scholarly journals COVID Vaccine Transport, Storage, and Distribution: Cold Chain Management to Ensure Efficacy

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Michael Rusnack
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Cold Chain ◽  
World Health ◽  
Federally Funded ◽  
Specific Storage ◽  
Data Loggers ◽  
Vaccines For Children ◽  
Health Organization

The Vaccines for Children Program (VFC) is a federally funded program in the United States, providing vaccines to children who lack health insurance or who otherwise cannot afford the vaccination cost. The VFC program was created in 1993 and is required to be a new entitlement of each State's Medicaid plan. The program was officially implemented in October 1994 and served eligible children in all United States (US). Other countries, the United Nations (UN), and the World Health Organization (WHO), have similar programs.  A critical aspect of these programs is the guidance surrounding the environmental monitoring of the materials. To best maintain the integrity of these products, specific storage parameters are required. It is necessary to store most vaccines at refrigeration or freezing temperatures. To best assure the efficacy of the vaccines, monitoring standards and equipment are specified. The technology and methodologies may be adequate for these programs' materials; these same methods are not for the COVID vaccine.[1]  When reviewing the guidance recommendations worldwide, one may observe commonalities in the program. Each guidance calls for the use of digital data loggers (DDL), sampling rates of 15 to 30 minutes, daily check-in (during business hours), and the use of a temperature buffer, each without specificity.[2] The inadequacies of the VFC program monitoring methodologies fall far short when monitoring COVID vaccines. Herein considerations for the transport, storage, and distribution of the COVID vaccine cold chain will be discussed.

The Ethics of COVID-19 Vaccine Passports

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Joseph Meaney ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
World Health ◽  
Medical Decisions ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Divided Society ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

COVID-19 vaccine passports run the risk of creating a divided society where social privileges or restrictions based on “fitness” lead to discrimination based on immunization status. Individuals have a strong right to be free of coercion to take a COVID-19 vaccine, and we should be very leery of further invasion of private medical decisions. These concerns are shared both internationally and in the United States, and the World Health Organization, the Biden administration, and many US governors oppose COVID-19 vaccine credentials. In addition, regulations for COVID-19 vaccine credentials face practical barriers, including lack of access globally, especially among the poor; and lack of scientific data on the efficacy of these vaccines.

Annual Summary of Vital Statistics—1976

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 797-804
Author(s):  
Myron E. Wegman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vital Statistics ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Statistics ◽  
The World ◽  
States Data ◽  
International Data ◽  
Health Organization

Data for this article, as in previous reports,1 are drawn principally from the Monthly Vital Statistics Report,2-5 published by the National Center for Health Statistics. The international data come from the Demographic Yearbook6 and the quarterly Population and Vital Statistics Report,7 both published by the Statistical Office of the United Nations, and the World Health Statistics Report,8 published by the World Health Organization. All the United States data for 1976 are estimates by place of occurrence based upon a 10% sample of material received in state offices between two dates, one month apart, regardless of when the event occurred. Experience has shown that for the country as a whole the estimate is very close to the subsequent final figures.

scholarly journals Water and Sanitation in Urban America, 2017–2019

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (10) ◽  
pp. 1567-1572
Author(s):  
Drew Capone ◽  
Oliver Cumming ◽  
Dennis Nichols ◽  
Joe Brown
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Urban America ◽  
Joint Monitoring ◽  
Health Organization

Objectives. To estimate the population lacking at least basic water and sanitation access in the urban United States. Methods. We compared national estimates of water and sanitation access from the World Health Organization/United Nations Children’s Fund Joint Monitoring Program with estimates from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development on homelessness and the American Community Survey on household water and sanitation facilities. Results. We estimated that at least 930 000 persons in US cities lacked sustained access to at least basic sanitation and 610 000 to at least basic water access, as defined by the United Nations. Conclusions. After accounting for those experiencing homelessness and substandard housing, our estimate of people lacking at least basic water equaled current estimates (n = 610 000)—without considering water quality—and greatly exceeded estimates of sanitation access (n = 28 000). Public Health Implications. Methods to estimate water and sanitation access in the United States should include people experiencing homelessness and other low-income groups, and specific policies are needed to reduce disparities in urban sanitation. We recommend similar estimation efforts for other high-income countries currently reported as having near universal sanitation access.

scholarly journals A Quantitative Risk Assessment of Human Salmonellosis from Consumption of Walnuts in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
SOFIA M. SANTILLANA FARAKOS ◽  
RÉGIS POUILLOT ◽  
GORDON R. DAVIDSON ◽  
RHOMA JOHNSON ◽  
INSOOK SON ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rare Event ◽  
The United States ◽  
Quantitative Risk Assessment ◽  
World Health ◽  
Baseline Model ◽  
Log Reduction ◽  
Human Salmonellosis ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT We assessed the risk of human salmonellosis from consumption of shelled walnuts in the United States and the impact of 0- to 5-log reduction treatments for Salmonella during processing. We established a baseline model with Salmonella contamination data from 2010 to 2013 surveys of walnuts from California operations to estimate baseline prevalence and levels of Salmonella during preshelling storage and typical walnut processing stages, considered U.S. consumption data, and applied an adapted dose-response model from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization to evaluate risk of illness per serving and per year. Our baseline model predicted 1 case of salmonellosis per 100 million servings (95% confidence interval [CI], 1 case per 3 million to 1 case per 2 billion servings) of walnuts untreated during processing and uncooked by consumers, resulting in an estimated 6 cases of salmonellosis per year (95% CI, <1 to 278 cases) in the United States. A minimum 3-log reduction treatment for Salmonella during processing of walnuts eaten alone or as an uncooked ingredient resulted in a mean risk of <1 case per year. We modeled the impact on risk per serving of three atypical situations in which the Salmonella levels were increased by 0.5 to 1.5 log CFU per unit pretreatment during processing at the float tank or during preshelling storage or posttreatment during partitioning into consumer packages. No change in risk was associated with the small increase in levels of Salmonella at the float tank, whereas an increase in risk was estimated for each of the other two atypical events. In a fourth scenario, we estimated the risk per serving associated with consumption of walnuts with Salmonella prevalence and levels from a 2014 to 2015 U.S. retail survey. Risk per serving estimates were two orders of magnitude larger than those of the baseline model without treatment. Further research is needed to determine whether this finding reflects variability in Salmonella contamination across the supply or a rare event affecting a portion of the supply.

