scholarly journals Vaccine Hesitancy and Administrative Burden in the Australian National Immunisation Program: An Analysis of Twitter Discourse

Knowledge ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Christopher L. Atkinson ◽  
Allison M. Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Vaccination Schedule ◽  
Social Networking Site ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Administrative Burden ◽  
National Immunisation ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
National Immunisation Program

In Australia, the National Immunisation Program and its Standard Vaccination Schedule are administered by the Australian Government Department of Health. While the public vaccination program’s safety and worth are generally agreed upon by doctors and public health professionals, some continue to see vaccinations as a source of danger and harm. The burden of vaccination in order to receive public services aligns government and medical interests, but a less-than-trusting public may see conspiracy in such requirements, resulting in vaccine hesitancy. The media’s attention to the topic, and a tendency toward misinformation on the part of anti-government opinion leaders, necessitate additional exploration of the administrative burden of vaccinations in an increasingly complex policy environment, where public health benefits are weighed against individual freedom and belief. This paper examines vaccinations as a burden, with costs in compliance, learning, and psychological terms, using posts from the social networking site Twitter as a corpus for exploratory content analysis in the specific case of Australia and its requirements. It is worth considering whether the positive aspects messaged by public health professionals are successfully entering into the discourse on vaccinations.

The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Ethics ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Health Ethics ◽  
Public Health Professionals

Public health is fundamentally concerned with promoting the health of populations through the prevention of disease and injury. It is, at its core, a moral endeavor, because the end it seeks is the advancement of human well-being. Vexing ethics issues are inherent in all aspects of public health practice and policy. They exist in top-of-the-news stories like infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine hesitancy, health disparities, and in more routine assessments of population health needs, data collection, program evaluation, and policy development. They may be distinctive or shared across diverse fields, such as environmental health, nutrition programs and policy, injury prevention, communicable and noncommunicable diseases, and reproductive health. This volume represents the first comprehensive examination of public health ethics in the United States and globally. The volume editors recruited top public health professionals, policy experts, and scholars in public health and ethics fields to offer varied perspectives on the diversity of the issues that define public health ethics. The volume begins with two sections examining the crosscutting conceptual foundations, ethical tensions, and ethical frameworks of and for public health and how public health does its work. It then proceeds topically, with thirteen sections analyzing the application of public health ethics considerations and approaches across the broad range of subject areas. While the fifteen sections can serve to orient the reader within a specific field, each of the more than seventy chapters is designed to serve as a stand-alone contribution. The approach makes the book, its sections, and individual chapters useful as part of course materials, as well as a seminal reference for students, scholars, and public health professionals.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Different Population Groups in China: a National Multi-Center Online Survey

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiman Huang ◽  
Xiaoyou Su ◽  
Weijun Xiao ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Mingyu Si ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
General Population ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Vaccine Coverage ◽  
Univariate Analysis ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Population Groups ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Professionals

Abstract Background: COVID-19 vaccine has been available in China since the beginning of the 2021, however, certain numbers of people are reluctant for some reasons to vaccinate. The high vaccine coverage is crucial for controlling disease transmission. Meanwhile, the vaccine hesitancy might be a barrier to the establishment of sufficient herd immunization. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccine among different population groups, and explores the characteristics of different groups about vaccine hesitancy and common barriers and facilitators to vaccination decisions.Methods: The current survey was performed among students, public health professionals, medical workers and general population from January to March 2021 among Chinese from seven cities located in seven geographical territories of China. The questionnaire contained sociodemographic information, concerns about COVID-19 epidemic, general vaccination behavior and attitudes, the General Vaccine Hesitancy Scale, the COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Scale and other potential factors of vaccine hesitancy. Univariate analysis was conducted by chi-squared test, and variables were significant at P < 0.10 were then included in a multivariable regression model.Results: The prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was 64.1% in our study, and a higher prevalence (73.7%) was in public health professionals compared to students (58.3%), medical workers (64.9%) and general population (61.1%). The results of multivariate analysis indicated that public health professionals were more likely to be hesitant against COVID-19 vaccine than general population (OR: 1.469, 95% CI: 1.069-2.019. And participants who needed transparent information about COVID-19 vaccine development, efficacy and safety (OR: 1.609, 95% CI: 1.343-1.928) and who have received negative information of COVID-19 vaccine (OR: 1.300, 95% CI: 1.130-1.496) were more likely to have vaccine hesitancy.Conclusions: Appropriate training in knowledge and communication skills about vaccines are necessary for public health professionals to help themselves and the public to increase their willingness of vaccination. Reducing the spread of misinformation and disseminating facts in a timely and accurate way will likely reduce vaccine hesitancy. Also, to establish suitable communication strategies between the government and the public and a warning system on infodemic would be helpful to improve public’s confidence in vaccination.

