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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword> brought in outside help from big-name consulting firms for <keyword id="6355838" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york">New York</keyword>'s vaccine rollout.</li><li>Cuomo enlisted <keyword id="6358918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="deloitte">Deloitte</keyword> and the Boston Consulting Group (<keyword id="144900" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="BCG">BCG</keyword>).</li><li>The governor is taking heat for sidelining preexisting county-level vaccine plans.</li></ul>New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo enlisted top-tier consulting firms, Deloitte and the Boston Consulting Group, to help create a new <keyword id="8904563" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19-vaccine">COVID-19 vaccine</keyword> rollout plan.Cuomo's efforts to sideline plans from county health departments that had been in place for years in favor of his own method were detailed in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/nyregion/cuomo-health-department-officials-quit.html">New York Times investigation</a> published on Monday.Deloitte and BCG's involvement is part of a broader use of consultants by the Cuomo administration - which is not uncommon across state-level <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword> - following McKinsey's role in crafting a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-governors-excl/new-york-forms-team-to-develop-trump-proof-economic-reopening-plan-idUSKCN21Y01V">"Trump-proof" coronavirus reopening plan</a> from the spring.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-rep-adam-kinzinger-relatives-disowned-him-impeach-trump-vote-2021-1">GOP House member who voted to impeach Trump says his family sent around a signed petition disowning him for crossing the former president</a>Cuomo also brought on a top private hospital network lobbyist to work inside the New York State Department of Health to help with the vaccine rollout, according to the Times. The lobbyist, <a href="https://www.northwell.edu/about/leadership/dennis-whalen">Dennis Whalen</a>, was previously the executive deputy commissioner of the department before he joined <keyword id="3543925" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="northwell-health">Northwell Health</keyword>, the largest private hospital network in the Empire State.Despite <a href="https://www.news10.com/news/ny-capitol-news/county-officials-highlight-issues-with-vaccine-distribution/">blowback from county leaders</a>, the Cuomo administration has defended the move to make its own plan for vaccine distribution instead of using the ones in place at the county level, which were mandated by the health department in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks and the H1N1 outbreak in 2009.In particular, Cuomo officials have emphasized at the governor's briefings that the cold temperatures needed for the vaccines were better suited for hospitals instead of underfunded local health departments.Northwell Health also responded to the Times story, saying their role was not "nefarious.""If you're asked to help, you help," Michael Dowling, the president of Northwell Health, told the Times. "There's nothing nefarious about this at all."

NY Gov. Cuomo hired Deloitte and BCG consultants for COVID-19 vaccine rollout although counties already had their own plans

London, As part of a large-scale global trial, scientists in Britain have launched a study to test if the widely-used Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine could help protect people against Covid-19. Developed almost a century ago, <keyword id="426791" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="BCG-vaccine">BCG vaccine</keyword> was originally designed to fight tuberculosis (TB). It has also been reported to offer broad protection to respiratory infections. The new global trial will test the theory that the BCG vaccine could help protect against Covid-19 too. The University of Exeter on Sunday said that it is leading the UK arm of the trial, called the aBCG vaccination to Reduce the impact of COVID-19 in healthcare workers' (BRACE) trial. The BRACE trial is coordinated by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne, Australia. The UK joins study centres in Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, and Brazil in the largest trial of its kind. Together, the trial will recruit more than 10,000 healthcare staff. Participants will be given either the BCG vaccine (currently given to more than 100 million babies worldwide each year to protect against tuberculosis) or a placebo injection. In the UK, routine BCG vaccination was stopped in 2005 because of low rates of TB in the general population. In the UK, the trial is initially seeking to recruit 1,000 participants who work in care homes and other community healthcare settings. "BCG has been shown to boost immunity in a generalised way, which may offer some protection against Covid-19," Professor John Campbell of <keyword id="10088767" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-university-of-exeter-medical-school">the University of Exeter Medical School</keyword> who is the UK lead on the BRACE study said in a statement. "We're excited to be contributing to the large-scale, international BRACE study where we are seeking to establish whether the BCG vaccine could help protect people who are at risk of Covid-19. If it does, we could save lives by administering or topping up this readily available and cost-effective vaccination." Previous studies suggest that the BCG vaccine could reduce susceptibility to a range of infections caused by viruses including those similar to the novel <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> causing Covid-19. Examining the mechanism by which this may work is part of the trial being conducted by BRACE researchers. --IANS gb/sdr/

