Public Health | Penn Today

CDC shifts pandemic goals away from reaching herd immunity

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said herd immunity, which assumes uniform behavior among individuals, is more complicated than people think it is. “Humans are not a herd,” she said.

Senior citizen wearing a mask holding a shopping basket in a grocery store aisle.

Can food assistance influence diabetes trends in the U.S.?

In a new study, researchers investigate the relationship between the prevalence of diabetes at the county-level and state SNAP policies, with findings that suggest SNAP could play a key role in the health of communities.

A pair of hands holding a cancer screening kit vial in one hand and paperwork in another extended to a person standing in a park.

A Black-owned radio station, a physician, and a quest to prevent colon cancer

A unique community-based campaign by Penn Medicine, WURD, Philadelphia’s Black-owned and -operated talk radio station, and other organizations provide free colon cancer testing kits and follow-up support to Philadelphia residents.

Why won’t Eastern Europeans get vaccinated?

Kristen Ghodsee and Mitchell Orenstein of the School of Arts & Sciences wrote about vaccine skepticism in Eastern Europe, which they attribute to the social consequences of communism’s collapse, rather than to the legacy of communism itself.

Child wearing mask in school writes at a desk

With more kids eligible for vaccines, is the pandemic in a new phase?

With the FDA authorization last week, 28 million more children are eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Experts from the School of Nursing and Perelman School of Medicine share their thoughts about what to expect in the weeks and months to come.

Person in a white coat reaching into a refrigerator full of bagged vaccines.

The controversy surrounding vaccinations, then and now

Robert Aronowitz, Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Social Sciences, reflects on vaccine hesitancy today compared to the past, and the politicization of public health.

Empty hospital bed and wheelchair in a health care facility with curtains drawn.

Yelp star ratings may reveal county-level death rate disparities

A one-star disparity on health care facility Yelp reviews could indicate a 60-death-per-year difference between some United States counties where those facilities are located.

COVID now a ‘major cause of death’ in kids but many parents remain hesitant on vaccine

Researchers co-led by Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that full FDA approval will help convince parents to get their children vaccinated against COVID-19. “As more evidence of children getting vaccinated appears, people will feel more comfortable,” Jamieson said.

Two hardcover books on a table, “AIDS: The Burden of History” and “AIDS: The Making of a Chronic Disease.”

Penn Libraries acquires the personal papers of historian and activist Elizabeth Fee

The papers of the pioneering historian and health advocate, who died in 2018, adds to the Libraries’ growing collection of materials charting the history of public health activism.

A new West Philly partnership puts anti-violence agencies, Penn, and the DA’s Office under one roof

The West/Southwest Collaborative Response to Gun Violence is a new partnership that unites grassroots organizations, victim-support staff from the District Attorney’s Office, and researchers from the Penn Injury Science Center. Sara Solomon of the Center called for “a better bridge between research, what we know, and practice to be implemented and adapted to the context of the community.”

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