Factors Determining Covid-19 Vaccine Acceptance: An Empirical Investigation from India

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, caused by severe acute respiratory disease. Coronavirus2 continues to impact people's health and well-being worldwide significantly, and vaccination is the only way to stop the spread. As vaccines are developed, one of the Indian government's major challenges is vaccine adoption. The Indian government and policymakers should develop a plan to encourage and build trust in people for vaccine benefits. This study aims to identify the major issues acting as a barrier to vaccine hesitancy using primary data obtained in India between January-March 2021. This study shows that the 76% respondents were ready to accept the vaccine if it is available to them while 24% were hesitant. The study has investigated the association of demographic and geographical information of people with vaccines acceptance. The study has found that older people were more likely to accept the vaccines in comparison to young adults. A significant difference in vaccine acceptance due to the participants belonging to rural/urban areas is also observed. Additionally, we also noted that the educated people and working professionals were more likely to accept the vaccine than others. The study's findings may be beneficial to the government in developing efficient vaccination acceptance strategies for the Indian populace.

How global cyber mediated news networks and social media platforms influenced messages about COVID-19 pandemic: Offering sociological solutions for marginalized people

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) hit the news headlines as a pandemic bound to affect millions of people worldwide, and news media took responsibility to warn people, country heads, businesses, and private and non-governmental institutions about the virus. However, stories swirling on social media platforms about the origin and nature of COVID-19 and questionable reporting by established news networks have left the public questioning the integrity of the natural causes of the virus, how it spreads, what the facts are, how they are communicated, and whether treatment standards equate the hoopla about the genesis of the "pandemic." This chapter reviews various narratives about the mystification and demystification of COVID-19. It attempts to depart from the premise that the media frames how people consume and use news and examines the media's character (operations). The chapter then suggests how stakeholders should manage news flows on COVID-19, how consumers should screen news, and how journalists should process and report COVID-19. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All rights reserved.

Government support to Pakistani women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeUnder the unique context of COVID-19, this paper aims to analyze how the Government of Pakistan (GoP) provides financial and non-financial support to women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Drawing on the resource-based theory of entrepreneurship (RBTE), the study advances the understanding of resources and grants offered by GoP to women entrepreneurs to help them in business survival.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts qualitative research method to address the questions: how does the Pakistani government respond to issues faced by women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what assistance and initiatives were implemented by GoP? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty on-job government officials related to the entrepreneurial sector in Pakistan.FindingsThe paper reveals that during the pandemic, GoP keenly communicated with women entrepreneurial representatives to comprehend their business challenges. In addition, waivers and incentives were provided to support their business activities. GoP further invited women entrepreneurs to contribute their knowledge and give suggestions in policy making.Originality/valueLots of research have been conducted to identify the issues faced by women entrepreneurs during the pandemic. However, the specific strategies, policies, and support provided by the governments to address these issues have often been overlooked. This paper fills such gap with focus on the governing bodies and policymakers in Pakistan towards women entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 crisis.

Policymaking and liberty restrictions in the Covid-19 crisis, the case of France

This chapter analyzes the legislative and policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic in France. It aims at assessing how the French policymakers adapted to the pandemic in terms of regulation and policymaking. The chapter relies on the cross-referencing of ongoing findings from two research projects financed by the French National research Agency, the first one, "ANR Army," on the role of the armies in the "war" against the coronavirus and its perception by the population. The second research project, "ANR Localex" focuses on local and regional normative dynamics. It then analyzes the nature of the exceptional legislative framework in place at the national level, in light of the use by the French government of the armed forces to help manage the crisis, in a context where the involvement of military forces domestically is extremely regulated. The chapter also analyzes the normative dynamics at other levels of legislative and policymaking. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Redefining resilience: The case of small entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia

The survival of enterprises and the effective management of daily problems and obstacles, particularly those faced by small entrepreneurs, depend heavily on resilience. This study examines the critical elements that help small Saudi entrepreneurs strengthen their entrepreneurial resilience through internal locus of control and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, particularly during trying times. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) technique was used to analyse the responses of 207 small entrepreneurs operating in various regions of Saudi Arabia. The convenience sampling technique was used, and the data was collected using an online questionnaire. The study found a strong relationship between entrepreneurial resilience, internal locus of control, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. These results demonstrated that entrepreneurial self-efficacy could mediate the relationship between the internal locus of control and entrepreneurial resilience. Finally, the study addressed limitations and provided recommendations for policymakers and potential authors.

