Terminology - WOTTIES 2021 - 'Strollout' ANU National Dictionary Center Word of the Year

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The National Dictionary Center, at the Australian National University (ANU), selected 'strollout' as the 2021 Word of the Year (WOTY). The neologism refers to how slow the vaccine rollout unfolded in Australia. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Secretary, Sally McManus, is credited as the person who coined the term 'strollout' to express the frustration of Australians, who saw vaccines as a 'path to freedom' from 'lockdowns', and the constraints of the 'new normal' (Burnside, Nov. 16, 2021).

In keeping with the mission of the ANU National Dictionary Center, which is to conduct research on Australian English, and to advise the Oxford University Press on matters of Australian English, the ANU National Dictionary Center, was motivated to select the WOTY 'strollout'  as a uniquely Australian term, of considerable local frequency. A selection criterion that contrasts with the overriding high-frequency criteria, usually invoked to select WOTTIES. In sum, the term 'strollout' was selected as an Australian English WOTY, within the state of the 2021 global pandemic context, which has had such a massive planetary effect, including on language use.    

References

ANU - National dictionary Center.
https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc

Burnside, N. (Nov. 16, 2021). In choosing 'strollout' as its Word of the Year, the National Dictionary Centre alludes to a uniquely Australian problem.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-17/australian-word-of-the-year-is-strollout-referencing-vaccines/100626698

 

Terminology - Vaccine equity in the US

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Sometimes, even the best efforts to ensure equity are vexed with stubborn obstacles. This is the case of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign in the US, where efforts have consistently been deployed to ethically rollout vaccinations, for medical personnel, the elderly and most vulnerable populations first. A gracious, bully-proof policy, aimed at countering perverse twists on survival-of-the-fittest, while setting the tone for the rest of the world. However, despite such best ethical efforts, together with a stockpile (under fire) of vaccines large enough to provide vaccinations for all of the US population plus more, and 100% free administration of vaccines at multiple venues with almost no-questions asked, the US vaccine campaign is definitely flunking racial/ethnic equity.  

ABC News Vaccine Watch - California vaccine demographics

Specifically, despite 1> the new Biden administration successful launch of an unprecedented, top-priority, vaccine roll-out across the nation: at all the National Football League (NFL) stadiums and closed-campus parking lots, in churches, and other places of worship, at the large retail pharmacy chains, such as Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid and Safeway, at clinics, healthcare centers, and other medical facilities, in cooperation with FEMA, the Federal Emergency Agency of the US Department of Homeland Security. 2>  US Federal government purchase of a total of 600 million doses, 300 million respectively from Pfizer and Moderna, intended for 100% free administration (Staff HHS, Feb. 2021), and 3> A pace of vaccinations, scaled up to 3 to 4 million inoculations per day, the undeniable success of this campaign is also marred. 

In other words, even if the campaign appears to be rolling out successfully with the necessary infrastructure of "stuff, staff and space" such pre-requisites also appear far from sufficient to guarantee equal access. Insufficient, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) research, tracking race/ethnicity of the US vaccination campaign (Staff KFF, April 2021).

For example, based on CDC data, the KFF found that: 

 “As of April 6, 2021, CDC reported that race/ethnicity was known for just over half (55%) of people who had received at least one dose of the vaccine. Among this group, nearly two thirds were White (65%), 11% were Hispanic, 8% were Black, 5% were Asian, 1% were American Indian or Alaska Native, and <1% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, while 9% reported multiple or other race [Italics mine].” Ndugga et. al, April. 2021 

 KFF further tracked and analyzed race/ethincity data published in 43 US States, precisely to inform action for a more equitable US campaign. In this regards, acknowledging the incompleteness of the data sets, the KFF also  found:  

“ […]  a consistent pattern across states of Black and Hispanic people receiving smaller shares of vaccinations compared to their shares of cases and deaths and compared to their shares of the total population. […]

Overall, across these 41 states, the vaccination rate among White people is 1.8 times higher than the rate for Hispanic people (28% vs. 16%), and 1.6 times as high as the rate for Black people (28% vs. 17%).” Ndugga et. al, April. 2021

Thus, many additional dependent variables appear related to vaccine equity in the US, all of which are being investigated and further acted upon, to remedy the situation (Ndugga etc. al. March 2021). The following are some of the additional variables identified, known to prevent the vaccination equity that most people expect and deeply desire (Lewis, 2021).

