Proud Boys should be designated a terrorist organization in Canada petition.

What happened on Capitol Hill in the U.S. this week was an act of domestic terrorism.

A group named the Proud Boys helped execute it. The founder of the Proud Boys is Canadian — and they also operate in Canada. Right now.

I am calling on Justin Trudeau to ban and designate them a terrorist organization immediately. Sign here if you agree:

https://www.ndp.ca/ban-the-proud-boys

As you know, I’ve experienced the devastating effects of hate in my life — and it was allies like you who stood up and confronted it that made things better.

Canadians have a right to feel safe.

After seeing members of the Proud Boys join those that stormed the U.S. Capitol with deadly weapons, we believe it is more urgent than ever to ban them in Canada.

Every signature on this campaign calls attention to this issue and puts pressure on Justin Trudeau and the Liberals to act.

If you believe the Proud Boys should be designated a terrorist organization, add your voice to this petition.

We’ll keep you posted as things unfold,

Jagmeet

Jagmeet Singh
Leader
Canada’s NDP

 

25th Amendment breakout box

Trump ‘ballistic’ over Twitter ban as Republican fury grows over censorship (yahoo.com)

UK

100,000 Pfizer vaccine doses 'thrown away' after faulty PHE guidance, doctors claim

Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine - Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images Europe

 

Jamie Johnson

Fri, 8 January 2021,

More than 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may have been thrown away because of incorrect guidance by Public Health England, it has been revealed.

Instructions issued when the vaccine was being produced in December said that five doses could be obtained from each vial, but was revised by PHE on Jan 4 to allow for “administration of a sixth dose if obtainable”.

The Department for Health and Social Care said that the updated guidance had been issued on Dec 17, made available in a pack called “information for UK healthcare professionals”.

However, it is understood that some healthcare staff were unaware of the changes.

Government figures show that between Dec 8 and Dec 20, 600,000 people received the Pfizer vaccine in the UK.

This means that if there was an extra dose in each vial, there would be an extra 120,000 shots not used.

Prof Sir Sam Everington, chair of Tower Hamlets CCG, said the rules should have been made clear earlier to avoid vaccines being needlessly wasted.

“It’s just mortifying. I don’t know how many were lost in the process by nurses and GPs but I was incredibly frustrated, because I wanted them to mandate the six doses far earlier,” he said.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, said: “The NHS issued guidance on the sixth dose to the health system in December and the relevant regulations were amended shortly after. Therefore, clinicians could and were using the sixth dose before the PGD [patient group direction] was published.”

But Prof Everington said: “We got information that, actually, you could do six, but what they didn’t do was change something called the PGD. And that’s the ruling that nurses abide by. It took too long to come out with the PGD.”

Britain’s medical regulator, the MHRA, says every small glass container which holds the liquid vaccine contains five doses of the jab, administered in 0.3ml shots. But once the vaccine is diluted before being given to patients, as per the instructions, the vial holds as much as 2.25ml – enough for seven and a half doses.

It is thought that the vials are overfilled with extra doses in case the vaccine spills in transit or it gets stuck inside the syringe when it is administered.

The UK is not the first country to have revised its advice on Pfizer doses. On Dec 16, the US Food and Drug Administration clarified that extra doses from vials of the vaccine can be used if a full dose can be extracted.

In Israel, which has led the way on vaccination with 15 per cent of its population receiving the jab in the first two weeks, approval for a sixth Pfizer dose to be used came out on Dec 24.

The EU is even further behind. Only yesterday did the European Medicines Agency recommend updating the product information to clarify that each vial contains six doses of the vaccine.

The Prime Minister confirmed that as of Jan 7, with the Pfizer and Oxford jabs combined, over 1.5 million across the UK have been vaccinated. 

NOT A MAX BUT STILL

Boeing 737 carrying 62 people feared to have crashed into sea near Jakarta

Suspected debris found in sea after Sriwijaya Air flight went missing shortly after  takeoff

Febriana Firdaus and Rebecca Ratcliffe
Sat 9 Jan 2021 
 

People at a temporary crisis centre organised in the domestic terminal of Soekarno-Hatta International airport, after the plane’s disappearance. Photograph: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters

An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 62 people that went missing on Saturday is feared to have crashed, after suspected debris was found in the sea north of Jakarta.

