11/15
Public Health
Behavioral strategies to promote a national COVID-19 vaccine program
National efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine at ‘warp speed’ are beginning to yield a safe and effective vaccine. But this important milestone is only the first step in an equally important challenge: getting a majority of the U.S. public vaccinated.
First COVID-19 vaccines arrive at Penn Medicine
By week’s end, the health system expects to receive about 9,275 doses of the Pfizer vaccine for its frontline teams.
Gun injuries in the U.S. each day number 329—for every death, two survive
Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine examine trends in fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries to inform prevention strategies.
Project Quaker testing program key to a safe campus reopening
Developed in partnership with Penn Medicine, the program aims to conduct 40,000 COVID-19 tests each week and will support ongoing plans to bring students back to campus this spring.
Increasing HPV vaccine uptake in adolescents
More than 90% of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers could be prevented by widespread uptake of the HPV vaccine. Yet, vaccine use in the United States falls short of public health goals.
Home health care improves COVID-19 outcomes
Survivors of COVID-19 often have health ramifications from their illness and hospital stay, and until now, no data has been available on the outcomes of COVID-19 patients discharged home after hospitalization and their recovery needs.
How can cities become healthier, greener, and more equitable in the future?
In a year marked by COVID-19, renewed calls for racial justice, a contentious presidential election, and an active wildfire and hurricane season, Penn experts share what’s needed to make urban areas more resilient to future crises.
One step closer to a clinical fix for the side effects of monovision
Monovision counters the deterioration of the ability to see up close but also causes dramatic visual distortions. New research confirms that a solution that successfully works with trial lenses—the special lenses used by eye doctors—also succeeds with contact lenses.
The last line of defense: Contact tracers and COVID-19 patients
The third in a series of Penn Medicine’s public health outreach to stem the spread of the coronavirus looks at the role of contact tracing.
To catch and contain COVID, step two is to process samples
The second in a series on the steps the health care community takes to quelling the spread of the virus, a look at the 24-hour cycle of testing.
In the News
Got canker sores? Try switching your toothpaste
Richard Wender of the Perelman School of Medicine says that canker sores often start with a minor trauma to the mucosal lining, like a sharp edge on a tooth or a pair of prickly braces.
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FDA Study finds infectious H5N1 bird flu virus in 14% of raw milk samples
Patrick E. Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says it is important that anyone planning to consume raw milk be aware that doing so can make you sick and that pasteurization reduces the risk of milk-borne illnesses.
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Colorado has the most cases of bird flu among dairy cows in the U.S.
The School of Veterinary Medicine has developed a bird flu vaccine that is to be tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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This Juneteenth, we must invest in our future as well as remember our past
Victor Roy, an incoming assistant professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, writes that “baby bonds” could help mitigate the worsening racial wealth gap.
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Column: How a blunder by a respected medical journal is fueling an anti-vaccine lie
Jeffrey S. Morris of the Perelman School of Medicine says that even with a 100% effective vaccine, there would have been high levels of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in 2021.
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RFK Jr.’s vaccine misinformation campaign started after he ignored a Philly doctor
Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine and Melanie Kornides of the School of Nursing comment on Robert F. Kennedy’s misinformation campaign against vaccines.
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