Wealthy nations already hogging promised COVID-19 vaccines

More than half the doses of leading vaccine candidates have already been promised to the most wealthy nations accounting for just 13% of global population.

Welcome to The Medical Republic‘s COVID Catch-Up.

It’s the day’s COVID-19 news in one convenient post. Email bianca@biancanogrady.com with any tips, comments or feedback.

21 September

• Wealthy nations set to hog most of the early COVID-19 vaccine doses, Oxfam finds.
• Two studies report on cases of in-flight transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
• Otolaryngologists set record straight on how to do nasopharyngeal swab.
• Latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia.

• More than half the doses of leading vaccine candidates have already been promised to the most wealthy nations accounting for just 13% of global population, according to UK charity Oxfam.
  Oxfam analysed all the vaccine deals that have been publicly announced, and found that even in the unlikely event that all five leading vaccine candidates make it to market, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population will miss out until at least 2022.
  “These figures reveal how pharmaceutical monopolies are being protected at the expense of people’s health and the global economy,” Oxfam’s Health Policy Advisor Anna Marriott said in a press release.
• Two flight attendants have contracted COVID-19 in-flight from an infected passenger, according to a report in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
  The study described the case of a 58-year-old man who flew from Boston to Hong Kong in early March, and developed symptoms of COVID-19 the day he arrived in Hong Kong. His wife also developed COVID-19, as did two flight attendants. Genetic sequencing revealed the four cases were all from an identical strain, which was not found in other samples from Hong Kong at the time, suggesting that it was most likely contracted during the flight.
  Meanwhile, a second paper published in Emerging Infectious Diseases reported on another COVID-19 cluster of 16 cases associated with a long-haul flight. Twelve of the sixteen cases were seated in business class, along with the only symptomatic individual who was the probable index case.
  The study found that being seated closed to the infected individual was associated with significantly higher risk of infection.
• A bunch of bemused (or frustrated) otolaryngologists have published a gentle reminder that the trajectory from the nostril to the nasopharynx actually goes along the floor of the nose back towards the ear, not up and along the direction of the bridge of the nose.
  Writing in JAMA Otolarygnology Head and Neck Surgery, the authors suggested that improper nasopharyngeal swabbing technique could account for some of the false-negative results that have been reported with RT-PCR testing of nasopharyngeal swabs, not to mention patient discomfort.
  “There is a tendency to place packing “up” the nose where it may not only fail to reach the intended location but also be uncomfortable for the patient because the packing is wedged against the middle turbinate,” they wrote.
• Three cheers for Victorians, who have managed to get their new daily cases nearly down to single figures for the first time since the second wave roared into being. Here are the latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia to 9pm Sunday:
  National – 26,898 with 849 deaths.
  ACT – 113 (0)
  NSW – 4200 (2)
  NT – 33 (0)
  QLD – 1152 (2)
  SA – 466 (0)
  TAS – 230 (0)
  VIC – 20,042 (14)
  WA – 662 (1)