Gilani’s Gallopedia©

 Gallopedia

From Gilani Research Foundation                    July 2020, Issue # 645*

Compiled on a weekly basis since January 2007

Gilani’s Gallopedia is a weekly Digest of Opinions in a globalized world

This issue scores 51 out of 100 on Gilani-Gallopedia's Globality Index, showing coverage of world population, and 65 out of 100 on the world income (prosperity) Index. Click for Details

Contact Details: Asra Malik

Research Executive, Gallup Pakistan

This WEEKLY REPORT consists of 23 national & multi country surveys 7 polling organizations have been represented.

Asia:

Pakistan(Health), India(Education), Saudi Arabia(Consumer Confidence), Lebanon(Well-Being) – 04 national polls

Africa:

South Africa(Inflation) – 01

Euro Americas:

Germany(Elections), France(Environment), Denmark(Perceptions on Performance), Italy(Health),  UK(Health, Inflation, Well-Being, Gender Issues) Canada (Entertainment) USA(National Image, Media, Elections, Environment, Immigration, Health), Australia(Health) – 16 national polls

Multi-Country Studies:

YouGov – 06 Countries (Employment Issues), Ipsos – 25 Countries(Inflation)

Topic of the Week:

Women pay more than twice as much for haircuts

Big Data Analytics:

Quasi Census of a Small Universe

Innovations in Methodology:

Are Random Control Tests a Crucial Link Between Pharma Research and Marketing Research?

Polling methods are changing, but reporting the views of Asian Americans remains a challenge

Gilani-Gallopedia Globality Index

      ASIA AND MENA Regions

645-01 Gallup Pakistan publishes four studies on different aspects of COVID-19: Lockdown, Number of Cases, Household Spending & Income (Click for Details)

(Pakistan) 78% Pakistanis support further opening up of businesses across the country by relaxing the lockdown. Only 14% say otherwise. 1 in 3 (32%) Pakistanis are skeptical about the number of COVID-19 cases being reported by the government. 1 in 4 (24%) Pakistanis claim that as compared to last year, their household spending on Eid-ul-Fitr had increased this year. 16% Pakistanis report they have started to look for ways to earn additional money to cover their household’s basic needs in the past 7 days. (Gallup Pakistan)

July 03, 2020

4.11 Society » Health

(Top)

645-02 Byju’s is the most used e-learning app during the lockdown (Click for Details)

(India) The Coronavirus has delayed the academic calendar by months and replaced school spaces by virtual classrooms. As states gear up to reopen schools amidst the pandemic, YouGov’s latest survey reveals half of the parents (49%) are either not very or not at all comfortable with sending their children back to school. A quarter are ‘somewhat comfortable’ while another quarter, (26%) are extremely or very comfortable with the return. Parents in East India are especially concerned about their child’s return and more than two-thirds (68%) stated their hesitation in sending them back to school (not very + not at all comfortable). (YouGov)

June 29, 2020

4.10 Society » Education

(Top)

*      MENA:

645-03 Amazon’s rebrand campaign in Saudi creates greatest uplift in Ad Awareness in June (Click for Details)

(KSA) This month, Amazon.sa is the brand which has achieved the largest rise in its Ad Awareness in Saudi Arabia. The uplift coincides with Amazon and Souq announcing the launch of Amazon.sa mid-month. Following the rebrand of Souq in the UAE to Amazon.ae last year, the e-Commerce giant continues to grow the Amazon name in the Middle East with the rebrand now taking place in Saudi Arabia: “Souq is now Amazon.sa”. The current digital adverts focus on informing consumers of the new website “amazon.sa is here”, as well as highlighting the brand’s offerings, such as wide product ranges and fast shipping. Arabic language is also available on the website to enhance the customer’s experience. (YouGov)

July 07, 2020

3.2 Economy » Consumer Confidence/Protection

(Top)

645-04  Life Ratings Crashed Amid Lebanon's Meltdown (Click for Details)

