COVID-19 VACCINES: ADVERSE EVENTS FOLLOWING IMMUNISATION

Patients rely on healthcare providers as their most credible and frequent source of vaccine information. It is therefore crucial that healthcare providers are informed and have evidence-based, objective and clear guidance on vaccine efficacy and specific adverse events following immunisation (AEFI). Reported serious AEFIs are extremely rare for the COVID-19 vaccines. This article discusses the main AEFIs attributed to COVID-19 vaccines, including neurological complications of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and acute transverse myelitis (ATM), thrombosis;cardiac complications, including myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiomyopathy;and allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis, urticaria and skin rashes. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the risks;however, it is important that healthcare providers are aware of the risks and know how to recognise and manage them.

Sounding the State of the World: Interview with Karim Rafi, Summer 2021

Matthew Brauer interviews Moroccan contemporary artist Karim Rafi about postcolonial creation in the 2020s in "Sounding the State of the World.” Beginning with Rafi’s shift to remote performances during the COVID-19 pandemic, the discussion approaches confinement as just the latest in a series of crises in North Africa and the world. The repeated experience of crisis opens a conversation about the contemporary experience of time, broached in relation to modern Moroccan art history, which emerged from and against the conservative institutions of the French Protectorate (1912-1956). The interview touches on a range of distinctive concerns in Rafi’s art practice, from sound installations to gardening, which he brings together in multimedia performances and hypermedia objects that register the cultural and political forces shaping art in the 2020s, while reactivating their radical potential for relation apart from capitalist commodification. © Purdue University.

Barriers and Motivators of Adherence among University Students to Social Distancing Recommendations during Covid-19

Introduction: Young adults have been identified to potentially have a low compliance rate with public health measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is thus, critical to recognize barriers and motivators of social distancing adherence among this population to inform of ongoing and future public health initiatives. Therefore, this study aims to determine the level of the mental health status, barriers and motivators of adherence to social distancing measuring among university students. Methods: A cross-sectional, online survey-based research was conducted. A total of 142 undergraduate students completed the questionnaire. A questionnaire was taken from the Wisconsin residents’ beliefs, attitudes, feelings, and self-reported behaviors related to social distancing and COVID-19. Data were statistically analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Results: Of the 142 respondents, 22.5% reported moderate stress, 33% reported severe anxiety, and 46.5% reported moderate symptoms of depression. There was significant effect on attitudes and belief towards the barriers in compliance towards social distance among the university difference. In contrast, no significance was shown in possible reinforcement in keeping the social distancing among the students. Conclusion: The attitude and belief factors should be considered when healthcare policies are designed to uphold social distancing, especially among young adults. © 2022 UPM Press. All rights reserved.

Science communication during COVID-19: when theory meets practice and best practices meet reality

This paper synthesizes the efforts of an interdisciplinary, University-convened communication task force in the U.S. that used science communication theory to develop an effective strategy during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We outline recommendations for researchers and practitioners who are, or are interested in, implementing theory-based communication practices while describing how we dealt with the unforeseen realities we faced. Overall, we recommend that effective public health and science communication should be based on theory and formative evaluation while relying on established infrastructure, real-time data, a deep understanding of intended target audiences, and intentional coordination with community partners.

Non-Medical Masking, Hygiene and Social Distancing

The following sections are included: Key Message Introduction Viral Transmission Non-Medical Masks Hygiene Social Distancing Conclusion References. © 2022 World Scientific Publishing Company.

Polarization Over Vaccination: Ideological Differences in Twitter Expression About COVID-19 Vaccine Favorability and Specific Hesitancy Concerns

Vaccine hesitancy has been a growing public health issue, but during COVID-19, understanding vaccine hesitancy and promote vaccine favorability takes on a troubling immediacy. With the growing political polarization on scientific issues, the COVID-19 vaccine-related sentiment has recently been divided across ideological lines. This study aims to understand how vaccine favorability and specific vaccine-related concerns including possible side effects, distrust in medical professionals, and conspiratorial beliefs concerning COVID-19 vaccines were articulated and transmitted by Twitter users from opposing ideological camps and with different follower scopes. Using a combination of computational approaches, including supervised machine-learning and structural topic modeling, we examined tweets surrounding COVID-19 vaccination (N = 16,959) from 1 March to 30 June 2020. Results from linear mixed-effects models suggested that Twitter users high on conservative ideology and with a standard instead of large follower scope tend to express less favorable vaccine-related sentiments and talk more about vaccine side effects, distrust of medical professionals, and conspiracy theories. There is also an interaction effect where liberals with large follower scope expressed the least amount of distrust of medical professionals, whereas extreme conservatives expressed greater distrust for health professionals, regardless of their follower scope. Finally, structural topic modeling revealed distinct topical focuses among liberal and conservative users. Theoretical and practical implications for leveraging social media in effective health communication practice were discussed. © The Author(s) 2021.

Resistance to the use of hospital information systems by the clinical staff in the covid 19 era

With the pandemic of COVID-19, the demand for Information Systems for the health sector increased. Investing in IS can be an effective strategy to reduce the risk of contagion and to improve medical and administrative decisions. The results found in this research were unanimous regarding the lack of user involvement in the system, the very low formal training, the impact on the quality and waste of information due to the lack of integration between systems and the high risk of their degradation. At a time when the whole society is apprehensive about how to deal with COVID-19 safely, technology is a fundamental ally in the development of alternatives, accelerating innovations. In the current moment of COVID-19, the only resource that manages to connect people to their needs is technology not only as a collaboration tool, but as an information system, reducing the gap and becoming a critical success factor. © 2021, Associacao Iberica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informacao. All rights reserved.