The Boeing 737-500, which departed from Jakarta’s international airport at about 2.36pm, lost contact four minutes later. Data from the flight tracker FlightRadar24 said Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 had reached an altitude of nearly 11,000ft (3,350 metres) before dropping to 250ft.

The plane was carrying 50 passengers, including seven children, among them three infants, and 12 crew members, according to the transport ministry. It was scheduled to make a 90-minute journey over the Java Sea to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Borneo island.

A local fisherman reported that he had seen possible debris at 3.30pm, when an explosion was first heard, according to Deby Riana Sumanthi, the head of maritime agriculture and food security for the sub-department of Thousand Island-Jakarta

Footage of suspected wreckage was also broadcast on Indonesian TV. “We found some cables, a piece of jeans, and pieces of metal on the water,” a security official told CNNIndonesia.com. It has not been confirmed that the debris came from the flight.

Agus Haryono, a rescue agency official, told Reuters that 50 people were searching for the aircraft and would continue working into the night. Indonesia’s transport ministry said it was investigating the incident.

“A Sriwijaya plane from Jakarta to Pontianak with call sign SJY182 has lost contact,” said ministry spokesman Adita Irawati. “It last made contact at 2:40 pm (0740 GMT).”

The president director of Sriwijaya Air, Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, said the airline was coordinating with Basarnas, the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transport Safety Committee. The airline, which was founded in 2003, mostly flies within Indonesia and has an otherwise solid safety record.

The plane, a Boeing 737-500, does not use the same software system as those involved in two crashes that killed hundreds of people and left Boeing in crisis, according to Reuters.

In October 2018, 189 people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max jet crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta for a domestic flight. Months later, a Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed in Ethiopia, killing all 157 people onboard. The US justice department fined Boeing $2.5bn last week after the company was charged with fraud and conspiracy in connection with two crashes.

A Boeing spokeswoman said: “We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information.”

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation, has also been criticised for poor safety standards in its aviation industry, which has been plagued by accidents. An AirAsia plane crashed in 2014 with the loss of 162 lives.


Indonesia plane missing: Boeing lost contact after dropping 'more than 10,000ft in less than a minute'

Sat, 9 January 2021




A search and rescue operation is under way in Indonesia after contact was lost with a Boeing 737-500 plane on a local flight.

An Indonesian Transport Ministry spokesman said the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 was flying from the capital Jakarta to Pontianak City in West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo. The last contact was at 2.40pm local time (7.40am in the UK), it said.

Tracking service Flightradar24 said on Twitter that the flight "lost more than 10,000ft (3,000m) of altitude in less than one minute" about four minutes after departure.

The Indonesian Navy has determined the plane's co-ordinates and ships have been deployed to the location, Navy official Abdul Rasyid said.

Suspected debris has been located in waters north of Jakarta, an official from the Basarnas rescue agency told the Reuters news agency, although it has not been confirmed that it is from the missing plane. Fishermen spotted metal objects believed to be parts of an aircraft in the Thousand Islands, a chain of islands north of Jakarta, on Saturday afternoon.

Friends and relatives of people on the flight have been seen in television footage praying and hugging each other as they wait for news at the airports in Jakarta and Pontianak airport.

Some 62 people were on board, including crew. Ten of the passengers were children, the rescue agency said.

In its latest statement, the airline said it was still gathering information on the incident.

"We are aware of media reports from Jakarta regarding Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182," it said.

"Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families. We are in contact with our airline customer and stand ready to support them during this difficult time."

Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said: "The missing plane is currently under investigation and under co-ordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee."

A spokeswoman for Boeing said: "We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information."

A plane flying from Jakarta to Pontianak would spend most of the 90-minute flight over the Java Sea. Sriwijaya Air is one of Indonesia's discount carriers, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations.