  (Lebanon) Lebanese adults' ratings of their lives dropped to a historic low in 2019 as hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country -- initially angered by planned taxes on WhatsApp -- demanded the complete overhaul of the country's political system. Just 4% of Lebanese rated their lives positively enough to be considered "thriving" -- the worst score in Gallup's record for the country and one of the worst ratings in the world in 2019. Gallup classifies people as "thriving," "struggling" or "suffering" according to how they rate their current and future lives on a ladder scale with steps numbered from zero to 10, based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. Those who rate their current life a 7 or higher and their anticipated life in five years an 8 or higher are classified as thriving. (Gallup USA)

July 03, 2020

3.1 Economy » Perceptions on Performance/ Well-Being

(Top)

AFRICA Regions

*      AFRICA

645-05 Cost of living: South Africans mostly worry about the increase in food prices (Click for Details)

(South Africa) Three in five people (60%) in an online poll of nearly 18,000 people conducted from May 22 to June 5 say costs have increased somewhat or a lot, with those in Argentina, South Africa and Mexico (81%), Turkey (80%) and Chile and Belgium (79%) are at the top of the list of countries experiencing increases. In South Africa, women are more worried about this issue than men, with 84% of women and 77% of men saying that the overall cost of necessities have increased over the last few months. When looking at the different age groups, older people are more keenly feeling these cost increases, with 87% of those 50 years and older, 83% of those 35 - 49 years old and 76% of those 18 - 34 years old saying that costs have increased a lot or somewhat. (Ipsos)

July 03, 2020

3.4 Economy » Inflation

(Top)

EURO-AMERICA Regions

*      EUROPE

645-06 Germans are currently predicting Joe Biden's victory in the US presidential election (Click for Details)

(Germany) When asked German citizens about the outcome of the US presidential election in autumn 2020, in June 2020 32 percent estimated that Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden would win the election. That is 8 percentage points more than in May 2020. A victory by incumbent US President Donald Trump in June assumed 17 percent. This fell by 4 percentage points compared to the previous month. A recent YouGov survey found that among eligible Germans. (YouGov)

July 01, 2020

1.1 Domestic Politics » Elections

(Top)

645-07 Citizen's Climate Convention - what do the French think? (Click for Details)

(France) 64% of French people have already heard of the Citizen Climate Convention (72% of men against 57% of women). Within the framework of the Citizen's Climate Convention, 150 citizens drawn by lot worked on the measures to be taken to fight against climate change. Participants had until June 21 to debate and vote on each of their 150 proposals. 3 in 10 French people (30%) find this initiative necessary, and 17% describe it as democratic . We also note that 13% consider it unrealistic. (YouGov)

July 02, 2020

4.14 Society » Environment/ Disasters

(Top)

645-08  Danes' consumption is rising again (Click for Details)  

(Denmark) But it is still lower than before the corona pandemic. It shows YouGov's global COVID-19 tracking study that examines changes in consumer wishes, shopping habits and lifestyle on a weekly basis. YouGov's COVID-19 tracker illustrates, among other things, the extent to which Danes' purchases in physical stores and online change week after week. The Corona pandemic has made the Danes better hold on to the money, but the tracker also shows that they have loosened the grip a little lately. (YouGov)

June 29, 2020

3.1 Economy » Perceptions on Performance/ Well-Being

(Top)

645-09 Security measures for summer holidays (Click for Details)

(Italy) With 80% of Italians intending to go on vacation this summer and among them, most of them by the sea , we asked what tourism workers (such as managers of beaches, hotels and means of transport) expect to do for make your customers feel safer.  In general, hygiene rules and distance between people are the main measures required. Airlines and railways are asked to sanitize everything with specific products (3 out of 4 people). According to 2 out of 3 people, passengers must be able to sit alternately in such a way as to maintain distances, in addition passengers must wear a mask and must maintain the distance even before boarding the means of transport. Putting a hand sanitizer dispenser also seems to be a measure. (YouGov)

June 29, 2020

4.11 Society » Health

(Top)

645-10   Coronavirus: Up to a third of Britons 'wouldn't use a vaccine for COVID-19' (Click for Details)

(UK) A poll has been carried out for the Centre for Countering Digital Hate as anti-vaccine misinformation is being spread online. A third of Britons have said they are either unsure or definitely wouldn't use a vaccine for coronavirus, a poll has found. The survey, conducted on behalf of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), coincides with the release of a report by the same group into the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation online. The poll found that members of the public who relied on social media more than traditional platforms for information were less likely to say they would get vaccinated. (Sky News)

