Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

A Longitudinal Seroepidemiology Study To Evaluate Antibody Response To Sars-Cov-2 Virus Infection And Vaccination In Children In Calgary, Canada From July 2020 To April 2022: Alberta Covid-19 Childhood Cohort (Ab3c) Study, Emily J Doucette, Joslyn Gray, Kevin Fonseca, Carmen Charlton, Jamil N Kanji, Graham Tipples, Susan Kuhn, Jessica Dunn, Payton Sayers, Nicola Symonds, Guosong Wu, Stephen B Freedman, James D Kellner

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND: Measurement of SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity is important to accurately understand exposure to infection and/or vaccination in specific populations. This study aimed to estimate the serologic response to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and vaccination in children in Calgary, Alberta over a two-year period.

METHODS: Children with or without prior SARS-CoV-2 infections, were enrolled in Calgary, Canada in 2020. Venous blood was sampled 4 times from July 2020 to April 2022 for SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid and spike antibodies. Demographic and clinical information was obtained including SARS-CoV-2 testing results and vaccination records.

RESULTS: 1035 children were enrolled and 88.9% completed all 4 visits; median …

Understanding The Implications Of Under-Reporting, Vaccine Efficiency And Social Behavior On The Post-Pandemic Spread Using Physics Informed Neural Networks: A Case Study Of China, Samiran Ghosh, Alonso Ogueda-Oliva, Aditi Ghosh, Malay Banerjee, Padmanabhan Seshaiyer

Journal Articles

In late 2019, the emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, led to the implementation of stringent measures forming the zero-COVID policy aimed at eliminating transmission. Zero-COVID policy basically aimed at completely eliminating the transmission of COVID-19. However, the relaxation of this policy in late 2022 reportedly resulted in a rapid surge of COVID-19 cases. The aim of this work is to investigate the factors contributing to this outbreak using a new SEIR-type epidemic model with time-dependent level of immunity. Our model incorporates a time-dependent level of immunity considering vaccine doses administered and time-post-vaccination dependent vaccine efficacy. We find that vaccine …

Predictors Of Covid-19 Vaccination Rate In Usa: A Machine Learning Approach, Syed M. I. Osman, Ahmed Sabit

WCBT Faculty Publications

In this study, we examine state-level features and policies that are most important in achieving a threshold level vaccination rate to curve the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We employ CHAID, a decision tree algorithm, on three different model specifications to answer this question based on a dataset that includes all the states in the United States. Workplace travel emerges as the most important predictor; however, the governors’ political affiliation (PA) replaces it in a more conservative feature set that includes economic features and the growth rate of COVID-19 cases. We also employ several alternative algorithms as a robustness check. …

Evaluation Of Mrna-1273 Vaccine In Children 6 Months To 5 Years Of Age, Evan J Anderson, C Buddy Creech, Vladimir Berthaud, Arin Piramzadian, Kimball A Johnson, Marcus Zervos, Fredric Garner, Carl Griffin, Khozema Palanpurwala, Mark Turner, Jeffrey Gerber, Richard L Bennett, Kashif Ali, Madhavi Ampajwala, Gary Berman, Jennifer Nayak, Carey Chronis, Barbara Rizzardi, William J Muller, Christopher A Smith, George Fuchs, Daniel Hsia, Joanne E Tomassini, Dianne Delucia, Caroline Reuter, Barbara Kuter, Xiaoping Zhao, Weiping Deng, Honghong Zhou, Daniela Ramirez Schrempp, Kelly Hautzinger, Bethany Girard, Karen Slobod, Roderick Mcphee, Rolando Pajon, Anne Aunins, Rituparna Das, Jacqueline M Miller, Sabine Schnyder Ghamloush, Kidcove Study Group

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND: The safety, reactogenicity, immunogenicity, and efficacy of the mRNA-1273 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine in young children are unknown.