1. Car ownership enabling people to drive to the nearest vaccination center, which may be located way beyond walking distance. (Lewis, 2021)
2. Living far from public transportation for access to a vaccination center.(Lewis, 2021)
3. Poor internet access, creating a challenge to secure a vaccination appointment.(Lewis, 2021)
4. Inadequate literacy skills to make an appointment on the Internet, and/or confusing and maze-like instructions for securing a COVID-19 vaccination appointment.(Lewis, 2021)
5. Language barriers for non-English/limited English-speaking people, coupled with burdensome proof-of-eligibility requirements.(Lewis, 2021)
6. Differences in age-expectancy between black and white populations, brought on by systemic racism. In other words, the shorter life span of the black population, makes the black population more vulnerable at a younger age than the white population. Hence the call for lowering the age-cut-off for black populations, prior to lifting the age-related pecking order for vaccinations.(Lewis, 2021)
7. Conversely, a higher life-expectancy for Hispanic populations compared to non-latino white populations, despite the lower socio-economic status of Hispanics. Demographics which might consequently result in raising the age cut-off for Hispanics. However, the latino population suffered far more COVID-19 casualties than the non-latino white population, which canceled any age-raising suggestions.(Lewis, 2021)
8. Differences in the age-expectancy of the Native American population, also calling for lowering the age cut-off for Native Americans. A population that dies way before the white population, and that has suffered more casualties and difficulties, during the pandemic. (Lewis, 2021)
9. Mistrust and skepticism preventing vaccination uptake, arising in a long tradition of malpractice promulgated against communities of color, and structural racism. (Chavez and Peña, 2021)
10. Fear of vaccinations, callously fueled by misinformation on potential negative long term health effects, side-effects, ineffectiveness, danger considering existing health conditions, mistrust of the Trump administration, and the costs of vaccinations (Chavez and Peña, 2021)

References

ABC News Vaccine Watch https://abc7news.com/vaccine/

Chavez, G. R. and J. M. Peña (Jan, 25, 2021) Skepticism and mistrust challenge COVID vaccine uptake for Latinos. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2021/01/25/skepticism-and-mistrust-challenge-covid-vaccine-uptake-for-latinos/  

Lewis, T. (March 2021) The biggest barriers to COVID-a9 vaccination for Black and Latinx people.    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-biggest-barriers-to-covid-vaccination-for-black-and-latinx-people1/

Ndugga et. al. (March 10, 2021) How are States Addressing Racial Equity in COVID-19 Vaccine Efforts?  Kaiser Family Foundation.   https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/how-are-states-addressing-racial-equity-in-covid-19-vaccine-efforts/

Ndugga, N. et. al. (April 7, 2021) Latest Data on COVID-19 Vaccinations Race/Ethnicity.  Kaiser Family Foundation.    https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid-19-vaccinations-race-ethnicity/

Staff (Feb. 11, 2021) Biden Administration purchases additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna - US Department Health and Human Services. (HHS).   https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/02/11/biden-administration-purchases-additional-doses-covid-19-vaccines-from-pfizer-and-moderna.html

Staff (April 9, 2021) COVID-19: Vaccinations by race/ethnicity.  Kaiser Family Foundation Dashboards.     https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/state-covid-19-data-and-policy-actions/#raceethnicity

Teminology: Vaccine apartheid

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

As the COVID-19 vaccination campaign picks up speed in the US, with a record 3 to 4 million vaccinations per day, issues of global access to COVID-19 vaccines and of vaccination campaign equity have arisen. Vaccine apartheid is the term that has been coined in reference to global inequity in vaccine distribution, and corollary access to COVID-19 vaccination. By way of comparison, for example, according to Médecins sans frontières/Doctors Without Borders, a country like Iraq has received 360,000 doses of the Astra Zaneca vaccine for a population of 40 million (Ebeid, O., 2021). 