July 07, 2020

4.11 Society » Health

(Top)

645-11  Three in five Britons say the cost of living has increased since the start of the coronavirus crisis (Click for Details)

(UK) Groceries and household items, utility bills top list of higher cost items globally as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. In a new global survey by Ipsos, 62% of Britons say they have seen the cost of food, goods and services increase since the coronavirus outbreak. A third say costs have stayed the same while 6% have seen a decrease. This is largely in line with the global average; 60% in 26 countries around the world have seen an increase in the cost of living. This is despite half (51%) of Britons feeling their travel costs have decreased since the start of the crisis with only 6% seeing an increase (more than the global average, where roughly a third (36%) have seen a fall in transportation costs). (Ipsos MORI)

June 29, 2020

3.4 Economy » Inflation

(Top)

645-12  COVID-19 economic crisis hits those already struggling hardest of all (Click for Details)

(UK) Brits who were already struggling to keep up with bills have taken a big blow from the coronavirus crisis, with one in six (16%) defaulting on all regular payments – but others are better off than ever. On the surface many Britons’ finances have improved during lockdown; with shops, cafes and bars shut it’s hard for some to spend disposable income. The number of people who can keep up with their bills and credit commitments actually increased to 60% in May, up from 47% in February. Meanwhile, the proportion who struggle from time to time dropped by eight points, and those who consistently battle to keep up with bills - the financially distressed - fell by five points. These are the lowest figures we have recorded. (YouGov)

June 30, 2020

3.1 Economy » Perceptions on Performance/ Well-Being

(Top)

645-13 Women pay more than twice as much for haircuts (Click for Details)

(UK) Even though women tend get their hair cut less frequently they still pay much more than men over the course of a year. With hairdressers and barbers due to reopen tomorrow after three long months, scruffy-looking Brits across the land will be beating a path to their door for a much needed chop. The results of a YouGov RealTime survey, conducted earlier in the year but rendered temporarily redundant by the coronavirus, uncovers quite how much more women will be having to pay to get their hair lopped off than men. (YouGov)

July 03, 2020

4.5 Society » Gender Issues

(Top)

*      NORTH AMERICA

645-14  Longing for the Road, 4 in 10 (40%) Canadians Plan to Take a Summer Road Trip (Click for Details)

(Canada) The current pandemic has undoubtedly changed many aspects of our everyday lives, including how we get around and where we go on vacation. After being in self-isolation for so many months, how will Canadians look to escape cabin fever? A poll by Ipsos carried out on behalf of Toyota Canada has found that while many Canadians are still hesitant about travelling by air for vacation, they are instead keeping the great Canadian road trip alive by sticking close to home and discovering the beauty and wonder of nearby areas. This summer, Canadians will be swapping their plans for wine-tasting in Italy or beachside cocktails in Mexico for fireside chats at secluded chalet, and it just may be what is needed at this time. (Ipsos)

June 29, 2020

4.16 Society » Entertainment

(Top)

645-15 American patriotism falls to lowest point in two decades, poll finds (Click for Details)

(USA) American patriotism is at its lowest ebb for almost two decades, a new poll has found. A survey by Gallup found that while 70 per cent of US adults said they are “proud” to be American, less than half said that they are “extremely proud”. The findings were released ahead of the Fourth of July national holiday amid the country’s struggle to rein in the coronavirus pandemic, and calls for racial justice and an end to policy brutality in Black Lives Matter protests in every state. Gallup said that US pride is at its lowest point since the company began taking polls on it in 2001. It is the second year that the number of “extremely proud” people dropped below the majority (45 per cent). July 05, 2020

(Independent)

1.5 Domestic Politics » National Image/ Trust

(Top)

645-16 Local news is playing an important role for Americans during COVID-19 outbreak (Click for Details)

(USA) The COVID-19 outbreak has been a major national news story, dominating news consumption and prompting frequent presidential press conferences. But it is also an important local news story, with many Americans depending on their local media outlets for information about the outbreak. In an April survey by Pew Research Center, conducted as part of the American News Pathways project, about six-in-ten Americans (61%) said they were following news about the coronavirus outbreak at both the national and local level equally. Around a quarter (23%) said they were paying more attention to news at the local level, while 15% said they were focused more on COVID-19 news at the national level. (PEW)