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago nation, with more than 260 million people.

The missing plane is not a Boeing 737 Max, the model involved in two major accidents in recent years - the first of which involved a crash in Indonesia.

The Lion Air 737 MAX, carrying 189 passengers and crew, crashed into the Java Sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta in October 2018, killing everyone on board.

It was the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since 1997, when 234 people were killed on a Garuda flight near Medan on Sumatra island.

And in December 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore crashed into the sea, killing 162 people.

Latina mothers, often essential workers, report COVID-19 took toll

UC Davis researchers found stimulus didn't relieve burdens

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

 NEWS RELEASE 8-JAN-2021

Research News

 

IMAGE: FINANCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TOLL: THE PANDEMIC HAS FORCED MORE THAN 50 PERCENT OF THE FAMILIES IN A REGIONAL STUDY TO MAKE ECONOMIC CUTBACKS. view more 

CREDIT: UC DAVIS

More than half of Latina mothers surveyed in Yolo and Sacramento counties reported making economic cutbacks in response to the pandemic shutdown last spring -- saying they bought less food and missed rent payments. Even for mothers who reported receiving the federal stimulus payment during this time, these hardships were not reduced, University of California, Davis, researchers found in a recent study.

"Latino families are fighting the pandemic on multiple fronts, as systemic oppression has increased their likelihood of contracting the virus, having complications from the virus and having significant economic hardship due to the virus," said Leah C. Hibel, associate professor of human development and family studies at UC Davis and lead author of the study. "These factors are likely to have a significant psychological toll on these families."

The study was published Jan. 7 in the journal Traumatology. Researchers administered surveys to 70 Latina mothers March 18 through June 5 of last spring, after the "shelter-in-place" orders went into effect in California in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey sample consisted of Latina mothers, all of whom are low-income, with 92 percent of the families having an essential worker (either the mother or her partner), in Yolo and Sacramento counties, researchers said. The survey respondents were identified through an earlier UC Davis study on Mexican-origin families living in the region. Yolo and Sacramento counties are in Northern California, which has a higher cost of living than most of the country, but has a relatively high level of social services available, researchers added.

Researchers said that although it has been reported that the stimulus checks may have kept some from falling below the poverty level, cutbacks due to other economic factors still had an effect on these low-income families.

"In other words, though the stimulus may have prevented some families from falling below the poverty line, our analyses suggest that many low-income families are still facing significant financial hardship," researchers said in the study. "This hardship appears to be placing families on a trajectory toward hunger and eviction."

Less food, higher stress

Mothers who engaged in cutbacks reported significantly higher levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. Further, receiving the federal stimulus money administered to those whose income was less than $99,000 a year (through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) was not associated with lower cutbacks, stress, depression or anxiety. Of those surveyed, 65 percent had reported receiving their checks by the time the survey was administered.

Mothers' depressive symptoms were assessed through survey questions administered by phone. Most were in English, but in some cases, questions were asked in Spanish by native-speaking interviewers. Assessed on a five-point answer scale, mothers were asked such questions as:

• "How stressed are you because of the virus outbreak?"
• "How often have you felt or experienced depressed mood?"
• "How often have you felt panicky?"

Mothers were also asked to indicate whether or not they made any of 12 listed cutbacks (food, rent, cutting back on air conditioning, etc.) in previous weeks because of the pandemic. Of these mothers, 52 percent reported being forced to make economic cutbacks, and they reported higher stress, depressive symptoms and anxiety than those who reported not cutting back.

Researchers noted that the immediate economic impacts of the pandemic on low-income Latina mothers' well-being suggests that alleviating families' economic hardship might benefit mothers psychologically. Though the researchers did not find the stimulus payment to buffer the economic or psychological impacts, they suggest the stimulus money was simply not enough.

"Without additional local, state or federal aid, the pandemic is likely to cause severe hardship marked by homelessness, hunger and mental illness. Additional recurring monthly stimulus payments could be a lifeline for families who are struggling to make ends meet," the researchers wrote.

