Can India's COVID-19 emergency be fixed without politics?
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Saha K
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8225273 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Can India's COVID-19 emergency be fixed without politics?
Lancet (London, England) 20210601 10293
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Project description:After a decade of crisis management, the democratic implications of emergency modes of governance in the European Union (EU) are under the spotlight. The prevailing analysis is critical. Scholars point to an emergent, distinctly European trend of transnational crisis exploitation where elite appeals to exceptional pressures serve asymmetric power and influence, overriding democratic norms and potentially fuelling Eurosceptic backlash. However, the literature does not ask whether citizens consider themselves disempowered by the EU’s emergency politics, with its alleged emphasis on urgency and technocratic problem-solving. The relative symmetry and simultaneity of the Covid-19 crisis across Europe offers an opportunity for an empirical examination of public opinion on traits of emergency politics. We juxtapose the implications of emergency politics for public opinion with the transnational cleavages literature and use survey data from 15 member states on EU- and national-level pandemic responses to examine the competing hypotheses. Our findings indicate perceptions of crisis management are largely determined by prior views on EU integration and democracy. More generally, the results suggest that the transnational cleavage remains overall a key driver and delimiter of Euroscepticism in crisis times. Though there is some variance between emergency politics dimensions, we do not detect a widespread perception of disillusionment motivated by EU emergency rule. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41295-023-00329-5.
| S-EPMC9899656 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Abstract Exceptional times call for exceptional measures—this formula is all too familiar in the domestic setting. Governments have often played loose with their state's constitution in the name of warding off an urgent threat. But after decades of increasing interconnectedness and emerging transnational governance, today one sees new forms of emergency politics that are cross-border in range. From the European Union to the World Health Organization, from supranational institutions to state governments acting in concert, the logic of emergency is embraced in international contexts, with Covid-19 the latest occasion. This Forum offers an entry-point into this emerging phenomenon. Taking as its point of departure two recent books, it examines the origins, forms, effects and normative stakes of emergency politics beyond the state. Among the matters discussed are the concept of emergency politics, the historical context of its contemporary forms, the patterns of decision-making associated with it, the implications for the legitimacy of transnational institutions, and the constitutional and political ways in which it might be contained. Transnational emergency politics seems likely to remain a central feature of the coming years, and our aim is to further its study in international relations.
| S-EPMC8194961 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) eruption has left not only illness and mortality in its wake, but also an overwhelming threat to health policy, human regality, food security, and struggle worldwide. The accessibility and potential distribution of a protective and successful vaccination to communities throughout the world are being considered now not just, as a potential of overcoming these hurdles, but also as an example of human perseverance in the face of catastrophe. A vaccine is the only tool that can efficaciously deal with the COVID-19 catastrophe. Currently, more than 47 vaccines are permitted for emergency use in distinct parts of the world. India will play a significant role in the development of the high-priced Moderna shots and Pfizer Inc, therefore assisting in the immunization of a large portion of the world. Moreover, many of the internationally researched and developed vaccine laboratories seek manufacturing in Indian firms and companies for efficient and low-cost production of vaccines intending to provide to the world, hence, making India, a major role player during these pandemic times. This review highlights the Indian contribution to the globe for COVID-19 management.
| S-EPMC9695423 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC7574682 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveThe COVID-19 pandemic is the first pandemic where social media platforms relayed information on a large scale, enabling an "infodemic" of conflicting information which undermined the global response to the pandemic. Understanding how the information circulated and evolved on social media platforms is essential for planning future public health campaigns. This study investigated what types of themes about COVID-19 were most viewed on YouTube during the first 8 months of the pandemic, and how COVID-19 themes progressed over this period.MethodsWe analyzed top-viewed YouTube COVID-19-related videos in English from December 1, 2019 to August 16, 2020 with an open inductive content analysis. We coded 536 videos associated with 1.1 billion views across the study period. East Asian countries were the first to report the virus, while most of the top-viewed videos in English were from the US. Videos from straight news outlets dominated the top-viewed videos throughout the outbreak, and public health authorities contributed the fewest. Although straight news was the dominant COVID-19 video source with various types of themes, its viewership per video was similar to that for entertainment news and YouTubers after March.ResultsWe found, first, that collective public attention to the COVID-19 pandemic on YouTube peaked around March 2020, before the outbreak peaked, and flattened afterwards despite a spike in worldwide cases. Second, more videos focused on prevention early on, but videos with political themes increased through time. Third, regarding prevention and control measures, masking received much less attention than lockdown and social distancing in the study period.ConclusionOur study suggests that a transition of focus from science to politics on social media intensified the COVID-19 infodemic and may have weakened mitigation measures during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is recommended that authorities should consider co-operating with reputable social media influencers to promote health campaigns and improve health literacy. In addition, given high levels of globalization of social platforms and polarization of users, tailoring communication towards different digital communities is likely to be essential.