UK launches clinical trial of BCG vaccine against Covid-19

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/future-of-work-2021"></a><div type="image" title="microsoft middle east remote work" height="1414" width="1885" msid="82564379" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="144900" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="BCG">BCG</keyword>'s "The Bionic Company" envisions a workplace where tech combines with human adaptability.</li><li>It's one model for the future of the post-pandemic company considering going hybrid or fully remote.</li><li>It involves tech being a main focus, bucking traditional leadership, and giving employees autonomy.</li></ul>With the Biden administration <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-vaccine-goal-july-4-70-of-adults-vaccinated-2021-5">setting a goal</a> of 70% of US adults having at least one vaccine shot by July 4, business owners and employers are now anticipating a return to the workplace in some form. As much as dealing with the pandemic itself was a completely new challenge, envisioning the shape of the workplace in its aftermath has become a discipline all its own.Brandy Aven, associate professor of organizational theory, <keyword id="6363690" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Strategy">strategy</keyword>, and entrepreneurship at <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/tepper/">Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business</a>, told Insider that companies are not going to be able to take a one-size-fits-all approach.<div type="image" title="Brandy Aven" height="675" width="900" msid="82564382" hostid="261"></div>"Leadership should consider each worker's situation and circumstances in as nuanced a way as possible rather than try to generate a uniform or blanket policy," she said. "Similarly, the motivation and rationale for bringing workers back to the office should also be carefully considered and discussed with your workforce."Aven's recommendation for companies includes a "collective dialogue" to generate solutions."In general, I would first aim to get individual feelings in a manner that will allow as many people to share their concerns and situations - for example, a survey or one-on-ones," Aven said. An online forum or discussion board are other options.This is one path forward in what consultant <a href="https://paularizzo.com/">Paula Rizzo</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Listful-Thinking-Paula-Rizzo-audiobook/dp/B01HH5SMGY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Paula+Rizzo&amp;qid=1620661626&amp;s=audible&amp;sr=1-1dible&amp;sr=1-1">author</a> of two books on organization, labels as "an opportunity to not go back to the way things were."<div type="image" title="Paula Rizzo" height="1916" width="2550" msid="82564384" hostid="261"></div>"None of us are the same. Now people have this new sort of freedom from working remotely, and now everything is changing again," she told Insider. How companies handle this change, Rizzo added, will determine how successful they are at retaining their employees. "We've got a challenge where when we come back into the world of mixing virtual and physical interaction again, companies really need to think about how they make it the best of both of those experiences," Rich Hutchinson, managing director and senior partner and social impact practice leader at <a href="https://www.bcg.com/en-us/">Boston Consulting Group</a> (BCG), said. "I really believe that people thrive on engagement and seeing other people, but the flip side is that there are huge benefits in being more productive in what you're doing, but also spending more time with your family or being more flexible with where you are."<div type="image" title="Rich Hutchinson" height="214" width="286" msid="82564390" hostid="261"></div>Hutchinson was one of the authors of a recent BCG report envisioning the future of the workplace entitled "<a href="https://www.bcg.com/capabilities/digital-technology-data/bionic-company#bionic-leader-attributes">The Bionic Company</a>." In it, the consulting group envisions a workplace where <keyword id="6355118" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="technology">technology</keyword> combines with the "flexibility, adaptability, and comprehensive experience of humans" to create a "superhuman enterprise."This breaks down into several actionable steps that all businesses should keep in mind. <h2>Make technology a priority</h2>First, companies must work to integrate the technology they've leveraged during the pandemic into their regular workflow, and evaluate how those processes can be further deployed as workers return to the workplace. "How will the core processes of the business evolve?" and "How will humans and technology create a more efficient process?" are the key questions leaders should be asking, Hutchinson said. Hutchinson gave an example of outcomes he's seen these questions produce in action at a leading