Vaccination Requirements Research Articles

Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare workers: The experience of chaplains evaluating religious accommodation requests from coworkers

Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements for healthcare workers in the United States, instituted at the height of the pandemic to protect vulnerable patients and preserve the infrastructure of healthcare, nonetheless met with resistance by some members of the work force. As unprecedented numbers of employees sought religious accommodations, chaplain leaders were recruited by institutional leadership to adjudicate these requests, either alone or as part of a committee.This study reports results of a survey conducted from 6/1/2022 to 7/15/2022 with U.S. healthcare chaplains (n = 76) who were involved in the evaluation of coworker requests for religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine anytime during the pandemic until they accessed the survey. Chaplains were recruited online through national chaplaincy and ethics organizations. A mixed methods design facilitates integration of statistically significant associations with chaplains’ in-depth reflections on their experience. Surveying the religious experts on the review committee affords a rare look into how the tension between the free exercise of religion in the workplace and the obligation to protect the public played out during the pandemic. The study further addresses a gap in research literature on the experience of chaplains during the pandemic and identifies unique features of moral injury experienced by a subset of healthcare providers.Chaplains largely perceived their involvement as promoting an ethical, informed process of review. Although all chaplains found this role stressful, high levels of meaning were protective against distress. Sources of distress identified included: ethical concern that granting exemptions would lead to the spread of the virus; inconsistencies in the review process; and, repeated exposure to coworkers’ misunderstanding and political use of religious teachings. Featuring prominently in comments from chaplains was the difficulty navigating requests in the context of anti-science, anti-vaccine, and politically charged public discourse.

Politicizing Vaccination Requirements: American University Responses in the Era of COVID-19

Politicizing Vaccination Requirements: American University Responses in the Era of COVID-19

Manifestations of excessive and systemic reactogenicity of vaccine, requirements for vaccination against new coronavirus infection

Manifestations of excessive and systemic reactogenicity of vaccine, requirements for vaccination against new coronavirus infection

Whole tumour cell-based vaccines: tuning the instruments to orchestrate an optimal antitumour immune response.

Immunotherapy, particularly those based on immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), has become a useful approach for many neoplastic diseases. Despite the improvements of ICIs in supporting tumour regression and prolonging survival, many patients do not respond or develop resistance to treatment. Thus, therapies that enhance antitumour immunity, such as anticancer vaccines, constitute a feasible and promising therapeutic strategy. Whole tumour cell (WTC) vaccines have been extensively tested in clinical studies as intact or genetically modified cells or tumour lysates, injected directly or loaded on DCs with distinct adjuvants. The essential requirements of WTC vaccines include the optimal delivery of a broad battery of tumour-associated antigens, the presence of tumour cell-derived molecular danger signals, and adequate adjuvants. These factors trigger an early and robust local innate inflammatory response that orchestrates an antigen-specific and proinflammatory adaptive antitumour response capable of controlling tumour growth by several mechanisms. In this review, the strengths and weaknesses of our own and others' experiences in studying WTC vaccines are revised to discuss the essential elements required to increase anticancer vaccine effectiveness.

International University Students' Pre-Travel Preparation, Knowledge and Practices towards Travel Health in Thailand: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.

International university students are vulnerable travellers due to their unpredictable schedules and lifestyles. As Thailand continues to see an increase in international students, evaluating their pre-travel preparation and preventive behaviours is crucial to identify areas for improvement. For this purpose, an online survey focusing on pre-travel preparation, knowledge and preventive practices related to travel health was distributed to 324 eligible international students from 14 Thai universities, with the majority being from Asia and Oceania (79.0%; n = 256). The results showed that half of the respondents (53.7%; n = 175) received professional pre-travel advice, mainly because of the mandatory health examination and vaccination requirements of the host university. The study also revealed inadequate knowledge about infectious and non-infectious health risks, with only one-third being aware that Japanese encephalitis is transmitted by mosquito bites, and less than half of the students recognising Thailand's emergency services number. Poor preventive practices were also observed, with less than half of those with new sexual partners consistently using condoms and less than half of those riding motorcycles always wearing helmets. These findings highlight the need for a new strategy to improve the standard of travel health preparation among this group of young adult travellers, particularly those from resource-limited countries.

The ethics of firing unvaccinated employees

Some organisations make vaccination a condition of employment. This means prospective employees must demonstrate they have been vaccinated (eg, against measles) to be hired. But it also means organisations must...

