scholarly journals Impact of Vaccination on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from U.S. States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Chen ◽  
Hanwei Huang ◽  
Jiandong Ju ◽  
Ruoyan Sun ◽  
Jialiang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Sir Model ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Vaccination Programs ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The U.S

Abstract Governments worldwide are implementing mass vaccination programs in an effort to end the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccination program and predicted the path to herd immunity in the U.S. We estimated that vaccination reduced the total number of new cases by 4.4 million (from 33.0 to 28.6 million), prevented approximately 0.12 million hospitalizations (from 0.89 to 0.78 million), and decreased the population infection rate by 1.34 percentage points (from 10.10–8.76%). We built a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) model with vaccination to predict herd immunity. Our model predicts that the U.S. can achieve herd immunity by the last week of July 2021, with a cumulative vaccination coverage of 60.2%. Herd immunity could be achieved earlier with a faster vaccination pace, lower vaccine hesitancy, and higher vaccine effectiveness. These findings improve our understanding of the COVID-19 vaccination and can inform future public health policies.

scholarly journals Impact of vaccination on the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from U.S. states

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Chen ◽  
Hanwei Huang ◽  
Jiandong Ju ◽  
Ruoyan Sun ◽  
Jialiang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Vaccination Programs ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

Governments worldwide are implementing mass vaccination programs in an effort to end the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Although the approved vaccines exhibited high efficacies in randomized controlled trials, their population effectiveness in the real world remains less clear, thus casting uncertainty over the prospects for herd immunity. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccination program and predicted the path to herd immunity in the U.S. Using data from 12 October 2020 to 7 March 2021, we estimated that vaccination reduced the total number of new cases by 4.4 million (from 33.0 to 28.6 million), prevented approximately 0.12 million hospitalizations (from 0.89 to 0.78 million), and decreased the population infection rate by 1.34 percentage points (from 10.10% to 8.76%). We then built a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) model with vaccination to predict herd immunity. Our model predicts that if the average vaccination pace between January and early March 2021 (2.08 doses per 100 people per week) is maintained, the U.S. can achieve herd immunity by the last week of July 2021, with a cumulative vaccination coverage of 60.2%. Herd immunity could be achieved earlier with a faster vaccination pace, lower vaccine hesitancy, or higher vaccine effectiveness. These findings improve our understanding of the impact of COVID-19 vaccines and can inform future public health policies regarding vaccination, especially in countries with ongoing vaccination programs.

scholarly journals Assessment of Anti-SARS CoV-2 seroprevalence in habitants of Assam (AASSHA): report of the first serosurvey in Assam

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 2490
Author(s):  
Jyotismita Pathak ◽  
Mridusmita Das ◽  
Khalil Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Blood Samples ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Background: Today, there is a pressing need to identify the proportion of people immune to the infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) so that public health policies can be formulated accordingly for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Keeping this in mind, we designed a serosurvey in Assam with aims to estimate the prevalence of infection as well as the infection to case ratio of the novel coronavirus in Assam.Methods: A total of 9 districts belonging to three different strata of districts were randomly selected for the study. In these selected districts, blood samples were collected from a sample of population and were checked for the antibodies (IgG type). Those testing reactive for the mentioned antibodies were considered to have been infected ever before the onset of the study.Results: A total of 2390 study subjects were tested for the presence of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2. The proportion of people harboring antibodies against the infection was found to be 23.7 percent.Conclusions: The serosurvey revealed that the proportion of people having antibodies was lower than that required for attaining herd immunity levels in a population. The case to infection ratios reveal that there is a large chunk of population who didn’t know about their infection.

scholarly journals Belonging in the Coronaverse: Will There Be Time?

