Focus on: COVID-19: vaccines

Fairly prioritizing groups for access to COVID-19 vaccines. The supply of any successful vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will initially be limited. Who should have access first? The US National Academy of Medicine(NAM)hasproposedaframework forCOVID-19 vaccine allocation. Others have discussed distributing vaccine among countries. This...

Ensuring equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines in the US: current system challenges and opportunities. There has been a worldwide effort to accelerate the development of safe and effective vaccines for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. When vaccines become licensed and available broadly to the public, the final hurdle is equitable distribution and access for all who are recommended...

Vaccination criteria based on factors influencing COVID-19 diffusion and mortality. SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious, rapidly turned into a pandemic, and is causing a relevant number of critical to severe life-threatening COVID-19 patients. However, robust statistical studies of a large cohort of patients, potentially useful to implement a vaccination campaign, are rare. We...

Human African trypanosomiasis: current status and eradication efforts. Epidemics of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) in the twentieth century led to millions of deaths. However, since the start of the twenty-first century, there has been a continued decline in the number of reported cases, due to increased investment and prioritisation of control efforts....

Onchocerciasis: status and progress towards elimination. Craw craw was first described almost 150 years ago. Since then considerable progress has been made in understanding the Onchocerca volvulus life cycle, its effects on the host (blindness, skin disease and epilepsy) and potential control measures. Early attempts were aimed at controlling the black...

Buruli ulcer: currents status and options for future prevention. Buruli ulcer (BU) is a serious skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans infection. Over the last 10 years, the understanding of the epidemiology, ecology, aetiology and physiopathology of BU has progressed considerably. This paper reviews the current knowledge of BU and the options for future...