COVID-19 vaccination requirements, encouragement and hesitancy among non-health care, non-congregate workers in Chicago: results from the WEVax survey

BackgroundWhile frontline and essential workers were prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination in the United States, coverage rates and encouragement strategies among non-health care workers have not been well-described. The Chicago Department of Public Health surveyed non-health care businesses to fill these knowledge gaps and identify potential mechanisms for improving vaccine uptake.MethodsThe Workplace Encouragement for COVID-19 Vaccination in Chicago survey (WEVax Chicago) was administered using REDCap from July 11 to September 12, 2022, to businesses previously contacted for COVID-19 surveillance and vaccine-related outreach. Stratified random sampling by industry was used to select businesses for phone follow-up; zip codes with low COVID-19 vaccine coverage were oversampled. Business and workforce characteristics including employee vaccination rates were reported. Frequencies of requirement, verification, and eight other strategies to encourage employee vaccination were assessed, along with barriers to uptake. Fisher’s exact test compared business characteristics, and Kruskal–Wallis test compared numbers of encouragement strategies reported among businesses with high (> 75%) vs. lower or missing vaccination rates.ResultsForty-nine businesses completed the survey, with 86% having 500 or fewer employees and 35% in frontline essential industries. More than half (59%) reported high COVID-19 vaccination rates among full-time employees; most (75%) workplaces reporting lower coverage were manufacturing businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Verifying vaccination was more common than requiring vaccination (51% vs. 28%). The most frequently reported encouragement strategies aimed to improve convenience of vaccination (e.g., offering leave to be vaccinated (67%) or to recover from side effects (71%)), while most barriers to uptake were related to vaccine confidence (concerns of safety, side effects, and other skepticism). More high-coverage workplaces reported requiring (p = 0.03) or verifying vaccination (p = 0.07), though the mean and median numbers of strategies used were slightly greater among lower-coverage versus higher-coverage businesses.ConclusionsMany WEVax respondents reported high COVID-19 vaccine coverage among employees. Vaccine requirement, verification and addressing vaccine mistrust may have more potential to improve coverage among working-age Chicagoans than increasing convenience of vaccination. Vaccine promotion strategies among non-health care workers should target low-coverage businesses and assess motivators in addition to barriers among workers and businesses.

COVID-19 vaccination requirements for Ireland's healthcare students.

International debate on COVID-19 policy issues, notably negative social consequences, is vital when grappling with the pandemic legacy. Drawing from the second author's experiences in the Irish healthcare and higher education sectors, this commentary scrutinises measures that discriminated against students who declined novel COVID-19 pharmaceuticals. In so doing, it serves as a point of contrast to fear-based interventions. Connections are made with relevant literature when urging those in authority to ensure that policies intended to maximise vaccine coverage are seen to be fair and convincing. The commentary concludes with some reflections that could underpin more defensible policymaking and inform future research.

Students Provisionally Enrolled Due to Vaccination Requirements: Variation in State Laws and Rates.

This research examined the laws and regulations surrounding provisional enrollment in schools across the United States. Provisional enrollment refers to children who have started, but not completed, their required vaccinations and are allowed to attend school while completing their vaccinations. We found that nearly all states have laws regarding provisional enrollment, with 5 essential components to compare the laws including vaccine- and dose-specific requirements, type of personnel permitted to authorize, length of time that the children have to become up to date on their vaccinations (grace period), follow-up procedures, and consequences for noncompliance. In addition, we found that the percentage of provisionally enrolled kindergarteners varied greatly from state to state, with some states having less than 1% of provisionally enrolled kindergarteners and others having more than 8% between school years 2015-2016 and 2020-2021. We suggest that reducing the number of provisional entrants could be an alternative intervention to increase vaccination coverage.

Removing the COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement for the Military Increases the United States' National Security Concerns.

Removing the COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement for the Military Increases the United States' National Security Concerns.

Anti-science conspiracies pose new threats to US biomedicine in 2023.