An Education Platform for Awareness and Prevention of Obesity Epidemic Among Children and Adolescents

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majidreza M. Kazempour
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health It ◽  
Obesity Epidemic ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Education Platform ◽  
Overweight Adults

Obesity is now replacing undernutrition and infectious diseases as the leading cause of ill health. It is considered as one of the greatest medical challenges to health in the United States; over 65% of American adults are either overweight or obese leading to 320,000 deaths each year in the United States (Kopelman, 2005). The annual medical costs of obesity in the United States are enormous (Bhattacharya and Bundorf, 2009). Globally, according to the World Health Organization, there are more than one billion overweight adults, of which at least 300 million are clinically obese. A recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data (2003–2006) has showed that for children aged 6–11 years and 12–19 years, the prevalence of overweight was 17.0% and 17.6%, respectively.

scholarly journals Is COVID-19 the end of US hegemony? Public bads, leadership failures and monetary hegemony

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (5) ◽  
pp. 1281-1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Norrlöf
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Hegemony ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Public Bads ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract COVID-19 is the most invasive global crisis in the postwar era, jeopardizing all dimensions of human activity. By theorizing COVID-19 as a public bad, I shed light on one of the great debates of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries regarding the relationship between the United States and liberal international order (LIO). Conceptualizing the pandemic as a public bad, I analyze its consequences for US hegemony. Unlike other international public bads and many of the most important public goods that make up the LIO, the COVID-19 public bad not only has some degree of rivalry but can be made partially excludable, transforming it into more of a club good. Domestically, I demonstrate how the failure to effectively manage the COVID-19 public bad has compromised America's ability to secure the health of its citizens and the domestic economy, the very foundations for its international leadership. These failures jeopardize US provision of other global public goods. Internationally, I show how the US has already used the crisis strategically to reinforce its opposition to free international movement while abandoning the primary international institution tasked with fighting the public bad, the World Health Organization (WHO). While the only area where the United States has exercised leadership is in the monetary sphere, I argue this feat is more consequential for maintaining hegemony. However, even monetary hegemony could be at risk if the pandemic continues to be mismanaged.

scholarly journals Federal Regulation of Infant and Toddler Food and Drink Marketing and Labeling

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Pomeranz ◽  
Jennifer L. Harris
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Infant Formula ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Claims ◽  
World Health ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Breast Milk Substitutes ◽  
Food And Drink ◽  
Health Organization

Foods and beverages marketed for infants, babies, and toddlers through 3 years of age is a $7 billion industry in the United States, incorporating a wide range of products, including infant formula and other types of drinks, foods, and snacks. The World Health Organization (“WHO”) found that mothers “are often inundated with incorrect and biased information” from direct advertising, health claims on products, information packs from sales representatives, and the distribution of samples of infant formula and “educational materials” by infant formula manufacturers. To address these problematic practices, in 1981, the WHO established the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (the “Code”) to end the inappropriate marketing of infant formula and other food and drinks intended for children up to age two. In 2016, WHO expanded the definition of breastmilk substitutes to include milk and milk products specifically marketed for feeding infants and young children up to age three. However, the United States is one of a minority of countries that has not passed any legislation or regulation to implement the Code. Furthermore, U.S. regulation and enforcement actions have not kept pace with the introduction of new products and product categories and the profusion of labeling and marketing claims questionably implying nutritional and developmental benefits from these products.

Has survival improved for nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the United States?

2005 ◽  
Vol 132 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jivianne T. Lee ◽  
Clifford Y. Ko
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
The United States ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
World Health ◽  
Type Iii ◽  
Favorable Histology ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Over Time

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the epidemiologic patterns and survival rates for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma over the last three decades. METHODS: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program tumor registries were used to identify patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the United States from 1973 to 1999. Incidence and survival rates for each decade were then determined according to age, gender, race, histological type, and stage using the SEER statistical program. RESULTS: From 1973 to 1999, 4680 cases of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the United States were sampled by the NCI/SEER database. Overall incidence rates for each decade essentially remained unchanged over time (0.7/100,000). Asians exhibited the highest incidence rates (3.0–4.2), followed by blacks (0.7–1.1) and then whites (0.4–0.7). In contrast, survival rates have gradually improved over time for all stages and histological types (35.7% 5-year survival in the 1970s vs. 44.1% in the 1980, and 51% in the 1990s). With respect to race, Asians demonstrated the best 5-year survival rate (62.9%) followed by whites (42.6%) and then blacks (36.2%). However, this may be due to histology, because Asians were also found to have a greater proportion of World Health Organization (WHO) type III cases (27.6%) in comparison to the other 2 groups (22.4% for blacks and 15% for whites). CONCLUSIONS: Although the incidence rates of nasopharyngeal carcinoma have remained essentially unchanged in the United States in the last 3 decades, survival rates for each stage and histological subtype have exhibited considerable improvement over time. The higher survival rates in Asians may be partially attributed to the more favorable histology (type III) often seen in this group. EBM rating: B-3.

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