METHODS: Part 1 of this ongoing phase 2-3 trial was open label for dose selection; part 2 was an observer-blinded, placebo-controlled evaluation of the selected dose. In part 2, we randomly assigned young children (6 months to 5 years of age) in a 3:1 ratio to receive two 25-μg injections of mRNA-1273 or placebo, administered 28 days apart. The primary objectives were to evaluate the safety and reactogenicity of the vaccine and to determine whether the immune response in these …

Institute For Global Health And Development : Issue 4 - July - Sept 2022, Institute For Global Health And Development

IGHD Newsletter

• Research Highlights
• Key Publications
• News
• Reflections from IGHD’s Associate Faculty
• Reflections from IGHD’s Summer Interns
• Webinars and Dialogues
• Mark your Calendars: Upcoming Event
• Obituary
• Collaborate With Us

Vaccine Hesitancy In The Post-Covid-19 Era: An Interdisciplinary Approach For A Trust-And-Risk Paradigm With Governmental And Intergovernmental Implications, Laurent Cleenewerck De Kiev, Danny A. Schieffler

Healthcare Informatics Faculty Publications

Vaccine hesitancy was described as a major global health challenge by the World Health Organization before the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Ten Health Issues WHO Will Tackle This Year, 2019).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the introduction of several new vaccines (notably Pfizer, Moderna, J&J) and with them new vaccine technologies (mRNA) under emergency use authorization (EUA), combined with the political context of these vaccines’ accelerated development, triggered a heightened level of vaccine hesitancy and refusal in the United States and around the world (FDA, 2021).

This paper study undertakes to investigate the foundations and recent evolution of this phenomenon …

On Efficacy And Effectiveness Of Vaccines: A Mathematical Approach Based On Conditional Probability With Applications To The Covid-19 Context, Flavius Guias

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

This paper presents a mathematically formalized approach which points out the relation between efficacy and effectiveness of vaccines. The first term denotes the relative degree of protection in clinical trials or under ideal conditions, while the latter is based on observed real-life data. We define the efficacy by a similar formula to the effectiveness, but the probabilities involved in the relative risk are conditional with respect to the exposure to the virus. If exposure and vaccination status are independent, the two quantities are equal. Otherwise, the observed value of the effectiveness is a biased one, as it could be seen …

An Epidemiological, Strategic And Response Analysis Of The Covid-19 Pandemic In South Asia: A Population-Based Observational Study, Hafiz Muhammad Salman, Javaria Syed, Atif Riaz, Zouina Sarfraz, Azza Sarfraz, Syed Hashim Abbas Ali Bokhari, Ivan Cherrez Ojeda

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Introduction: South Asia has had a dynamic response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The overall burden and response have remained comparable across highly-burdened countries within the South Asian Region.
Methodology: Using a population-based observational design, all eight South Asian countries were analyzed using a step-wise approach. Data were obtained from government websites and publicly-available repositories for population dynamics and key variables.
Results: South Asian countries have a younger average age of their population. Inequitable distribution of resources centered in urban metropolitan cities within South Asia is present. Certain densely populated regions in these countries have better testing and healthcare facilities …

Covid-19 Vaccine Disparities And Attitudes, Deonne Cartwright, Meryem Saygili

Pursue: Undergraduate Research Journal

The past couple of years have caused so much uncertainty and grief amidst the global pandemic. The goal of this study is to explore the attitudes behind COVID-19 vaccination to address the cause for vaccine disparities and help minimize health disparities in the United States. The study considers two multivariable regressions in SPSS of the social factors on vaccination status and vaccine confidence. This model studies the relationship between one’s ethnicity, race, education level, education specialization, household income, political ideology, and media source on vaccine confidence and vaccination status on an East Texas college campus. A campus-wide survey was conducted …

Erythema Multiforme After Third Covid-19 Vaccination (Pfizer-Biontech), Sonali Batta, Austinn C Miller, Susuana Adjei, Laurie A Temiz, Stephen K Tyring

Journal Articles

We present a case of erythema multiforme (EM) associated with a third (booster) dose of COVID-19 vaccination in a patient who had no cutaneous reactions to previous doses. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of vaccine-associated EM occurring after a third/booster vaccination. Furthermore, our case emphasizes the need to remain vigilant for vaccine-associated EM in any patient recently vaccinated, regardless of whether previous vaccinations were administered without cutaneous reactions.

Immune Response To Sars-Cov-2 Vaccine Among Heart Transplant Recipients: A Systematic Review, Saeed Shoar, Adriana C Carolina Prada-Ruiz, Gabriel Patarroyo-Aponte, Ashok Chaudhary, Mohammad Sadegh Asadi

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND: Heart transplant (HTX) recipients are at a significantly higher risk of adverse clinical outcomes, due to chronic immunosuppression and co-existence of other chronic conditions, when contracting the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Although vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is currently the most promising measure for the prevention of severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) among solid organ transplant recipients, the extent of immune response and its protective efficacy among patients receiving HTX has not been sufficiently studied.