According to the British scientific research journal Nature, the following threefold issue is at the root of the emerging global inequity of COVID-19 vaccine distribution: 1>COVID-19 vaccine production capacity, 2> the purchasing power of rich nations who have pre-ordered vaccines, and 3> patenting rights, which exclude the transfer of technologies beyond those few companies owners of the intellectual property (IP) rights, already producing the vaccines at full capacity, primarily in the West, China and Russia. In other words, patenting rights perceived as obstructing the supply of COVID-19 technologies, in response to an extremely urgent demand. In sum, whatever vaccine production exists, it is already largely earmarked for those (rich) countries, who have pre-ordered, compounded by the fact that patenting rights prevent production from being distributed elsewhere, among other facilities, for example in medium–income nations. A production that would cover local populations, and the population of the poorest nations, without facilities or any purchasing power. 

Thus, medium-income, and poor nations, not only have to wait for vaccines (perhaps till 2022 or 2023), they have to wait far longer than necessary, because production is prevented from happening elsewhere. In terms of numbers, poorer nations, making up to 80% of the world population, currently have access to less than one-third of the available COVID-19 vaccines (Nature Editorial, 2021). The World Trade Organization (WTO), is thus currently under the pressure of an India and South Africa-led coalition of 100 nations, with civil society support, demanding that intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccine technologies be temporarily lifted, at least until the pandemic is under control, so that production can be set up elsewhere than at the few facilities of the western world for the Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Astra Zaneca vaccines, as well as for the Sinopharm vaccine in  China and the Sputnik V vaccine in Russia. (The People's Vaccine, Global Justice now).

Such a dramatic situation, oblivious of the public health interest, is not altogether unfamiliar. With hindsight from the disastrous monopoly on antiretroviral therapies (ART) within the context of the AIDS pandemic, pharmaceutical companies, such as Moderna, have indeed waived enforcing their patenting rights against others making the COVID-19 vaccine till the end of the pandemic, and will grant licensing rights for the mRNA technology post-pandemic. A pledge that technically lifts the monopoly on pricing conferred by patenting rights, promoting the development of a new vaccination paradigm, while still falling short on the possibility of transferring vaccine know-how and manufacturing to the Third World, during the pandemic (Shore, 2020). However, considering the absence of electricity for 1.5 billion people in the Third World, the Moderna vaccine is also considered an unsuitable candidate vaccine for the Third World, primarily due to the low-temperature storage conditions and to the costs of a double-dose regimen (Curtis, 2020). Likewise, for the same reasons, the Pfizer vaccine is deemed even more significantly ill-suited for the Third World, considering the extreme cold storage conditions (-70 degrees Celsius) required for the costly double-dose regimen of the Pfizer vaccine (1). Thus, the small set of pharmaceutical companies, producing effective COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, and especially those deemed more suitable for the Third World  (e.g.; Astra Zaneca), are being specifically urged to live up to the spirit of solidarity that was put forward during the early phases of public funding for research and development of COVID-19 vaccine development (Ellman, 2021). An urgent request that often forcibly ends up as a desperate appeal to all rich countries and pharmaceutical companies implicated, for the purchase and donation of vaccines to poorer nations, not only in need of COVID-19 vaccines right now, but of the right vaccines (Nature Editorial, 2021).

If the obscene cruelty of an unnecessary wait for medical technologies appears to be repeating within the context of the emerging vaccine apartheid of the COVID-19 pandemic, an even greater threat is seen lurking on the horizon. According to UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, vaccine apartheid for the poorest countries of the world not only prevents those countries from exiting the health and economic crisis brought about by the COV-2 pandemic, on a par with the rest of the world, vaccine apartheid also puts the rest of the planet at risk, canceling the possibility of eradication. Indeed, according to Byanyami: 

"The longer the virus is allowed to continue in a context of patchy immunity, the greater the chance of mutations that could render the vaccines we have and the vaccines some people in rich countries have already received, less effective or ineffective." (Byanyima, 2021)

In other words, for all who have survived to tell the tale of the year 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic clearly illustrates global interdependency, just in case such a dynamic might have previously appeared untenable. As Democracy Now! puts it succinctly: “If one person is unprotected, we are all unprotected.” (Goodman & Moynihan, 2020), a situation that vaccine apartheid might be in the process of amplifying. 