Anti-science conspiracies pose new threats to US biomedicine in 2023.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 lineages and associated antibody responses among asymptomatic individuals in a large university community

Abstract SARS-CoV-2 (CoV2) infected, asymptomatic individuals are an important contributor to COVID transmission. CoV2-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)—as generated by the immune system following natural infection or vaccination—has helped limit CoV2 transmission from asymptomatic individuals to more susceptible populations. The emergence of new Omicron lineages with extensive Spike and Nucleocapsid (N) mutations threatens our reliance on natural and vaccine-initiated Ig responses to limit COVID transmission; therefore, it is important to understand the relationships between CoV2 lineage emergence, CoV2-specific Ig levels, and their cross-neutralization capacity in asymptomatic individuals. Here, we describe the relationships between COVID incidence and CoV2 viral load, lineage, and CoV2-specific Ig levels (IgM, IgA, and IgG) in the saliva of asymptomatic individuals between Jan 2021 and May 2022. These data were generated as part of a large university COVID monitoring program and demonstrate that COVID incidence among asymptomatic individuals occurred in waves which mirrored those in surrounding regions, with saliva CoV2 viral loads becoming progressively higher until vaccine requirements were established. Among the unvaccinated, infection with each CoV2 lineage (pre-Omicron) resulted in Spike-specific IgM, IgA, and IgG responses, with Spike-specific IgG increasing significantly post-infection and being more pronounced than N-specific IgG responses. Among the vaccinated, saliva from those with breakthrough Delta infections had Spike-specific IgG levels that were comparable to those who were uninfected; their capacity to inhibit Spike function, however, was diminished relative to those who were uninfected. The Ohio State University

The effect of vaccine mandate announcements on vaccine uptake in Canada: An interrupted time series analysis.

In 2021, the ten provinces in Canada enacted COVID-19 vaccine mandates that restricted access to non-essential businesses and services to those that could provide proof of full vaccination to decrease the risk of transmission and provide an incentive for vaccination. This analysis aims to examine the effects of vaccine mandate announcements on vaccine uptake over time by age group and province. Aggregated data from the Canadian COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Surveillance System (CCVCSS) were used to measure vaccine uptake (defined as the weekly proportion of individuals who received at least one dose) among those 12years and older following the announcement of vaccination requirements. We performed an interrupted time series analysis using a quasi-binomial autoregressive model adjusted for the weekly number of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to model the effect of mandate announcements on vaccine uptake. Additionally, counterfactuals were produced for each province and age group to estimate vaccine uptake without mandate implementation. The times series models demonstrated significant increases in vaccine uptake following mandate announcement in BC, AB, SK, MB, NS, and NL. No trends in the effect of mandate announcements were observed by age group. In AB and SK, counterfactual analysis showed that announcement were followed by 8% and 7% (310,890 and 71,711 people, respectively) increases in vaccination coverage over the following 10weeks. In MB, NS, and NL, there was at least a 5% (63,936, 44,054, and 29,814 people, respectively) increase in coverage. Lastly, BC announcements were followed by a 4% (203,300 people) increase in coverage. Vaccine mandate announcements could have increased vaccine uptake. However, it is difficult to interpret this effect within the larger epidemiological context. Effectiveness of the mandates can be affected by pre-existing levels of uptake, hesitancy, timing of announcements and local COVID-19 activity.

Practicing dentistry in the age of COVID-19: Perception changes due to the new PPE standards.

This study aimed to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive use of personal protective equipment (PPE) have affected the perception of the practice of dentistry in an urban dental school in the USA. In 2021, an electronic cross-sectional questionnaire was sent to school faculty via email, while predoctoral, clinical dental students were invited to participate during clinical group meetings. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Sixty-six faculty and 209 students completed the questionnaire (n=275, response rate=39%). The faculty self-identified into two groups: dentists who only teach (teaching faculty, n=33) and dentists who teach and also work in outside clinics (practicing faculty, n=33). Practicing faculty (45.5%) were significantly more pessimistic about the future of dentistry than the other two groups. Students were the least concerned with treating COVID-19 patients compared to other groups and only 15.8% of students reported a change in enthusiasm toward dentistry. Practicing faculty did not feel that extra PPE presented a physical challenge. Teaching faculty were least alarmed by extra PPE and least concerned about PPE increasing patient stress. More faculty were in favor of vaccination requirements (90.9%) than students (73.7%). Neither COVID-19 nor the use of extensive PPE negatively affected the participants' perception of the future of dentistry. Most participants felt safe wearing extra PPE during the pandemic but were concerned about the negative environmental effects. Students did not feel strongly that vaccination should be a requirement for clinical dentists and staff.