retailer. The company "built an algorithm to choose fashions for the next season. The algorithm improved on human choices alone," he said. "But the best results were achieved when human recommendations were both inputs to an improved algorithm and also experts audited the outcomes. It's an example of leveraging the power of humans and technology together." Becoming a "bionic company" isn't just for large enterprises, either."The trick for small companies and entrepreneurs is to think about their processes in this bionic or digital mindset from the beginning, or adopt them in order of the ones where they think they'll get the biggest bang for the buck," Hutchinson said. "But because you're small, I actually think you can build in a lot of the agile organizational mindset or the technology mindset pretty easily," he added. <h2>Buck the traditional leadership model and remain transparent</h2>The next consideration is how leadership functions as you come back to work after the pandemic. In the bionic workplace, it differs from the traditional top-down model, Hutchinson said. In traditional leadership, direction comes from the top and flows down to employees without much input or room for questioning, whereas in bionic leadership, it's team-based, where the teams build products or drive outcomes and are charged with accomplishing their missions on their own. "Leadership becomes much more about how I structure my teams, what are they working on, what's the mission, do I have the right composition of talent on those teams, can I help remove roadblocks from them along the way, and if the project just isn't working, do I shut it down and redeploy that talent onto other teams that have better uses?" Hutchinson said. "It's basically how do you set up the teams, charge them with the mission, remove the roadblocks, and let them go, rather than managing a team and sort of orchestrating its activities in a very controlled manner."Keeping workers motivated throughout the changes that encompass a return to the workplace is another critical consideration, Hutchinson said. He said that taking the time to explain how the changes are going to be beneficial not just for the company, not just for the customer, but also for the workers, is key to their success. Having reached an unprecedented level of transparency during the pandemic, there's no going backward. For example, many companies that are digital natives use agile staffing processes to supplement their core employee base. Hutchinson said that handled properly, employees don't see this as a threat. "Employees are restaffed to other work that is now higher value. They see that making the company efficient through technology helps it win," he said. "Growth creates opportunities for the employee. And agile staffing makes work more interesting rather than stagnant."That type of communication is common among companies that originated during the digital age, Hutchinson said. "One of the things the digital natives have done really well is helping people understand that if we can grow and become more efficient and leverage these techniques into a more bionic operating model, that actually creates more opportunity for all of us, and our sincere goal is to help people find new roles and grow," he said. "So I think there's a large part of it that's down to how the company executes it and helps people see the positives in their journey."<h2>Give employees an opportunity to structure their days</h2>As business owners start pondering how to move forward, employees' views will be central to considerations, Hutchinson said. He predicts that more autonomy in the workplace is almost unavoidable. Employees "sharing what worked and what didn't - and what they are looking for in a job moving forward - both will shape how employers structure jobs post-pandemic," Hutchinson said. "For some, the pandemic has meant they needed to and could work in a more independent manner. Where this worked, I think employees will push hard for it to stick."Rizzo also believes that employees should get a head start on showing employers what they want and need by planning out what they'd like their work model to look like. "We have an advantage because we know it's coming," she said. "We were all blindsided when <keyword id="1591611" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="remote-work">remote work</keyword> became full time, now you have some perspective - use it! Make a list of what you're better suited to do at home and what works better in the office as you design your hybrid work model. It's a good time to craft your days in a particular way that will make you more efficient, no matter where you are."Hutchinson identified less management, or the feeling of less management, as a benefit of the bionic workplace as well."They find that they're operating more agile, which can be really energizing because it doesn't feel as managed, it feels much more self-directed and they're much more empowered," he said.