Supply chain risk management strategies in normal and abnormal times: policymakers' role in reducing generic medicine shortages

PurposeThis paper links supply chain risk management to medicine supply chains to explore the role of policymakers in employing supply chain risk management strategies (SCRMS) to reduce generic medicine shortages.Design/methodology/approachUsing secondary data supplemented with primary data, the authors map and compare seven countries' SCRMS for handling shortage risks in their paracetamol supply chains before and during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.FindingsConsistent with recent research, the study finds that policymakers had implemented few SCRMS specifically for responding to disruptions caused by COVID-19. However, shortages were largely avoided since multiple strategies for coping with business-as-usual disruptions had been implemented prior to the pandemic. The authors did find that SCRMS implemented during COVID-19 were not always aligned with those implemented pre-pandemic. The authors also found that policymakers played both direct and indirect roles.Research limitations/implicationsCombining longitudinal secondary data with interviews sheds light on how, regardless of the level of preparedness during normal times, SCRMS can be leveraged to avert shortages in abnormal times. However, the problem is highly complex, which warrants further research.Practical implicationsSupply chain professionals and policymakers in the healthcare sector can use the findings when developing preparedness and response plans.Social implicationsThe insights developed can help policymakers improve the availability of high-volume generic medicines in (ab)normal times.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to prior SCRM research in two ways. First, the authors operationalize SCRMS in the medicine supply chain context in (ab)normal times, thereby opening avenues for future research on SCRM in this context. Second, the authors develop insights on the role policymakers play and how they directly implement and indirectly influence the adoption of SCRMS. Based on the study findings, the authors develop a framework that captures the diverse roles of policymakers in SCRM.

Estimation of Total Cost Required in Controlling COVID-19 Outbreaks by Financial Incentives.

In this article, we present a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) to estimate the total cost required to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by financial incentives. One of the greatest difficulties in controlling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is that most infected people are not identified and can transmit the virus to other people. Therefore, there is an urgent need to rapidly identify and isolate the infected people to avoid the further spread of COVID-19. To achieve this, we can consider providing a financial incentive for the people who voluntarily take the COVID-19 test and test positive. To prevent the abuse of the financial incentive policy, several conditions should be satisfied to receive the incentive. For example, an incentive is offered only if the recipients know who infected them. Based on the data obtained from epidemiological investigations, we calculated an estimated total cost of financial incentives for the policy by generating various possible infection routes using the estimated parameters and MCS. These results would help public health policymakers implement the proposed method to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the incentive policy can support various preparations such as hospital bed preparation, vaccine development, and so forth.

Governance in mental healthcare policies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become the greatest burden of disease worldwide and in Mexico, affecting more vulnerable groups in society, such as people with mental disorders (MD). This research aims to analyze the governance processes in the formulation of healthcare policies for people with MD in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analytical qualitative study, based on semi-structured interviews with key informants in the healthcare system was conducted in 2020. The study followed the theoretical-methodological principles of the Governance Analytical Framework (GAF). The software ATLAS.ti-V.9 was used for inductive thematic analysis, classifying themes and their categories. To ensure the proper interpretation of the data, a process of triangulation among the researchers was carried out. The findings revealed that in Mexico, the federal Secretary of Health issued guidelines for mental healthcare, but there is no defined national policy. Decision-making involved multiple actors, with different strategies and scopes, depending on the type of key-actor and their level of influence. Majority of informants described a problem of implementation in which infection control policies in the psychiatric population were the same as in the general populations which decreased the percentage of access to healthcare during the pandemic, without specific measures to address this vulnerable population. The results suggest that there is a lack of specific policies and measures to address the needs of people with mental disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. It also highlights the importance of considering the role of different actors and their level of influence in the decision-making process.

Assessing University Governance and Policies in Relation to the COVID-19 Pandemic

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities around the globe have taken numerous extraordinary measures and implemented many changes to their strategic, operational, and academic activities. Currently, there is a transformation taking place from the emergency decision-making in the early stages of the pandemic towards reflection and resolution on how the past months can shape governance and strategy. Higher education institutions have been facing challenges with the alignment of their university governance for their strategic and operational plans. Presently, university leaders have prioritized risk management and financial management over all else. Unfortunately, due to these priorities, university responses to the pandemic took the top-down approach of management, rejecting the shared governance structures and collegial practices of the institutions. The pandemic has accelerated the openness to change by creating an emergency or steering response team led by university presidents and provosts, with sub-teams focusing on operations and other academic advisory groups working together to deal with the fast-rising scenarios. The consequence is a clear flow of information and strong communication across the institution, which sequentially builds on mechanisms to respond to the secondary effects of the pandemic. Moreover, higher education institutions are continuously facing challenges with their strategic alignment of business objectives in order to have a diverse educational system in response to the pandemic. "Assessing University Governance and Policies in Relation to the COVID-19 Pandemic" presents the latest research and studies investigating information on university governance and adapting previous, existing, and proposed models for the current pandemic. This book is comprised of chapters contributed by various leading international authors to discuss and analyze all aspects of university governance in relation to their impact on strategies in finance, sustainability, academic issues, research, faculty and students, leadership, campus, employment and recruitments, and more. This is an essential text for university presidents, strategic planning authorities in universities, college deans and academic department chairpersons, government authorities and policymakers, researchers, students, and academicians.