July 02, 2020

4.6 Society » Media/ New Media

(Top)

645-17 White evangelical approval of Trump slips, but eight-in-ten say they would vote for him (Click for Details)

(USA) Amid rising coronavirus cases and widespread protests over racial injustice, President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped among a wide range of religious groups, including white evangelical Protestants – though they remain strongly supportive. Roughly seven-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (72%) say they approve of the way Trump is handling his job, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 16 to 22. That is a 6 percentage point drop from 78% recorded in April, in line with the 5-point drop during that period among U.S. adults overall. The share of white evangelicals who say they “very strongly” approve of Trump’s performance is now at 59%, down 8 points from 67% in April. (PEW)

July 02, 2020

1.1 Domestic Politics » Elections

(Top)

645-18  Most Americans say climate change affects their local community, including 70% living near coast (Click for Details)

(USA) More than six-in-ten Americans (63%) say climate change is currently affecting their local community either a great deal or some, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted April 29-May 5, 2020 – similar to the share who said this in surveys from 2019 and 2018. As is the case on many climate-related issues, perceptions of whether and how much climate change is affecting local communities are closely tied with political party affiliation. More than eight-in-ten Democrats and independents who lean to the Democratic Party (83%) say climate change is affecting their local community at least some, compared with 37% of Republicans and Republican leaners. (PEW)

June 29, 2020

4.14 Society » Environment/ Disasters

(Top)

645-19  Americans Want More, Not Less, Immigration for First Time (Click for Details)

(USA) Thirty-four percent of Americans, up from 27% a year ago, would prefer to see immigration to the U.S. increased. This is the highest support for expanding immigration Gallup has found in its trend since 1965. Meanwhile, the percentage favoring decreased immigration has fallen to a new low of 28%, while 36% think it should stay at the present level. This marks the first time in Gallup's trend that the percentage wanting increased immigration has exceeded the percentage who want decreased immigration. (Gallup USA)

July 01, 2020

4.8 Society » Immigration/Refugees

(Top)

645-20 U.S. Concern About Hospital Care Heading Back Up (Click for Details)

(USA) Americans' concerns about the availability of coronavirus tests and hospital supplies and services had leveled off in June after steady declines from mid-April through early May. But last week, June 22-28, as COVID-19 cases are spiking across much of the country, concern about both healthcare issues increased. Forty-four percent of Americans are now very or moderately worried about the availability of hospital supplies, services and treatment in their local area, up 10 points from the prior week. At the same time, concern about the availability of coronavirus tests in their local area is up six points to 39%. (Gallup USA)

July 01, 2020

4.11 Society » Health

(Top)

*      AUSTRALASIA

645-21  Women dominate Australia’s vitamins, minerals & supplements market (Click for Details)

(Australia) Women comprise the bulk of Australia’s vitamins, minerals or supplements market, with 4.88 million women (46%) buying these products compared to only 3.36 million men (33%). These trends hold up for women and men of all ages but are most pronounced for Australians aged 25 and over. The peak buying age for vitamins, minerals or supplements is 35-64. At least 50% of women aged 35-49 or 50-64, and around 40% of men in both age groups, purchase these goods. In fact, men aged 35-49 are the only age group of men more likely to buy vitamins, minerals or supplements than the average population. (Roy Morgan)

June 30, 2020

4.11 Society » Health

(Top)

*   MULTICOUNTRY STUDIES

645-22  Singaporeans least likely in ASEAN to return to office soon (Click for Details)

Singaporeans are the least likely in ASEAN to return to their offices or respective workplaces in the next week, with over half (55%) of employed people saying they will not be working outside their homes in the next seven days. This could be due to the Singaporean Ministry of Trade and Industry guidelines that state that employees should only return to the workplace where it is demonstrably necessary. Filipinos are the second least likely to be back at the office, with over two in five (45%) saying they will continue working from home. This is followed by Malaysia (31%), Indonesia (24%) and Vietnam (22%). Thais are the most likely to be back at the office, with only two in ten (19%) saying that will be working from home in the next week. Thailand has ended lockdown completely as of last week. (YouGov)

