AskScience AMA Series: Hi! I am Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, an epidemiologist and one of the architects of Israel's coronavirus response and vaccine operation. Ask me anything! | AskScience Blog

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Monday, April 12, 2021

AskScience AMA Series: Hi! I am Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, an epidemiologist and one of the architects of Israel's coronavirus response and vaccine operation. Ask me anything!

AskScience AMA Series: Hi! I am Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, an epidemiologist and one of the architects of Israel's coronavirus response and vaccine operation. Ask me anything!


AskScience AMA Series: Hi! I am Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, an epidemiologist and one of the architects of Israel's coronavirus response and vaccine operation. Ask me anything!

Posted: 12 Apr 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Hi! I am Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, an epidemiologist, public health physician, professor, and director of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). I study health policy, vaccination policy, comparative health care systems, public health ethics and global health. During the pandemic, it has been my honor to serve on Israel's national COVID-19 advisory committee, as well as on the COVID-19 Task Force of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region.

My research focuses on various aspects of health policy, combining my multidisciplinary experience as an epidemiologist and public health physician with my knowledge of the sociology of health and public health ethics. I am involved in several projects related to legal and ethical aspects of public health practices, including pandemic response and health inequalities.

As a reserve medical officer during 2014's Operation Protective Edge, I was the commander of a medical unit of 700 physicians, paramedics, medics, and other medical personnel. I received my M.D. and Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University and my M.P.H. from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

I have authored or co-authored over 150 papers and book chapters, coedited 5 volumes and books and published work in leading medical and health policy journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Journal of Pediatrics, Vaccine, Social Science and Medicine, and Law & Contemporary Problems.

Here are a few links related to COVID-19 in Israel that you may find of interest:

Learn more about Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: www.aabgu.org

I'll be answering questions starting at 11am PT (2 PM ET, 18 UT), ask me anything!

Username: /u/IsraelinSF

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Vaccine Efficacy After Manufacturer Recommended Booster Period?

Posted: 12 Apr 2021 05:55 AM PDT

My FIL brought up a good point as we were discussing the vaccine I received. Our provincial government has mandated that we push back booster shots well beyond the recommended period, in this case, it's four months from twenty-one days for Pfizer. He said that the manufacturer has set twenty-one days for a reason, so how effective is the booster after four months. His position is that it's pointless to even get it if the booster shot is worthless after even twenty-two days.

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What were ice-age land bridges like?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 09:46 AM PDT

In periods of low sea level, land bridges existed between the landmasses we know today.

What would these have been like to cross? Would they have looked like former seabeds, or would they be marshy lowlands, or would you not be able to tell you were on one at all?

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Why does boiling water make patterns in the cup?

Posted: 12 Apr 2021 03:10 AM PDT

https://imgur.com/gallery/EY84L24 Also apologies if the flair isn't suitable

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What causes the uncomfortable physical sensation in your diaphragm after you've held your breath for a long time?

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 11:56 PM PDT

I know that after you've held your breath for a while, you get a signal from your brain that indicates your blood oxygen is low, and that you need to breathe again. But this doesn't feel like a strictly mental thing. It feels like something is happening physiologically too, in your diaphragm; it's some kind of discomfort, tension... Hard to describe. What, precisely, is happening? Or am I way off the mark and interpreting something that isn't actually there?

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Does a sonic boom only occur during the transition from subsonic to super sonic or is it continuous though out a supersonic flight?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 05:57 PM PDT

How long do the lipid nanoparticles in the Moderna vaccine stay in the body and how did that process happen?

Posted: 12 Apr 2021 06:20 AM PDT

Thank you.

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How do we increase the resolution of images and videos?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 10:27 PM PDT

Now I understand the fact that there are more pixels to represent smaller portions of the picture but how do you extrapolate more pixels from the picture? Is it the same picture just with more pixels or can the picture become a more accurate representation of the original subject of the photo/video?

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What would it feel like to be in a motionless spacecraft hovering above the earth (not orbiting)?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 05:46 AM PDT

If weightlessness is a product of freefalling to earth like the astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station experience as they orbit the earth, then what would it feel like to if the ISS was not in an orbit but able to stay at a fixed altitude above earth? Would you be able to stand? How much gravity would you experience? What if you were at the altitude of the moon (without the moon's gravity interfering)?

Also is there a curtain altitude away from earth that you could become weightless without actually orbiting earth?

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How does a virus spreads when the pool of viable targets decreases in a population?

Posted: 12 Apr 2021 01:50 AM PDT

Does the virus spread more rapidly in a smaller pool of targets? What I'm trying to understand, is during the vaccination process is there a time before herd immunity where a virus can or does thrive in the unvaccinated? I hope someone understands what I'm trying to ask, I'm not a scientist! :) thanks!

