Company Logo
Global Influenza Vaccines Market
Global Influenza Vaccines Market
Dublin, Sept. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Influenza Vaccines Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Vaccine Type, Virus Type, Technology, and Route of Administration" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The influenza vaccines market is expected to grow from US$ 7,478.53 million in 2021 to US$ 12,272.49 million by 2028. It is expected to grow with a CAGR of 7.4% from 2022 to 2028.
Increasing government support to promote influenza vaccination and rising investment by top market players and governments are the major factors boosting the market.
The governments of various states are supporting the promotional activities of vaccination program. For instance, the Australian government gives a free seasonal influenza vaccine to those at risk of influenza-related complications through the National Immunization Program (NIP). By 2022, enough vaccines have been given to cover all risk groups eligible for a government-funded flu vaccine through the NIP.
Vaccine Type Insights
Based on the vaccine type, the influenza vaccines market is segmented into quadrivalent vaccines and trivalent vaccines. The quadrivalent vaccines segment is likely to hold a larger market share in 2022.
The same segment is anticipated to register a higher CAGR during the forecast period. The quadrivalent influenza (flu) vaccine protects against 4 influenza viruses, including 2 influenza A viruses and 2 influenza B viruses. All flu vaccines in the US during the 2021-2022 season are quadrivalent vaccines. Different vaccines are approved for different age groups.
Virus Type Insights
Based on virus type, the influenza vaccines market is segmented into influenza virus type A and influenza virus type B. The influenza virus type A segment is likely to hold a larger market share in 2022. The same segment is expected to record a faster CAGR during the forecast period. The market growth of the influenza virus type A segment is because it is the most common form of influenza and can infect animals, although illnesses associated with this type of flu are more common.
Technology Insights
Story continues
Based on technology, the influenza vaccines market is segmented into egg-based and cell-based. The egg-based segment is likely to hold a larger market share in 2022. The same segment is expected to record a faster CAGR during the forecast period.
The market growth of the egg-based segment is due to its most common method of producing flu vaccines through an egg-based manufacturing process that has been used for more than 70 years.
Route of Administration Insights
Based on route of administration, the influenza vaccines market is segmented into injection and nasal spray. The injection segment is likely to hold a larger market share in 2022. The same segment is expected to register a higher CAGR during the forecast period.
The market growth of the injection segment is attributed to the fact that it is the most common method for flu vaccine administration.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Introduction
2. Influenza Vaccines Market - Key Takeaways
3. Research Methodology
4. Influenza Vaccines Market - Market Landscape4.1 Overview4.2 PEST Analysis4.3 Experts Opinion
5. Global Influenza Vaccines Market - Key Market Dynamics5.1 Market Drivers5.1.1 Increase in Government Support to Promote Influenza Vaccination5.1.2 Increasing Investment by Top Market Players and Governments5.2 Market Restraints5.2.1 High Cost of Vaccine Development5.3 Market Opportunities5.3.1 Emerging Economies5.4 Future Trends5.4.1 Strong Pipeline Candidates for Influenza Vaccines5.5 Impact Analysis
6. Influenza Vaccine Market -Global Analysis6.1 Global Influenza Vaccines Market Revenue Forecasts And Analysis6.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Geography - Forecasts And Analysis6.3 Global Influenza Vaccines Market - Market Potential Analysis, By Region6.4 Company Analysis6.4.1 Market Positioning of Key Players6.4.2 Comparative Company Analysis6.5 Growth Strategy Analysis6.6 Performance of Key Players6.6.1 Sanofi6.6.2 SEQIRUS
7. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - By Vaccine Type7.1 Overview7.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Vaccine Type 2022 & 2028 (%)7.3 Quadrivalent Vaccines7.4 Trivalent Vaccines
8. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - By Virus Type8.1 Overview8.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Virus Type 2022 & 2028 (%)8.3 Influenza Virus Type A8.4 Influenza Virus Type B
9. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - By Technology9.1 Overview9.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Technology 2022 & 2028 (%)9.3 Egg-based9.4 Cell-based
10. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - By Route of Administration10.1 Overview10.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Route of Administration 2022 & 2028 (%)10.3 Injection10.4 Nasal Spray
11. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - Geographical Analysis
12. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Influenza Vaccines Market
13. Influenza Vaccine Market -Industry Landscape13.1 Overview13.2 Growth Strategies in the Influenza Vaccine Market, 2021-202813.3 Inorganic Growth Strategies13.3.1 Overview13.4 Organic Growth Strategies13.4.1 Overview
14. Company Profiles14.1 Key Facts14.2 Business Description14.3 Products and Services14.4 Financial Overview14.5 SWOT Analysis14.6 Key Developments
Moderna, Inc.