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-115
Author(s):  
Kate Fischer ◽  
Malika Rakhmonova ◽  
Mike Tran
Keyword(s):  
College Experience ◽  
The United States ◽  
Limited Time ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Residential University ◽  
To Come ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
University Experience ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Older Siblings

Abstract Since the spring of 2020 SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, has upended lives and caused a rethinking of nearly all social behaviors in the United States. This paper examines the ways in which the pandemic, shutdown, and gradual move towards “normal” have laid bare and obfuscated societal pressures regarding running out of time as it pertains to the residential university experience. Promised by movies, television, and older siblings and friends as a limited-time offer, the “typical” college experience is baked into the U.S. imaginary, reinforcing a host of notions of who “belongs” on campus along lines of race, class, and age. Fed a vision of what their whole lives “should be”, students who enter a residential four-year college are already imbued with a nostalgia for what is yet to come, hailed, in Althusser’s (2006[1977]) sense, as university subjects even before their first class. The upheaval of that subjecthood during the pandemic has raised important questions about the purpose of the college experience as well as how to belong to a place that is no longer there.

scholarly journals Vaccine refusal/hesitancy—the ethical point of view

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
João Gentil
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Vaccination Campaign ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Moral Conflicts ◽  
Vaccination Programs ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Vaccine Refusal

Abstract Background In 2019, WHO classified vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health. Vaccination is an area of excellence in nursing that has gained a new focus and has become a challenge in the provision of care and in the management field. Vaccine hesitation raises questions about mandatory vaccination, individual versus collective freedom that are highlighted in the current context due to the emergence of new vaccines. In this paper, we want to analyze and update knowledge about vaccines hesitancy from an ethical and bioethical perspective. Methods A combination of literature reviews on vaccine refusal/hesitancy, ethics and COVID-19 vaccine confidence, accessed on SciELO and PubMed databases and analysis of documents from General Directorate of Health and Ordem dos Enfermeiros (National Nurses Association). Results Vaccination programs aim is a collective protection. The desirable effects at individual level do not have the same ethical value at collective level, leading to cost-benefit imbalances. Moral conflicts between the individual and the collective, cost-benefit imbalances and the insufficiency of bioethics principles, lead us to the use of other moral values and principles, such as responsibility, solidarity and social justice, as a tool for ethical reflection problems related to COVID-19 vaccines. Conclusions There are no perfect solutions to ethical dilemmas and some optimal solutions could depend the context. In a pandemic situation, one of the most relevant ethical issues is the herd immunity since it leaves public health at risk. Equity and the principle of justice in vaccination campaign are shown daily in the nursing profession.

scholarly journals Telehealth transformation: COVID-19 and the rise of virtual care

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 957-962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jedrek Wosik ◽  
Marat Fudim ◽  
Blake Cameron ◽  
Ziad F Gellad ◽  
Alex Cho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare System ◽  
Delivery System ◽  
Outpatient Care ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Healthcare Delivery System ◽  
Virtual Care ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The U.S

Abstract The novel coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has altered our economy, society, and healthcare system. While this crisis has presented the U.S. healthcare delivery system with unprecedented challenges, the pandemic has catalyzed rapid adoption of telehealth, or the entire spectrum of activities used to deliver care at a distance. Using examples reported by U.S. healthcare organizations, including ours, we describe the role that telehealth has played in transforming healthcare delivery during the 3 phases of the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic: (1) stay-at-home outpatient care, (2) initial COVID-19 hospital surge, and (3) postpandemic recovery. Within each of these 3 phases, we examine how people, process, and technology work together to support a successful telehealth transformation. Whether healthcare enterprises are ready or not, the new reality is that virtual care has arrived.

scholarly journals Rapid Serological Testing for Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-107
Author(s):  
Sultan M. Faheem ◽  
Jancie D’Mello ◽  
Sultan M. Kaleem ◽  
Burra V. L. S. Prasad ◽  
Khalid Siddiqui
Keyword(s):  
Protective Immunity ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Serological Testing ◽  
Prophylactic Measure ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Effective Care ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
And Control

With the onset of the novel coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) that emerged from Wuhan in China, the need of the hour can be summarized into two groups. The first one is a potent vaccine as a prophylactic measure to prevent the virus from infecting people, and the second is a rapid diagnosis of the disease to help healthcare professionals and government authorities to plan and control the spread and provide effective care and treatment. This review delves into the latter, describing the COVID-19 and its treatment, including the race for an effective vaccine, and highlighting the role of serological testing in managing the pandemic since a well-designed study to understand mechanisms and serological correlations of protective immunity is crucial for rational clinical and public health policies. In conclusion, swift vaccination and response tactics, such as social distancing, hand hygiene, wearing of masks, and, if required, lockdown practices continue to be important in managing the pandemic while carefully monitoring any possible outbreak due to the variants.