How Boston Consulting Group's vision of a 'bionic workplace' can help companies build a seamless and resilient hybrid model

<ul><li><keyword id="29334" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cyrus-poonawalla" source="Orion">Cyrus Poonawalla</keyword>, who was recently awarded the Dean’s Medal by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has led a fascinating life.</li><li>He started with building sports cars and later went on to build a vaccine empire, which has made immunization accessible for all, against various diseases, including the coronavirus.</li></ul>The chairman of India’s top biotech company and the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India (SII), is among the top 70 richest billionaires in the world today. At the age of 81, Poonawalla’s net worth is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/cyrus-poonawalla/?list=rtb/&amp;sh=488fcc447d01">$21.5 billion</a>, as per Forbes, and has been recently awarded the Dean’s award by John Hopkins for his work in providing affordable vaccines. He is called the ‘vaccine king’ as his company SII produces over 1.5 billion vaccines annually for coronavirus, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Hib, BCG, r-hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, among others. From horse breeding to building a vaccine empire Poonawala was born into a family of horse breeders, as his father Soli Poonawalla owned ‘Poonawalla Stud Farms.’ However, he was 20 when he decided to explore more options because he realized that horse racing had ‘<a href="https://www.forbesindia.com/article/leadership-awards-202021/fila-2021-lifestime-achievement-cyrus-poonawalla-the-vaccine-king/66877/1">no future</a> in a socialist country like India’. <div type="image" title="Horse racing" msid="91764331" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Representative image of a horse race, which was attended by Poonawalla in 2013&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Vaccines from serum When he was 20, Poonawalla decided to leverage his passion for cars and turn it into a viable business. So, he built a $120 replica of the Jaguar D-type with his school friend. However, he abandoned the idea of commercial production due to a shortage of funds. After dropping his first business plan, he wanted to make a ‘product for the masses’. He discovered that horse serum can be used to make vaccines. He decided to use his stud farm for a better cause and make vaccines affordable. There was no going back since then. Back in the 1960s, when Poonawalla was just in the research phase of launching his serum business, which is now worth <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/serum-institute-founder-cyrus-poonawalla-adar-wealth-85pc-to-138-bn-271174-2020-08-26">$13.8 billion</a>, the vaccine market was still in its nascent stages. With only a few players in the game, there was a huge demand and very low supply. It was a safe option for Poonwalla to enter a less competitive market and India with an acute shortage, which were imported at high prices. He decided to look no further and launched his vaccine business under the name SII in 1966, with a capital of <a href="https://www.forbesindia.com/article/leadership-awards-202021/fila-2021-lifestime-achievement-cyrus-poonawalla-the-vaccine-king/66877/1">Rs 9 lakh</a>, which would later go on to help millions of people during a global pandemic, thanks to its domestically manufactured Covishield. Since he had no medical background, he employed doctors and scientists from the government-owned Haffkine Institute at SII. Within two years, the company produced its first therapeutic anti-tetanus serum. By 1989, his company had a diverse portfolio of DTP vaccine, which protects children from diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, anti-snake-venom serum for snakebites and measles vaccine. A year later, SII became the country’s largest vaccine manufacturer. Supplying to every second vaccinated child in the world It was time to expand their business offshores. In 1994, Serum Institute got accredited by the World Health Organization (WHO) for supplying vaccines to U.N. Agencies such as UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and PAHO (Pan American Health Organization). By 1998, Serum Institute was exporting vaccines to over 100 countries and by the year 2000, one out of every two children in the world was vaccinated with an SII dose. The vaccine king’s wealth grew the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/cyrus-poonawalla-enters-top-100-rich-list-his-wealth-grows-fifth-fastest-in-the-world-during-coronavirus-pandemic/articleshow/76543094.cms?from=mdr">fastest </a>among India’s billionaires during the COVID-19 pandemic and SII became a household name. His home-grown business gained international recognition after they struck a deal with Oxford University’s Jenner Institute. SII then went on to strike at least four more global partnerships with biotech companies. <div type="image" title="serumII" msid="91766062" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Serum Institute of India&amp;#39;s financials &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> His son, Adar Poonawalla is at the helm of the company now. Junior Poonawalla joined his family business in 2001 and today, he runs the day-to-day operations as company ceo and is the <a href="https://www.forbesindia.com/article/take-one-big-story-of-the-day/his-father-built-a-vaccine-empire-adar-poonawalla-is-now-busy-diversifying-it/73375/1">fifth </a>richest person in India. <div type="image" title="Vaccine giant Serum Institute of India plans African plant in global expansion" msid="91764213" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt; Junior Poonawalla joined his family business in 2001&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Expansion to renewable energy, real estate and more Along the way, Senior Poonwalla also expanded his business portfolio into newer areas such as real estate, finance, renewable energy solutions, hospitality, and aviation. But, Serum Institute continues to bring in the lion’s share of his income. While he built his business empire, his passion for sports and luxurious cars has not waned. <div type="image" title="Cryus and his car" msid="91764182" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Padmashree Cyrus Poonawalla with his new Ferreri car outside his palace in Pune in 2013&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Today, his collection includes Rolls-Royce cars, Bentleys and Ferrari F430. It is his love for affordable vaccines, sports cars and horse racing - that make Poonawalla a man of diverse interests.

