Researchers deconstruct ancient Jewish parchment using multiple imaging techniques

Analyses of the materials in the scrolls helps put the object into an historical context and guides conservators in future restoration efforts

FRONTIERS

Research News

 

IMAGE: UV FLUORESCENCE EXAMINATION view more 

CREDIT: THE AUTHORS

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but capturing multiple images of an artifact across the electromagnetic spectrum can tell a rich story about the original creation and degradation of historical objects over time. Researchers recently demonstrated how this was possible using several complementary imaging techniques to non-invasively probe a Jewish parchment scroll. The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Materials.

A team of scientists from Romania's National Institute for Research and Development in Optoelectronics extracted details about the manuscript's original materials and manufacturing techniques employing various spectroscopic instruments. These specialized cameras and devices capture images that the human eye normally can't see.

"The goal of the study was ... to understand what the passing of time has brought upon the object, how it was degraded, and what would be the best approach for its future conservation process," explained Dr Luminita Ghervase, a co-author on the paper and research scientist at the institute.

The manuscript the team investigated was a poorly preserved but sacred scroll containing several chapters of the Book of Esther from the Hebrew Bible. An artifact from a private collection, little was known of the object's provenance or history.

"The use of complementary investigation techniques can shed light on the unknown history of such an object," Ghervase noted. "For some years now, non-invasive, non-destructive investigation techniques are the first choice in investigating cultural heritage objects, to comply with one of the main rules of the conservation practice, which is to not harm the object."

One of the more common imaging techniques is multispectral imaging, which involves scanning an object within specific parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Such images can show otherwise invisible details about the manuscript's wear and tear. Different ultraviolet modes, for example, revealed a dark stain on the scroll that might indicate a repair using an organic material such as a resin, because the spot strongly absorbs UV light.

A related technique, hyperspectral imaging, was used to determine the material basis of the ink on the aged parchment. The scientists detected two distinct types of ink, another indication that someone may have attempted to repair the item in the past. They also used a computer algorithm to help characterize the spectral signals of individual pixels to further discriminate the materials - a method that holds promise for reconstructing the text itself.

"The algorithm used for materials classification has the potential of being used for identifying traces of the ink to infer the possible original shape of the letters," Ghervase said.

The team also employed an imaging technique known as x-ray fluorescence (XRF), which can identify the kinds of chemicals used in both the ink and the manufacturing of the parchment. For instance, the XRF found rich concentrations of zinc, a chemical often linked to the bleaching process, but possibly another indication of past restoration efforts. Finally, the scientists employed a Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer to identify other chemicals present using an infrared light source to measure absorption. Specifically, the FTIR analysis provided an in-depth view regarding the deterioration rate of the collagen in the scroll, which is made from animal skin, among other insights.

Employing these various imaging techniques to dissect the parchment could help conservators restore the object closer to its original condition by identifying the materials used to create it.

"They can wisely decide if any improper materials had been used, and if such materials should be removed," Ghervase said. "Moreover, restorers can choose the most appropriate materials to restore and preserve the object, ruling out any possible incompatible materials."

CAPTION

Hyperspectral imaging

CAPTION

Details of the scroll, showing various types of degradation

Droughts, viruses and road networks: Trends that will impact our forests

A new UCPH study assembled an array of experts to highlight major trends that will impact the world's forests, and the people living around them, in the decade ahead; these trends include drought, viral outbreaks and vast infrastructure expansions across

FACULTY OF SCIENCE - UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

Research News

 

Earth's forests are indispensable for both humans and wildlife: they absorb CO2, provide food for large parts of the world's population and are home to all sorts of animals.

However, forest conservation measures are lagging in many countries, says Laura Vang Rasmussen, an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Geosciences and Nature Management.

"It is critical for all countries - especially those with poor economic conditions, to prioritize forests and have forest conservation plans. Without the adoption of conservation strategies, droughts and viral outbreaks could have severe consequences on forests and humans alike," she says.

Rasmussen, along with fellow researchers from the University of Manchester, is behind a new Nature-study in which 24 experts from the around the world have ranked the most significant trends that will affect the world's forests over the coming decade.

