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 Opbakning til forfejlede forsørgere!

2021 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inger Lyngdrup Nørgård
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Remarkable Change ◽  
Gender Perspective ◽  
Public Care ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
To Come ◽  
The 19Th Century

The purpose of this article is to examine a remarkable change – not yet explored from a gender perspective – which occurred during the Three Year War (1848–51) as both the social legislation and philanthropic associations started to seek to help male providers. The purpose of this shift was to ensure that these men could fulfill their role as responsible providers for themselves and their family. This new distribution strategy continued in the time to come in the philanthropic associations and the temporary social legislation introduced in Denmark in the 1950s. This strategy seeking to support the male, poor and responsible bread­winners represented a significant change, as the strategy until the middle of the 19th century entailed an intention to support women, children, the sick and the elderly. In order to explore this change, this article presents an analysis including central categories in social history. These categories are “need,” “worthiness” and “the breadwinner role,” which are examined from a gender perspective. The analysis suggests that the introduction of the “respectable male bread­winner position” as a new target group in the field of public care accelerated the development of poor relief into social policies. The material used in the study consists of published legislation, annual reports, literature from the public relief as well as from private philanthropic associations. Furthermore, archival material consisting of handwritten letters, meeting summaries, reports and negotiation protocols are also included.

Conditions and prospects for cooperation between Polish and Ukrainian local governments

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-241
Author(s):  
Mariusz W. Sienkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Common Goals ◽  
The Eu

The fact that Poland and Ukraine share a border, the convergence of the political goals of the peoples of both countries, and the constant efforts towards the development of democracy and decentralisation of public life determine the need to intensify cooperation in various areas of the functioning of society and the economy. An important sphere of cooperation is the public sector, in particular at the level of local government. The local government cooperation of both countries was already visible at the beginning of the social and political transformations after 1990. The development of this cooperation, with varying results, took place in the 1990s and, to an even greater extent, after Poland’s accession to the European Union. In the last three decades, local and regional communities in Ukraine have become an important partner for Polish local governments, both at the local and regional levels. The local government cooperation that has been implemented is based on the diversification and multidimensionality of forms and models. Some result from legal regulations, while others are based on mutual experiences, previous contacts, and sympathies of public authorities. The aim of the study is to analyse and present the conditions and forms of Polish-Ukrainian local government cooperation. The aim is also to show the barriers to cooperation and to define proposed solutions to improve partner contacts of territorial units. The local government cooperation of the two countries is undoubtedly hindered by the fact that Ukraine is not a member of the EU, and often by mutual misunderstanding and non-acceptance of historical experiences. On the other hand, common goals at different levels of social, public, and economic life are a significant factor motivating parties to increase cooperation and achieve a synergistic effect thanks to it.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy on Social Media: Building a Public Twitter Dataset of Anti-vaccine Content, Vaccine Misinformation and Conspiracies (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goran Muric ◽  
Yusong Wu ◽  
Emilio Ferrara
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Application Programming Interface ◽  
Data Access ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Vaccination Campaigns

BACKGROUND False claims about COVID-19 vaccines can undermine public trust in ongoing vaccination campaigns, thus posing a threat to global public health. Misinformation originating from various sources has been spreading online since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Anti-vaccine activists have also begun to utilize platforms like Twitter to share their views. To properly understand the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy through the lens of online social media, it is of greatest importance to gather the relevant data. OBJECTIVE In this paper, we describe a dataset of Twitter posts that exhibit a strong anti-vaccine stance. The dataset is made available to the research community via our AvaxTweets dataset GitHub repository. METHODS We started the ongoing data collection on October 18, 2020, leveraging the Twitter streaming application programming interface (API) to follow a set of specific anti-vaccine related keywords. Additionally, we collect the historical tweets of the set of accounts that engaged in spreading anti-vaccination narratives at some point during 2020. RESULTS Since the inception of our collection, we have published two collections: a) a streaming keyword-centered data collection with more than 1.8 million tweets, and b) a historical account-level collection with more than 135 million tweets. In this paper we present descriptive analyses showing the volume of activity over time, geographical distributions, topics, news sources, and inferred accounts’ political leaning. CONCLUSIONS The vaccine-related misinformation on social media may exacerbate the levels of vaccine hesitancy, hampering the progress toward vaccine-induced herd immunity, and potentially increase infections related to new COVID-19 variants. For these reasons, understanding vaccine hesitancy through the lens of social media is of paramount importance. Since data access is the first obstacle to attain that, we publish the dataset that can be used in studying anti-vaccine misinformation on social media and enable a better understanding of vaccine hesitancy.

Current COVID-19 vaccine epidemiology and dentistry

Dental Update ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 881-886
Author(s):  
Lakshman Samaranayake
Keyword(s):  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Vaccine Recipient ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
Societal Factors ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Information ◽  
Current Vaccine ◽  
Strain Type

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine story is continuously unfolding. Since our previous COVID-19 commentaries, much new information has transpired on the subject, and here we revisit this topic, which has practical implications for all stakeholders in dentistry, as well as the public. This article, on current vaccine epidemiology, provides an account of why vaccines fail in general, and the particular concerns in relation to the new Delta variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and related ‘variants of concern’. Issues related to vaccine failure are fundamentally dichotomous in nature, appertaining either to the vaccine strain (type) per se, and/or the numerous endogenous factors of the vaccine recipient/vaccinee. Societal factors such as vaccine hesitancy and its impact on herd immunity appear to overarch the long-term goal of total or partial global suppression of SARS-CoV-2, and its eventual endemicity. CPD/Clinical Relevance: To describe the reasons for the failure of currently administered COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in relation to the advent of the SARS-CoV-2 ‘variants of concern’, and discuss implications for clinical dental practice.