The success story of Cyrus Poonawalla: The vaccine king who is one of the world’s richest billionaires

<ul><li>Researchers say that it will take at least 12 to 18 months to prepare a <keyword id="24209" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="vaccine">vaccine</keyword> to treat <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">Coronavirus</keyword>. </li><li>As many as 86 teams are presently working to come up with a Covid-19 vaccine including those undergoing clinical trials. </li><li>The BCG vaccine by the Serum Institute would be the first in India to undergo human trials to test if it can boost immunity against Coronavirus. </li><li>If the test runs turn out to be a success, nearly 400 million doses of the vaccine will be available by the end of the year.</li></ul>Coronavirus infection, which has already cost over 184,234 lives worldwide, is spreading fast and the world is now waiting with bated breath for a vaccine. While the doctors are implementing various treatments like blood plasma, anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, researchers say that it will take at least <a href="https://www.cnet.com/how-to/coronavirus-treatments-hydroxychloroquine-vaccines-and-drugs-for-covid-19/">12 to 18 months to prepare a vaccine to treat Coronavirus</a>. This is because the vaccines have to undergo several clinical trials to be proven safe. 86 teams working to develop Covid-19 vaccine worldwide <div type="image" title="vaccine" msid="75315411" hostid="261"></div> Scientists across the globe are now working towards a vaccine faster than ever. As many as 86 teams are presently working to come up with a Covid-19 vaccine including those undergoing clinical trials. The first human trial was announced last month by scientists in Seattle for Coronavirus. The<a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/battling-covid-19-india-to-try-bcg-vaccine-on-humans-within-next-two-weeks-120042201068_1.html"> BCG vaccine by the Serum Institute</a> would be the first in India to undergo human trials in the next two weeks. The vaccine would be tested to check if it can boost immunity against Coronavirus. Ideally, it is given to newborns at the time of birth to fight tuberculosis. If the test runs turn out to be a success, nearly 400 million doses of the vaccine will be available by the end of the year. German Biotech company BioNTech, which has been preparing a potential vaccine since January, is proceeding with clinical trials now after the Federal Institute for Vaccines gave it a nod. It tested the initial version of the vaccine on mice, and is now set to test it on 200 humans, Financial Times <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/0be0cb59-96e9-4b70-9fd9-79bab5f77962">reported</a>. The idea is to roll out the vaccine in less than a year. “This is the fourth approved human trial of preventive, specific Covid-19 vaccine candidates worldwide,” BioNTech said. The UK too approved human trials of vaccines recently. Scientists at Oxford University are also planning to test the vaccine on almost <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-vaccine-first-human-trials-germany-approved-begin-a9477691.html">500 volunteers in Britain</a>. The scientists say there is an ‘80% chance of success’. “The best way to defeat coronavirus is through a vaccine, after all this is a new disease, this is uncertain science, but I am certain we will throw everything we’ve got at developing a vaccine,” UK Health Minister Matt Hancock <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/covid-19-human-trials-of-coronavirus-vaccine-in-uk-start-1669605-2020-04-22">said</a>. In China too, human tests for two vaccines are underway. However, even if the vaccine is developed in a year’s time, we will be far from preventing an endemic spread of the disease. “Even if an approved, effective vaccine is available in a year, it’s more likely it will be given to patients and health-care workers who face greater risk from the disease and “it would still take several years to confer sufficient ‘herd immunity’ to prevent endemic spread of Covid-19," SVB Leerink’s Geoffrey Porges said. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/how-to-know-if-you-are-close-to-a-coronavirus-patient/articleshow/75312232.cms">How to know if you are close to a Coronavirus patient</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/who-chief-says-virus-will-be-with-us-for-a-long-time/articleshow/75311225.cms">WHO chief says "virus will be with us for a long time"</a>