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(1) As of March 5, 2021 Rwanda is the only African country thus far with a Pfizer vaccination campaign, launched using special storage technology. Astra Zaneca, the vaccine generally known to be a more suited vaccine for the Third World, was also launched  in Rwanda (Uwiringiyimana, 2021).

References

Byanyima, W. (Feb. 18, 2021) UNAIDS -  A global vaccine apartheid is unfolding. People’s lives must come before profit. UNAIDS.   https://www.unaids.org/en/20210203_oped_guardian

Curtis, J. (Nov. 30, 2020) Coronavirus: Access to vaccines in developing countries. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus-access-to-vaccines-in-developing-countries/

Ellman, T. Dr.  (Feb. 18, 2021) Southern Africa needs the right COVID-19 vaccines, at the right price – right now. Médecins sans frontiers (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders (DWB).   https://www.msf.org/msf-urges-rich-countries-share-appropriate-covid-19-vaccines-southern-africa

Ebeid, O. (March 31, 2021) Only vaccination will end the ferocious spread of COVID-19 in Iraq. Médecins sans frontiers (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders (DWB).   https://www.msf.org/iraq-only-vaccination-will-end-fast-spread-covid-19

Glenza, J. (March 31, 2021) Coronavirus: How wealthy nations are creating a vaccine apartheid. The Guardian.    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/30/coronavirus-vaccine-distribution-global-disparity 

Global Justice Now! https://www.globaljustice.org.uk

Goodman, A & D. Moynihan (FEb. 25, 2021) Vaccine Apartheid: If One Person Is Unprotected, We Are All Unprotected.    https://www.democracynow.org/2021/2/25/vaccine_apartheid_if_one_person_is

O’Neill, J. (March 18, 2021) End vaccine apartheid by waiving patents and save us all from Covid-19. The Guardian.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/18/end-vaccine-apartheid-by-waiving-patents-and-save-us-all-from-covid-19

Shores, M. (November 2020) Breaking Down Moderna’s COVID-19 Patent Pledge: Why Did They Do It? https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2020/11/11/breaking-modernas-covid-19-patent-pledge/id=127224/

Staff (March 31, 20210 It’s time to consider a patent reprieve for COVID vaccines. Nature.   https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00863-w

Staff (March 21, 2021) Interview: Three questions on worrying COVID-19 surge in Papua New Guinea. Médecins sans frontiers (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders (DWB).   https://www.msf.org/png-health-system-verge-collapse-following-covid-19-surge An

Staff (March 25, 2021) COVID-19 support desperately needed as second wave overwhelms Yemen. Médecins sans frontiers (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders (DWB).   https://www.msf.org/covid-19-support-desperately-needed-second-wave-overwhelms-yemen

The People's Vaccine - https://peoplesvaccine.org/ 

Uwiringiyimana, C.  (March 5, 2021) Rwanda becomes first African nation to use Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-rwanda/rwanda-becomes-first-african-nation-to-use-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-idUSKBN2AX1P1

Terminology - US COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan (Plan de déploiement des vaccins COVID-19 aux USA)

 Copyright Françoise Herrmann

The US rollout for COVID 19 vaccines and vaccinations is managed by Operation Warp Speed (OWS), funded through the CARES Act, on March 27, 2020. Operation Warp Speed (OWS) is an interagency partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD) with the mission to coordinate federal efforts to accelerate the development, acquisition, and distribution of COVID-19 “medical countermeasures”. Additional federal agencies collaborating with the HHS include the Centers for Disease Control (CDCs), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

OWS has supported the development and acquisition of six different COVID-19 vaccine candidates, two of which the Federal Drug Agency (FDA) authorized for emergency use in December 2020. A total of approximately one billion doses have been ordered, for the approximately 330 million people living in the US. Doses exceed the number of people, considering that 2 doses are required for all vaccines, except the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine (OWS Contracts, Dec. 22, 2020).

OWS vaccine and vaccination information is summarized below.

THE VACCINES

WHO GETS IT FIRST?

