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Ron Johnson’s unscientific use of vaccine and death data

Ron Johnson’s unscientific use of vaccine and death data

Susan Ellenberg of the Perelman School of Medicine said the general public may misinterpret data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. “A causal connection between the vaccine and an adverse event cannot be made based on any single report (with the exception of things like an anaphylactic reaction within seconds of receiving the vaccine),” she said.

India’s COVID crisis
Rows of houses with corrugated metal roofs are interspersed with trees. A mountain range is in the background

"Everyone’s biggest worry was that India... was extremely vulnerable, given that its population of 1.4 billion people live in very densely populated areas,” says Harsha Thirumurthy. Pictured: Jaipur, India. (Image: Adam Auerbach) 

India’s COVID crisis

Political scientist Tariq Thachil of the School of Arts & Sciences and economist and public health expert Harsha Thirumurthy of the Perelman School of Medicine take a look at what’s happening in India with the pandemic's second wave and what can be done to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Kristina García

Vaccine house calls bring COVID protection home
A masked health care worker give a vaccine to a person in the upper arm who is wearing a face mask.

Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine Service in Action

Vaccine house calls bring COVID protection home

In an effort to reach residents who are elderly or disabled, Penn Medicine has put its COVID-19 vaccination efforts on wheels, taking shots directly to patients’ homes.

From Penn Medicine Service in Action

After year with virtually no flu, scientists worry the next season could be a bad one

After year with virtually no flu, scientists worry the next season could be a bad one

Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about next year’s flu season, which may be worse than previous years. “A lot of this is out of our hands,” he said. “The one thing we can do is to get vaccinated. If there was ever a year to get vaccinated, this is the year to do that.”

Connecting health care with patients in need
Portrait of the two students standing on Penn campus

Aris Saxena(left) and Yiwen Li(right) won the 2021 President’s Innovation Prize.

Connecting health care with patients in need

As part of their President’s Innovation Prize project, seniors Aris Saxena and Yiwen Li hope to provide global access to health care with their company, Mobility.

Dee Patel

To reduce shootings, give guns on TV the cigarette treatment

To reduce shootings, give guns on TV the cigarette treatment

Dan Romer and Patrick Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center argue that the U.S. should fund further research on how depictions of guns violence in entertainment media affect off-screen gun violence. “One might argue that seeing cigarette use is not morally objectionable and so it’s more likely to be imitated by adolescents the more it’s seen in use by appealing characters on the screen,” they write. “But the same is true for guns, when they are used by appealing characters for seemingly justified reasons.”

More drinking at home is linked to domestic abuse

More drinking at home is linked to domestic abuse

Aaron Chalfin of the School of Arts & Sciences co-authored research on the connection between drinking at home and rising rates of domestic violence during the pandemic. “The circumstances of alcohol consumption matter. Drinking in a public setting with friends means drinking under the supervision of bartenders and others who can potentially call the police,” said Chalfin and colleagues. “Such oversight doesn’t happen in the privacy of one’s home.”

Preventing evictions remains critical to controlling COVID-19
Opened envelope with an eviction notice inside on a table beside a discarded face mask.

Preventing evictions remains critical to controlling COVID-19

Renter protection policies that have curbed mass evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic have played a key role in preventing the spread of the virus in U.S. cities.

Lauren Ingeno