Drought and new viral outbreaks

In Denmark, we have seen an increase in the number of summers with scant rainfall, and in the rest of the world - particularly on the US West Coast - droughts have been responsible for massive and devastating forest fires. The new study argues that this trend will continue:

"When we lose forest, due to drought for example, the risk of spreading viruses like coronavirus increases. When forest fires disturb natural ecosystems, disease carrying animals such as bats or rats flee from their charred ecosystems into towns and villages. And, as we have seen with the coronavirus pandemic, viral outbreaks have enormous consequences on global health and economy," explains Rasmussen.

Humans are migrating from the countryside to cities, with more people on the way

More people wanting to move from rural areas into the cities can have both positive and negative consequences for the world's forests.

"It could be that the amount of forest increases as more and more farmers abandon their livelihoods in favour of higher wage urban jobs. This would allow forests room to grow. Conversely, we run the risk that ballooning urban populations will increase demand for marketable crops, which will result in more forests being cleared for agriculture," says Laura Vang Rasmussen.

Furthermore, the planet's human population is projected to increase to roughly 8.5 billion by 2030. This will result in an increased demand for meat, cereals, vegetables, etc., meaning that more forests will need to be cleared to accommodate for fields and meat production farms and facilities.

25 million kilometres of new road networks worldwide

By 2050, global road networks are projected to expand by roughly 25 million kilometres.

This is likely to have a positive effect on human mobility, allowing people to shuttle between cities with ease and more readily move and sell goods.

However, the downside of road building is the inevitably of having to clear forestland for roadbed.

Besides having to look after forests for the sake of the environment and wildlife, forest conservation also relates to poverty, concludes Laura Vang Rasmussen:

"It is problematic that forest conservation, agriculture and poverty are seen as distinct from one another. Indeed, the three factors influence each other, as strategies to increase agricultural production can negatively impact forests. On the other hand, an increase in forested areas makes it more difficult for agriculture to produce enough food. As such, we hope that our research is able to contribute towards highlighting the complex dynamics between agricultural production, deforestation, poverty and food security."

###

FACTS - The process of the study:

136 individuals from 23 different countries submitted 98 suggestions about which trends will be dominant vis-à-vis the world's forests and global poverty over the next decade. University of Copenhagen researchers then established a panel of 24 experts - researchers and representatives from a host of organisations, including CIFOR, Resources for the Future, Rights and Resources Initiative and the Ford Foundation - to rank the five most important global forest trends and how human-forest interaction will play out over the next decade

It's electrifying! This is how Earth could be entirely powered by sustainable energy

TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN

Research News

 

Can you imagine a world powered by 100% renewable electricity and fuels? It may seem fantasy, but a collaborative team of scientists has just shown this dream is theoretically possible - if we can garner global buy-in.

The newly published research, led by Professor James Ward from the University of South Australia and co-authored by a team including Luca Coscieme from Trinity College Dublin, explains how a renewable future is achievable.

The study, published in the international journal, Energies, explores what changes are needed in our energy mix and technologies, as well as in our consumption patterns, if we are to achieve 100% renewability in a way that supports everyone, and the myriad of life on our planet.

The fully renewable energy-powered future envisioned by the team would require a significant "electrification" of our energy mix and raises important questions about the potential conflict between land demands for renewable fuel production.

Explaining the work in some detail, Luca Coscieme, Research Fellow in Trinity's School of Natural Sciences, said:

"Firstly, the high fuel needs of today's high-income countries would have to be reduced as it would require an unsustainably vast amount of land to be covered with biomass plantations if we were to produce enough fuel to satisfy the same levels.

"Additionally, our research shows that we would need to radically 'electrify' the energy supply of such countries - including Ireland - with the assumption that these changes could supply 75% of society's final energy demands. We would also need to adopt technology in which electricity is used to convert atmospheric gases into synthetic fuels.

"We very much hope that the approach designed in this research will inform our vision of sustainable futures and also guide national planning by contextualising energy needs within the broader consumption patterns we see in other countries with energy and forest product consumption profiles that--if adopted worldwide--could theoretically be met by high-tech renewably derived fuels. Countries such as Argentina, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and Spain are great examples in this regard.

"Even so, the success of this green ideal will be highly dependent on major future technological developments, in the efficiency of electrification and in producing and refining new synthetic fuels. Such a scenario is still likely to require the use of a substantial - albeit hopefully sustainable - fraction of the world's forest areas."

