scholarly journals Public health practitioner perspectives on dealing with measles outbreaks if high anti-vaccination sentiment is present

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope Robinson ◽  
Kerrie Wiley ◽  
Chris Degeling
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Vaccination Schedule ◽  
Health Practitioner ◽  
Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Modified Delphi ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
High Level ◽  
Measles Outbreaks

Abstract Background Communities with low vaccination rates are at greater risk during outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases. Most Australian parents support vaccines, but some refuse and are often judged harshly by their community, especially during an outbreak. We sought the perspectives of Australian public health experts on the key issues faced when managing a measles outbreak in an area with high anti-vaccination sentiment. Methods A measles outbreak scenario formed the basis of a 3-round modified Delphi process to identify key practitioner concerns in relation to parents/carers who don’t follow the recommended vaccination schedule. We surveyed a range of professionals in the field: policymakers, infectious disease experts, immunisation program staff, and others involved in delivering childhood vaccinations, to identify key priorities when responding to an outbreak in a community with low vaccination coverage. Results Findings indicate that responses to measles outbreaks in communities with high anti-vaccination sentiment are motivated by concerns about the potential for a much larger outbreak event. The highest operational priority is to isolate infected children. The two most highly ranked practical issues are mistrust from non-vaccinating members of the local region and combatting misinformation about vaccines. Trying to change minds of such individuals is not a priority during an outbreak, nor is vaccinating their children. Using media and social media to provide information about the outbreak and measures the public can take to limit the spread of the disease was a focus. Conclusions Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the challenges faced during an outbreak and priorities for communicating with communities where there is a high level of anti-vaccination sentiment. In the context of a global pandemic, the results of this study also have implications for managing public health responses to community transmission of SARS-CoV-2, as COVID-19 vaccines becomes widely available.

scholarly journals Public Health Practitioner Perspectives on Dealing with Measles Outbreaks in Areas with high Anti-vaccination Sentiment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope Robinson ◽  
Kerrie Wiley ◽  
Chris Degeling
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Vaccination Schedule ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Health Practitioner ◽  
Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Modified Delphi ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
High Level ◽  
Measles Outbreaks

Abstract BackgroundCommunities with low vaccination rates are at greater risk during outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases. Most Australian parents support vaccines, but some refuse and are often judged harshly by their community, especially during an outbreak. We sought the perspectives of Australian public health experts on the key issues faced when managing a measles outbreak in an area with high anti-vaccination sentiment.MethodsA measles outbreak scenario formed the basis of a 3-round modified Delphi process to identify key practitioner concerns in relation to parents/carers who don’t follow the recommended vaccination schedule. We surveyed a range of professionals in the field: policymakers, infectious disease experts, immunisation program staff, and others involved in delivering childhood vaccinations, to identify key priorities when responding to an outbreak in a community with low vaccination coverage.ResultsFindings indicate that responses to measles outbreaks in communities with high anti-vaccination sentiment are motivated by concerns about the potential for a much larger outbreak event. The highest operational priority is to isolate infected children. The two most highly ranked practical issues are mistrust from non-vaccinating members of the local region and combatting misinformation about vaccines. Trying to change minds of such individuals is not a priority during an outbreak, nor is vaccinating their children. Using media and social media to provide information about the outbreak and measures the public can take to limit the spread of the disease was a focus.ConclusionsOur findings provide a deeper understanding of the challenges faced during an outbreak and priorities for communicating with communities where there is a high level of anti-vaccination sentiment. In the context of a global pandemic, the results of this study also have implications for managing public health responses to community transmission of SARS-CoV-2, if and when a safe and effective vaccine becomes widely available.

scholarly journals A national measles outbreak in Ireland linked to a single imported case, April to September, 2016

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (31) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Barrett ◽  
Suzanne Cotter ◽  
Fiona Ryan ◽  
Jeff Connell ◽  
Anthony Cronin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Index Case ◽  
Vaccination Status ◽  
Adult Case ◽  
Primary Case ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Imported Case ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Measles Outbreaks ◽  
First Time