FDA-AUTHORIZED FOR ER USE (EUA) PFIZER (US) & BIONTECH (DE)  Type: mRNA  Effectiveness: 95%  Supply: 40 M doses by end of 2020  200M doses ordered  Storage: ultracold -70◦C  Trial Phase: Phase II/III  FDA EUA: issued Dec. 11, 2020  MODERNA Inc. (US)  Type : mRNA  Effectiveness : 94.5%  Supply: 20M doses by end of 2020  200M doses ordered  Storage: Cold storage, 6 months @ -20 ◦C  Refrigerator 30 days @ -2◦C to -8◦C  Trial Phase : Phase III  FDA EUA : issued Dec. 18, 2020  YET TO FILE FOR APPROVAL ASTRAZANECA (UK) – OXFORD UNIV. (UK)  Type: Recombinant viral-vector  Supply: 300 million doses ordered  Storage: Refrigerator (-2◦C to -8◦C)  Trial Phase: Phase II/III  JOHNSON & JOHNSON (US)  Type: Single-dose, Recombinant viral vector  Supply: 100 million doses ordered  Storage: Refrigerator (3 months -2◦C to -8◦C)  Trial Phase: Phase III  Expected FDA file date: February 2021  NOVARAX Inc.  Type: Adjuvanted recombinant nanoparticle protein  Supply: 100 million doses ordered  Storage: Refrigerator (-2◦C to -8◦C)  Trial Phase: Phase III  SANOFI/GLAXOSMITHKLINE  Type: Adjuvanted recombinant nanoparticle protein  Supply: 100 million doses ordered  Storage: Refrigerator (-2◦C to -8◦C)  Trial Phase: Phase I/II

PHASE 1A: STARTING IN DECEMBER 2020 Healthcare workers Nursing home & long-term care facility residents PHASE 1B: POSSIBLY STARTING IN JANUARY 2021  Non-healthcare essential workers Over 70s Over 65s Over 60s Over 50s People with chronic health conditions LATER PHASES: BY SPRING 2021 Young adults Young children

Note: Temperatures are listed in degrees Celsius. 

References

Astrazaneca – Staff (Nov. 13, 2020) AZD1222 vaccine met primary efficacy endpoint in preventing.    https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020/azd1222hlr.html

Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)   https://www.phe.gov/about/barda/Pages/default.aspx

Danner, C.  & M. Stieb (Dec. 18, 2020) What We Know About the U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan.   https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/what-we-know-about-u-s-covid-19-vaccine-distribution-plan.html

CARES Act https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3548/text?q=product+actualizaci%C3%B3n

Centers for Disease Control (CDCs) www.cdc.gov

CDC- Information about the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine. Dec. 22, 2020.  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/Pfizer-BioNTech.html

CDC - Information about the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine. Dec. 23,2020.   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/Moderna.htm l

CDC – Different COVID-19  vaccines. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines.html

Department of Defense (DOD) https://dod.defense.gov/

Federal Drug Administration (FDA) COVID-19 vaccines  https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/covid-19-vaccines

Health & Human Services https://www.hhs.gov/ 

Health & Human Services (HSS) - Explaining Operation Warp Speed (OWS).   https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/explaining-operation-warp-speed/index.html

Johnson & Johnson https://www.jnj.com/coronavirus

Moderna Inc. https://www.modernatx.com/

National Institutes of Health (NIH) www.nih.gov

Novarax Vaccine technology (Novarax website)  https://www.novavax.com/our-unique-technology#:~:text=Our%20recombinant%20nanoparticle%20vaccine%20technology,a%20variety%20of%20viral%20pathogens.

Operation Warp Speed Contracts for COVID-19 Vaccines and Ancillary Vaccination Materials. Congressional Research Service Reports. Dec, 22, 2020.   https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN11560

Pfizer Staff (Dec. 11, 2020) Pfizer and Biontech celebrate historic first authorization in the U.S. of vaccine to prevent COVID-19.   https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-celebrate-historic-first-authorization

Sanofi/GSL (Dec. 11, 2020) Sanofi and GSK announce a delay in their adjuvanted recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine program to improve immune response in the elderly.   https://www.sanofi.com/-/media/Project/One-Sanofi-Web/Websites/Global/Sanofi-COM/Home/media-room/press-releases/2020/2020-12-11-07-00-00-2143517-en.pdf