At least five Covid-19 vaccines across the world are set for human trials

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355838" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york">New York</keyword>'s troubled <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> <keyword id="24209" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="vaccine">vaccine</keyword> rollout is under the microscope.</li><li>Gov. <keyword id="196530" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Andrew-Cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</keyword>'s penchant for micromanaging played a major role, according to experts.</li><li>The Democratic governor's response was the subject of a New York Times investigation published Monday.</li></ul>New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's micromanagement style and top-down approach to distributing the COVID-19 vaccine played a role in the "bottleneck" preventing more shots from going into arms, as well as nine of the Empire State's top health officials quitting their jobs.Cuomo's decision to relegate preexisting county-level plans to administer the vaccine came with damaging second-order effects, including growing defections from state medical experts, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/nyregion/cuomo-health-department-officials-quit.html">New York Times investigation</a> published Monday.As the Biden administration tries to ramp up vaccine production and distribution at the federal level, states have seen <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-can-i-get-a-coronavirus-vaccine-timeline-2020-11">varying degrees of success</a> from when they were handed the first rounds of doses during the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed.Cuomo, along with other governors, has complained that his state have not gotten the level of doses they need as of yet, constricting their ability to get shots into arms.However, as the Times investigation found, Cuomo's singular efforts to take control over his state's distribution plan also led to serious problems.Even before Operation Warp Speed sent trucks and planes out to hand off the first doses, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dictatorial-powers-cuomos-executive-power-grab-rankles-lawmakers-2020-5">Cuomo's penchant for consolidating power</a> was already beginning to pose problems.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-rep-adam-kinzinger-relatives-disowned-him-impeach-trump-vote-2021-1">GOP House member who voted to impeach Trump says his family sent around a signed petition disowning him for crossing the former president</a>The deputy commissioner for the New York State Department of Health resigned in the late summer, followed by the director of DOH's bureau for communicable disease control, then the medical director for epidemiology, then the top state epidemiologist last month, according to the Times.Despite a winter surge hitting New York hard after it bore the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic's arrival last March and April, Cuomo "all but declared war on his own public health bureaucracy," the Times investigation found."When I say 'experts' in air quotes, it sounds like I'm saying I don't really trust the experts," Cuomo said in his COVID briefing last Friday. "Because I don't. Because I don't."Cuomo consults with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Michael Osterholm, a leading infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota who is now on President Biden's COVID advisory panel, according to the Times.The governor's clashes with his own experts <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-hired-deloitte-bcg-consulting-for-vaccine-rollout-ny-covid-2021-2">left vaccine planning to the consulting firms Deloitte and BCG along with a lobbyist</a> for the largest private hospital network in New York.Private hospitals have posted higher percentages of their doses being used, while public hospitals in New York City and other providers in pockets of Upstate New York have lagged behind.Cuomo's decision to rely on hospitals instead of county health departments to administer the vaccine put the state government at a disadvantage, according to Dr. Denis Nash, an epidemiology professor at the City University of New York. Nash is also a former senior official for the New York City Department of Health."That was the bottleneck," Nash told the Times. "To put hospitals in charge of a public health initiative - for which they have no public health mandate, or the skills, experience or perspective to manage one - was a huge mistake, and I have no doubt that's what introduced the delays."The Cuomo administration has frequently responded to criticism of the vaccine rollout with complaints about the federal supply remaining too low. Back in December, Cuomo said it would take <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-how-long-vaccine-will-take-6-to-9-months-2020-12">six to nine months for the vaccine to make a difference</a> in every day life, and called for more weekly doses to be shipped to the Empire State.In an interview with the Times, Cuomo defended his decision to overtake vaccine distribution from the preexisting county health department plans by quoting the boxer Mike Tyson."It's the Mike Tyson line: 'Everybody has a plan until I punch them in the face,'" Cuomo said. "The scale changes everything," the governor continued. "My job is to get the vaccinations done as soon as possible."