###

What if clean air benefits during COVID-19 shutdown continued post-pandemic?

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Research News

 

A new study by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers poses a hypothetical question: What if air quality improvements in New York City during the spring 2020 COVID-19 shutdown were sustained for five years without the economic and health costs of the pandemic? They estimate cumulative benefits of clean air during this period would amount to thousands of avoided cases of illness and death in children and adults, as well as associated economic benefits between $32 to $77 billion. The study's findings are published in the journal Environmental Research.

The researchers leveraged the unintended "natural experiment" of cleaner air in New York City during the COVID-19 shutdown to simulate the potential future health and economic benefits from sustained air quality improvements of a similar magnitude. They do not frame this study as an estimate of the benefits of the pandemic. Rather they offer this hypothetical clean air scenario as an aspirational goal for policies to reduce emissions, largely from fossil fuel combustion.

Exploratory analyses found that neighborhoods with higher percentages of low-income residents or higher percentages of Black or Latinx residents tended to have proportionally higher benefits from reduced PM2.5 concentrations when compared to neighborhoods with lower levels of poverty or Black or Latinx populations. However, this does not mean that the disparity in health outcomes across neighborhoods would be eliminated under this scenario because underlying risk factors would still remain. The researchers also caution that limited air quality monitors and available data during the shutdown period constrained their ability to assess the impact of improved air quality on health disparities across neighborhoods.

Air quality improvements during the New York City spring shutdown were the result of an estimated 60-percent decline in automobile traffic, as well as declines in air traffic, construction, restaurant operation, and electricity generation.

"Air quality improvements from the shutdown happened as the result of a tragic situation. However, our hypothetical clean air scenario could be achieved through air pollution and climate mitigation policies, including those that support low carbon modes of transportation and reduce emissions in other sectors," says study first author Frederica Perera, DrPH, PhD, director of translational research at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health and professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia Mailman School.

The researchers estimated a citywide 23-percent reduction in fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ) concentrations during the COVID-19 shutdown period (March 15-May 15, 2020) compared to the average level for those months in 2015-2018 (the business-as-usual period) using air quality monitoring data from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Based on 2020 data, they extrapolated ambient levels of PM2.5 for a five-year period. They then used BenMAP, a publicly available computer tool supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to estimate the number of avoided air pollution-related illnesses and deaths and quantify their economic value using methods the researchers developed in earlier research. Specifically, they estimate potential avoided cases of infant and adult mortality, adverse birth outcomes, autism spectrum disorder, and childhood asthma.

###

Co-authors include Alique Berberian and Thomas Matte at Columbia Mailman; David Cooley and Elizabeth Shenaut at Abt Associates, Durham, North Carolina; and Hollie Olmstead and Zev Ross at Zev Ross Spatial Analysis, Ithaca, NY.

This study was supported by grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (RD83615401) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES09600), the John and Wendy Neu Foundation, the John Merck Fund, and New York Community Trust.

Climate change: threshold for dangerous warming will likely be crossed between 2027-2042

Scientists introduce a new way to predict global warming, reducing uncertainties considerably

MCGILL UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

The threshold for dangerous global warming will likely be crossed between 2027 and 2042 - a much narrower window than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's estimate of between now and 2052. In a study published in Climate Dynamics, researchers from McGill University introduce a new and more precise way to project the Earth's temperature. Based on historical data, it considerably reduces uncertainties compared to previous approaches.

Scientists have been making projections of future global warming using climate models for decades. These models play an important role in understanding the Earth's climate and how it will likely change. But how accurate are they?

Dealing with uncertainty

Climate models are mathematical simulations of different factors that interact to affect Earth's climate, such as the atmosphere, ocean, ice, land surface and the sun. While they are based on the best understanding of the Earth's systems available, when it comes to forecasting the future, uncertainties remain.

"Climate skeptics have argued that global warming projections are unreliable because they depend on faulty supercomputer models. While these criticisms are unwarranted, they underscore the need for independent and different approaches to predicting future warming," says co-author Bruno Tremblay, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill University.

