scholarly journals Prioritizing the First Doses of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine to Save the Elderly: The Case Study of Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Pontrelli ◽  
Giulio Cimini ◽  
Marco Roversi ◽  
Andrea Gabrielli ◽  
Gaetano Salina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Elderly ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Mortality Reduction ◽  
Dose Administration ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns ◽  
Vaccine Shortage

SARS-CoV-2 is currently causing hundreds of deaths every day in European countries, mostly in not yet vaccinated elderly. Vaccine shortage poses relevant challenges to health authorities, called to act promptly with a scarcity of data. We modeled the mortality reduction of the elderly according to a schedule of mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that prioritized first dose administration. For the case study of Italy, we show an increase in protected individuals up to 53.4% and a decrease in deaths up to 19.8% in the cohort of over 80's compared with the standard vaccine recalls after 3 or 4 weeks. This model supports the adoption of vaccination campaigns that prioritize the administration of the first doses in the elderly.

scholarly journals Prioritizing the first doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to save the elderly: the case study of Italy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Pontrelli ◽  
Giulio Cimini ◽  
Marco Roversi ◽  
Andrea Gabrielli ◽  
Gaetano Salina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Mortality ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Timely Manner ◽  
Dose Administration ◽  
Vaccine Administration ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Vaccine Shortage

Many countries are currently facing high mortality caused by the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 among the elderly not yet vaccinated. Vaccine shortage poses relevant challenges to health authorities, called to act in a timely manner, and with scarcity of vaccine, and data. We have developed a model for estimating of the impact of vaccination on the mortality of the elderly following a schedule of mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that prioritize first dose administration, as alternative to the standard schedule of two doses administered 3 to 4 weeks apart. We studied the Italian scenario, considering it representative of other Countries facing similar conditions in terms of virus circulation, mortality, and vaccine shortage, in the period from February 10 to April 14 2021. Under different conditions of quantity of vaccine administration, the schedule prioritizing first doses showed always significant increase of protected individuals, and a decrease of deaths, up to 19.8% less than the standard schedule. These findings support the vaccination option of prioritizing first dose in the elderly until vaccine supplies are adequate.

CASE STUDY: Regional Cultural Differences Within and Across Four Western European Countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-47
Author(s):  
Nadine Waehning ◽  
Ibrahim Sirkeci ◽  
Stephan Dahl ◽  
Sinan Zeyneloglu
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Business Strategies ◽  
Business Plans ◽  
Regional Markets ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Western European

This case study examines and illustrates within country regional cultural differences and cross border cultural similarities across four western European countries. Drawing on the data from the World Values Survey (WVS), we refer to the Schwartz Cultural Values Inventory in the survey. The demographic variables of age, gender, education level, marital status and income vary across the regions and hence, have significant effects on the cultural value dimensions across regions. The findings help a better understanding of the homogeneity and heterogeneity of regions withinand across countries. Both researchers and managers will have to justify their sampling methods and generalisations more carefully when drawing conclusions for a whole country. This case study underlines the limited knowledge about regional within country cultural differences, while also illustrating the simplification of treating each country as culturally homogeneous. Cross-country business strategies connecting transnational regional markets based on cultural value characteristics need to take these similarities and differences into account when designating business plans.

scholarly journals Are We Ready for the Arrival of the New COVID-19 Vaccinations? Great Promises and Unknown Challenges Still to Come

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Davide Gori ◽  
Chiara Reno ◽  
Daniel Remondini ◽  
Francesco Durazzi ◽  
Maria Pia Fantini
Keyword(s):  
Herd Immunity ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
To Come ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns ◽  
The Eu

While the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continues to strike and collect its death toll throughout the globe, as of 31 January 2021, the vaccine candidates worldwide were 292, of which 70 were in clinical testing. Several vaccines have been approved worldwide, and in particular, three have been so far authorized for use in the EU. Vaccination can be, in fact, an efficient way to mitigate the devastating effect of the pandemic and offer protection to some vulnerable strata of the population (i.e., the elderly) and reduce the social and economic burden of the current crisis. Regardless, a question is still open: after vaccination availability for the public, will vaccination campaigns be effective in reaching all the strata and a sufficient number of people in order to guarantee herd immunity? In other words: after we have it, will we be able to use it? Following the trends in vaccine hesitancy in recent years, there is a growing distrust of COVID-19 vaccinations. In addition, the online context and competition between pro- and anti-vaxxers show a trend in which anti-vaccination movements tend to capture the attention of those who are hesitant. Describing this context and analyzing its possible causes, what interventions or strategies could be effective to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy? Will social media trend analysis be helpful in trying to solve this complex issue? Are there perspectives for an efficient implementation of COVID-19 vaccination coverage as well as for all the other vaccinations?

scholarly journals COVID-19 in Latin America: a first glance to the mortality

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nubia Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
Death Toll ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
The Us ◽  
Latin American Countries