###

Additional authors of the study are Chase J. Boyer and Andrea C. Buhler-Wassmann, doctoral student researchers, and Blake J. Shaw, master's degree student researcher.

The full study is available here:
https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2021-03003-001.html

SHOCKING! BUT TRUE 😲

Child marriage is legal and persists across Canada

Over 3,600 marriage certificates were issued to children under the age of 18 between 2000 and 2018

MCGILL UNIVERSITY

Research News

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IMAGE: FIGURE: TRENDS IN THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN GRANTED MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES PER 10,000 16-17-YEAR-OLDS IN FIVE PROVINCES BETWEEN 2000 AND 2018 view more 

CREDIT: ALISSA KOSKI AND SHELLEY CLARK

Canada is at the forefront of global efforts to end child marriage abroad. Yet this practice remains legal and persists across the country. In Canada, more than 3,600 marriage certificates were issued to children, usually girls, under the age of 18 between 2000 and 2018, according to a new study from researchers at McGill University. In recent years, an increasing number of child marriages have been common-law unions.

Child marriage, defined as formal or informal (common-law) marriage before the age of 18, is a globally-recognized indicator of gender inequality because the negative consequences for health and personal development disproportionately affect girls. While much research has focused on developing countries, in wealthier nations like Canada, child marriage practices are overlooked and understudied.

Using data from vital statistics agencies and recent censuses, the researchers found that child marriage remains in practice from coast to coast, with the highest estimates of formal marriage found in Alberta (0.03%) and Manitoba (0.04%), and the highest estimates of any type of child marriage (formal or common-law) in Saskatchewan (0.5%) and the territories (1.7%). The study, published in Population and Development Review, is the first to shed light on how common child marriages are in the country.

"Our results show that Canada has its own work to do to achieve its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which call for an end to child marriage by the year 2030," says co-author Alissa Koski, Assistant Professor in Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University.

The researchers found that Canadian-born children are slightly more likely to marry than those born outside of the country. More than 85% of all marriage certificates granted to children were issued to girls, who typically wed much older spouses. This gendered patterning is consistent with child marriage practices observed across the globe, according to the researchers.

Common-law unions more prevalent

The study shows most child marriages in recent years have been common-law. In 2006, formal marriage accounted for more than half of all child unions. By 2016, formal marriage accounted for only 5 percent and common-law unions were twenty times as prevalent.

"While the number of marriage certificates issued to children across the country has declined, it's possible that individuals are opting for more informal unions in response to growing social disapproval of child marriage," say the authors. This makes it increasingly challenging to determine to what extent child marriage has actually decreased or whether concerns about social or legal consequences have led to changes in reporting behaviors.

Informal unions can be just as harmful as formal marriages, the researchers say. In fact, informal unions often provide less social, legal and economic protection. In Quebec, for example, individuals in common-law unions are not entitled to alimony or division of property if the union ends. This raises questions about how best to address the issue. Preventing common-law unions among children will require different and innovative approaches that address the deeper motivations for this practice.

"The persistence of this practice within Canada highlights some of the inherent challenges to fully eradicating child marriage and reveals an important inconsistency between Canada's domestic laws and its global policies" says co-author Shelley Clark, James McGill Professor of Sociology at McGill University. The next steps will be to examine the mental health consequences of child marriage in Canada and to investigate motivations for the practice.

###

About the study

"Child Marriage in Canada" by Alissa Koski and Shelley Clark is published in Population and Development Review.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12369

An analysis of 145 journals suggests peer review itself may not explain gender discrepancies in publication rates

Peer review and gender bias: A study on 145 scholarly journals

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE

Research News

 