Policies, Practices, and Protocols for the Implementation of Technology Into Language Learning

Many research studies show that the use of technology inside and outside classrooms makes teaching and learning more engaging and motivating. Technology can provide learners with endless opportunities and can improve the learning experience, simplify access to educational resources, enhance autonomous learning, meet individual learning needs, and prepare the learners for future career success when using it to foster 21st-century skills. However, the range and number of technologies currently available can yield challenges for educators if they do not know how to effectively integrate them into their teaching pedagogy. "Policies, Practices, and Protocols for the Implementation of Technology Into Language Learning" discusses the skills necessary for successful technology use in education and examines technology tools that assist in teaching different languages with a focus on English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Covering a range of topics such as reading, writing, and integrated language skills, this book is ideal for instructors, policymakers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, academicians, and students.

Virtual Learning, Now and Beyond

The pandemic-fueled expansion of online learning will certainly persist beyond the pandemic, and schools must ensure that the transition creates accessible, high-quality options for all students. Most recently, the surge in COVID-19 Omicron variant cases and persistent ambiguity around whether and how to close schools reinforces the fact that we have failed to build intentional on-ramps to virtual education. State and local leaders can employ evidence from past online learning efforts, emerging best practices, and data from the pandemic to understand how to build a path forward that capitalizes on the potential of online learning, while avoiding the pitfalls. Virtual learning is not going away, but it must improve, especially for students of color and those facing economic insecurity. The bottom line is that students cannot afford to repeat the emergency distance learning that took place in 2020 and 2021. This brief provides a guide for education leaders and policymakers building a path to sustainable and quality virtual learning. It includes four steps school system leaders can take in the short and longer term to harness the potential of online learning, avoid pitfalls that made it ineffective, and ensure students have equitable access to high-quality learning opportunities that meet their needs.

Report on the Condition of Education 2022. NCES 2022-144

The "Report on the Condition of Education" is a congressionally mandated annual report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Using the most recent data available (at the time this report was written) from NCES and other sources, the report contains key indicators on the condition of education in the United States at all levels, from prekindergarten through postsecondary, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons. There are core indicators that are updated every year and spotlight indicators that provide in-depth analyses on topics of interest to education systems, policymakers, researchers, and the public. At the broadest level, the Condition of Education Indicator System is organized into five sections: family characteristics, preprimary, elementary, and secondary education, postsecondary education, population characteristics and economic outcomes, and international comparisons. The "Report on the Condition of Education" 2022 encompasses key findings from the Condition of Education Indicator System. The Indicator System for 2022 presents 88 indicators, including the 23 indicators on crime and safety topics, and can be accessed online through the website or by downloading PDFs for the individual indicators. [For "'The Condition of Education 2022': At a Glance," see ED619873. For the "Report on the Condition of Education 2021. NCES 2021-144," see ED612942.]

Globalisation, Ideology and Social Justice Discourses. Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research. Volume 30

This book examines dominant discourses in social justice education globally. It presents cutting-edge research on the major global trends in education, social justice and policy research. Using diverse paradigms, ranging from critical theory to discourse analysis, the book examines major social justice and equity education reforms and policy issues in a global culture, with a focus on the ambivalent and problematic relationship between social justice education discourses, ideology and the state. The book discusses democracy, ideology and social justice, which are among the most critical and significant factors defining and contextualising the processes surrounding social justice education reforms globally. It critiques current social justice education practices and policy reforms, illustrating the shifts in the relationship between the state, ideology, and social justice education policy. Written by authors from diverse backgrounds and regions, this book examines current developments in research concerning social justice education. It enables readers to gain a more holistic understanding of the nexus between social justice education, and dominant ideologies, both locally and globally. It also provides an easily accessible, practical, yet scholarly insights into local and global trends in the field of social justice education. Discourses of Globalization, Ideology and Social Justice, with contributions from key scholars worldwide, should be required reading for a broad spectrum of users, including policy-makers, academics, graduate students, education policy researchers, administrators, and practitioners.

