Dose, But No Cigar

We (justifiably) spend a lot of time on vaccine hesitancy. But let’s pause here to celebrate just how much vaccine has been plunged into human arms. As of this week, 10 billion doses have been administered globally, and 25.15 million are now administered each day. Yes, some stubborn people are still abstaining, but in less than half the time it usually takes humans to come up with an effective vaccine, this one has become more popular than cocaine at Studio 54. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, like at Studio 54, there is a velvet rope between people and good stuff. Only 9.8% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. And in many cases, those doses aren’t nearly as good as the stuff wealthy countries are getting.

+ The effectiveness of vaccines has been solid across the board. But there are clearly other factors at work in some places. NPR: Africa may have reached the pandemic’s holy grail.

+ During the Novax Djokovic saga, I wrote: “If I were a betting man, I’d bet that Novax didn’t break isolation while positive, but instead faked a positive result to get out of Australia’s vaccination requirement.” BBC did more than just hypothesize, and my bet is looking pretty good. Novak Djokovic: Doubts over timing of Covid test.

+ NYC Mayor’s Office Tells New Yorkers: Get a COVID Test if You’ve Been Anywhere Near Sarah Palin. (She still seems less toxic than she used to be.)