Endemic measles transmission was interrupted for the first time in Ireland in 2015. In May 2016, a case of measles was confirmed in an adult who had travelled from Hungary to Ireland (index case). Cases subsequently arose in five of the eight public health regions around the country. There were 40 confirmed cases in Ireland between April and September 2016. All sequenced cases were genotype B3. Vaccination status was known for 34 cases, of whom 31 were unvaccinated. Median age was 8 years (range: 3 months to 40 years). Ten cases were nosocomial, and three cases were infected on separate international flights. One linked case occurred in a resident of Slovenia. Nineteen cases were hospitalised; median duration of hospitalisation was 5 days (range: 2–8 days). The primary case was a child who travelled from Romania to Ireland via Budapest, and infected the index adult case on the same flight. This was the first reported outbreak of measles genotype B3 in Ireland. This outbreak demonstrated that Ireland remains at risk of measles outbreaks due to persistent suboptimal vaccination rates.

scholarly journals Improving the accuracy of ACIR data and increasing vaccination rates

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thaïs A Miles ◽  
Linda V Granger ◽  
Colleen L Gately
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Vaccine Coverage ◽  
Health Unit ◽  
Quality Improvement Activity ◽  
Childhood Immunisation ◽  
Central Coast ◽  
Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽  
Vaccination Rates

Immunisation at the earliest appropriate age and high levels of vaccine coverage at milestone ages are important in preventing the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. At the Central Coast Public Health Unit, the authors sought to determine if follow-up of children said by the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) to be overdue for vaccination improved both of these factors. In a quality improvement activity, monthly ACIR lists of overdue Central Coast children aged 9 to 10 months of age were examined. The study alternated three months of intervention with three months of no intervention. The intervention was designed to find evidence of vaccination, first from the last known provider, and then if this was unsuccessful, from the parent. If no information was available, a letter was sent to the parents. If the child was indeed vaccinated, the register was updated. If the child was missing any vaccinations, the parent(s) were encouraged to complete the schedule. On reviewing routinely-published quarterly ACIR data at three-monthly intervals for 24 months after the intervention (or non-intervention), timeliness of vaccination improved in the intervention cohort. Central Coast fully vaccinated rates diverged from NSW rates during the study. In addition, the ACIR quarters that contained two out of three months of intervention rather than one out of three months of intervention had the highest rates of fully vaccinated children. The authors concluded that the intervention improved both timeliness of vaccination and the proportion of fully vaccinated children.

Ethical Considerations and Practical Implications in Romanian Covid-19 Vaccination Campaign

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (Special Issue) ◽  
pp. 156-157
Author(s):  
Petru Sandu ◽  
◽  
Maria Aluaș ◽  
Răzvan M. Cherecheș ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Vaccination Campaign ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
One Year ◽  
High Level ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

"Besides its undoubtable significant contribution to morbidity and mortality worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has had numerous political, social, economic, and public health implications. Vaccination, an already long debated public health ethics theme, has reoccurred in force, as the efforts of the scientific community to curb the pandemic resulted in a viable vaccine less than one year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. High-level, international negotiations dictated states’ COVID-19 vaccine availability in the first few months, therefore each national Government had to develop and deploy vaccination campaigns prioritizing certain population categories. This paper aims to present Romanian COVID-19 vaccination campaign, from its inception to the present days, by focusing on the ethical considerations (e.g. prioritization, coercion, non-discrimination) and their practical implications ( e.g. vaccination hesitancy, rates, fake news). Like most countries in the European Community, Romania has initially adopted a Rawlsian approach to vaccination, prioritizing the older adults and the individuals with chronic conditions. However, unlike other European countries, coercion was not considered in any form (e.g. extended mobility facilities for the vaccinated), more recently incentives such as food vouchers being discussed. The impact of these decisions on the vaccination rates and hesitancy are discussed in the context of other European countries examples of vaccination campaigns. "

