Research

Drugmaker Pfizer's news this week that its experimental vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 was met with much jubilance. Dr. Scott Halperin, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, explains what comes next in Pfizer's large-scale clinical trial, how significant a 90 percent efficacy rate is, and how vaccines will be distributed.

Researchers at Dal, the IWK Health Centre and the QEII Health Sciences Centre have received $1.2 million in funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to advance the development of new COVID-19 vaccines with upgrades to the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology’s level 3 containment facility at the IWK Health Centre.

Certain species of whales, seals and other endangered marine mammals could fall victim to COVID-19 infection through wastewater and sewage that seeps into their marine habitats, researchers at Dalhousie say in a new study that has found some of the animals to be highly susceptible to the virus.

In the last Sciographies episode of the year, pharmacology student, neuroscience alum and varsity athlete Gracious Kashéké (BSc’20) takes over hosting duties to interview usual host David Barclay for a change.

Dalhousie’s Merlinda Weinberg, a professor in the School of Social Work, was the only Canadian on a global team of eight social work ethicists who conducted a first-of-its-kind international study on the challenges social workers face as a result of COVID-19.