SEQIRUS
Sanofi
GlaxoSmithKline plc.
Hualan Biological Engineering Inc.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation
Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd
MYLAN N.V.
AstraZeneca
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/m3os4x
Attachment
Clinics across Tayside and Fife begin delivering autumn/winter Covid and flu vaccines today.
An estimated 240,000 people in Tayside and 175,000 in Fife are currently eligible for a booster vaccine in the coming months.
But who will receive a Covid booster vaccine this autumn?
What are the vaccines on offer for the booster jab?
And whats happening with the flu vaccine?
Were answering all your questions about the autumn/winter Covid booster vaccine programme.
Following advice on the winter Covid-19 booster programme from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), those eligible for a booster this autumn are:
Those who are eligible for a booster should wait to be contacted or called forward for it.
Elderly care home residents are among the first to receive the jab.
Invitations will have been sent to all over 65s by the end of the week.
Anyone under 65 will be notified about their appointment in due course.
Frontline health and social care workers can now book appointments through the online portal.
Vaccine clinics will be operating locally throughout Tayside and Fife. The location of your vaccine clinic will be included on your appointment letter.
Last month it was announced a new Covid vaccine has been approved for use as part of Scotlands autumn/winter booster programme.
The new Moderna mRNA bivalent Omicron BA.1/Original wild-type vaccine has been approved for use in anyone aged 18 and older.
It targets both the original version of Covid and the Omicron BA.1 variant, which first emerged in South Africa in November 2021.
Doses of the new dual vaccine will be distributed in Scotland. However, it is not currently known how many will be allocated to Scotland.
Some receiving a booster this year will get the original Moderna vaccine or Pfizer. Novavax may be used when no alternative is available.
Those eligible for a Covid booster and the flu vaccine will receive both jabs at the same time, wherever possible.
More information for those who usually get a flu vaccine but are not currently eligible for a Covid booster vaccine will be given in due course.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
September 5, 2022
By Rick Pezzullo
When students and faculty return to the classroom in the rivertowns Tuesday, theyll notice many changes from when they left for summer break.
Last month, the New York State Education Department and Health Department issued updated COVID-19 guidance in accordance with revised guidelines made by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Thanks to the heroic work of our educators, children across New York have been able to make a safe return to the classroom, State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett stated. This new guidance will give schools and districts more flexibility to continue providing in-person instruction as we head into the new school year.
Under the new guidelines, there will be no mask requirements or quarantine mandates for students and faculty. Remote instruction and physical distancing are also no longer needed, along with contract tracing and surveillance testing.
We know theres no replacement for in-classroom learning, and were going to make sure that this year is a very different year, said Governor Kathy Hochul.
School administrators in Irvington, Tarrytown and Dobbs Ferry are all abiding by the most recent rules and have informed parents and students through newsletters and the district websites.
I am eager to welcome our students and staff back to school, and I hope you are as optimistic as I am to begin anew after two long years of pandemic life, Irvington Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kristopher Harrison stated. Perhaps we can begin to remember what life was like before COVID-19 introduced daily obstacles.
As of August 24, there were 89 reported cases of COVID-19 in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow.
We are excited to be as close to typical operations as we can be. We need to continue to be flexible and responsive. COVID-19 has been very predictable, Tarrytown school officials stated. We have been working with COVID for almost three years. Safety has always been our priority, while being able to continue to educate our students in the best environment possible.
Ken Slentz, the new superintendent of schools in Dobbs Ferry, said district officials are hoping for a school year with few interruptions.
We learned never take the current situation for granted. Lets hope this year can be as normal as possible, Slentz said to the community in a video message. We need to make sure the teaching and learning taking place in our buildings is being done in a very safe and secure environment.
The CDC continues to recommend that people stay home when sick. Any student or staff member who has symptoms of respiratory or gastrointestinal infections, such as cough, fever, sore throat, vomiting, or diarrhea, is urged not to go to school.
