Pandemic fatigue and vaccine hesitancy continue to affect global public health, new 23-country study finds (medicalxpress.com)

While it found that global uptake of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose was robust, a new survey published in Nature Medicine revealed mixed signals about the current acceptance of vaccines generally, especially COVID-19 boosters. ...

"The repercussions of pandemic disruptions in health care services, the effects of the inequitable and slow global vaccine distribution, and the prevalence of misinformation and mistrust in health authorities continue to be felt," says Jeffrey V. Lazarus, Professor of Global Health at CUNY SPH, head of the Health Systems Research Group at Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and coordinator of the study.

Experts call for global genetic warning system to combat the next pandemic and antimicrobial resistance (medicalxpress.com)

...genomic surveillance could do much more to reduce the toll of disease and death worldwide than just protect us from COVID-19. Writing in Frontiers in Science, an international collective of clinical and public health microbiologists from the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) calls for investment in technology, capacity, expertise, and collaboration to put genomic surveillance of pathogens at the forefront of future pandemic preparedness.

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COVID-19 caused 21% excess of respiratory infections last winter, analysis finds Adults aged 30 to 39 years had the highest cumulative incidence, with 208 infections per 100 people. CIDRAP

A new study based on German data shows that SARS-CoV-2 caused a 21% excess of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) during the winter of 2022-23. The study was published this week in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases and suggests COVID-19 will add a significant burden during cold and flu seasons. 

Sweden will miss its climate goals without policy changes, environment agency says Sweden will not reach its climate targets without further political action to cut carbon emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday. Greta Rosen Fondahn Reuters

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