Oral health diseases among the older people: a general health perspective

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Oral Health ◽  
Older People ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
General Health ◽  
Oral Health Care ◽  
Oral Diseases ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
The Relationship

Background: The relationship between oral health and general health is gaining interest in geriatric research; however, a lack of studies dealing with this issue from a general perspective makes it somewhat inaccessible to non-clinical public health professionals. Purpose: The purpose of this review is to describe the relationship between oral health and general health of the elderly on the basis of literature review, and to give non-clinical medical professionals and public health professionals an overview of this discipline. Methods: This study was based on an in-depth review of the literature pertaining to the relationship between oral health and general health among the older people. The tools commonly used to evaluate dental health and the academic researches of male elderly people were also reviewed. And future research directions were summarized. Results: Dental caries, periodontal disease, edentulism, and xerostomia are common oral diseases among the older people. Dental caries and periodontal diseases are the leading causes of missing teeth and edentulism. Xerostomia, similar to dry mouth, is another common oral health disease in the older people. No clear correlation exists between the subjective feeling of dryness and an objective decrease of saliva. Rather, both conditions can be explained by changes in saliva. The General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) and the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) are the main assessment tools used to examine oral health and quality of life in the older people. The GOHAI tends to be more sensitive to objective values pertaining to oral function. In addition, oral health studies in male elderly people are population-based cohort or cross-sectional studies, involving masticatory function, oral prevention, frailty problems, cardiovascular disease risk, and cognitive status. Conclusion: It is possible to reduce the incidence of certain oral diseases, even among individuals who take oral health care seriously. Oral health care should be based on the viewpoint of comprehensive treatment, including adequate nutrition, good life and psychology, and correct oral health care methods. In the future, researchers could combine the results of meta-analysis with the clinical experience of doctors to provide a more in-depth and broader discussion on oral health research topics concerning the older people.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Education for Public Health: A Practical Foundation for Solidarity

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Perkiö ◽  
R Harrison ◽  
M Grivna ◽  
D Tao ◽  
C Evashwich
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Public Health Education ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Rigorous Evaluation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Professionals

Abstract Education is a key to creating solidary among the professionals who advance public health’s interdisciplinary mission. Our assumption is that if all those who work in public health shared core knowledge and the skills for interdisciplinary interaction, collaboration across disciplines, venues, and countries would be facilitated. Evaluation of education is an essential element of pedagogy to ensure quality and consistency across boundaries, as articulated by the UNESCO education standards. Our study examined the evaluation studies done by programs that educate public health professionals. We searched the peer reviewed literature published in English between 2000-2017 pertaining to the education of the public health workforce at a degree-granting level. The 2442 articles found covered ten health professions disciplines and had lead authors representing all continents. Only 86 articles focused on evaluation. The majority of the papers examined either a single course, a discipline-specific curriculum or a teaching method. No consistent methodologies could be discerned. Methods ranged from sophisticated regression analyses and trends tracked over time to descriptions of focus groups and interviews of small samples. We found that evaluations were primarily discipline-specific, lacked rigorous methodology in many instances, and that relatively few examined competencies or career expectations. The public health workforce enjoys a diversity of disciplines but must be able to come together to share diverse knowledge and skills. Evaluation is critical to achieving a workforce that is well trained in the competencies pertinent to collaboration. This study informs the pedagogical challenges that must be confronted going forward, starting with a commitment to shared core competencies and to consistent and rigorous evaluation of the education related to training public health professionals. Key messages Rigorous evaluation is not sufficiently used to enhance the quality of public health education. More frequent use of rigorous evaluation in public health education would enhance the quality of public health workforce, and enable cross-disciplinary and international collaboration for solidarity.

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