Divergent COVID-19 vaccine policies: Policy mapping of ten European countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fragmented nature of governmental policy decisions in Europe. However, the extent to which COVID-19 vaccination policies differed between European countries remains unclear. Here, we mapped the COVID-19 vaccination policies that were in effect in January 2022 as well as booster regulations in April 2022 in Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. National public health and health policy experts from these ten European nations developed and completed an electronic questionnaire. The questionnaire included a series of questions that addressed six critical components of vaccine implementation, including (1) authorization, (2) prioritization, (3) procurement and distribution, (4) data collection, (5) administration, and (6) mandate requirements. Our findings revealed significant variations in COVID-19 vaccination policies across Europe. We observed critical differences in COVID-19 vaccine formulations authorized for use, as well as the specific groups that were provided with priority access. We also identified discrepancies in how vaccination-related data were recorded in each country and what vaccination requirements were implemented. Each of the ten European nations surveyed in this study reported different COVID-19 vaccination policies. These differences complicated efforts to provide a coordinated pandemic response. These findings might alert policymakers in Europe of the need to coordinate their efforts to avoid fostering divergent and socially disruptive policies.

Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination and Free Self-Determination in the Health Field in Italy

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic and the issues related to health emergency management have raised concerns about fundamental rights protection. One of the most complex and contentious issues in doctrine and jurisprudence is the introduction of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for specified categories of subjects, such as healthcare workers and individuals of a specific age range, as occurred in Italy. The debate in Italy over the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement focuses on whether this obligation interferes with the individual’s fundamental right to free self-determination as guaranteed by Article 32 of the Italian Constitution. In jurisprudence and doctrine, conflicting opinions are noted concerning this topic. Part of the doctrine argue that mandatory COVID-19 vaccination compromises some fundamental rights guaranteed by the Italian Constitution, such as the right to free self-determination and respect for human dignity. Other opinions find the basis of the vaccination in the community’s best interests, citing Article 32 of the Italian Constitution, which allows for the imposition of compulsory health treatment to safeguard citizens’ health. In this regard, the issue of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requires a reflection on the balance of two fundamental rights: the individual right to free self-determination and the community’s interest in terms of protecting public health.

Knowledge of Pharmacy Department Students Poltekkes Kemenkes Medan About Vaccination Covid-19

<p><em>Corona Disease 19 is a coronavirus infectious disease with a high rate of transmission that primarily affects the respiratory tract. As a result, the Indonesian government established the COVID-19 immunization campaign in order to break the chain of transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Many are still afraid to get the COVID-19 vaccination due to the spread of information concerning harmful post-immunization occurrences. The goal of this study was to describe the level of student understanding regarding the COVID-19 immunization at the Pharmacy Department of the Medan Ministry of Health's Health Polytechnic. This is a descriptive survey that use the purposive sampling approach. The total population is 261 people, and the sample size is 158 people. A questionnaire that had already been validated was distributed using the Google Form in order to collect the data. The findings revealed that the average knowledge of vaccination fundamentals (72.6%), vaccine kinds (75.44%), and requirements and stages of the COVID-19 immunization (74.94%) was in a category of reasonable quality. Even though the level of knowledge about the purpose of vaccination is in the good category (91.89%). In generally, the description of the level of student knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccination at the Pharmaceutical Department of the Medan Ministry of Health Polytechnic is in the good category (78.98%). It is expected that even this factual information will inform and encourage the public to take part in COVID-19 immunization campaigns.</em></p><p><em> </em><strong><em>Keyword: Covid-19, Immunization, Knowledge, Pharmacy, Student</em></strong></p>

Prevalence, Attitudes, and Factors Influencing Uptake of the COVID-19 Vaccine in Saudi Arabia.

The availability and access to COVID-19 vaccinations are critical to a successful pandemic response. More than 70% of the population reportedly needs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity worldwide. However, the reluctance to get vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccines is holding up the process of vaccination and efforts to control the pandemic and its negative consequences for the global health system, society, and economy. Previous studies have shown low uptake of vaccination in some Middle Eastern countries due to negative attitudes toward vaccination, including concerns about safety and efficacy and doubts about the need for vaccination. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence, attitudes, and factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers, academic staff, and students in Saudi Arabia after the vaccine was made widely available by the government. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the prevalence, attitudes, and association between demographic factors and uptake of the first or second dose of vaccination among Saudi Arabian health workers and students. Data were collected using an online questionnaire administered and distributed through the Qualtrics platform. The study recruited 173 participants from different countries and from different Saudi regions, most of whom were faculty members (n = 83). Results indicated significant differences between regions; the mean attitude score for the Western region (M 3.23) was significantly higher than that for other regions (M 3.08, p = 0.030). There was also an association between education level and number of vaccine doses received. Thus, the participants with higher education were the most compliant with national vaccination requirements (p = 0.004). Although the three professional groups reported social media as the most frequently reported source of information (p = 0.021), administrators were more likely to receive information from the MOH than other professional groups. Similarly, faculty members were more likely to receive information from colleagues and professional journals than the other two professional groups. Government officials should build public confidence through vaccination campaigns and devise effective health education programs to increase vaccination uptake. Authorized institutions can effectively use social media platforms to encourage vaccination and promote awareness among all audiences.

