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Zhu DT, Hawken S, Serhan M, Graves F, Smith J, Wilson K. Public attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccine mandates and vaccine certificates in Canada: a time series study. Arch Public Health 2024; 82:32. [PMID: 38468303 PMCID: PMC10926625 DOI: 10.1186/s13690-024-01259-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 02/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Since the beginning of the pandemic, numerous public health measures such as COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine mandates and vaccination certificates have been introduced to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Public opinion and attitudes towards these measures have fluctuated in response to the dynamic political, social, and cultural landscape of the pandemic. METHODS We conducted a time-series study consisting of national cross-sectional surveys between November 2021 to March 2022 to evaluate the Canadian public's attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccine mandates and vaccine certificates. RESULTS When examining public sentiment towards COVID-19 vaccine certificates and proof of vaccination measures, there was a shift in responses over time. The proportion of participants "strongly supporting" these measures decreased from 66.0 to 43.1% between W25(Capacity Limits), -W32 (Mask Mandate Removed), whereas "strongly oppose" was the second most common response and rose from 15.9 to 20.6% during this same time period. Concurrently, when examining participants views surrounding mandates, many participants believed that their province was reopening at "about the right pace", which remained relatively stable over time (33.0-35.4%) between W28 (Emergency Act)-W32 (Mask Mandate Removed). CONCLUSION Our study's findings on the public's attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccine mandates and vaccine certificates in Canada may aid to guide and streamline the implementation of future similar public health interventions. Future research should include extended follow-up and a more comprehensive examination of trust in government institutions and polarized perspectives on vaccine mandates.
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Affiliation(s)
- David T Zhu
- Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Virginia Commonwealth School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - Steven Hawken
- Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Mohamed Serhan
- Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Frank Graves
- EKOS Research Associates Inc., Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Jeff Smith
- EKOS Research Associates Inc., Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Kumanan Wilson
- Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
- School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
- Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
- Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
- O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C, USA.
- Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, Administrative Services Building, 1053 Carling Avenue, Box 684, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y 4E9, Canada.
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Alpeeva EV, Sharova NP, Sharov KS, Vorotelyak EA. Russian Biodiversity Collections: A Professional Opinion Survey. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:3777. [PMID: 38136814 PMCID: PMC10740833 DOI: 10.3390/ani13243777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Revised: 10/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Biodiversity collections are important vehicles for protecting endangered wildlife in situations of adverse anthropogenic influence. In Russia, there are currently a number of institution- and museum-based biological collections, but there are no nation-wide centres of biodiversity collections. In this paper, we report on the results of our survey of 324 bioconservation, big-data, and ecology specialists from different regions of Russia in regard to the necessity to create several large national biodiversity centres of wildlife protection. The survey revealed specific goals that have to be fulfilled during the development of these centres for the protection and restoration of endangered wildlife species. The top three problems/tasks (topics) are the following: (1) the necessity to create large national centres for different types of specimens; (2) the full sequencing and creation of different "omic" (genomic, proteomic, transcriptomic, etc.) databases; (3) full digitisation of a biodiversity collection/centre. These goals may constitute a guideline for the future of biodiversity collections in Russia that would be targeted at protecting and restoring endangered species. With the due network service level, the translation of the website into English, and permission from the regulator (Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russian Federation), it can also become an international project.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Konstantin S. Sharov
- Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences, 26 Vavilov Street, 119334 Moscow, Russia; (E.V.A.); (N.P.S.)
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Blahut R, Flint A, Orlando E, DesChatelets J, Khowaja A. A scoping review on the decision-making dynamics for accepting or refusing the COVID-19 vaccination among adolescent and youth populations. BMC Public Health 2023; 23:784. [PMID: 37118794 PMCID: PMC10141871 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-15717-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 04/30/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Global COVID-19 vaccinations rates among youth and adolescent populations prove that there is an opportunity to influence the acceptance for those who are unvaccinated and who are hesitant to receive additional doses. This study aimed to discover the acceptance and hesitancy reasons for choosing or refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. METHODS A scoping review was conducted, and articles from three online databases, PubMed, Wiley, and Cochrane Library, were extracted and screened based on exclusion and PICOs criteria. A total of 21 studies were included in this review. Data highlighting study attributes, characteristics, and decision-making dynamics were extracted from the 21 studies and put into table format. RESULTS The results showed that the primary drivers for accepting the COVID-19 vaccine include protecting oneself and close family/friends, fear of infection, professional recommendations, and employer obligations. Primary hesitancy factors include concerns about safety and side effects, effectiveness and efficacy, lack of trust in pharmaceuticals and government, conspiracies, and perceiving natural immunity as an alternative. CONCLUSIONS This scoping review recommends that further research should be conducted with adolescent and youth populations that focus on identifying health behaviors and how they relate to vaccine policies and programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger Blahut
- Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, ON, L2S 3A1, St Catharines, Canada
| | - Amanda Flint
- Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, ON, L2S 3A1, St Catharines, Canada
| | | | - Joelle DesChatelets
- Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, ON, L2S 3A1, St Catharines, Canada
| | - Asif Khowaja
- Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, ON, L2S 3A1, St Catharines, Canada.