July 09, 2020

3.3 Economy » Employment Issues

(Top)

645-23 Cost of living: Majority say cost of food, goods and services have increased since COVID-19 began (Click for Details)

Three in five people (60%) in a poll of nearly 18,000 conducted from May 22 to June 5 say costs have increased somewhat or a lot with those in Argentina, South Africa and Mexico (81%), Turkey (80%), Chile and Belgium (79%) at the top of the list. On the other end, more than a quarter of people in Hungary (27%) and South Korea (26%) say costs have decreased somewhat or a lot since the outbreak began, followed by Japan and Russia (21%). Meanwhile, almost a third of people in all countries (29%) say costs have stayed the same with a majority agreeing with this in Sweden (53%), where restrictive lockdown measures were not implemented. Almost half of people in the Netherlands and Japan (49%) and South Korea (48%) also agree. (Ipsos Global)

July 02, 2020

3.4 Economy » Inflation

(Top)

TOPIC OF THE WEEK:

Women pay more than twice as much for haircuts   

uThis page is devoted to opinions of countries whose polling activity is generally not known very widely or where a recent topical issue requires special attention.

 Women pay more than twice as much for haircuts  

 Even though women tend get their hair cut less frequently they still pay much more than men over the course of a year

With hairdressers and barbers due to reopen tomorrow after three long months, scruffy-looking Brits across the land will be beating a path to their door for a much needed chop. The results of a YouGov RealTime survey, conducted earlier in the year but rendered temporarily redundant by the coronavirus, uncovers quite how much more women will be having to pay to get their hair lopped off than men.

That women are paying more for their haircuts than men will not be a massive revelation to many, but a BBC article revealed that women who want their hair cut in the same style as men are being charged much more for the same service. Some who have attempted to make savings by going to male barbers have even been turned away.

Men are most likely to be paying between £10 and 14.99 for their hair cut, with 40% saying this was the case. A further 29% pay between £5 and £9.99 and another 15% spend from £15 to £19.99.

UK1https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/inlineimage/2020-07-03/Price%20paid%20for%20haircut%20by%20gender-01.png

Click to enlarge

The amount women are paying is much more dispersed, as can be seen from the chart. The most common range is £20 to £24.99, but only 13% pay this much – similar proportions pay in each of the categories from £10 to £14.99 and between £30 and £34.99.

What is clear is that women tend to be paying more than men for their haircuts. While only 15% of men are paying £15 or more for their haircut, more than three quarters (78%) of women do so.

In fact, the average among men who pay for a haircut is £12.17, while for women it is £31.99.

It is clear that men wouldn’t stand for the prices women pay either. While 39% of men might be willing to push their haircut budget to £15 or above, just 21% would pay £20 or more and a mere would pay £25 or more.

Meanwhile, the majority of women (56%) would be willing to pay £30 or more at a maximum. In fact, a quarter (24%) would stretch to £50 or more for a chop.

In both cases it seems that the genders are paying close to what they are willing to pay. Looking at the average maximum figure for each group in both cases they are just a few pounds higher than what they are currently paying: £14.13 for men (£1.96 higher than the current average) and £37.49 for women (£5.50 higher).

While women tend to get their hair cut less frequently, this is still not enough to offset the difference in prices paid. Taking into account how often people go to the hairdressers, we calculated that on average women are paying £135 a year on haircuts – almost twice the £70 that men pay on average.

(Please note these figures are among those who pay to get their hair cut only – if it were expanded to include all men and women this would make the difference even more stark, as men are more likely to never pay to get their hair cut).

(YouGov)

July 03, 2020

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2020/07/03/women-pay-more-twice-much-haircuts

 

(Top)

BIG DATA ANALYTICS:

u Global Data Series

QUASI CENSUS OF A SMALL UNIVERSE:

We are venturing to include this item in the section because the survey data can be classified as a quasi-census of a universe (albeit very small yet an entire universe) of vaccine researchers.

Comments from colleagues and readers on whether this is appropriate to include it here will be greatly appreciated.

Coronavirus vaccine tracker: How close are we to a vaccine?

More than 140 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine.

Researchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Vaccines normally require years of testing and additional time to produce at scale, but scientists are hoping to develop a coronavirus vaccine within 12 to 18 months.

Vaccines mimic the virus – or part of the virus – they protect against, stimulating the immune system to develop antibodies. They must follow higher safety standards than other drugs because they are given to millions of healthy people.

How are vaccines tested?

In the pre-clinical stage of testing, researchers give the vaccine to animals to see if it triggers an immune response.

In phase 1 of clinical testing, the vaccine is given to a small group of people to determine whether it is safe and to learn more about the immune response it provokes.

In phase 2, the vaccine is given to hundreds of people so scientists can learn more about its safety and correct dosage.

In phase 3, the vaccine is given to thousands of people to confirm its safety – including rare side effects – and effectiveness. These trials involve a control group which is given a placebo.

University of Oxford/AstraZeneca

The University of Oxford vaccine is delivered via a chimpanzee virus, called the vaccine vector. The vector contains the genetic code of the protein spikes found on the coronavirus and triggers a strong immune response in the human body. The vaccine is in a combined phase 2/3 trial in the UK and has recently gone into phase 3 trials in South Africa and Brazil.

CanSino Biologics Inc./Beijing Institute of Biotechnology

The vaccine developed by Chinese company CanSino Biologics and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology – a university close to the Chinese military – reportedly showed promising results in phase 2 testing, although no data from the trial has been published. In a world first, the vaccine has now been approved for military use, but it is unclear how broadly it will be distributed.

Moderna/NIAID

American biotech company Moderna is developing a vaccine candidate using messenger RNA (or mRNA for short) to trick the body into producing viral proteins itself. No mRNA vaccine has ever been approved for an infectious disease, and Moderna has never brought a product to market. But proponents of the vaccine say it could be easier to mass produce than traditional vaccines.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals/ International Vaccine Institute

Wuhan Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm

Beijing Institute of Biological Products/Sinopharm

Sinovac

Novavax

BioNTech/Fosun Pharma/Pfizer

Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

Genexine Consortium

Gamaleya Research Institute

Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc./GSK/Dynavax

Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical/ Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Vaxine Pty Ltd/Medytox

Imperial College London

Curevac

People's Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Military Sciences/Walvax Biotech.

University of Melbourne/Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia is conducting a phase 3 trial using a nearly 100-year-old tuberculosis vaccine. The vaccine is not thought to protect directly against Covid-19 but might boost the body’s non-specific immune response.

(The Guardian)

July 02,2020

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2020/jul/02/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker-how-close-are-we-to-a-vaccine

INNOVATIONS IN METHODOLOGY:

u This Section includes significant reports on different methods used by polling organizations.

ARE RANDOM CONTROL TESTS(RCTs) ACRUCIAL LINK BETWEEN  PHARMA RESEARCH AND MARKETING RESEARCH PROFESSION?

In presenting the following piece in this week's Gilani-Gallopedia, we wish to prompt a discussion on whether  Medical and Pharma research are one of the most important and possibly the earliest and the single largest user of RCTs and whether our two industries are in good communication with each other on these matters.

Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline near $625M COVID-19 vaccine supply deal with U.K. government: report

As COVID-19 vaccines near final stages of testing, governments are also racing against each other, busy securing supply for their own countries even before key efficacy data readouts.

After signing on AstraZeneca and partner Oxford University for 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the U.K. government is nearing a £500 million ($625 million) deal with GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi to buy 60 million doses of their investigative shot if it later proves successful, The Sunday Times reported.

The deal, the first for the vaccine, is expected to be announced in the coming days, the British newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Sanofi and GSK joined forces in April. For their candidate, Sanofi is contributing S-protein COVID-19 antigen based on its recombinant DNA technology that’s also used in its seasonal flu vaccine Flublok, and GSK is offering its vaccine booster AS03.

The U.K. government is clearly eager to pre-empt supply, as initiation of first-in-human clinical trials of the Sanofi-GSK vaccine isn’t expected until September. Securing stock at this early stage reflects its fear of being excluded given that the island nation is reliant on imports of most vaccines, including those for seasonal flu. “The government has anticipated this and is pre-ordering COVID-19 vaccines,” a source told The Sunday Times.