An analysis of 145 scholarly journals found that, among various factors that could contribute to gender bias and lesser representation of women in science, the peer review process itself is unlikely to be the primary cause of publishing inequalities. However, Flaminio Squazzoni and colleagues emphasize that the study does not account for many other factors that may affect women's representation in academia, including educational stereotypes and academic choices of priorities and specialties. Even as female representation has improved in fields such as the humanities, psychology, and the social sciences, a publication gap persists, with male authors continuing to publish more manuscripts in more prestigious journals. To better understand whether peer review and editorial processes contribute to these gender discrepancies, Squazzoni et al. leveraged an agreement on data sharing with several large scholarly publishers; the team includes authors from the publishing companies Elsevier, John Wiley & Sons, and Springer Nature. The researchers collected and analyzed almost 350,000 submissions to 145 journals by about 1.7 million authors, as well as more than 760,000 reviews completed by about 740,000 referees. The sampled journals were identified by publishers so as to maximize coverage of research fields, although journals from learned societies, among others, were not considered. They then analyzed each step of the editorial process for bias, including the selection of referees, referee recommendations, and the editorial decision for each manuscript. They also accounted for each submission's research field, its proportion of women authors, and the position of women in the author list, while controlling for the proportion of women among referees, journal impact factors, the number of authors per manuscript, and the type of peer review adopted by each journal (single-blind or double-blind). The authors note, however, that it was not possible to directly estimate the quality of each submission. Author gender did not appear to affect how frequently manuscripts were accepted in the life sciences and social sciences, while manuscripts with higher proportions of female authors were in fact more likely to succeed in biomedicine, health, and physical sciences. "Our findings do not mean that peer review and journals are free from biases," the authors write. "For instance, the reputation of certain authors and the institutional prestige of their academic affiliation, not to mention authors' ethnicity or the type of research submitted, could influence the process, and these factors could also have gender implications." The researchers note that collaborative data sharing efforts from funding agencies, academic institutions, and scholarly citation databases will be necessary to further elucidate how existing structures determine academic opportunities.

Exposure to Common Geographic COVID-19 Prevalence Maps and Public Knowledge, Risk Perceptions, and Behavioral Intentions

Alistair Thorpe, PhD¹; Aaron M. Scherer, PhD²; Paul K. J. Han, MD, MA, MPH³; et alNicole Burpo, MS⁴; Victoria Shaffer, PhD⁵; Laura Scherer, PhD⁶; Angela Fagerlin, PhD^1,7

Author Affiliations Article Information

JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(1):e2033538. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.33538

COVID-19 Resource Center 

 

January 6, 2021

Introduction

Several organizations have produced maps showing the prevalence of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases across the United States, but there is limited data on what map features are most effective at informing the public about infectious disease risk and motivating engagement with recommended health behaviors.¹ We assessed the association of 6 different COVID-19 maps with knowledge, risk perceptions, and behavioral intentions.

Methods

This survey study included US adults recruited between May 18 and 28, 2020, by Qualtrics Online Panels. This study was deemed exempt by the University of Iowa institutional review board, given the minimal risk to participants and collection of deidentified information. All respondents provided informed consent and were compensated for their participation. The survey was conducted online in English. This study follows the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) reporting guideline.

After providing informed consent, respondents were randomized to see 1 of 6 maps (Figure) or to not receive any information (no map) using an automated function within the Qualtrics software.

Respondents answered questions assessing their knowledge of confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the US (total cases and cases per capita), their perceived risk of COVID-19 (individual and societal), and their intentions to adhere to infection control guidelines.² Total cases and cases per capita knowledge were each assessed on scales of 4 items specifically about the total or per capita confirmed cases. Scores ranged from 0 to 1, with higher scores indicating greater knowledge about total or per capita numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Individual risk perception was assessed on a scale of 9 items about perceived susceptibility and severity of getting COVID-19. Scores ranged from 1 to 7, with higher scores indicating greater perceived susceptibility and severity of getting COVID-19. Societal risk perception was assessed on a single item about whether the pandemic would be better or worse in 2 weeks. Scores ranged from 1, (indicating that the COVID-19 pandemic would be much worse in 2 weeks) to 7 (indicating the COVID-19 pandemic would be much better in 2 weeks). Intentions to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines were assessed on a scale of 15 guidelines (eg, “avoid gatherings of >10 people”). Scores ranged from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater intent to adhere to the guidelines. Maps were available alongside questions for reference. Using planned contrasts, we compared these outcomes at 4 levels: map intervention (no map vs maps), visualization type (heat vs bubble), geographic level (state vs county), and case format (total vs per capita). Respondents self-reported demographic information, including age, gender, and race/ethnicity.