September 5, 2022
By Rick Pezzullo-- When students and faculty return to the classroom in the rivertowns Tuesday, theyll notice many changes from...
September 5, 2022
By Rachel Tieger, TEAC Co-Chair For a couple of months, I had been seeing small pieces of asphalt shingle in...
September 2, 2022
By Barrett Seaman-- At its September 6th meeting, the Irvington school districts board of education is expected to confirm the...
September 1, 2022
By Tom Pedulla--- A renewed emphasis on strength and conditioning, combined with the emergence of a precocious freshman with game-changing...
August 31, 2022
By W.B. King Years ago, a woman struggling with severe depression sat down and painstakingly wrote goodbye letters to...
August 25, 2022
By Rick Pezzullo--- The Dobbs Ferry Board of Trustees agreed earlier this month to spend up to $9,800 to restore...
August 24, 2022
By Rick Pezzullo-- The North Tarrytown Housing Authority in Sleepy Hollow was one of 10 public housing agencies in New...
August 23, 2022
By Barrett Seaman The redistricting merry-go-round left District 16 incumbent Congressman Jamaal Bowman with a slightly different electorate from the...
August 23, 2022
By Barrett Seaman On the Democrats side, it was expected to be closeor at least closer, given the concentration of...
August 23, 2022
By Barrett Seaman Well okay, bears are not necessarily bad news, but they do seem to be around the rivertowns...
Sep 5, 2022,01:56pm EDT
Sep 5, 2022,01:41pm EDT
Sep 5, 2022,12:00pm EDT
Sep 5, 2022,10:18am EDT
Sep 5, 2022,07:30am EDT
Sep 5, 2022,02:00am EDT
Sep 4, 2022,08:00am EDT
It was the second day of school for Greenville elementary school, and students were scattered across the playground, soaking in the late August sun. On the swings, some kicked their way closer to the cloudless sky; others scampered around on the multicolored jungle gym. There were shrieks and snacks and one skinned elbow, and the air was fragrant with the freshly laid woodchips that cushioned the students rapid descent from the slide.
Its the kind of scene Kristy Warren has witnessed countless times. She first came here as a student herself, then returned about 20 years later as a school principal. Since then, in the course of her seven years as the Plumas county assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, shes made regular visits to the stretch of road where this small northern California towns elementary school and junior-senior high school stand side-by-side.
But this day was different. After more than two years of school closures and crises first the pandemic, then the devastating Dixie fire the campus was alive with activity. This year marked the first time since 2019 that Greenvilles students would return to these classrooms on schedule as well as in person. Standing on the newly poured blacktop with a few teachers, Warren agreed that it looked like a regular school day if you ignored the backdrop of fire-blackened trees.
Working as a school administrator in a rural county with fewer than 20,000 people comes with its own unique challenges, and the disasters Warrens district has weathered in recent years have only expanded her role. Warren juggles responsibilities that would probably be shared in a larger or wealthier district, including overseeing the curriculum from early learning through adult education for all eight of Plumas countys schools, and dealing with everything from human resources and hiring to technology and budgeting.
After Covid-19 shuttered the schools in March 2020, Warren oversaw getting the districts 125 teachers set up online, first with Zoom and then using a new system she selected. When students finally began to resume in-person learning, she fielded questions and complaints about the mask mandates and helped set up a testing system that screened hundreds of students a day. She was eager to get kids back in the classroom, and she spent the summer of 2021 optimistically preparing for what was supposed to be a more normal fall, now that vaccines were readily available.
But on the evening of 4 August, less than three weeks before the first day of school, the Dixie fire, the second largest wildfire in Californias history, swept through Greenville. The nearly 964,000-acre blaze devastated the town and destroyed the majority of its buildings, including Warrens childhood home.
Residents were evacuated, and many found little remaining when they returned. The flames licked the corner of the high school gym, destroyed the elementary schools wooden welcome sign, and melted the playground equipment but the main buildings survived.
Theres not one person here who wasnt affected in some way, shape or form, Warren said. Some lost their homes, some didnt, but the whole community definitely was impacted, because chances are they knew a friend or family member who did.