Gov. Cuomo gets blamed for New York's vaccine 'bottleneck' after 9 top health officials resign

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">Health</keyword> experts are encouraging people to get <keyword id="48618" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Flu-shots">flu shots</keyword> to avoid the possibility of getting <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/high-demand-for-flu-shots-experts-hope-to-avoid-twindemic-2020-10">the flu and COVID-19 at the same time</a>.</li><li>According to a preliminary study, <keyword id="43544" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Flu">flu</keyword> shots may also reduce your risk of catching <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword>.</li><li>Researchers found that healthcare workers who got a flu shot in the 2019-2020 season were 39% less likely to have gotten the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> by June.</li><li>The study doesn't prove flu shots protect you from COVID-19, but additional research similarly suggests that <keyword id="79555" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Vaccines">vaccines</keyword> can boost the body's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/could-old-vaccines-for-other-germs-protect-against-covid-19-2020-4">innate immunity</a> to other diseases.</li></ul>As winter approaches, people are preparing for a looming "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/high-demand-for-flu-shots-experts-hope-to-avoid-twindemic-2020-10">twindemic</a>": the double threat of the coronavirus and the seasonal flu.In the past month, coronavirus cases have surged worldwide. At the same time, the onset of cold, dry weather in the Northern Hemisphere heralds the start of flu season. So public-health officials in the US and <a href="https://www.insider.com/as-covid-surges-in-europe-officials-warn-of-twindemic-with-flu-2020-9">Europe</a> are pushing folks to get flu shots. The seasonal vaccinations reduce your risk of getting the flu <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm">by up to 60%</a> and also <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/spotlights/vaccine-reduces-severe-outcomes.htm">reduce how severely you get sick</a> if you do catch the flu.But the shot might yield another important benefit: It may reduce your chances of getting COVID-19.<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.14.20212498v1">A new preliminary study</a>, first reported by <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-flu-shot-might-reduce-coronavirus-infections-early-research-suggests/">Scientific American</a>, found that healthcare workers who got the flu vaccine ahead of the 2019-2020 season were 39% less likely to test positive for the coronavirus by June 1."Influenza vaccination may contribute not only to reduction of influenza but also to the COVID-19-related burden on the healthcare system," the study authors wrote.<h2>Vaccines may train our immune systems to fight other viruses</h2>For the new study, the researchers examined data from about 10,600 employees at the Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Of that group, they found, 184 healthcare workers had tested positive for the coronavirus by June 1. So they looked at who among the employees had gotten a flu shot during the winter.The study authors found that 2.23% of healthcare workers who had not gotten a flu shot tested positive for COVID-19, whereas only 1.33% of vaccinated employees did.<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/8/3/535">Two</a> <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmv.26120">other</a> recent studies from Italy found a similar trend: Coronavirus rates turned out to be lower among Italians older than 65 who'd gotten a flu shot.<div type="image" title="flu shot" height="1333" width="2000" msid="78922447" hostid="261"></div>The findings also align with previous research suggesting that even vaccines targeting a specific virus, like measles or polio, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/could-old-vaccines-for-other-germs-protect-against-covid-19-2020-4">can help train the body</a> to fight other invaders, too.When a person gets sick, the immune system makes antibody proteins that recognize and neutralize that virus and then remember that virus the next time it invades — what's known as an adaptive immune response. But the body also possesses an innate immune response: a speedier, more general defense of white blood cells brought to bear against any pathogen. Vaccines can help boost the ability of that innate immune response through a process called <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-0285-6">trained immunity</a>.Trained immunity is when the body's innate immune cells <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5087274/">get reprogrammed</a> to react faster and more efficiently to future invasions because of exposure to germs over time, like a pump being primed.The authors of the new study also investigated what happened when human blood cells were exposed to a flu vaccine and then infected with the coronavirus. Cells exposed to the vaccine, they found, developed a better-trained immune response to the coronavirus than unexposed cells. This was primarily because of the production of immune proteins called cytokines that fight off infections.The researchers also tried exposing the cells to both the flu vaccine and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/could-old-vaccines-for-other-germs-protect-against-covid-19-2020-4">BCG vaccine</a>, which targets tuberculosis. Exposure to both vaccines created a synergistic effect, the results suggested, boosting the cells' cytokine production even more.<h2>Scientists still need more evidence that flu shots help protect against COVID-19</h2><h2><div type="image" title="london coronavirus" height="1333" width="2000" msid="78922448" hostid="261"></div></h2>Experts say more evidence is needed to determine whether there's a causal link between a flu shot and lower risk of getting the coronavirus."This is an intriguing study, but it doesn't provide definitive evidence," Ellen Foxman, an immunobiologist at the Yale School of Medicine who was not involved in the study, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-flu-shot-might-reduce-coronavirus-infections-early-research-suggests/">told Scientific American</a>.There could be other reasons healthcare workers who didn't get flu shots wound up with slightly higher rates of COVID-19. It's possible, for example, that people who got a flu shot were simply also more likely to take more precautions during the pandemic, Foxman said.Healthcare workers in the study also had varying levels of direct contact with hospital patients, which could have affected the results. And the researchers did not collect information about whether workers had other health conditions that increased their risk, so that could be a factor as well."As far as telling people, 'You should go get a flu vaccine because it can protect you from COVID,' that's a little bit of a stretch at this point," Foxman <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-flu-shot-might-reduce-coronavirus-infections-early-research-suggests/">said</a>.But she added people should get a flu shot anyway, since, of course, "it's going to protect you from the flu."<h2>The flu can be deadly</h2>About 0.1% of people who got the flu in the US last year died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-incorrectly-compares-coronavirus-flu-deaths-lethality-2020-10">one-fifth to one-tenth</a> the estimated infection-mortality rate of COVID-19.But influenza is no cakewalk. Every year, the seasonal flu kills tens of thousands of Americans. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2019-2020.html">Last year</a>, there were more than 18 million flu-related medical visits and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html">405,000 hospitalizations</a> in the US.According to the World Health Organization, there are <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/influenza-(seasonal)">290,000 to 650,000 respiratory deaths</a> related to influenza worldwide every year.<div type="image" title="how does the flu shot work" height="1414" width="1885" msid="78922449" hostid="261"></div>Unlike the new coronavirus, the influenza virus mutates quickly, leading to the appearance of new strains that undermine people's immunity. That's why we have to get a new flu shot every year, and it's also why flu vaccines <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/2018-2019.html">aren't always 100% effective</a>.