It is too early to know which will be the final death toll from the Covid-19 or SARS-CoV-2 virus epidemy in Latin America since the epidemy is still active and we will not know when it will end. The curve for new infections and deaths has not reached yet a peak (Figure 1). In addition, we know little about the epidemiology of this new virus. The daily litany of the number of people infected with the number of admissions to hospitals and intensive care units and the number of deaths guides health authorities to plan health services and politicians to gauge the degree of confinement necessary to control the transmission of the virus, but it says little about the magnitude of the problem if we do not relate it to the population at risk. At the end of the pandemic, we will be able to estimate age-standardized death rates for the different countries, but until then the crude death rates will provide a first glance or snapshot of the death toll and impact of the pandemic from March to May 2020. These rates are well below those estimated in other countries in Europe and North America: Belgium (82.6), Spain (58.0), the United Kingdom (57.5), Italy (55.0), France (42.9), Sweden (41.4), and the US (30.7). (Johns Hopkins CSSE, May 30, 2020). However, in the European countries and the US the number of deaths has reached a peak, while this is not the case in Latin American countries. (Figure 1). It should be taken into account that the above rates are crude and therefore, some of the differences could be due to the fact that European countries have a larger proportion of the population over 70 years of age in whom higher mortality rates have been reported.

scholarly journals Increasing Usability of Homecare Applications for Older Adults: A Case Study

Designs ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos Panagopoulos ◽  
Andreas Menychtas ◽  
Panayiotis Tsanakas ◽  
Ilias Maglogiannis
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Response ◽  
Independent Living ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Usability Assessment ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
System Usability Scale ◽  
System Usability ◽  
Practical Guidelines ◽  
Depth Interviews

As the world’s population is ageing, the field dealing with technology adoption by seniors has made headway in the scientific community. Recent technological advances have enabled the development of intelligent homecare systems that support seniors’ independent living and allow monitoring of their health status. However, despite the amount of research to understand the requirements of systems designed for the elderly, there are still unresolved usability issues that often prevent seniors from enjoying the benefits that modern ICT technologies may offer. This work presents a usability assessment of “HeartAround”, an integrated homecare solution incorporating communication functionalities, as well as health monitoring and emergency response features. An assessment with the system usability scale (SUS) method, along with in-depth interviews and qualitative analysis, has provided valuable insights for designing homecare systems for seniors, and validated some effective practical guidelines.

User requirements of social media for the elderly: a case study in Taiwan

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 920-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Huei Chou ◽  
Yu-Ting Lai ◽  
Kuang-Hsia Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
User Requirements

scholarly journals Technology transfer in innovation networks

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 184797901773574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Ferraro ◽  
Antonio Iovanella
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Network Science ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Innovation Networks ◽  
Science Approach

This article offers a network perspective on the collaborative effects of technology transfer, providing a research methodology based on the network science paradigm. We argue that such an approach is able to map and describe the set of entities acting in the technology transfer environment and their mutual relationships. We outline how the connections’ patterns shape the organization of the networks by showing the role of the members within the system. By means of a case study of a transnational initiative aiming to support the technology transfer within European countries, we analyse the application of the network science approach, giving evidence of its relative implications.

Using the Weibull distribution to model COVID-19 epidemic data

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Vitor Hugo Moreau
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Weibull Distribution ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Model Predictions ◽  
Disease Epidemics ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns

COVID-19 is a severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by the new Coronavirus. COVID-19 outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, declared by WHO, that killed more than 2 million people worldwide. Since there are no specific drugs available and vaccination campaigns are in the initial phase, or even have not begun in some countries, the main way to fight the outbreak worldwide is still based on non-pharmacological strategies, such as the use of protective equipment, social isolation and mass testing. Modeling of the disease epidemics have gained pivotal importance to guide health authorities on the decision making and applying of those strategies. Here, we present the use of the Weibull distribution to model predictions of the COVID-19 outbreak based on daily new cases and deaths data, by non-linear regression using Metropolis-Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations. It was possible to predict the evolution of daily new cases and deaths of COVID-19 in many countries as well as the overall number of cases and deaths in the future. Modeling predictions of COVID-19 pandemic may be of importance on the evaluation of governments and health authorities mitigation procedures, since it allows one to extract parameters that may help to guide those decisions and measures, slowing down the spread of the disease.

Provision of public services by Slovak local governments - Case study social protection – old age: A supply demand mismatch?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomáš Černěnko ◽  
Klaudia Glittová
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Provision Of Services

The aim of the paper is to describe the supply of public services in the field of social protection - old age (represented by expenditures in group 10, class 2 of COFOG classification) in relation to the demand for these services represented by the population in the age group 62+ related to the size and region of the local government unit. The analysis of supply and demand takes place at the level of individual local governments and the results are then presented in relation to the size of the municipality and the region. Two approaches were used for the analysis. The first focuses on the description of the current situation through the categorization of local governments according to the approach to the provision of services, and the second consists in regression analysis. The results of the regression analysis suggest that the size of the municipality and the region do not play as important a role in terms of access to the provision of the examined services as indicated by the first, descriptive analysis. To find a "pattern" for local authorities to decide on access to services for the elderly, further research will be needed that takes into account several socio-economic indicators.

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