The Best and Sustainable COVID-19 Policy in the World

This article will scientifically evaluate individual COVID-19 policies of countries around the world, U.S. states, and Japanese prefectures, respectively. The efficacy of the vaccines has been reported in many of the world's top medical journals, but even after more than a year of vaccination, the claims have yet to be met. Human emotions, behaviors, and individual policies can significantly influence the outcome against the pandemic. The evaluation in this article is based on a single determinant of the policy outcome. Scoring policies is based on dividing the number of deaths due to COVID-19 by the population in millions. The lower the score, the better the policy. Unfortunately, scores monotonically increase, so that policymakers can only suppress them but cannot improve or decrease them. Therefore, mistakes by policymakers cannot be corrected in the future and they are fatal forever. The result using three tools will reveal the best COVID-19 policy in the world. The revealed policy should have been or be adopted in individual countries for mitigating and ending the COVID-19 pandemic. This article also suggests what is needed in our society for reducing the unnecessary deaths due to COVID-19.

Government support to Pakistani women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: Under the unique context of COVID-19, this paper aims to analyze how the Government of Pakistan (GoP) provides financial and non-financial support to women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Drawing on the resource-based theory of entrepreneurship (RBTE), the study advances the understanding of resources and grants offered by GoP to women entrepreneurs to help them in business survival. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts qualitative research method to address the questions: how does the Pakistani government respond to issues faced by women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what assistance and initiatives were implemented by GoP? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty on-job government officials related to the entrepreneurial sector in Pakistan. Findings: The paper reveals that during the pandemic, GoP keenly communicated with women entrepreneurial representatives to comprehend their business challenges. In addition, waivers and incentives were provided to support their business activities. GoP further invited women entrepreneurs to contribute their knowledge and give suggestions in policy making. Originality/value: Lots of research have been conducted to identify the issues faced by women entrepreneurs during the pandemic. However, the specific strategies, policies, and support provided by the governments to address these issues have often been overlooked. This paper fills such gap with focus on the governing bodies and policymakers in Pakistan towards women entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 crisis. © 2022, Nida Hussain, Baoming Li and Habib Elahi Sahibzada.

Lessons Learned: Academia's Tryst with the Pandemic Mental and Physical Health Impacts

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic brought various changes in the manner we work and the teaching-learning profession is not an exception. It is essential to understand the impact which the pandemic has had on the physical and mental well-being of the major stakeholders of the academic ecosystem. OBJECTIVES: This study discusses the condition of educational institutes due to the pandemic and its impact on the mental and physical well-being of the faculty members and students. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: In order to understand the viewpoint of the students and faculty primary data collection was undertaken in graduate and postgraduate colleges in four Indian states namely Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. There are approximately seven to eight thousand colleges in these four states which offer graduate and post-graduate courses. More than 80,000 students' study in these colleges. Due to the pandemic, it was not feasible to collect data from all of the colleges. In total, 25 colleges were contacted from these four states. Hence, the method of convenience sampling was used to collect the data. A structured questionnaire was designed and distributed to 1,750 students. 1,500 undergraduate and post-graduate students completed the questionnaire (85.7% response rate). From the same institutes, around 715 faculty were given a questionnaire to complete about issues faced in shifting to online teaching from offline teaching due to COVID-19. 600 faculty members completed the questionnaire (83.9% response rate). RESULTS: According to the findings, online learning has progressed but is resulting in a rise in loneliness and isolation among students and teachers. When one-on-one communication between instructors and students is disrupted, the majority of students felt isolated, which can lead to poor mental and physical health in pandemics. CONCLUSION: Research outcomes can help institute, university, and policymakers in designing effective mental and physical health policies or developing programs to mitigate the negative effects of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings can help researchers discover that mental health is just as vital as physical health.

Supply chain risk management strategies in normal and abnormal times: policymakers' role in reducing generic medicine shortages