The Internal Market at a Social Turn? Social dumping and the protection of workers

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-420
Author(s):  
Catherine Jacqueson
Keyword(s):  
Member State ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Internal Market ◽  
The Other ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
Race To The Bottom ◽  
The Social ◽  
To Come ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

Free movement should in theory enable individuals to fight poverty at home by finding employment in another Member State. Yet, free movement is not always that easy and can in practice lead to social dumping in specific sectors where posted workers ultimately push salaries to the bottom. Such a race to the bottom might also arise outside a free movement context when workers are falsely qualified as self-employed thus undercutting wages. This article argues that EU economic law both creates risks of social dumping and remedies them. It calls for a rebalancing of the liberal ethos of the principle of free movement and competition law on the one hand, and the social objectives of the EU, on the other hand. A key question is whether it is possible to redress the balance between the economic and the social from within the internal market logic or whether the social push has to come from outside.

Frailty – from bedside to buzzword?

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 120-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Manthorpe ◽  
Steve Iliffe
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Recent Policy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore common usage and understanding of the term “frailty”, which is increasingly used in health care debates in England. Design/methodology/approach – This is a commentary from the perspectives of health and social care researchers. Recent policy and research are drawn upon in the arguments presented. Findings – Most research on the subject of frailty comes from clinical practice although a parallel sociological or gerontological critique of the social construction is emerging. The public is likely to come across the term frailty through the media’s adoption of the term. Different definitions of frailty mean that estimates of the numbers of “frail people” will vary. Research limitations/implications – The commentary draws on material in the English language and on policy, commentary, and research material. Practical implications – The commentary may prompt reflection in practice and policy development on the usage of the term frailty and promote efforts to ensure that its meaning is clear and that it is acceptable to those to whom it is applied. Originality/value – The paper contributes to debates about frailty by considering the implications of using the term across health and social care and in integrated settings and encounters. It draws on medical presentations of the term frailty and on critiques of it as a powerful discourse.

scholarly journals Myths Surrounding Covid-19 Vaccine Candidates: A Guide to Fight Back

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Zizzo
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
Protective Measure ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Vaccine Candidates ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
Public Health Officials

The Covid-19 pandemic has propelled public health officials into the socio-political sphere due to the need for constantly updated information on behalf of the public. However, many individuals choose to acquire health information/guidance from indirect sources, including social media, news organizations, and general word of mouth. As a result, myths and false narratives about various essential health topics, including vaccine characteristics and protective measures, can circulate un-verified between millions of individuals with little recourse. These can further widen the “gap” between public knowledge and current research, resulting in lower vaccine uptake (vaccine hesitancy) and protective measure adherence. Such actions have profound implications as nations attempt to achieve herd immunity and end the pandemic once and for all. Thus, it is vital that public health officials, health providers, researchers, and the general public be able to differentiate common Covid-19 myths from facts and be prepared to approach such interactions via sound reasoning and research-based evidence. This chapter will serve as a guide to accomplish just that.

A ‘Minefield of Misreckonings’: Europe’s Constitutional Pluralism

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 119-144
Author(s):  
Emilios Christodoulidis
Keyword(s):  
Market Economy ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Social Market Economy ◽  
European Level ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Constituent Power ◽  
The Social ◽  
To Come ◽  
Social Market ◽  
Constitutional Pluralism

AbstractThe paper is a critique of ‘constitutional pluralism’, as increasingly called upon to compensate for the social and democratic deficits of the European project, and of ‘constitutionalisation’ as compensating for the absence of any semblance of ‘constituent power’ at the European level. The substitution has been largely successful in redefining the terms of the debate. My interest in this paper, more specifically, is with constitutionalisation as a process of ‘becoming-constitutional’, the conditions of that process, and the criteria of ascription of constitutionality. My argument is that it involves a constitutive coupling with constitutional pluralism, such that allows even the current crisis to be portrayed as an ‘opportunity’ for Europe’s alleged ‘social market economy for the 21st century’ to ‘come out stronger’, its progress at no point obstructed or derailed by the peoples’ of Europe resistance to it.

13. Treatment of the Aged

2019 ◽  
pp. 440-461
Author(s):  
G. T. Laurie ◽  
S. H. E. Harmon ◽  
E. S. Dove
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Regulatory Changes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ethical And Legal Issues ◽  
Public Bodies

This chapter discusses some of the ethical and legal issues associated with the very difficult practice of treating the elderly, grounding the discussion in the tension between autonomy and paternalism. It is emphasised that this complex and fragmented field is still undergoing significant regulatory changes as a result of the Care Act 2014, the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, and the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014. It also covers the elder incapax and dying from old age.

Ecology and Aging: A Critical Review

1988 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-471
Author(s):  
Verena Bernardin-Haldemann
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Ecological Models ◽  
Social Production ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Public Sectors

AbstractFor the past two decades the issue of housing for the aged has caught the attention of many in the private as well as in the public sectors, and attempts have been made to improve the situation. If the problem persists today, gerontologists, among others, should be called to account, since they were instrumental in the formulation of many of the interventions. The problem has been approached generally in terms of adaptation to aging and adaptation to the environment. The ecological models currently used agree that happiness can be found at different states of equilibrium between the person and the environment and that the elderly arrive at this state of equilibrium through a special “docility” towards the environment; a “docility” which would be linked to aging. However, this docility would appear to be historically and socially contingent rather than being “natural”. It is thus important to explain the social production of old age and the docility which is tied to it.

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