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Do the all COVID-19 Vaccines elicit the creation of the exact same spike protein or do the different varieties of vaccines produce slightly different variations of the spike protein?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 08:34 PM PDT

Can otc antihistamines dampen immune response to vaccines?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 06:29 PM PDT

I've been reading that while the immune system is implicated in allergic reactions, it only affects specific parts of the system that deal with histamines.

However I did read two studies that seem to indicate that may not be true: study 1 study 2 , however this meta-study seemed to indicate that a combination of antihistamines and decongestants had a neutral-to-positive effect on the common cold: study 3

Can someone smarter than me shed some light on of this could have implications as far as antihistamine effect on the efficacy of vaccines?

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What is the role, if any, of the prefrontal cortex in vasodilation and vasoconstriction of the intramural blood vessels of the brain?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 11:27 AM PDT

Despite my limited knowledge and the method's own flaws, I know that a type of fMRI analysis measures blood flow, and we say that if there is more flow to one part of the brain, then that part must be more active. But there is something that controls this flow, isn't there? And we think of the prefrontal cortex as the 'executor' of the brain. So wouldn't the executor then have a role in controlling blood flow, or is vasodilation purely a sympathetic reaction?

Asked in another way: When I think about a pink elephant, is blood flowing to my visual cortex a sympathetic reaction from increased activity that occurs after maybe a resource demand, or are vessels dilated maybe in anticipation or in preparation for activity?

And in any case, do we know what controls it?

*Edited after thinking for a bit
*Edited for grammar

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If Time is influenced by gravity does that mean that in the "void space" between two galaxies time will flow really fast, thus making humans and materials age much faster than if they were inside the galaxy?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 04:42 AM PDT

Sorry if the question is obvious, I´m not a physicist thus I have limited knowledge on the matter. This question spurred from the "if you live on a mountain you will age slower than someone who live at the sea level, since the gravity pull will be greater for the latter".

Also, could you suggest me some books on the time and relativity theories? I´m shitty at math but I suppose I might understand a book like that anyway... or so I hope.

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Are açaí berries actually berries?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 04:00 PM PDT

Additionally, what makes a berry a berry, as opposed to other fruit?

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What process causes the focused explosions of a gamma ray burst generating the jets?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 06:52 AM PDT

Like the question said. I always wondered why a gamma ray burst seems to produce jets of highly energetic particles. I don't understand how this process comes to be in the chaotic environment of a supernova.

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Why isn’t interchangeable batteries a thing for electric cars?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 03:25 AM PDT

The biggest complaint I hear about electric cars is the charge times. I always wondered why something like an exchange system for propane tanks, but for batteries doesn't exist when it could be as fast as filling your car with gas. Biggest reason I can think of is weight, but that could be solved with distribution between multiple batteries of smaller sizes.

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How does sending information to a satellite work?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 09:42 AM PDT

When information is sent to a satellite in space, said satellite would be moving relative to earth, so my question is do/would they need to shoot the signal to where the satellite will be or is that just not even close to how it actually works?

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When sunlight hits the photovoltaic cells in solar panels, electrons get knocked out of semi-conductors. If semi-conductors don't have infinite number of electrons then what's the source of those electrons?

Posted: 11 Apr 2021 12:09 AM PDT

If muscles only contract, how can we stick our tongue out?

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 01:16 PM PDT

Unlike when you move your arms, there is no bone in your tongue your muscles can use as a lever. So how does it work?

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What is the development cycle of monotremes like?

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 11:45 PM PDT

I've been working on developing a fantasy world where there are functionally mammalian creatures that reproduce using eggs. I've done a bit of studying on the different ways this can manifest, but one thing I've never been able to get a clear answer on is exactly how the development of real-life egg-laying mammals works. I've gathered that the eggs spend the majority of their time in-utero and aren't actually incubated externally for very long, but that's about it. I've found myself wondering: What exactly is going on during that in-utero development time? Does the eggshell fully form and the eggs are just retained internally to be incubated by body temperature? Or does the shell not fully form until shortly before the egg is laid? Are there any interactions between the mother and the embryo while the egg is developing internally, such as nutritional or waste exchange? I'd like to be able to glean more insight from our only living egg-laying relatives.

submitted by /u/Brain-Storm
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Why is Fagradalsfjall a tourist destination yet La Soufrière is an evacuation zone?

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 07:40 PM PDT

Fagradalsfjall has cute, flowing rivers of lava to visit and take pictures of and no ash plume but La Soufrière is hurling volcanic ash miles into the sky? Magnitude is a factor but what else would cause such different eruptions?

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Does distance-to-ground make a difference for how high something can fly? For example, would a helicopter flying 50 feet above the surface of a mountain have equal flying capabilities of the same helicopter flying at the same altitude over the ocean?

Posted: 10 Apr 2021 07:59 PM PDT

I suspect "distance-to-ground" wouldn't be a factor, but, intuitively, it feels like it plays a part.

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