Purpose: This paper links supply chain risk management to medicine supply chains to explore the role of policymakers in employing supply chain risk management strategies (SCRMS) to reduce generic medicine shortages. Design/methodology/approach: Using secondary data supplemented with primary data, the authors map and compare seven countries' SCRMS for handling shortage risks in their paracetamol supply chains before and during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Consistent with recent research, the study finds that policymakers had implemented few SCRMS specifically for responding to disruptions caused by COVID-19. However, shortages were largely avoided since multiple strategies for coping with business-as-usual disruptions had been implemented prior to the pandemic. The authors did find that SCRMS implemented during COVID-19 were not always aligned with those implemented pre-pandemic. The authors also found that policymakers played both direct and indirect roles. Research limitations/implications: Combining longitudinal secondary data with interviews sheds light on how, regardless of the level of preparedness during normal times, SCRMS can be leveraged to avert shortages in abnormal times. However, the problem is highly complex, which warrants further research. Practical implications: Supply chain professionals and policymakers in the healthcare sector can use the findings when developing preparedness and response plans. Social implications: The insights developed can help policymakers improve the availability of high-volume generic medicines in (ab)normal times. Originality/value: The authors contribute to prior SCRM research in two ways. First, the authors operationalize SCRMS in the medicine supply chain context in (ab)normal times, thereby opening avenues for future research on SCRM in this context. Second, the authors develop insights on the role policymakers play and how they directly implement and indirectly influence the adoption of SCRMS. Based on the study findings, the authors develop a framework that captures the diverse roles of policymakers in SCRM. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Nutrition and Food Literacy in the MENA Region: A Review to Inform Nutrition Research and Policy Makers.

BACKGROUND: Improving food and nutrition literacy is fundamental to tackling the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's enormous challenges, including malnutrition and food insecurity. To direct initiatives, it is crucial to assess the region's food and nutrition literacy. Thus, we aimed to review studies on food/nutrition literacy status in the MENA countries and illuminate the region's research gaps in these areas, in terms of assessment, policy, and program implementation. METHODS: PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched between 18 December and 8 May 2022, to identify relevant articles published up to 2022 in the MENA region. RESULTS: Twelve studies were included in this review. Lebanon, Palestine, and Iran are the only three MENA countries where nutrition and/or food literacy were assessed. People in these countries mostly had inadequate food and/or nutrition literacy levels, especially in the skills rather than the cognitive domain. Food and/or nutrition literacy showed associations with food habits, food-label use, food-consumption patterns, school performance, food security, dietary diversity, and nutrient adequacy. The MENA countries developed no policies or programs to address food and nutrition literacy. CONCLUSION: This review is a wake-up call for researchers and policymakers to develop a robust approach to combat food and nutrition literacy concerns in the MENA region.

Misinformation, infighting, backlash, and an 'endless' recovery; policymakers recount challenges and mitigating measures after a vaccine scare in the Philippines.

BACKGROUND: Vaccine scares undermine longstanding global health achievements. Remarkably little data has documented the lived experiences of policymakers working amidst vaccine scares and navigating their fallout. As a result, chances and challenges of large-scale national recuperation efforts are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the perspectives of policymakers involved in ongoing efforts to boost vaccine confidence in the Philippines following a 2017 Dengvaxia scare and the current COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Between August and November 2020, we conducted 19 semi-structured narrative interviews with purposively selected policymakers from governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations in the Philippines. Interviews were conducted online, transcribed, and analyzed following the tenets of reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: We present results as an emerging model that draws on a chronology conveyed by policymakers in their own words. The Dengvaxia scare proved 'a decisive wedge' that splintered Filipino society and pitted governmental agencies against one another. The scare stoked distorted vaccination narratives, which were 'accelerated rapidly' via social media, and ignited feelings of uncertainty among policymakers of how to convey clear, accurate health messaging and how to prevent drops in care-seeking more broadly. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to regain trust placed exceptional burdens on an already-strained health system. Respondent-driven recommendations on how to reinforce vaccine confidence and improve vaccination rollout include: developing clear vaccine messages, fostering healthcare providers' and policymakers' communication skills, and rebuilding trust within, toward and across governmental agencies. Further research on how to build enabling environments and rebuild trust in and across institutions remains paramount.

Institutional Capacity Building Toward the Sustainability of Ocean Science in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Plastic litter in places like Tanzania comes from the unregulated production of single-use plastic products and the legal and illegal dumps located at riverbanks or near the coast (Nipe Fagio, 2021). This pollution is dangerous to human health as well as to the species in the ocean. Oceans are fundamental in controlling the earth's climate. If the ocean is polluted, an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and acidification in the ocean will accelerate, which will result in sea-level rise causing disastrous consequences (Lukambuzi, 2006). This calls for a sound environmental response to the pandemic in connection with research on ocean science. Formulating our laws and policies in response to this is vital, and therefore, institutions need capacity building to work on the matter at hand. Government officers, law, and policymakers need to be reminded, trained, and sensitized on the importance of formulating good laws and policies that protect our ocean from pollution. These are key players in the immediate and long-term recovery efforts from the environmental impact of COVID-19 because they have the power to enact laws and oversee government policies.