Until now, wide ranges in overall temperature projections have made it difficult to pinpoint outcomes in different mitigation scenarios. For instance, if atmospheric CO2 concentrations are doubled, the General Circulation Models (GCMs) used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), predict a very likely global average temperature increase between 1.9 and 4.5C - a vast range covering moderate climate changes on the lower end, and catastrophic ones on the other.

A new approach

"Our new approach to projecting the Earth's temperature is based on historical climate data, rather than the theoretical relationships that are imperfectly captured by the GCMs. Our approach allows climate sensitivity and its uncertainty to be estimated from direct observations with few assumptions," says co-author Raphael Hebert, a former graduate researcher at McGill University, now working at the Alfred-Wegener-Institut in Potsdam, Germany.

In a study for Climate Dynamics, the researchers introduced the new Scaling Climate Response Function (SCRF) model to project the Earth's temperature to 2100. Grounded on historical data, it reduces prediction uncertainties by about half, compared to the approach currently used by the IPCC. In analyzing the results, the researchers found that the threshold for dangerous warming (+1.5C) will likely be crossed between 2027 and 2042. This is a much narrower window than GCMs estimates of between now and 2052. On average, the researchers also found that expected warming was a little lower, by about 10 to 15 percent. They also found, however, that the "very likely warming ranges" of the SCRF were within those of the GCMs, giving the latter support.

"Now that governments have finally decided to act on climate change, we must avoid situations where leaders can claim that even the weakest policies can avert dangerous consequences," says co-author Shaun Lovejoy, a professor in the Physics Department at McGill University. "With our new climate model and its next generation improvements, there's less wiggle room."

###

About the study

"An observation-based scaling model for climate sensitivity estimates and global projections to 2100" by Raphael Hebert, Shaun Lovejoy, and Bruno Tremblay was published in Climate Dynamics.

DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-020-05521-x

About McGill University

Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, McGill University is Canada's top ranked medical doctoral university. McGill is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It is a world-renowned institution of higher learning with research activities spanning two campuses, 11 faculties, 13 professional schools, 300 programs of study and over 40,000 students, including more than 10,200 graduate students. McGill attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,800 international students making up 31% of the student body. Over half of McGill students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 19% of our students who say French is their mother tongue.

http://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/

Scientists discover a new type of brain cell that could help detect distance

DURHAM UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: DR. STEVEN POULTER AND DR. COLIN LEVER IN THE LAB DISCOVERING THE CELLS. view more 

CREDIT: DR. STEVEN POULTER AND DR. COLIN LEVER

The existence of GPS-like brain cells, which can store maps of the places we've been, like our kitchen or holiday destination, was already widely known, but this discovery shows there is also a type of brain cell sensitive to the distance and direction of objects that can store their locations on these maps.

The research, led by Dr Steven Poulter and Dr Colin Lever from Durham University, and co-directed by Dr Thomas Wills from the University of Central London (UCL), found that Vector Trace cells can track how far we have travelled and remember where things are, which are added to our memory map of the places we have been.

Dr Steven Poulter said: "The discovery of Vector Trace cells is particularly important as the area of the brain they are found in is one of the first to be attacked by brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, which could explain why a common symptom and key early 'warning sign' is the losing or misplacement of objects."

Dr Lever added: "It looks like Vector Trace cells connect to creative brain networks which help us to plan our actions and imagine complex scenarios in our mind's eye. Vector trace cells acting together likely allow us to recreate the spatial relationships between ourselves and objects, and between the objects in a scene, even when those objects are not directly visible to us."

Brain cells that make up the biological equivalent of a satellite-navigation system were first discovered <> by Professors John O'Keefe, Edvard Moser, May-Britt Moser. Their discovery shed light on one of neurosciences great mysteries - how we know where we are in space - and won them the 2014 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Speaking about the discovery, Professor John O'Keefe said: "I'm very impressed. Not only have they discovered a new type of brain cell, the Vector Trace cell, but their analysis of its properties is exhaustive and compelling. This discovery sheds considerable light on this important but enigmatic structure of the brain, supporting the idea that it is indeed the memory system we have always believed it to be."

Professor Lord Robert Winston added: "This fascinating work on Vector Trace cells uncovers further levels of our memory, so often lost with brain damage and ageing. This discovery gives a possible insight into certain kinds of dementia which are now of massive importance.