The district postponed the start of school for two weeks, giving an additional four weeks to Greenville students, who were offered independent study or the option to attend another school within the Plumas county district. Since much of the area did not have dependable wifi, Greenville elementary schoolteacher Maria Johnson said she printed out learning packets and delivered them to students so they could stay on track with their education. Still, many of the residents remained displaced, and fewer than half the towns students from the previous year registered with Greenville schools after the fire.
Meanwhile, Warren and the other district staff navigated the bureaucracy of the disaster recovery system, reaching out to state and federal officials for assistance. Though Greenvilles school buildings had survived the fire physically, they were unsafe for students: there was no electricity, debris was all around, and hazardous chemicals had been found in the ground and water. But because the buildings were intact, the schools were ineligible for most recovery funding, and regulations made it difficult to cope by shifting around resources. Warren offered one example of red tape she encountered, recalling how they had to appeal directly to the governors office just to use a multipurpose hall from another campus as a cafeteria.
At the same time, Plumas county was still dealing with Covid-19. In October, there was an outbreak that sent home teachers and about a third of the students, Warren estimated. Another wave followed around the holidays, and this time so many staff got sick that Warren had to step in as a substitute teacher.
You just add on all the recovery and the trauma and Covid, and everyones just tired, Warren told me in February, during another outbreak. Everyones job is different; no ones doing what they were hired to do three years ago.
After recess on the August day I visited, Warren snapped a selfie in the refurbished gym and watched the newly made wooden welcome sign be placed in the front of the elementary school. It had been just over a year since the Dixie fire, and the Greenville schools were surrounded by properties in the early stages of construction. Warren told me how much it meant to see students and staff back on this campus again, especially since it almost didnt happen.
The schools wifi, which is currently supplied by a large temporary tower behind the buildings, was unreliable; there was no air conditioning, and temperatures that first week were expected to soar into the 90s. Ultimately, Warren said, the administrators and staff still agreed it was worth moving forward (and getting fans). Being back in the classroom would give the teachers a chance to better address the trauma students had experienced; already, some teachers told Warren theyd noticed how some students flinched whenever the bells rang, and there was a lot of anxiety around the idea of fire drills. Warren said she believed it was for the community to see the school reopen too: The busy campus stood as a sign of progress and hope.
Warren ended the day back at her desk in the nearby town of Quincy. She fielded phone calls from colleagues and state officials while checking on how many students had actually returned, compared with how many theyd expected. In Greenville, the numbers were still dozens shy of their 2020 tallies, but up from last year by nearly 50 students.
Overall, the first days back had been a success, but there were still challenges to tackle. One teacher was out with Covid-19, and there was the larger issue of the districts teacher shortage they were looking to fill about a dozen spots, and the lack of affordable housing since the fire made finding replacements even harder. The hot weather also served as a reminder of teacher requests, like the social studies departments plea for more physical textbooks since technology could not always be relied on during warmer months. Here in northern California, the growing wildfire risk has made public safety power shutoffs a regular feature of recent autumns. in many of the districts schools, bright yellow air purifiers line the halls in case of smoky days.
Warren has added yet another responsibility to her roster in recent months: she has begun sharing her districts experience of disaster recovery with other school administrators. Climate change is making extreme weather events increasingly severe and common, and a Government Accountability Office study found more than half of the nations public school districts are located in counties that were officially declared disaster areas between 2017 and 2019. Warrens hard-earned knowledge will prove increasingly useful to other fire-threatened rural communities in the west.
Now we have our story, Warren said, and were able to help others.
Colleen Hagerty is an independent multimedia journalist specializing in disaster coverage. Her reporting digs into the policies, politics, technologies and cultural forces that shape the impacts of natural hazards on communities.
Find other stories in this series here.
New Covid-19 booster shots arriving in Illinois this week
The Illinois Department of Public Health is urging everyone who is eligible to get the updated Covid-19 booster shot to do so.
CHICAGO - Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza remains in isolation after she tested positive for Covid-19.
Mendoza canceled Mondays appearances at the Rock Island and Moline Labor Day parades, and is postponing an address she was supposed to give this week on Illinois financial health until September 14.
Meanwhile, 580,000 doses of the updated Covid-19 vaccine are expected to be distributed in the next week across Illinois.
