Is vaccine hesitancy related to mental health after the adjustment of the zero-COVID-19 strategy in the elderly? A mediation analysis in China.

With the global Omicron pandemic and the adjustment of the zero-coronavirus disease 2019 (zero-COVID-19) strategy in China, there is a critical need to improve vaccination rates among older adults while addressing the mental health issues associated with vaccination. This study investigated levels of COVID-19-related anxiety, depression, benefit finding, and fear in older adults and explored the relationship between vaccine hesitancy, sociodemographic factors, and mental health. Participants aged 60 and older (n = 658) were recruited from several cities in the eastern, central, and western China regions. Of these, 347 exhibited vaccine hesitancy. The effects of residence, education, health status, and COVID-19 vaccination on anxiety/depression/benefit-finding were found to be mediated/suppressed by vaccine hesitancy. Additionally, in investigating psychological antecedents, older people without vaccine hesitancy showed higher confidence, lower complacency, fewer constraints, and a greater sense of collective responsibility. This study advances our understanding of mental health differences in anxiety, depression, and benefit-finding across sociodemographic characteristics. It is essential to improve population confidence related to vaccines, accessibility to vaccination services, and responsibility to mitigate vaccine hesitancy while paying close attention to the mental health associated with vaccination in older adults.

The Advantages of the Zero-COVID-19 Strategy.

Introduction: To curb the COVID-19 pandemic, countries across the globe have adopted either a mitigation or anelimination policy, such as the zero-COVID-19 strategy. However, further research is needed to systematically investigate the advantages of the zero-COVID-19 strategy in the literature. To bridge the research gap, this study examines the zero-COVID-19 strategy in terms of its advantages as a global anti-pandemic framework. Methods: A literature review was conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus to locate academic articles that discussed the advantages of the zero-COVID-19 strategy. Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis approach was adopted to guide the data analysis process. Results: The findings of our study show that the advantages of the zero-COVID-19 strategy range from short-term (e.g., limited virus infections, hospitalizations, and deaths), to medium-term (e.g., reduced presence of other infectious diseases), and long-term (e.g., low incidence of long COVID-19). While local residents mainly leverage these advantages, they also impact the global community (e.g., stable global supply of essentials, such as COVID-19 vaccines). Conclusions: COVID-19 is catastrophic, yet controllable. Our study examined the advantages of the zero-COVID-19 strategy from a nuanced perspective and discussed how these advantages benefit both the local and the global community in pandemic control and management. Future studies could investigate the shortcomings of the zero-COVID-19 strategy, especially its unintended consequences, such as adverse impacts on vulnerable populations' mental health, so that society could more efficiently, economically, and empathetically capitalize on the potential of the zero-COVID-19 strategy for the betterment of personal and public health.

Emerging COVID-19 virus variants and low vaccination coverage in Ethiopia: The need for tailored vaccination strategy

The world has faced multiple waves of COVID-19 outbreaks, with more than 300 million cases and 5.5 million deaths officially reported globally as of Jan 8, 2022. Within the first year of the pandemic, there was hope that it would soon be under control, yet the pandemic sustains to be the world's priority health agenda. This brief communication provides emerging time-sensitive perspectives on the need for a tailored COVID-19 vaccination strategy in Ethiopia by reviewing studies and expert opinions. As of Jan 8, 2022, Ethiopia has reported 443,339 cases and 7,020 COVID-19-related deaths. Only 9,361,640 people (8%) of the Ethiopian population received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. While the short supply of vaccines is mentioned as a major bottleneck, the role of vaccine skepticism is largely overlooked, though the vaccine is the primary means to combat the emergence of new variants. Therefore, we recommend vaccine advocacy and awareness creation, planning for vaccine mandate for certain groups of the society, and targeted vaccination and economical use of the vaccines.

Turkey's COVID-19 strategy: "the West is jealous of us".

Populist nationalist attacks on health and human rights have been increasing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. These attacks may be used to divert attention from the government's inability to control the virus, to deflect blame, or even to consolidate power. Authoritarian governments have increased the rhetoric of nationalism, created bogus enemies and alternative narratives, increased the authority of security forces, and banned democratic demonstrations. In this article, we discuss how the Turkish government has hidden the truth about the extent of the disease, spent considerable effort on polishing its own image, promoted the notion of Western jealousy, and fabricated a host of scapegoats to blame for its own failure to protect its people from the ravages of this crippling epidemic.

Vacunas para SARS-CoV-2: diferentes estrategias de los desarrollos en curso / Vaccines for SARS-CoV-2: different strategies of ongoing developments

El objetivo de este artículo es proporcionar una guía que sirva para la interpretación y seguimiento de los esfuerzos que se están desarrollando en todo el mundo con el objetivo de obtener una vacuna que pueda generar inmunidad contra el nuevo coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 de 2019, el agente causante de la enfermedad por coronavirus denominada COVID-19. Cinco meses después de haber sido detectada la enfermedad, ya hay 102 vacunas en distintos estadios de desarrollo, registradas por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), correspondientes a 8 plataformas vacunales con diferentes estrategias, y todos los días aparecen nuevas. Esto representará un enorme desafío de organismos internacionales, para la evaluación, comparación y selección de aquellas que cumplan con los criterios regulatorios indispensables de seguridad y eficacia y que, por otro lado, puedan ser producidas en cantidades suficientes para abastecer la demanda mundial. (AU)

The objective of this article is to provide a guide to help the interpretation and monitoring the efforts that are being carried out worldwide to obtain a vaccine that will be able to generate immunity against the new 2019 SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the viral agent causes the disease named COVID-19. Five months after the disease was detected, there are already 102 vaccines at different stages of development, registered by World Health Organization (WHO), corresponding to 8 vaccination platforms base on different strategies, and every day new ones appear. This will represent a huge challenge for international organizations, to evaluate, compare and selects those that will meet the essential regulatory criteria of safety and efficacy and that, would be able to be produced in enough quantities to supply the worldwide demand. Key words: SARS-Cov-2 vaccine, vaccine platform, COVID-19 strategy, attenuated virus, viral vector, viral proteins, viral DNA, viral RNA, nucleic acids, viral like particles, WHO. (AU)

Nudges against pandemics: Sweden's COVID-19 containment strategy in perspective.

Sweden's strategy to contain the COVID-19 pandemic stands out internationally as more liberal in terms of not ordering a complete lockdown of society. Sweden kept its primary schools, daycare centers and industries largely open. The government financially supported furloughed workers and increased its support to regional and local governments delivering healthcare and elderly care. However, the death toll in Sweden which passed 4000 by late May 2020 stands in stark contrast to those of other, comparable countries, raising questions about the design of the strategy, and its appropriateness. The paper argues that key assumptions sustaining the strategy, for instance that symptom-free people do not carry, and cannot transmit the Coronavirus, or that local and regional government staff had the necessary training and equipment to tackle the pandemic, along with problems associated with coordinating a decentralized healthcare system, may explain the poor performance of the Swedish containment strategy.