All tests were 2-sided with P values adjusted using Holm-Bonferroni³ correction for multiple comparisons. Significance was set at α = .05. Analyses were performed using R Studio statistical software version 1.1.463 (R Project for Statistical Computing).

Results

After excluding 2062 respondents who did not complete the survey, completed the survey in an unrealistically short time (ie, <9 minutes), or indicated that they did not provide high-quality answers (ie, respondents who answered “I will not provide my best answers” or “I can’t promise either way” to the question “Do you commit to thoughtfully provide your best answers to each question in this survey?”), our final sample included 2676 respondents (completion rate, 57%).

In the final sample, the mean (SD) age was 46 (17) years (range, 18-91 years); 1575 respondents (59%) were women, while 933 respondents (35%) were men, 28 respondents (1%) were transgender or another gender identity, and 140 respondents (5%) did not answer this question. A total of 1663 respondents (62%) were non-Hispanic White, 464 respondents (17%) were Hispanic, 315 respondents (12%) were non-Hispanic Black, 153 respondents (6%) were Asian or Asian American, 34 respondents (1%) were another race, and less than 1% of respondents were American Indian/Alaskan Native or Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander. Thirty-one respondents (1%) did not report their race/ethnicity. Education was heterogenous: 1022 respondents (38%) had a high school education or less, 1254 respondents (47%) had some college or a 2-year degree, and 400 respondents (15%) had a 4-year degree or higher.

Compared with participants who viewed a map, not viewing a map was associated with greater knowledge about total cases (mean [SD] score, 0.60 [0.28] vs 0.55 [0.30]; difference, 0.05 [95% CI, 0.01 to 0.09]) (Table). However, knowledge about total cases was significantly better for maps showing total cases compared with maps showing per capita cases (mean [SD] score, 0.60 [0.30] vs 0.46 [0.28]; difference, 0.14 [95% CI, 0.11 to 0.17]).

Viewing any map (vs no map) was not associated with knowledge about cases per capita. However, per capita knowledge was significantly better among respondents who viewed a heat map compared with those who viewed a bubble map (mean [SD] score, 0.48 [0.26] vs 0.44 [0.24]; difference, 0.04 [95% CI, 0.01 to 0.06]), the state-level map vs county-level map (mean [SD] score, 0.49 [0.26] vs 0.45 [0.24]; difference, 0.04 [95% CI, 0.01 to 0.07]), and the per capita map vs the total cases map (mean [SD] score, 0.42 [0.24] vs 0.56 [0.26]; difference, −0.13 [95% CI, −0.16 to −0.11]).

Respondents’ perception of their personal risk of getting COVID-19 was not associated with the presence or the type of map. Respondents who saw a map had lower societal risk perceptions, with more optimism that the pandemic would be better in 2 weeks, compared with those who did not see a map (mean [SD] score, 3.77 [1.60] vs 4.02 [1.62]; difference, −0.25 [95% CI, −0.48 to −0.02]). Overall, respondents reported high willingness to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines (mean [SD] score, 86.33 [17.05]), and scores were not significantly different by map provision or type.

Discussion

The findings of this survey study suggest that simply providing maps with COVID-19 case information was not necessarily associated with improved public knowledge, risk perception, or reported intent to adhere to health guidelines.

Limitations of this study include reliance on self-report and potential limited participation from individuals without internet access and lower English proficiency.

Based on the findings of our survey study, we encourage map developers to be mindful of the potential influence of reporting strategies on public knowledge and perception of the pandemic. We suggest developers present cases per capita using state-level heat maps rather than county-level bubble maps, because the former may be associated with improving (or at least maintaining) public knowledge. Knowledge about strategies for effective communication of COVID-19 case information would benefit from research with other stakeholders, such as government officials or policy makers.

Back to top

Article Information

Accepted for Publication: November 23, 2020.