A US metropolitan county health department’s response to a measles outbreak in a childcare facility – challenges faced and lessons learned

2020 ◽  
pp. 175791392095520
Author(s):  
Diane Meyer ◽  
Marc Trotochaud ◽  
Lisa Ferguson ◽  
Jennifer Vines ◽  
Russell Barlow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Department ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Outbreak Response ◽  
Public Health Community ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Health Community ◽  
Childcare Facility ◽  
Measles Outbreaks

Aims: In June 2018, the Multnomah County Health Department located in Portland, Oregon, US, responded to a measles exposure in a local childcare facility. This analysis describes lessons learned and challenges encountered during this measles response that may inform public health policy and help other local public health authorities prepare for measles outbreaks. These lessons will become increasingly important as measles cases continue to increase in both the US and abroad. Methods: A semi-structured videoconference interview was conducted with nine health department staff who were directly involved in the health department’s response to the measles outbreak. Interview notes were iteratively discussed between all authors to identify those outbreak response challenges and lessons learned that were generalizable to the broader public health community. Results: Some of the key challenges and lessons learned included the need for increased provider recognition and reporting of measles cases, difficulty in determining which staff and children to exclude from attending daycare during the 21-day postexposure monitoring period, determining who would be prioritized to receive immunoglobulin, and the need for childcare staff vaccine status requirements. Conclusion: Lessons from this response highlight important considerations for public health practitioners and policy makers. Given the relative severity of measles and the potential for spread in facilities that serve infants and young children, the public health community must continue to address key gaps through planning and policy.

scholarly journals Status of Vaccine Coverage In Venezuelan Children, A Country With A Complex Humanitarian Crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Drummond ◽  
Isabel Marín ◽  
Anny Sánchez ◽  
Marianjosé Reyes ◽  
Jenny García ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Vaccine Coverage ◽  
Immunization Coverage ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Vaccination Schedule ◽  
Humanitarian Crisis ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
One Year

Abstract In Venezuela, PAHO has reported an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases since 2016. The goal of this work was to assess vaccination coverage in children hospitalized in the Department of Pediatrics at the Hospital Universitario de Caracas (HUC). Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study included 0 to 12 years old children hospitalized in HUC admitted between January 2015 and December 2019, and verified immunization scheme. The patient data were compared with the schedule of the Ministry of Health of Venezuela and analyzed by comparing immunization coverage by year of patient hospitalization and patient age. Results: A total of 2903 patients were surveyed, corresponding to 53.2% male, 37.4% infants. A coverage level above 95% was found only for BCG. Comparing vaccination coverage with the vaccination schedule vs year of patient hospitalization, it was observed a mean decrease in vaccine coverage of 21.5% in 2019 relative to 2015 (p = 0.0000). Vaccination rates in children under one year old were lower than in children older than 6 years for all vaccines (p = 0.0000) Conclusions: There is a decline in vaccination coverage in 2019 in relation to previous years, being the most affected children less than one year old

The end of religious exemptions from immunisation requirements?

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-117
Author(s):  
Gregory L Bock
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Religious Liberty ◽  
The Other ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Measles Vaccination ◽  
The One ◽  
Measles Outbreaks

The purpose of this paper is to propose a middle ground in the debate over religious exemptions from measles vaccination requirements. It attempts to strike a balance between public health concerns on the one hand and religious objections on the other that avoids two equally serious errors: (1) making religious liberty an absolute and (2) disregarding religious beliefs altogether. Some think that the issue is straightforward: science has spoken and the benefits to public health outweigh any other concerns. The safety of the community, they say, demands that everybody be vaccinated so that measles outbreaks can be prevented, but such voices often ignore the freedom of religion, which is a mistake. Using Martha Nussbaum’s work on religious liberty, this paper claims that the exemptions should be preserved if a certain level of vaccination rates can be maintained.