METHODS: We performed a systematic review of the literature by inquiring PubMed/Medline to identify original studies among HTX recipients, who had received at least one dose of the …

Blockchain-Based Digital Trust Mechanism: A Use Case Of Cloud Manufacturing Of Lds Syringes For Covid-19 Vaccination, Trupti Rane, Jingwei Huang

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Trust is essential in the digital world. It is a critical task to build digital trust for the ongoing digital engineering transformation. Aiming at developing a blockchain-based digital trust mechanism for Cloud Manufacturing or Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS), in this paper, we use the manufacturing of low dead space (LDS) medical syringes through Cloud Manufacturing as a motivating scenario to develop a basic framework. To meet the need of optimally saving COVID-19 vaccine doses to save more lives, the medical device manufacturing community needs to make a swift move to meet the surged need for LDS syringes. Cloud Manufacturing is a form …

Non-Compliance To Social Distancing During Covid-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study Between The Developed And Developing Countries, Faiqa Binte Aamir, Syeda Maria Ahmad Zaidi, Saadia Abbas, Syed Roohan Aamir, Syed Nauman Ahmad Zaidi, Karishma Kanhya Lal, Syeda Sadia Fatima

Medical College Documents

Background: Despite mass vaccination campaigns, the world has seen a steady rise in the number of SARS-CoV-2 cases, with 178,765,626 cases and 3,869,994 COVID-19 related deaths by June 19^th, 2021. Therefore, it is important to enforce social distancing to control its spread. With the variation observed in the severity of the pandemic in different countries, it is also imperative to study the social distancing behaviors amongst the population in developed and developing countries.
Design and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 384 participants from 14 different countries were surveyed via an online REDCap form.
Results: In …

Covid-19 Vaccination In Sindh Province, Pakistan: A Modelling Study Of Health Impact And Cost-Effectiveness, Carl A B. Pearson, Fiammetta Bozzani, Simon R. Procter, Nicholas G. Davies, Maryam Huda, Henning Tarp Jensen, Marcus Keogh-Brown, Muhammad Khalid, Sedona Sweeney, Sergio Torres-Rueda

Community Health Sciences

Background: Multiple Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines appear to be safe and efficacious, but only high-income countries have the resources to procure sufficient vaccine doses for most of their eligible populations. The World Health Organization has published guidelines for vaccine prioritisation, but most vaccine impact projections have focused on high-income countries, and few incorporate economic considerations. To address this evidence gap, we projected the health and economic impact of different vaccination scenarios in Sindh Province, Pakistan (population: 48 million).
Methods and findings: We fitted a compartmental transmission model to COVID-19 cases and deaths in Sindh from 30 April to 15 …

Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Loneliness And Social Isolation: A Multi-Country Study, Roger O’Sullivan, Annette Burns, Gerard Leavey, Iracema Leroi, Vanessa Burholt, James Lubben, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Christina Victor, Brian Lawlor, Mireya Vilar-Compte, Carla M. Perissinotto, Mark A. Tully, Mary Pat Sullivan, Michael Rosato, Joanna Mchugh Power, Elisa Tiilikainen, Thomas R. Prohaska

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

The COVID-19 global pandemic and subsequent public health social measures have challenged our social and economic life, with increasing concerns around potentially rising levels of social isolation and loneliness. This paper is based on cross-sectional online survey data (available in 10 languages, from 2 June to 16 November 2020) with 20,398 respondents from 101 different countries. It aims to help increase our understanding of the global risk factors that are associated with social isolation and loneliness, irrespective of culture or country, to support evidence-based policy, services and public health interventions. We found the prevalence of severe loneliness was 21% during …

Acceptance Rates And Beliefs Toward Covid-19 Vaccination Among The General Population Of Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Survey, Farah Yasmin, Waleed Asghar, Maryam Salma Babar, Hiba Khan, Shoaib Ahmad, Zaid Hameed, Muhammad Sohaib Asghar, Hamza Nauman, Abdullah Khan Khattak

Medical College Documents

Developing countries like Pakistan have previously suffered from barriers to acceptance of vaccination by the public because of financial and belief barriers. This study aims to explore these beliefs and highlight concerns regarding vaccine hesitancy in the general population of Pakistan since they are a hindrance to an effective coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) immunization in the country. A cross-sectional study was performed involving 1,778 participants from all four provinces of Pakistan. Results from the study showed more than half of the participants to be unsure of the safety (50%) and efficacy (51%) of the vaccine, whereas 42% were concerned about the …