Published: January 6, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.33538

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2021 Thorpe A et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Angela Fagerlin, PhD, Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Utah, 295 Chipeta Way, Williams Bldg, Room 1N410, Salt Lake City, UT 84108 (angie.fagerlin@hsc.utah.edu).

Author Contributions: Dr Thorpe had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: All authors.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Thorpe, A. M. Scherer, Han, L. Scherer, Fagerlin.

Drafting of the manuscript: Thorpe, L. Scherer.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Thorpe, A. M. Scherer, Han, Burpo, Shaffer, Fagerlin.

Statistical analysis: Thorpe.

Administrative, technical, or material support: L. Scherer.

Supervision: Han, Fagerlin.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

Funding/Support: Dr Thorpe was supported by grant No. 51300302 from the American Heart Association Children’s Strategically Focused Research Network fellowship.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Additional Contributions: Karina Pritchett, BA (Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Utah), assisted with development of the maps and was not compensated for this work.

References

1.

Fagerlin  A, Valley  TS, Scherer  AM, Knaus  M, Das  E, Zikmund-Fisher  BJ.  Communicating infectious disease prevalence through graphics: results from an international survey.   Vaccine. 2017;35(32):4041-4047. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.05.048PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref

2.

The White House. The president’s coronavirus guidelines for America: 30 days to slow the spread. Accessed August 7, 2020. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/03.16.20_coronavirus-guidance_8.5x11_315PM.pdf

3.

Holm  S.  A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure.   Scand J Stat. 1979;6(9):65-70.Google Scholar

 

Study: Black Americans, women, conservatives more hesitant to trust COVID-19 vaccine

Thirty-one percent of respondents to a Texas A&M-led survey said they don't intend to be vaccinated against COVID-19

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

A survey of approximately 5,000 Americans suggests that 31.1 percent of the U.S. public does not intend to get the COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available to them - and the likelihood of vaccine refusal is highest among Black Americans, women and conservatives.

Timothy Callaghan, assistant professor at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, led the study with the aim of better understanding the intentions of the American public regarding vaccines. The results were recently published in Social Science and Medicine.

According to the study, survey respondents answered a series of questions about their behaviors and attitudes about COVID-19, including why or why not they intend to pursue vaccination. Women are 71 percent more likely to not to pursue vaccination, researchers found, followed by Blacks at 41 percent.

Survey results also showed that politics play a role: each one-point increase in conservatism increases the odds of vaccine refusal by 18 percent. Those who said they intended to vote for President Donald Trump in the presidential election - the survey was conducted in mid-2020 - were 29 percent more likely to refuse vaccination.

The study revealed two top reasons for vaccine refusal: concerns about safety and effectiveness. However, reasons for vaccine reluctance varied across sub-populations.

For instance, women who were surveyed said they are hesitant based on safety concerns and effectiveness, while surveyed Black Americans said their hesitancy stems from similar concerns plus a lack of financial resources or health insurance.

For conservatives, Callaghan points to previous studies that have shown these people are generally less trusting of vaccines, as well as medical and scientific professionals.

The finding that most surprised Callaghan is that Black individuals, who are being infected with COVID-19 and dying at higher rates, are less likely to vaccinate because of a combination of concerns, including those related to safety and affordability.

"This points to the need for the medical community and policymakers to find ways to both build trust in the vaccine in the African American community and to ensure that it is delivered affordably," Callaghan said.

The authors of the study also state that anti-vaccine advocacy groups "have made a concerted effort" to target Black Americans, writing that if they are successful in framing COVID-19 vaccination in terms of past medical abuses against minority groups, it could decrease the likelihood that racial minorities will pursue COVID-19 vaccination, particularly in light of recent findings emphasizing the implications of peripheral trauma."

Now that COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant populations have been identified, Callaghan plans to explore what kind of health interventions and health promotion efforts are most effective in promoting the vaccine to these populations. Additionally, he said it is important to explore the similarities and differences between populations that are generally vaccine hesitant and populations that are hesitant specifically toward the COVID-19 vaccine.

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