scholarly journals Who Should Get Vaccinated First? An effective Network Information-driven Priority Vaccination Strategy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Liu ◽  
Chi Kong Tse ◽  
Rosa H. M. Chan ◽  
Choujun Zhan
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Vaccination Strategy ◽  
Cumulative Number ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Vaccination Programs ◽  
Network Information ◽  
Network Properties ◽  
Effective Network ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Abstract Approval of emergency use of the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in many countries has brought hope to ending the COVID-19 pandemic sooner. Considering the limited vaccine supply in the early stage of COVID-19 vaccination programs in most countries, a highly relevant question to ask is: who should get vaccinated first? In this article we propose a network information- driven vaccination strategy where a small number of people in a network (population) are categorized, according to a few key network properties, into priority groups. Using a network-based SEIR model for simulating the pandemic progression, the network information-driven vaccination strategy is compared with a random vaccination strategy. Results for both large-scale synthesized networks and real social networks have demonstrated that the network information-driven vaccination strategy can significantly reduce the cumulative number of infected individuals and lead to a more rapid containment of the pandemic. The results provide insight for policymakers in designing an effective early-stage vaccination plan.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and consumer demand for local meat products in South Carolina

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Steven Richards ◽  
Michael Vassalos
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Meat Products ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The U.S

The emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the associated economic disrup­tions have challenged local food producers, distributors, retailers, and restaurants since March 2020. COVID-19 was a stress test for the U.S. local food supply chain, exposing vulnerabilities whose impacts have varied by region and sector. Some local producers saw sales fall in 2020 due to COVID-19 restric­tions and consumer foot traffic changes (O’Hara, Woods, Dutton, & Stavely, 2021). In other areas, local food producers were able to pivot from collapsing market channels by finding opportunities elsewhere (Thilmany, Canales, Low, & Boys, 2020).

scholarly journals A Bayesian Framework for Estimating the Risk Ratio of Hospitalization for People with Comorbidity Infected by the SARS-CoV-2 Virus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Gao ◽  
Qunfeng Dong
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Cardiovascular Diseases ◽  
General Population ◽  
Risk Stratification ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Chronic Respiratory Disease ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Infected People ◽  
The U.S

Estimating the hospitalization risk for people with certain comorbidities infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is important for developing public health policies and guidance based on risk stratification. Traditional biostatistical methods require knowing both the number of infected people who were hospitalized and the number of infected people who were not hospitalized. However, the latter may be undercounted, as it is limited to only those who were tested for viral infection. In addition, comorbidity information for people not hospitalized may not always be readily available for traditional biostatistical analyses. To overcome these limitations, we developed a Bayesian approach that only requires the observed frequency of comorbidities in COVID-19 patients in hospitals and the prevalence of comorbidities in the general population. By applying our approach to two different large-scale datasets in the U.S., our results consistently indicated that cardiovascular diseases carried the highest hospitalization risk for COVID-19 patients, followed by diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, hypertension, and obesity, respectively.

scholarly journals Messaging Mask Wearing During the COVID-19 Crisis: Ideological Differences

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Utych
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Focus ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Regulatory Focus Theory ◽  
The Public ◽  
Prevention Messages ◽  
Ideological Differences ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Focus Theory

Abstract As the U.S. Government works to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, messaging is important in getting individuals to comply with public health recommendations, especially as the response from the public seems to be polarized along partisan and ideological lines. Using a recent Centers for Disease Control recommendation of wearing facemasks, I use Regulatory Focus Theory to predict that conservatives will be more responsive to messages related to promotion, while liberals are more responsive to messages related to prevention. Using a pre-registered experimental design, I find no evidence that prevention messages influence attitudes toward mask wearing. Promotion messages, however, cause conservatives to become less supportive of mask wearing, in contrast to theoretical predictions. These findings suggest that, related to messaging about mask wearing, strong ideological differences do not emerge related to the focus of the message.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document