He added: "The idea that loss or change of such cells might be an early biomarker of disease could lead to earlier diagnosis and more effective therapies for one of the most intractable medical conditions."

###

New method for imaging exhaled breath could provide insights into COVID-19 transmission

System provides practical method for measuring how breath travels when people talk or sing

THE OPTICAL SOCIETY

Research News

    SHARE

 PRINT  E-MAIL

Volume 90%

 

VIDEO: THE NEW IMAGING TECHNIQUE WAS USED TO IMAGE A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN PLAYING A FLUTE. THE VIDEO SHOWS THAT A COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE ATTACHMENT CAN EFFECTIVELY REDIRECT AIR FLOW FROM THE FLUTE.... view more 

CREDIT: THOMAS MOORE, ROLLINS COLLEGE

WASHINGTON -- A new method for visualizing breath that is exhaled while someone is speaking or singing could provide important new insights into how diseases such as COVID-19 spread and the effectiveness of face masks.

"Scientists believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus is primarily spread through respiratory droplets that can be carried in the breath or expelled through coughing or sneezing," said Thomas Moore from Rollins College, who performed the research. "But it is also transmitted by airborne aerosols, which are small particles that remain in the air longer than the larger droplets. The system I developed provides a way to estimate how far the breath travels before being dispersed into the surrounding air and can provide visual evidence that masks significantly limit the distance the breath travels in the air."

In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Applied Optics, Moore describes how he used a variation of electronic speckle pattern interferometry to image temperature differences between exhaled breath and the surrounding air. The new technique can also be used to study the details of how breath flows from the mouth while speaking or singing, which could be useful for music instruction and speech therapy.

From musical instruments to people

Moore originally developed the imaging technology to study the flow of air through musical instruments such as organ pipes. "In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, I began imaging the breath of people speaking and singing," he said. "I realized that by scaling up my existing system, I could likely determine how far the breath extends and how effective masks may be in limiting the extent of the breath."

Most existing approaches used to image exhaled breath require expensive equipment and can image only a relatively small area. Moore designed a system that uses common commercially available optical components to overcome these limitations.

"I used a variation of electronic speckle pattern interferometry, which has been used for many years to study the vibrational patterns of solid objects," said Moore. "The innovation was to change the system in such a way that it can be used to image transparent things, such as the breath, instead of solid vibrating objects."

The imaging system uses the fact that the speed of light will change depending on the temperature of air it passes through. Because the breath is warmer than the surrounding air, the light transmitted through the breath arrives at the camera slightly sooner than light that did not pass through it. This slight difference in the speed of light can be used to create images of exhaled breath.

Moore tested the new system by imaging the breath of two professional vocalists singing and a professional musician playing a flute, one of the few instruments where the musician blows directly into the surrounding air. "The work with the musicians immediately confirmed that the system worked well and could be used to study a variety of problems," he said.

Changing the air flow

Moore is currently using the method to study how effective masks are at reducing the distance that exhaled aerosols travel. He is especially interested studying singing because research indicates that more aerosol is exhaled while singing or speaking loudly than when speaking normally. He is also working to make the system more stable against vibrations and to further increase the size of the system to image larger areas.

Moore says that the technique has already revealed new information that may affect how we approach distancing and masking requirements, especially when outdoors. He expects to submit these results for publication soon.

"The pandemic has caused an economic catastrophe for many musicians, and any information we can give them that will help them get back to work is important," said Moore. "We have had a lot of interest from the musical community, and I expect the healthcare community will also be interested once we begin to publish our results."

###

Paper: T.R. Moore, "Visualization of exhaled breath by transmission electronic speckle pattern interferometry," Applied Optics, 60, 1, 83-88 (2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.410784.

About Applied Optics

Applied Optics publishes in-depth peer-reviewed content about applications-centered research in optics. These articles cover research in optical technology, photonics, lasers, information processing, sensing and environmental optics. Applied Optics is published three times per month by The Optical Society and overseen by Editor-in-Chief Ronald Driggers, University of Central Florida, USA. For more information, visit OSA Publishing.

About The Optical Society

Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and business leaders who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light. Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership initiatives, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts. For more information, visit osa.org.

Media Contact mediarelations@osa.org

USA

The wealthiest people in this country are pushing to the front of the line to get vaccinated

Photo via Shutterstock.

Dartagnan and Daily Kos December 21, 2020

More than any single event in recent memory, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the gaping chasms of inequality in American society. From the very outset it was accepted wisdom that "essential workers," i.e., those forced to risk their lives in unsafe workplaces throughout the country, would include not only medical personnel such as doctors, nurses, and hospital orderlies; not only police, firefighters and first responders; not only operators of public transportation and critical government services such as postal workers; but also the folks who worked behind cash registers at the Lowe's, the 7-11, and those whose jobs involved the processing, delivery, preparation and transportation of food items and consumer goods that kept the moribund economy from congealing into a second Great Depression.

The "essential" nature of these workers was loudly touted by companies from Amazon to WalMart to Domino's pizza, who extolled the selfless bravery of their employees in warm and touching TV ads, ads that served as a new type of PR for those same companies with sordid past track records about treatment of workers. Meanwhile, the highly compensated officers and executives of these companies bore the brunt of the pandemic not by interacting daily with a stressed and potentially infected public, but from their snug and expansive estates and second homes where they continued to bark orders and issue their edicts remotely.

And this was also the case with the so-called "professional class," as six-figure income lawyers and corporate managers developed new ways to work from home, reallocating firm IT services and equipment while the lower-tiered employees such as clerks and secretaries were mostly told to return to the office, if they were to keep their jobs at all. Probably the most telling example of the disparities in treatment afforded between high managerial and service-level, clerical employees is the current, never-ending circus continuing to unfold in our Congress this weekend, in which financial and rent assistance to ordinary middle and lower income Americans is being held hostage to liability protections insisted upon by the corporate "owner" class in the persona of Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell.

In short, this was never going to be an "equal opportunity" pandemic. Its inherent unfairness has been even more apparent in the medical treatment received by the wealthy as opposed to ordinary Americans, personified by no less than Donald Trump and his White house cronies who, being infected with the COVID-19 virus through their own carelessness and recklessness, nonetheless have instantly received the quickest, most cutting edge care available. Nor are they alone—as described by Mark Sumner here, the gross disparity between medical treatment available to this countries' richest citizens and its less fortunate (but so "essential") workers, mostly those people of color who couldn't work from home due to the very nature of their jobs, often with substandard health insurance, if any, was bound to surface before too long.

And now that multiple vaccines are looming, we are seeing the same sense of natural entitlement among the top 1% playing out, as reports emerge daily of attempts by these same people to bribe their way to the front of the line for vaccination, the better to allow themselves to carry on with their lives as soon as possible, with an eye to traveling and frolicking amongst their islands (both metaphorical and real ones) while the rest of Americans prepare to stand in line for months.


As reported by the Los Angeles Times:
They're offering tens of thousands of dollars in cash, making their personal assistants pester doctors every day, and asking whether a five-figure donation to a hospital would help them jump the line.

The COVID-19 vaccine is here — and so are the wealthy people who want it first.

"We get hundreds of calls every single day," said Dr. Ehsan Ali, who runs Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor. His clients, who include Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, pay between $2,000 and $10,000 a year for personalized care. "This is the first time where I have not been able to get something for my patients."


A few years ago, in what came as a bit of a surprise to my woefully provincial sensibilities, I first heard the term "concierge medicine." It refers to health care offered—at substantial cost—by an elite network of physicians and other medical providers designed to allow wealthier Americans (who may not wish to dirty their hands with the type of medical care provided to the vast majority of us) access to the best medical treatment money can buy. As described by Hayley Fowler, writing for the Miami Herald:

Many wealthy Americans pay for concierge medical services — a "kind of high-quality, primary care most Americans can't afford," the Los Angeles Times reported. Some of those services have already procured the expensive freezers needed to store the vaccine and put their patients on wait lists as soon as it becomes available for widespread distribution.
The cost of such "concierge care" can run in excess of $250,000 per year, and guarantees, as noted in the LA Times article, personalized 24-hour access to physicians who provide their services to a small segment of wealthy clients. These physicians' groups have the financial wherewithal, for example to have immediately secured the types of freezers necessary to hold the Pfizer vaccine in cold storage at -94 degrees Fahrenheit
for significant lengths of time. That in itself provides these groups with a leg up on receiving the vaccine, despite whatever state restrictions may be in place as to who receives it.
Doctors in boutique practices say they'll adhere to public health guidelines in determining who gets priority. But being on a waiting list at a practice that has special freezers and other high-quality resources means you're already near the front of the line once the supply opens up.


Doctors in these "boutiques" confirm this. One co-founder of a "concierge" medical service "with clinics in New York, the Hamptons and Beverly Hills" told the LA Times that his group started soliciting these expensive deep-cold freezers as soon as it was apparent the vaccine would be on the market.

While the Trump administration has not yet been caught offering the vaccine for private distribution, these physicians groups feel it is just a matter of time before such allocations are made, in part due to the demanding and entitled nature of their patrons. The LA Times specifically refers to instances of these "concierge" patients offering huge payments to these groups for the privilege of jumping to the first in line. In one case a person asked if he could accelerate his receipt of the vaccine by making a $25,000 "donation" to a hospital. And, as CNN reports, other physicians with "A-list" clients have been fielding hundreds of calls, all conveying the message, of course, that their money should give them priority:
Dr. David Nazarian, of My Concierge MD in Beverly Hills, said a number of his A-list clients are contacting him, saying that money is no object if it helps them get the vaccine early. "They wanted it yesterday," said Nazarian. "We will play by the rules but are doing everything we can to secure and distribute the vaccine when its available to us."

State officials quoted through these articles are adamant that they will do everything they can to prevent such "line jumping" and they are obviously sincere in that intent. The LA Times article cites no instances yet of physicians succumbing to these types of pressures, but that is likely because the vaccine rollout has just begun, and also because physicians fear the public consequences if they are found out providing the vaccine to those people whose only qualification to receive it is that they are not familiar with taking "no" for an answer.

Another concern described by the Times is the potential for wealthier people to arrange to have their symptoms "fudged" so that a minor history of asthma, for example, could be highlighted or stressed by their doctor for the purpose of receiving the vaccine on a priority basis. And there are always those people closely connected with pharmaceutical executives who believe they ought to warrant special treatment due to the nature of those relationships. Beyond this, as reported by Stat News here, once a vaccine is developed that does not require such stringent storage, there is virtually no doubt that a "black market" will develop for it, with access provided to the highest bidder.

As bluntly emphasized by Timothy Egan this week, writing for the New York Times, this pandemic is hardly close to reaching its conclusion. The next three months are going to be a living hell, with American deaths by March now expected to reach or exceed 500,000. We already know that the Trump administration will pay scant if any attention to the way this vaccine is allotted once it finally gets its act together on distribution. It is the individual states that will ultimately determine the priority of how the vaccine is dispensed, at least officially.

Which brings us back to those so-called "essential workers." If they were as essential as they were roundly described in all of those solemn advertisements, one would expect that, after health care workers (which seems obvious) they would be the first to receive the vaccine, right?

As reported by Stat News, not necessarily:
"Essential workers" are expected to receive early access to the vaccine, and the definition of this category is open to interpretation by state health departments, creating a means for influential industries to lobby for priority. "The devil's going to be in the details of how the state runs their program," Lang said he tells his patients.

Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the federal panel recommending how to distribute the vaccines, want to prioritize essential workers to help ensure people of color, who are often the hardest hit by the virus, get early access. But the predominantly white workers in the financial services industry are also considered essential, according to guidance from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which was referenced by ACIP, as well as executive orders from several states including New York, Illinois, Colorado, and California. Public-facing bank tellers face contagion risks in their work, but aren't the only financial services employees included.

"It was left a little bit nebulous but basically covered people who oil the movement of money, so exchanges, trading floors, trading operations, and people who keep money moving at the retail [banking] level," said Lang.

Again, it seems that the people who have the money will be prioritized to receive the vaccine, as well as—not coincidentally-- the people whose job it is to move money for those same people.

A more telling verdict on our society's priorities could hardly be imagined.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES
Could virus evolution undermine a COVID-19 vaccine? - Alternet.org ›
Stanford front-line residents excluded from COVID vaccine after ... ›
Experts express concern about mysterious shortage of promised ... ›

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB
Experts: COVID Vaccine May Cause Side Effects ›
Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine | NEJM ›
8 Things to Know about the US COVID-19 Vaccination Program | CDC ›