SUBSCRIBE TO FOX 32 CHICAGO ON YOUTUBE
The Illinois Department of Public Health is urging everyone who is eligible to get the updated Covid-19 booster shot to do so.
Pfizer's shot is for people who are 12 and older, and Modernas shot is for those 18 and older.
For those who are up-to-date on their Covid vaccinations, the updated booster should be the fourth, fifth, or sixth shot depending on your age and health status.
For more information, visit the state health departments website.
In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers assessed the association between neuroinvasion and anosmia observed during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, anosmia was a defining feature of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, with the emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs), the profile manifested by SARS-CoV-2 infection has evolved, and anosmia is now less common. The neuropathogenesis of the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 has been the subject of extensive research, but yet little is known about the variants' potential for neuropathology.
In the present study, researchers estimated the clinical, olfactory, and inflammatory impact of infection with SARS-CoV-2 ancestral strain and SARS-CoV-2 Gamma, Delta, and Omicron/BA.1 variants.
The team assessed how different SARS-CoV-2 VOCs affected the clinical manifestations of infection compared to the ancestral Wuhan strain. In Vero-E6 cells, the researchers examined the in vitro growth curves of these viruses. Subsequently, SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan or the VOCs Gamma, Delta, or Omicron/BA.1 were administered intranasally to male golden hamsters, and the subjects were observed for four days after infection (dpi). The nasal turbinates and lower airways were assessed for viral titers and ribonucleic acid (RNA) loads in the lungs. The team also evaluated the impact of infection on the olfactory bulbs after determining the clinical and inflammatory profile of the infected animals.
All of the SARS-CoV-2-infected animals showed a progressive loss of weight. This effect was particularly noted in SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan-infected animals that displayed the most severe median weight loss, followed by the Gamma-infected animals, the Delta-infected animals, and the Omicron/BA.1-infected animals. SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan-infected animals had the worst clinical profile, followed by Gamma- and Delta-infected animals, while Omicron/BA.1-infected animals displayed a delayed manifestation of mild symptoms, clinically detectable only at four dpi. Non-specific illness-related clinical signs such as ruffled fur, slow movement, and apathy followed the same pattern.
Only 12.5% of Gamma-infected mice fully lost their ability to smell, while 62.5% of SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan-infected animals showed signs of olfactory impairment. The rats that were infected with Delta and Omicron/BA.1, however, did not exhibit any olfactory impairment. Regardless of the infecting variant, infectious viruses were found in the lungs and nasal turbinates of all infected hamsters.
The impact of the infecting variant was, however, noted in the Gamma-infected animals that had the highest viral titers and the Omicron/BA.1-infected animals having the lowest. Notably, Delta-infected animals had the highest viral load. Genomic and sub-genomic SARS-CoV-2 RNA were found to be in equal measures in the lungs of all infected animals but in different amounts in the nasal turbinates.
All VoCs responded to the infection in the upper and lower airways, but each one did so with a tissue-specific inflammatory signature. This was observed in the lungs where all VoCs elevated MX dynamin-like guanosine triphosphatase (Mx2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), Il-10, and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10), with the level in SARS-COV-2 Wuhan-infected animals being the highest.
Interferon beta (IFN-) and Il-6 gene expression in the nasal turbinates showed the highest values in animals infected with SARS-COV-2 Wuhan. The lowest values were in animals infected with Omicron/BA.1. Animals infected with Delta had the highest levels of Mx2, Cxcl10, and IL-10 expression, whereas those infected with Omicron/BA.1 had the lowest levels.
The prevalence of olfactory dysfunctions varied depending on the VoC, with hamsters infected with Delta and Omicron/BA.1 exhibiting no indications of anosmia. Notably, all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants could effectively enter the central nervous system (CNS) and infect the olfactory bulbs. The various VoCs can be distinguished based on spike mutations. Additionally, a few VoC isolates, including the Delta isolate used in this investigation, had deletions in the open reading frame (ORF)-7 region.
Interestingly, the clinical profile displayed by hamsters infected with Wuhan/D ORF7ab matched that of the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan, demonstrating that ORF7ab is not necessary for viral infection and replication. However, the incidence of olfaction loss significantly lowered, with 25% of the infected animals showing symptoms of anosmia, as opposed to the 62.5% of those infected with CoV-2/SARS-COV-2 Wuhan.