It’s also likely rattled by Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson’s earlier comment that the U.S. would be given first access to the vaccine in return for its financial support. That statement was soon backtracked by Sanofi Chairman Serge Weinberg after backlash from France.

Prior to the upcoming Sanofi-GSK deal, the British government ordered 100 million doses of another potential COVID-19 vaccine, dubbed AZD1222, from a collaboration between AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

A phase 2/3 study of AZ’s adenovirus-based shot kicked off late May, though phase 1 data remain under wraps. In addition to its home country, AZ has also won backing from the U.S. HHS’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) with a $1.2 billion deal that entails delivery of about 300 million vaccine doses starting this fall. A few days ago, the drugmaker penned another deal valued at $127 million to produce 30 million doses of AZD1222 for Brazil.

Besides the two European candidates, U.S. drugmakers Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Pfizer—which is working with German firm BioNTech—are also working on their COVID-19 vaccines backed by the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed.

(Fierce Pharma)

July 06, 2020

Source: https://www.fiercepharma.com/vaccines/sanofi-glaxosmithkline-near-625m-covid-19-vaccine-supply-deal-u-k-government-report

Polling methods are changing, but reporting the views of Asian Americans remains a challenge

Public opinion pollsters in the United States survey adults of every racial and ethnic group. Historically, though, while the attitudes of white, Hispanic and Black adults are readily reported, those of Asian Americans are not. That raises a question: If Asian Americans are part of the survey sample, why don’t analysts report their views in the same way?

The answer, at least partly, comes down to math.

Asian Americans make up 5.9% percent of the U.S. adult population. That means that a perfectly representative national survey of 1,000 adults would include 59 Asian Americans – far too few to support reliable estimates. Pew Research Center is committed to surveying people of all demographic backgrounds, but we only feel comfortable reporting the views of Asian Americans and other smaller groups when we are confident that the data paints an accurate picture.

Consider a hypothetical poll of 1,000 adults, in which half of the surveyed Asian Americans favor a particular policy. In this theoretical survey, the margin of sampling error for Asian Americans would be at least 13 percentage points, which means the actual figure might be as low as 37% or as high as 63%. This result is simply too imprecise to report with confidence.

Fortunately, an important development in survey research – the migration of polling from the phone to the internet – is making it more feasible for some pollsters, including Pew Research Center, to publish estimates for Asian Americans. This trend won’t change the industry overnight, but it is already leading to a small uptick in the publication of Asian American estimates.

As more polls are done online, they are sampling from large groups of respondents, or “survey panels.” When working with a large panel, researchers can have access to reliable sample sizes for less populous groups, including Asian Americans. Pew Research Center and other organizations with large national panels are currently able to release estimates for Asian Americans in at least some of their surveys.

While this data stands to increase the visibility of Asian Americans in polling, there is an important caveat: Typically, Asian American estimates from online survey panels are based just on English (or Spanish) speakers. Those who speak any of the dozens of common Asian languages and are not proficient in English or Spanish generally cannot participate. That matters because English-speaking Asian Americans differ in important ways from those who don’t speak English, including in their income and education levels and their views on social issues.

The infusion of new online survey data is clearly an improvement on the past, when Asian American figures were virtually nonexistent in public opinion surveys of U.S. adults. But these estimates still offer a limited view of the entire Asian American population. The analysis below looks in greater detail at recent developments – and ongoing challenges – in surveying Asian Americans.

A major shift in how some pollsters recruit respondents

The chronic problem of having too few Asian American respondents stems from a period when pollsters surveyed a fresh sample of Americans with each new poll. A pollster might interview 1,000 people one month, for example, and a different 1,000 people the next month. That approach, known as cross-sectional sampling, was common in telephone polling from roughly 1980 to 2010. Cross-sectional samples are generally representative of the population, but one clear downside is that they make it difficult for analysts to report the views of smaller subgroups with accuracy (even though members of these groups are included in the overall survey results).

The recent increase in online survey work has helped address this problem, at least to an extent, by polling much larger groups of people and doing so more than once.

