Pandemic Research Center Publication

Wilmot James, ISERP Senior research Scholar, and Abigail Pyne were published in the Daily Maverick.

Sharing vaccine doses with Africa is not just a moral imperative, it is an act that will protect the G7’s own citizens, economies and health systems. Unicef has proposed that G7 members donate 20% of their available vaccines, which would allow one billion doses to be quickly administered to nations in need, saving thousands of African lives.

ISERP study featured in the Christian Science Monitor.

A new study finds societies with higher levels of trust have coped better against the virus. A country’s social compact helps in the healing work.

A year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, scholars are only now discovering why some countries have done better than others in containing the virus. The main reason isn’t better medical equipment or more money. Rather, according to researchers at Columbia University, the Brenthurst Foundation, and other institutions, it is higher levels of trust within a society.

Thanks to a generous gift from Schmidt-Futures, Wilmot James (ISERP Senior Research Scholar, Ctr. for Pandemic Research Interim Chair) and co-authors Amanda McClelland (Resolve to Save Lives, Vital Strategies), Lawrence R. Stanberry (Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons), Lewis Rubin Thompson (ISERP and Vagelos College), and Lyal White (Brenthurst Foundation and University of Johannesburg), have conducted a study of COVID-19 response in 5 countries across the African continent.

By Talkmore Maruta in the Daily Maverick

31 August 2020

There is a need to consolidate global efforts to control and manage highly pathogenic agents like SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). The legal framework under development by Africa-CDC will address this by assigning government agencies to regulate research activities that include high-consequence pathogens, and to ensure ethical boundaries are not breached.