The study findings showed that all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the Wuhan, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron/BA.1 strains, are capable of invading the brain and causing inflammation, most likely via the olfactory bulbs. Regardless of how the disease manifests clinically, brain infection via the olfactory pathway appears to be a common trait of coronaviruses. Furthermore, this study showed that neuroinvasion and anosmia are separate processes after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Sep 5, 2022,05:08pm EDT
Sep 5, 2022,03:45pm EDT
Sep 5, 2022,01:56pm EDT
Sep 5, 2022,01:41pm EDT
Sep 5, 2022,12:00pm EDT
Sep 5, 2022,10:18am EDT
Sep 5, 2022,07:30am EDT
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, masking has been one of the key public health measures put in place to combat the disease. Since March 2020, billions of disposable surgical masks have been used around the world, raising the question: What happens to all those used masks?
As researchers in single use plastic and microplastic pollution, the onset of a global wave of plastic debris pollution became evident to us in the early days of the pandemic we could see the evidence even during lockdowns when exercise was limited to short daily walks in the neighbourhood. Masks and gloves were on the ground, fluttering in the wind and hanging on fencing.
As ecologists, we were also aware of where the debris would end up in nests, for example, or wrapped around the legs or in the stomachs of wildlife.
In Canada, a team of researchers led by conservation biologist Jennifer Provencher studied how plastic debris impacts wildlife. In a study conducted during a canal cleanup in The Netherlands, biologists at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center documented that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) debris would interact with wildlife in the same way as other plastics.
Theres a cartoon circulating on the internet that goes like this: a rat comes home carrying bags of groceries to see two rats laying in bunk beds made from medical grade masks. The rat in the bottom bunk exclaims, Free hammocks, all over town. Its like a miracle!
We shared this cartoon with our colleagues at the beginning of the pandemic, while we were conducting surveys of PPE litter around Toronto streets and parking lots.
We found that within the area that we were surveying which covered an area of Toronto equivalent to about 45 football fields over 14,000 disposable masks, gloves or hand wipes accumulated by the end of the year. Thats a lot of rat hammocks.
We set out to understand the breadth of the harm that PPE is doing to wildlife. What we learned is just how many other people were equally concerned.
We conducted a global survey using social media accounts of wildlife interactions with PPE debris. The images are jarring: A hedgehog wrapped in a face mask, the earloops tangled in its quills. A tiny bat, with the earloops of two masks wrapped around its wing. A nest, full of ivory white eggs, insulated with downy feathers and a cloth mask.
Many of these animals are dead, but most were alive at the time of observation. Some were released from their plastic entanglement by the people who captured the photo.
In total, we found 114 cases of wildlife interactions with PPE debris as documented on social media by concerned people around the world. Most of the wildlife were birds (83 per cent), although mammals (11 per cent), fish (two per cent), invertebrates such as an octopus (four per cent) and sea turtles (one per cent) were also observed.
The majority of observations originated in the United States (29), England (16), Canada (13) and Australia (11), likely representing both the increase in access to mobile devices and our English-language search terms. Observations also came from 22 other countries, with representation from all continents except Antarctica.
With an estimated 129 billion face masks used monthly around the world, how do we, as ecologists and environmental researchers, tell a global population experiencing a global pandemic to use fewer masks? We dont.
N95 masks have been essential in reducing the transmission of COVID-19 and, although they are more environmentally harmful than cloth masks, the benefit to health is demonstrably superior.
So, what could we have done better? One thing we noted during our PPE litter surveys is the abundance of discarded masks and gloves in close proximity to public garbage bins.
We hypothesize that a lack of clear messaging from municipalities and provinces about safe ways to dispose of PPE, along with our reluctance to gather near sources of discarded PPE, may have contributed to this global pollution event.
These are lessons that can still be implemented as we continue to cycle through waves of this pandemic; the use of masks is not yet behind us. Our surveys continue as we track an accumulation of PPE debris that will likely find its way into more nests and tangled around the bodies of more animals.
The rise of single use plastic use due to COVID-19 may not have been avoidable. But the rise in plastic pollution could have been mitigated with some investment in public outreach and modifications to waste management infrastructure to allow for masks and other PPE to be disposed of and processed correctly with minimal leakage to the environment.