Impact Of Coronavirus Disease 2019 On Prevention And Elimination Strategies For Hepatitis B And Hepatitis C, Syed Tabish Rehman, Hareem Rehman, Shahab Abid

Section of Pulmonary & Critical Care

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality since its first case was discovered in December 2019. Since then, multiple countries have witnessed a healthcare system collapse due to the overwhelming demand for COVID-19 care. Drastic measures have been taken globally in order to curb the spread of the virus. However, those measures have led to the disruption of other aspects of healthcare, increasing the burden due to other medical conditions. We have also stepped back in achieving the ambitious goal set in place by World Health Organization to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public …

Forum 1: Social Inequality, Justice, And Vaccine Intent And Distribution In The United States, Grant Drawve, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Casey Harris

Vaccine Course

The key issues for the distribution of the COVID vaccine are shared. These issues include funding, racial and ethnic disparities, supply and logistics, communication and trust, federal, state and local roles, and coverage and costs.

Exploring Equity In Health And Poverty Impacts Of Control Measures For Sars-Cov-2 In Six Countries, Sedona Sweeney, Theo Prudencio Juhani Capeding, Rosalind Eggo, Maryam Huda, Mark Jit, Don Mudzengi, Nichola R. Naylor, Simon Procter, Matthew Quaife, Lela Serebryakova

Community Health Sciences

Background: Policy makers need to be rapidly informed about the potential equity consequences of different COVID-19 strategies, alongside their broader health and economic impacts. While there are complex models to inform both potential health and macro-economic impact, there are few tools available to rapidly assess potential equity impacts of interventions.
Methods: We created an economic model to simulate the impact of lockdown measures in Pakistan, Georgia, Chile, UK, the Philippines and South Africa. We consider impact of lockdown in terms of ability to socially distance, and income loss during lockdown, and tested the impact of assumptions on social protection coverage …

Food Insecurity Measurement And Prevalence Estimates During The Covid-19 Pandemic In A Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey In Mexico, Pablo Gaitán-Rossi, Mireya Vilar-Compte, Graciela Teruel, Rafael Pérez-Escamilla

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective: To validate the telephone modality of the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA) included in three waves of a phone survey to estimate the monthly household food insecurity prevalence during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. Design: We examined the reliability and internal validity of the ELCSA scale in three repeated waves of cross-sectional surveys with Rasch models. We estimated the monthly prevalence of food insecurity in the general population and in households with and without children and compared them with a national 2018 survey. We tested concurrent validity by testing associations of food insecurity with socio-economic status …

Pre-Covid-19 Social Determinants Of Health Among Mexican Migrants In Los Angeles And New York City And Their Increased Vulnerability To Unfavorable Health Outcomes During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mireya Vilar-Compte, Pablo Gaitán‐Rossi, Lucía Félix‐Beltrán, Arturo V. Bustamante

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

COVID-19 has disproportionally affected underrepresented minorities (URM) and low-income immigrants in the United States. The aim of the study is to examine the underlying vulnerabilities of Mexican immigrants in New York City (NYC) and Los Angeles (LA), its correspondence with area-level COVID-19 morbidity and mortality, and to document the role of trusted and culturally sensitive services offered during the pandemic through the Ventanillas de Salud (i.e. VDS, Health Windows) program. The study uses a mixed-methods approach including a cross-sectional survey of Mexican immigrants in LA and NYC collected in the Mexican Consulates at the onset of the pandemic, complemented with …

Covid-19 Vaccine-Associated Thrombosis With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (Tts): A Systematic Review And Post Hoc Analysis, Muhammad Usman Hafeez, Maha Ikram, Zunaira Shafiq, Azza Sarfraz, Zouina Sarfraz, Vikash Jaiswal, Muzna Sarfraz, Ivan Chérrez-Ojeda

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: A new clinical syndrome has been recognized following the COVID-19 vaccine, termed thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS). The following systematic review focuses on extrapolating thrombotic risk factors, clinical manifestations, and outcomes of patients diagnosed with TTS following the COVID-19 vaccine.
Methods: We utilized the World Health Organization's criteria for a confirmed and probable case of TTS following COVID-19 vaccination and conducted a systematic review and posthoc analysis using the PRISMA 2020 statement. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS V25 for factors associated with mortality, including age, gender, anti-PF4/heparin antibodies, platelet nadir, D-dimer peak, time to event diagnosis, arterial or …

A Way To Track Governments’ Response And People’S Mobility Changes In Response To Covid-19 Pandemic, Dongshan Zhu, Shiva Raj Mishra, Salim S. Virani

Office of the Provost

No abstract provided.