Alternative Policy Management Framework in Determination of Long-Distance Travel Permit Based on Covid-19-like Symptoms Using Data Mining

Even though the obligation to carry out a Covid-19 booster vaccination still applies to long trips using public transportation in Indonesia. One clause regarding checking policy for symptoms of Covid-19 is still often ignored by train passengers because the symptoms of Covid19 are still similar to those of influenza. Somehow, the travel policy is not fair for comorbid person which cannot have Covid-19 vaccination. This research goal is to propose an alternative policy, which is a part of policy management framework, to prevent the transmission of covid19 by long-distance train travel in new era when the enforcement of Covid-19 regulation has been repealed. As alternative of Covid-19 vaccination requirement, the use of data mining algorithm will be proposed ning algorithm to determine whether or not it is permissible to travel long distances by using the dominant covid-19 like symptoms. The results of this study are in the form of a reasoning knowledge regarding the symptoms that passengers need to pay close attention to avoid the risk of transmission of Covid-19. Even though the accuracy of the decision is still 66.67% using C4.5 algorithm, it is the first step to be implemented in a new era, namely the era of prevention of Covid-19, no longer an era of mitigation. The publication of this result is put on bulletin board design

Media Reporting Relating to COVID-19 Vaccination as a Driver of Vaccine Hesitancy Prior to the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in India: A Content Analysis of Newspaper and Digital Media Reports.

Background Over 2,40,000 deaths were attributed to the SARS-CoV-2 Delta (B.1.617.2) variant in India during the second wave of the pandemic from April to June 2021 with most deaths occurring in the unvaccinated population. High levels of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy contributed to significantly reduced vaccination coverage in the eligible population especially among healthcare workers, comorbid and older people. The existing global evidence suggests misinformation through social media to accentuate, while newspaper and mainstream media reporting to be protective against vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Content analysis of regular press coverage of COVID-19 vaccination in Indiaduring the period of initial deployment and until the onset of the second wave of the pandemiccan provide useful learnings and strengthen preparedness for addressing potential vaccine hesitancy concerns during future pandemics.Therefore, we conducted this inductive content analysis of press coverage related to the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in India prior to the second (Delta) wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We examined news reports related to COVID-19 vaccination in India for the period from 1st January 2021 to 28 February 2021 from a high circulation English language daily (Hindustan Times), Hindi (vernacular) language daily (Dainik Jagran), and English language news reports from selected digital news portals. The inclusion criterion was any news report related to COVID-19 vaccination including editorials and guest opinion pieces that could potentially generate COVID-19-related vaccine hesitancy.The news items were classified depending on their potential to drive vaccine hesitancy by either avoiding reporting of positive information related to COVID-19 vaccines, or attributing directly or indirectly, negative or misleading commentary relating to vaccine safety or efficacy. Reports with possible risk of increasing vaccine hesitancy were further analyzed based on content, source of information, and the extent of fact-checking. Results Most of the published newspaper reports examined in this study echoed official news sources and views from government health agencies promoting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and dispelling doubts on concerns regarding vaccine safety. There were eight unique newspaper reports after excluding duplicated bilingual entries and four news items from online digital Indian news sources that met our criterion of reports with possible contribution to vaccine hesitancy. The reports possibly contributed to vaccine hesitancy were grouped into two themes: (i) Doubts on the safety and efficacy of local manufactured vaccines: most of these reports focused on the granting of emergency use authorization for Covaxin (BBV152) in 'clinical trial mode' without the completion and publication of Phase-3 efficacy data (ii). Doubts on vaccine requirement considering high seroprevalence and reduced virus transmission. Conclusions Concerns about the efficacy and safety of Covaxin (BBV152), safety of the Covishield vaccine, and questioning the necessity of immunizing all adults with COVID-19 vaccines were observed in multiple press reports withattempts at politicization of vaccination-related decisions. Thepress reporting with potential for contributing tosignificant COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy since launch and until the Delta wave of the pandemic in India has important lessons in future pandemic preparedness.