scholarly journals The effect of opinion clustering on disease outbreaks

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (29) ◽  
pp. 1505-1508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Salathé ◽  
Sebastian Bonhoeffer
Keyword(s):  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Disease Outbreak ◽  
High Income ◽  
Opinion Formation ◽  
Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
High Level

Many high-income countries currently experience large outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles despite the availability of highly effective vaccines. This phenomenon lacks an explanation in countries where vaccination rates are rising on an already high level. Here, we build on the growing evidence that belief systems, rather than access to vaccines, are the primary barrier to vaccination in high-income countries, and show how a simple opinion formation process can lead to clusters of unvaccinated individuals, leading to a dramatic increase in disease outbreak probability. In particular, the effect of clustering on outbreak probabilities is strongest when the vaccination coverage is close to the level required to provide herd immunity under the assumption of random mixing. Our results based on computer simulations suggest that the current estimates of vaccination coverage necessary to avoid outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases might be too low.

Spatial Clustering of Vaccine Exemptions on the Risk of a Measles Outbreak

PEDIATRICS ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Gromis ◽  
Ka-Yuet Liu
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Clustering ◽  
Vaccine Coverage ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vaccine Preventable Diseases ◽  
Measles Outbreak ◽  
Measles Outbreaks ◽  
Lower Population ◽  
Local Herd

OBJECTIVES Areas of increased school-entry vaccination exemptions play a key role in epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States. California eliminated nonmedical exemptions in 2016, which increased overall vaccine coverage but also rates of medical exemptions. We examine how spatial clustering of exemptions contributed to measles outbreak potential pre- and postpolicy change. METHODS We modeled measles transmission in an empirically calibrated hypothetical population of youth aged 0 to 17 years in California and compared outbreak sizes under the observed spatial clustering of exemptions in schools pre- and postpolicy change with counterfactual scenarios of no postpolicy change increase in medical exemptions, no clustering of exemptions, and lower population immunization levels. RESULTS The elimination of nonmedical exemptions significantly reduced both average and maximal outbreak sizes, although increases in medical exemptions resulted in more than twice as many infections, on average, than if medical exemptions were maintained at prepolicy change levels. Spatial clustering of nonmedical exemptions provided some initial protection against random introduction of measles infections; however, it ultimately allowed outbreaks with thousands more infections than when exemptions were randomly distributed. The large-scale outbreaks produced by exemption clusters could not be reproduced when exemptions were distributed randomly until population vaccination was lowered by >6 percentage points. CONCLUSIONS Despite the high overall vaccinate rate, the spatial clustering of exemptions in schools was sufficient to threaten local herd immunity and reduce protection from measles outbreaks. Policies strengthening vaccine requirements may be less effective if alternative forms of exemptions (eg, medical) are concentrated in existing low-immunization areas.

scholarly journals Mathematical modelling on the control of HIV/AIDS with campaign on vaccination and therapy

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 03003
Author(s):  
David Omale
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Therapeutic Dose ◽  
Transmission Rate ◽  
Public Health Campaign ◽  
Health Campaign ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
High Level ◽  
Effective Public Health ◽  
Disease Free ◽  
Hiv Aids

HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic ravaging nations with negative adverse effect creating high level of mortality rate and increase the number of orphans worldwide. The control of this pandemic disease like any other diseases becomes a global fight, thus we use mathematical epidemic model with effective public health campaign on the need for vaccination and effective therapeutic dose as a measure to it spread. A Susceptible, Vaccinated, Infected, Treatment and AIDS (S V IT A) compartmental model is developed in the study. We conducted a qualitative analysis on the models by carrying out the local and global stability analysis on the disease free and endemic equilibrium point. The basic reproduction number R0 is found using the next generation matrix approach. The condition R0 < 1 indicates that with effective public health campaign on the need for vaccination and therapeutic dose, the HIV/AIDS burden will be drastically reduced together with the transmission rate of HIV/AIDS within the population. within the population.

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