are able to quarantine at home. Sydney-based company SpeeDx are now developing a blood test that could be used by an infected person, early on in their symptoms, as a guide to how bad their infection will be. | https://www.pafoundation.org.au/news/36/covid-19-studies-advanced-thanks-to-cancer-research