| S-EPMC9034744 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Politics may color interpretations of facts, and thus perceptions of risk. We find that a higher share of Trump voters in a county is associated with lower perceptions of risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Controlling for COVID-19 case counts and deaths, as Trump's vote share rises in the local area, individuals search less for information on the virus and its potential economic impacts, and engage in fewer visits to non-essential businesses. Our results suggest that politics and the media may play an important role in determining the formation of risk perceptions, and may therefore affect both economic and health-related reactions to unanticipated health crises.
| S-EPMC8502491 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The execution of Covid-19 vaccination drives in former Yugoslavia's successor states has been disappointing. The rapidly evolving literature on the Covid-19 pandemic suggests the levels of support for vaccination are correlated with education, trust in public-health institutions, and exposure to the negative economic and health effects of the pandemic. The explanations of the political foundations of vaccination hesitancy, however, need better empirical grounding. We shed light on this subject by analyzing the results of a survey conducted on more than six thousand respondents from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia, as well as a combination of public-health, economic, and sociodemographic data across more than five hundred municipalities in Croatia. Most notably, we find the political sources of vaccination hesitancy to be strongly related to people's support for the ideas of political parties committed to nationalist populism.
| S-EPMC10956124 | biostudies-literature
Project description:With a focus on responses to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Ethiopia and on political developments that have occurred in the country during the pandemic, this article contributes to the existing scholarship that explores the relationship between health and politics. Drawing on qualitative data from the project 'COVID-19 Impact Tracing in Ethiopia: Social, Economic, Political, and Security Ramifications', carried out in the Tigray, Amhara and Oromia Regional States (RS) from June to September 2020, we offer new empirical and theoretical perspectives that shed light on the political status of health and health policies in Ethiopia and beyond. In all the three regions, COVID-19 and the government's pandemic response was subject to politicization and securitization. The degree of securitization and politicization differed between the regions and fluctuated over time; in areas with strong opposition to political authorities, the COVID-19 mitigating efforts were-during the first phase of the pandemic-more politicized and securitized than in areas with less opposition. Yet, as the political opposition and instability increased, threatening national security and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's political project, the authorities and the public paid increasingly less attention to the pandemic and the mitigating policies. In our analysis of these dynamics, we draw on a classic distinction that scholars of global public health have borrowed from political science: that of 'low' and 'high' politics. We argue that a contextually situated use of the high/low distinction allows us to recognize the fleeting and context-dependent nature of health's political status, providing valuable insights that help us understand the ways that health emerges and disappears as high politics. The temporal and inter-regional shifts that appeared in, and as a response to, Ethiopia's pandemic policies illustrate the importance of a continuous analysis of the relationships between health and politics at national as well as at sub-national levels.
| S-EPMC8436378 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this article, several scholars of nationalism discuss the potential for the COVID-19 pandemic to impact the development of nationalism and world politics. To structure the discussion, the contributors respond to three questions: (1) how should we understand the relationship between nationalism and COVID-19; (2) will COVID-19 fuel ethnic and nationalist conflict; and (3) will COVID-19 reinforce or erode the nation-state in the long run? The contributors formulated their responses to these questions near to the outset of the pandemic, amid intense uncertainty. This made it acutely difficult, if not impossible, to make predictions. Nevertheless, it was felt that a historically and theoretically informed discussion would shed light on the types of political processes that could be triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, the aim is to help orient researchers and policy-makers as they grapple with what has rapidly become the most urgent issue of our times.
| S-EPMC7404753 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesTo investigate the impact of targeted vaccination strategies on morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19, as well as on the incidence of SARS-CoV-2, in India.DesignMathematical modelling.SettingsIndian epidemic of COVID-19 and vulnerable population.Data sourcesCountry-specific and age-segregated pattern of social contact, case fatality rate and demographic data obtained from peer-reviewed literature and public domain.ModelAn age-structured dynamical model describing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in India incorporating uncertainty in natural history parameters was constructed.InterventionsComparison of different vaccine strategies by targeting priority groups such as keyworkers including healthcare professionals, individuals with comorbidities (24-60 years old) and all above 60.Main outcome measuresIncidence reduction and averted deaths in different scenarios, assuming that the current restrictions are fully lifted as vaccination is implemented.ResultsThe priority groups together account for about 18% of India's population. An infection-preventing vaccine with 60% efficacy covering all these groups would reduce peak symptomatic incidence by 20.6% (95% uncertainty intervals (UI) 16.7-25.4) and cumulative mortality by 29.7% (95% CrI 25.8-33.8). A similar vaccine with ability to prevent symptoms (but not infection) will reduce peak incidence of symptomatic cases by 10.4% (95% CrI 8.4-13.0) and cumulative mortality by 32.9% (95% CrI 28.6-37.3). In the event of insufficient vaccine supply to cover all priority groups, model projections suggest that after keyworkers, vaccine strategy should prioritise all who are >60 and subsequently individuals with comorbidities. In settings with weakest transmission, such as sparsely populated rural areas, those with comorbidities should be prioritised after keyworkers.ConclusionsAn appropriately targeted vaccination strategy would witness substantial mitigation of impact of COVID-19 in a country like India with wide heterogeneity. 'Smart vaccination', based on public health considerations, rather than mass vaccination, appears prudent.
| S-EPMC8257292 | biostudies-literature