The hunt for the virus causing the 1918 influenza pandemic

The hunt for the virus causing the 1918 influenza pandemic and how it has informed science and preparedness for future pandemics. Jeffery Taubenberger (NIAID) and John Oxford (QMUL) spoke at The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters as guests of our CAS project November 8th. You can watch a recording of their talks here The hunt for the virus causing the 1918 influenza pandemic – FilMet (oslomet.no) and also a pod-cast they did here: Part I: Reflections on a pandemic – Viten og snakkis (oslomet.no). Lisa Sattenspiel Tanner and Svenn-Erik Mamelund also did a follow-up podcast Part 2: Reflections on a pandemic – Viten og snakkis (oslomet.no)

New Paper! COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in eastern Oslo

We are proud to announce that one of our earlier masters’ students just published a paper in BMC Public Health.

Photo: Lara Steinmetz presenting her work in Bergen 2021.

Results show that vaccine hesitancy was low overall (5.8%). Findings indicate that participants with younger ages, lower education, and lower household income, and those born outside of Norway were prone to vaccine hesitancy. Over half of the vaccine hesitant sample cited barriers relating to confidence in the vaccines. Women and participants born in Norway were more likely hesitant due to fear of side effects and there being little experience with the vaccines. Otherwise, complacency barriers such as not feeling that they belonged to a risk group (46.1%), not needing the vaccines (39.1%), and wanting the body to develop natural immunity (29.3%) were frequently selected by participants.

You can read the full paper here: Sociodemographic predictors of and main reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in eastern Oslo: a cross-sectional study (springer.com)

Next PANSOC Webinar

On 6 October at 1600 CET, Alexi Gugushvili, University of Oslo, will present “The COVID-19 Pandemic and War: The Case of Ukraine.”

The COVID-19 pandemic may change the dynamics of existing conflicts or may create conditions for violence through heightened nationalism, xenophobia, or economic hardship. Eastern Europe has been one of the hot spots of the pandemic, and it is currently a location of the most intense interstate armed conflict since the Second World War. In this talk, I will outline possible channels linking pandemics and heightened probability for armed conflict occurrence. I will also describe the COVID-related developments in Russia and Ukraine which preceded president Putin’s decision on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. 

Contact jessicad@oslomet.no for a link.

Two latest webinar videos

In case you missed the start of this semester’s PANSOC webinar series, catch up here:

Kirsty Short, The University of Queensland, “Obesity and viral disease: lessons for pandemic preparedness.”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KitOcdQl7lxjqhP8f-CdE_Sbvm71bfQW/view?usp=sharing

Nele Brusselaers, Antwerp University & Karolinska Institutet & Ghent University, “How science affected Covid-19 policy in Sweden.”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z25XYP35uTOTE604L6E3RUOvNlR480Xf/view?usp=sharing

And watch other past webinars here: