Pfizer’s Omicron Vaccine : A Case of Too Late the Hero

Academic Studies, Wealth Management, ,

Pfizer announced that a coronavirus vaccine specifically formulated to combat the Omicron variant will be ready by March but professionals fear it’s too late — everyone will become infected before they become available. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the Omicron vaccine they created alongside BioNTech, aims to prevent Omicron and other variants from spreading but will be ready for distribution by spring. Experts think that had the vaccine been available in December, it might have prevented the highly contagious and transmissible variant to spread as fast as it did.

In early January, the CDC reported that over 95% of new COVID cases are because of the omicron variant. Johns Hopkins reported that there were more than 307,000 new cases of the virus last Sunday and is continuing to rise exponentially.

Why Experts say Pfizer’s Omicron Vaccine will be Useless by Spring

According to a Johns Hopkins Executive Director, Dr. William Moss.of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, it is too late if to arrest the occurring omicron pandemic, although it could still be useful in different ways.

Dr. Shaun Truelove , an epidemiologist at the same school as Moss, agrees that the vaccine might not matter at all because of the highly transmissive nature of the variant. The infection is happening so quickly that everyone will be infected before the targeted vaccine gets distributed. Truelove is also a part of The Covid Scenario Modeling Hub, a group of researchers that creates coronavirus calculations.

Moss added that the booster is assumed to be very effective against the infection for a temporary time, although this information is still not concrete. The only thing that was ascertained by this occurrence is that two doses aren’t sufficient to combat against the omicron variant, while a third dose would be more effective.

Study Says EVs Powered by Coal-Generated Electricity Can Still Lower CO2 Emissions

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In countries that rely on coal generated electricity, many contend that using electric vehicles cannot do much in terms of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Mainly because when charging up an electric vehicle (EV) with a heat pump, the electricity being transferred is still from fossil-fueled power generators. Yet a recent study conducted by university researchers arrived at a conclusion that even if electric cars use coal-generated electricity, overall reduction of carbon emissions can still be achieved.

The results of the study conducted by researchers of UK’s Cambridge and Exeter Universities were published in the journal Nature Sustainability. After grouping countries into 59 regions, the researchers accounted for differences in technology used for power generation. They also took into account the existing electric cars that use heat pumps in transferring energy from coal-generated electricity.

The findings confirmed that in 53 regions that included China, the US and majority of European countries, the use of heat pumps still resulted in less intensive CO2 emissions, when compared to other regions that use only petrol-fueled vehicles. The researchers’ analysis also showed that on a global level, household electric heat pumps helped in lowering CO2 emissions than 95% of those that purely rely on fossil fuel for their energy.

The study estimated that by using heat pumps on a global scale, CO2 emissions throughout the world, can go down by 0.8 gigatons per year in 2050 — an amount that equals Germany’s current yearly emissions. Based on their findings, the study stated that even in our present worst-case scenarios, reductions in CO2 emissions can still be achieved in all cases.

The Future of Electric Vehicles in Australia

While the study’s finding could settle the debate over the use of petrol-fueled vehicles versus EVs that use heat pumps deriving energy from fossil-fueled generators, the future of EVs in Australia still face many challenges.

EV adoption in Australia remains slow, as automotive consumers are wary that there are not enough public recharging stations across the country. Moreover, the initial cost of investing in EVs are relatively higher when compared to the cost of traditional petrol-fueled vehicles. Inasmuch as Australia is one of the leading suppliers of global coal, there is lack of government incentives for EV-adoption, which could help reduce or offset the cost of an EV investment.

According to a 2019 price report, the upfront price range of a brand new electric car is between $46,000 and $260,000.

Financial Advice from National Loans Australia

National Loans Australia gives advice to Australian automotive consumers that when purchasing any kind of vehicle, whether petrol-fueled or electric cars, it would be best to first make a study of their financing options. That way, they can shop around for vehicle financing options based on their personal financial circumstances. Automotive consumers should keep in mind that the financing offers of car dealers are not always the best fit for all types of buyers.

Australians planning to buy a new vehicle or even to refinance their vehicle, can use National Loans Australia website’s (nationalloans.com.au), Loan Pre-Approval tool, free of charge. The results of the Pre-Approval assessment will provide a purchaser, a clearer picture about his or her financing options. The financing experts of National Loans Australia will then help connect a purchaser to a bank or financing institution and/or dealer that can provide a car-financing deal that best suits the automotive consumer.

University Professors Analyze Customer Reactions to Data Breach Incidents

Academic Studies,

In the wake of revelations about data breach among major companies, professors in different business disciplines at the Birmingham University in New York, took time to analyze how consumers react to this type of untoward occurrences. The most recent being the Capital One Bank, which became aware of the data breach only after a concerned individual alerted the bank.

The hacker who goes by the name of Paige A. Thompson bragged about her Capital One hacking activities at GitHub. GitHub is a web-based platform where web developers meet to exchange ideas and suggestions on how to make better codes for their project.

The thing is, the hacker was apparently advertising herself and her skills, by providing details on how she was able to extract more than 700 data folders stored in the cloud server of the Amazon Web Service for Capital One, from March 12-17, 2019. Thompson, even included the IP address of the specific server in which Capital One’s sensitive data were stored.

A Separate Birmingham University Study Analyzed Customer Reactions to Data Breach Incidents

Distinguished Marketing Professor at B.U. School of Management, Professor Subimal Chatterjee, reported that consumers are likely imagining worst-case scenario once they learn about large-scale data breaches.

They tend to look for answers to questions about the safety of their credit card information, causing them worries that their personal info may be used for entering into unauthorized transactions. According to Chatterjee, the degree of fear felt by consumers determines decisions they make, whether they intend to purchase or transact with the company again.

Professor Chatter collaborated with other Birmingham University professors; with Cihan Uzmanoglu, assistant professor of Finance, with Sumantra Sarkar, assistant professor of Management Information Systems, and with Xiang Gao, a Binghamton University PhD graduate currently working at Minnesota State University’s Paseka School of Business.

The professors categorized some as fearful customers, This being the group who were more interested in finding out if the data breaching incident affected 100 customers, or if as many as 10 million customer information were hacked. Naturally, the larger the scope and size, the greater the fear created.

In comparison, the academicians noted that some customers were merely angry, to which their anger was focused on the perpetrator rather than on factors that indicate the robustness or weakness of the system or infrastructure.

The significance of their analysis about customer reactions to data breach is that the stock market reacts to how consumers react to such incidents. According to the professors, fear of the scope of data breach makes the stock market sensitive to the conditions. On the other hand, angry consumer reactions make the stock market less, or not at all sensitive to the scope of the data breach.

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