Getting a flu shot could reduce your risk of getting COVID-19, preliminary research suggests

By Natasha Chaku Melbourne, Apr 11 () Hundreds of health workers in the state of South Australia will undergo a clinical trial to test whether an established tuberculosis vaccine can be used to reduce the severity of the novel coronavirus symptoms by providing a boost to the immune system.According to the ABC science news, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) has been researching the effects of the vaccine known as the Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccine (BCG), for some time.Almost 250 health workers will be given the vaccine and 250 others will be given a placebo.Researchers will study if an established tuberculosis vaccine could provide an immune system boost to reduce the prevalence or severity of COVID-19 symptoms, it said.SAHMRI Executive Director Steven Wesselingh, on Saturday said while the vaccine was designed to protect against tuberculosis and also used as a common treatment for bladder cancer patients, it had also helped boost immunity against other infections."Trial participants, who will be randomly allocated to either receive the vaccine or be in a control group, will be monitored for symptoms and receive testing where indicated," he said."The trial will provide key evidence that could prove invaluable in both the current fight against COVID-19 and future novel viral outbreaks," he said.Wesselingh said the BCG vaccine could also boost human "front line" immunity, which trains the immune system to respond to germs with "greater intensity".The state government has injected 200,000 Australian dollars (USD 126,977) for the clinical trial and SAHMRI along with Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) has partnered together to roll out the trial with the support of the World Health Organisation."It is very exciting that this existing vaccine could make a real difference to the health and wellbeing of our hospital staff on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19," state Health Minister Stephen Wade said."The nature of their work means healthcare workers are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19, so it is important that they are first to be able to access this potentially protective intervention," Wade said.Meanwhile, Australia's number of fatalities from COVID-19 rose to 56 after an octogenarian died in the state of Victoria on Friday.The number of confirmed cases in the country has reached 6,298. NC RS RS

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