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Shkurnikov M, Nersisyan S, Averinskaya D, Chekova M, Polyakov F, Titov A, Doroshenko D, Vechorko V, Tonevitsky A. HLA-A*01:01 allele diminishing in COVID-19 patients population associated with non-structural epitope abundance in CD8+ T-cell repertoire. PeerJ 2023; 11:e14707. [PMID: 36691482 PMCID: PMC9864130 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
In mid-2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant caused the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in several countries worldwide. The pivotal studies were aimed at studying changes in the efficiency of neutralizing antibodies to the spike protein. However, much less attention was paid to the T-cell response and the presentation of virus peptides by MHC-I molecules. In this study, we compared the features of the HLA-I genotype in symptomatic patients with COVID-19 in the first and third waves of the pandemic. As a result, we could identify the diminishing of carriers of the HLA-A*01:01 allele in the third wave and demonstrate the unique properties of this allele. Thus, HLA-A*01:01-binding immunoprevalent epitopes are mostly derived from ORF1ab. A set of epitopes from ORF1ab was tested, and their high immunogenicity was confirmed. Moreover, analysis of the results of single-cell phenotyping of T-cells in recovered patients showed that the predominant phenotype in HLA-A*01:01 carriers is central memory T-cells. The predominance of T-lymphocytes of this phenotype may contribute to forming long-term T-cell immunity in carriers of this allele. Our results can be the basis for highly effective vaccines based on ORF1ab peptides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxim Shkurnikov
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Stepan Nersisyan
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia,Institute of Molecular Biology, The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia,Armenian Bioinformatics Institute (ABI), Yerevan, Armenia,Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Darya Averinskaya
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Milena Chekova
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Fedor Polyakov
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Aleksei Titov
- National Research Center for Hematology, Moscow, Russia
| | | | | | - Alexander Tonevitsky
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia,Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
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Scherbov S, Gietel-Basten S, Ediev D, Shulgin S, Sanderson W. COVID-19 and excess mortality in Russia: Regional estimates of life expectancy losses in 2020 and excess deaths in 2021. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0275967. [PMID: 36322565 PMCID: PMC9629588 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Accurately counting the human cost of the COVID-19 at both the national and regional level is a policy priority. The Russian Federation currently reports one of the higher COVID-19 mortality rates in the world; but estimates of mortality differ significantly. Using a statistical method accounting for changes in the population age structure, we present the first national and regional estimates of excess mortality for 2021; calculations of excess mortality by age, gender, and urban/rural status for 2020; and mean remaining years of life expectancy lost at the regional level. We estimate that there were 351,158 excess deaths in 2020 and 678,022 in 2021 in the Russian Federation; and, in 2020, around 2.0 years of life expectancy lost. While the Russian Federation exhibits very high levels of excess mortality compared to other countries, there is a wide degree of regional variation: in 2021, excess deaths expressed as a percentage of expected deaths at the regional level range from 27% to 52%. Life expectancy loss is generally greater for males; while excess mortality is greater in urban areas. For Russia as whole, an average person who died due to the pandemic in 2020 would have otherwise lived for a further 14 more years (and as high as 18 years in some regions), disproving the widely held view that excess mortality during the pandemic period was concentrated among those with few years of life remaining-especially for females. At a regional level, less densely populated, more remote regions, rural regions appear to have fared better regarding excess mortality and life expectancy loss-however, a part of this differential could be owing to measurement issues. The calculations demonstrate more clearly the true degree of the human cost of the pandemic in the Russian Federation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergei Scherbov
- Population and Just Societies Program, International Institute of Applied Systems and Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Stuart Gietel-Basten
- Division of Social Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Department of Humanities and Social Science, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- * E-mail:
| | - Dalkhat Ediev
- Population and Just Societies Program, International Institute of Applied Systems and Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
- North-Caucasian State Academy, Institute for Applied Mathematics and Information Technologies, Cherkessk, Russia
| | - Sergey Shulgin
- International Laboratory of Demography and Human Capital, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia
| | - Warren Sanderson
- Population and Just Societies Program, International Institute of Applied Systems and Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
- Department of Economics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States of America
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