Winners And Losers In The American Political Debates Of The Nation’S Health: An Ethical And Moral Dilemma, Dr. Sheila P. Davis

Journal of Health Ethics

The third and final issue of the Online Journal of Health Ethics for 2020 presents two poignant articles that are rankled with current health ethics and moral issues as the world races to a resolve for the COVID pandemic. There appears to be no easy, quick-fix solutions to the pandemic that has claimed over 1.11 million lives worldwide in this first wave. The Gellert article addresses his view of the U.S. government’s political response and the Gunn article presents an ethical perspective of the emerging promised vaccine to halt the virus.

Costing Of Actions To Safeguard Vulnerable Mexican Households With Young Children From The Consequences Of Covid-19 Social Distancing Measures, Mireya Vilar-Compte, Víctor Pérez, Graciela Teruel, Aranzazu Alonso, Rafael Pérez-Escamilla

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

COVID-19 has imposed unprecedented challenges to society. As the pandemic evolves, the social distancing measures that have been globally enforced, while essential, are having undesirable socioeconomic side effects particularly among vulnerable populations. In Mexico, families who depend upon informal employment face increased threats to their wellbeing, and households who in addition have young children may face long-term consequences. The Mexican government has not yet taken actions, but a coalition of non-governmental organizations is advocating in partnership with academic institutions for social protection actions such as a cash transfer and basic services subsidies for families with young children, subsisting from the …

Impact Of Childhood Vaccinations Suspended Due To Covid-19, Karina I. Figueroa

2020 Symposium Posters

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020, a public health issue has been created that has the potential to significantly affect our view on society. Among the variety of preventative tactics to slow the spread of infection, there has been a suspension of childhood vaccination across the globe including among developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that governments suspend preventive vaccination programs briefly during the pandemic as of March 26th (Ray, 2020). As a result of this, there has been an impact on children's health and an increase in mortality rates. The purpose of this research paper …

The Reemergence Of Vaccine Nationalism, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

This short essay explores the reemergence of vaccine nationalism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The essay traces the pre-COVID origins of vaccine nationalism and explains how it can have detrimental effects on equitable access to newly developed vaccines.

The Case For Face Shields: Improving The Covid-19 Public Health Policy Toolkit, Timothy L. Wiemken, Ana Santos Rutschman, Robert Gatter

All Faculty Scholarship

As the United States battles the later stages of the first wave of COVID-19 and faces the prospect of future waves, it is time to consider the practical utility of face shields as an alternative or complement to face masks in the policy guidance. Without face shields specifically noted in national guidance, many areas may be reluctant to allow their use as an alternative to cloth face masks, even with sufficient modification.

In this piece, we discuss the benefits of face shields as a substitute to face masks in the context of public health policy. We further discuss the implications …

Comments On The Preliminary Framework For Equitable Allocation Of Covid-19 Vaccine, Ana Santos Rutschman, Julia Barnes-Weise, Robert Gatter, Timothy L. Wiemken

All Faculty Scholarship

On September 1, 2020 the National Academies released a draft framework for Equitable Allocation of a COVID-19 Vaccine. In this response, we analyze the proposed framework and highlight several areas.

Among the proposed changes, we highlight the need for the following interventions. The final framework for distribution of COVID-19 vaccines should give a higher priority to populations made most vulnerable by the social determinants of health. It should incorporate more geography-based approaches in at least some of the four proposed phases of vaccine distribution. It should address the possibility of a vaccine being made available through an emergency use authorization …

Why The Government Shouldn't Pay People To Get Vaccinated Against Covid-19, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

As several pharmaceutical companies approach the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking authorization to bring COVID-19 vaccines to market, concerns about vaccine mistrust cloud the prospects of imminent vaccination efforts across the globe. These concerns have prompted some commentators to suggest that governments may nudge vaccine uptake by paying people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. This post argues that, even if potentially viable, this idea is undesirable against the backdrop of a pandemic marked by the intertwined phenomena of health misinformation and mistrust in public health authorities. Even beyond the context of COVID-19, paying for vaccination is likely to remain …