At Pew Research Center, we randomly recruit respondents offline and give them instructions for taking our surveys online (as some other pollsters do, too) through our American Trends Panel. This offline recruitment – centered around sampling home addresses and sending mailings with a small amount of money inside to incentivize participation – is time- and resource-intensive. As a result, we ask each participant to take multiple surveys, not just one. This approach, called a survey panel, is gradually supplanting many cross-sectional surveys throughout the industry. It also has a clear benefit when it comes to polling Asian Americans: By building the size of our panel over time, we can add more Asian American respondents without having to start from scratch with each survey.

Not all survey panels are recruited offline. In fact, most are recruited with inexpensive convenience samples of internet users. That has implications for data quality, but the basic principle of a panel is the same – recruit a large number of people to take surveys on an ongoing basis (for example, one per month for several years).

Some surveys are reporting Asian American estimates

One upshot of the rise in survey panels is that many of them are large enough to include hundreds or even thousands of Asian American adults. Our American Trends Panel, for instance, has roughly 15,000 U.S. adults, about 400 of whom self-identify as Asian American.

Many of our surveys interview only a random fraction of these panelists (e.g., 2,500 interviews). In these cases, the Asian American sample is too small to support reliable estimates. But when feasible, we attempt to interview nearly every member of the panel, making it possible to report reliable estimates for Asian adults. This new Pew Research Center report is an example of one such survey, and we plan to release more in the future.

Other polling organizations also sometimes report the views of Asian Americans. The Understanding America Study at the University of Southern California (USC) contains about 8,500 U.S. households. A number of its reports contain a sufficient Asian American sample size to report estimates. Additional panels that have supported surveys producing Asian American estimates include Rand’s American Life Panel, NORC’s AmeriSpeak Panel and the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. In all cases, estimates reported are for English-speaking Asian American adults.

Still, this practice is far from universal. A typical poll (say, one based on 1,000 to 2,500 interviews) doesn’t include enough Asian Americans to report reliable data about their views. The only context in which that is common is state-level polling in California, where 16% of residents are Asian American. In that state, pollsters like the Public Policy Institute of California routinely publish reliable Asian American estimates.

Outside of the polling industry, a number of scholars have long used surveys to study Asian Americans. Perhaps the best-known source for such data is AAPIData.com, which features demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In order to efficiently reach Asian Americans, that line of research has typically leveraged list-based samples, which identify potential Asian American respondents based on several characteristics.

Language and other diversity among Asian Americans

Panel surveys like those at USC or Pew Research Center are typically administered in English and Spanish. That works well for estimates for all U.S. adults, as 99% of U.S. adults speak one or both of those languages well enough to complete a survey. For Asian Americans, however, such surveys are limiting. Asian Americans are a heavily immigrant community: More than three-quarters of Asian American adults were born in another country, and about a third (32%) do not speak English “very well,” according to self-reported data collected in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

Importantly, those who speak only Asian languages differ from their English-speaking counterparts in several ways. Non-English-speaking Asian Americans tend to be less wealthy, more socially conservative and have less formal education than those who do speak English. (We know this from past research: For example, a large custom survey of 3,511 Asian Americans conducted for the Center in 2012 found that 60% of those interviewed in English said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, compared with 35% of those interviewed in one of the seven Asian languages offered: Cantonese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog and Vietnamese.) These differences can have implications for survey research. For example, it may be problematic to rely on an English-speaking sample of Asian Americans in a survey that addresses a subject like religious orthodoxy or the immigrant experience.

But the diversity of Asian Americans extends beyond language. They also hail from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds across the vast continent of Asia. This diversity, too, has implications when it comes to survey work.

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/FT_20.07.01_AsianAmericans.pngFor example, when reported as a whole, the views of Asian Americans naturally represent some groups more than others. The views of Chinese, Indian and Filipino Americans are more heavily represented than those of Pakistani or Laotian Americans because the former groups make up a much larger share of the Asian American population than the latter groups. Critically, the more populous groups tend to have higher income levels and more formal education than the less populous Asian origin groups.

Overall, the increasing use of online panels makes it more feasible for some polling organizations to report Asian American estimates, but a number of caveats clearly remain. It’s important for poll consumers to bear in mind that the picture they might be seeing of Asian Americans is an incomplete one.

(PEW)

July 02, 2020

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/07/01/polling-methods-are-changing-but-reporting-the-views-of-asian-americans-remains-a-challenge/

 

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