The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives and resulted in high levels of stress. While the evidence at the societal level is clear, there have been no population-based studies of pandemic-based stress focusing on individuals who identify as sexual minorities. Drawing on representative data collected during the pandemic, National Couples’ Health and Time Use Study, we find that partnered (cohabiting or married) individuals who identified as sexual minorities experienced higher levels of stress than individuals who identified as heterosexual. However, variation exists observed among sexual minority adults. Although economic resources, discrimination, social and community support and health conditions are tied to reported stress levels they do not explain differentials according to sexual identity. These results provide evidence that sexual minority adults faced greater stress during the pandemic and the importance of recognizing that sexual minorities are not a monolithic group with varying stress responses to the pandemic.

COVID-19 Stress and Sexual Identities

Five percent of unvaccinated adults said they have left a job due to a vaccine mandate, according to a survey released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. One-quarter of workers surveyed by KFF in October said their employer has required them to get vaccinated, up from 9% in June and 19% last month.A nationwide vaccination or testing mandate covering businesses with 100 or more employees announced by President Joe Biden last month has yet to be officially implemented by the Labor Department.

Some 5% of unvaccinated adults quit their jobs over Covid vaccine mandates, survey shows

'We need to flex our mental and emotional muscles outside the point of desperation' Ella Rhodes hears from Dr Audrey Tang about her forthcoming British Psychological Society webinars.

'We need to flex our mental and emotional muscles outside the point of desperation'

Decision-making in uncertainty

Effective decision-making in practice. It is so easy to know the theory behind a ‘good decision’ but if you (or the clients you support) have ever fretted over a decision that isn't really a decision, or a judged decision making ability on outcome rather than process, this session will provide exercises to explore decision making in practice, and offer ways of improving confidence in choices.

New data update: Drawing from 23 states reporting data, 5.3% of kids ages 5-11 in these states have received their first dose. Vermont leads these states so far in vaccination rates for this age group — 17%. The CDC will begin to report data for this group late this week.

Wie ungeheuer peinlich das ist. #impfpflichtjetzt #Neuinfektionen #Corona #Impfung

10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00211-1

Biobanking infrastructures, which are crucial for responding early to new viral outbreaks, share pathogen genetic resources in an affordable, safe, and impartial manner and can provide expertise to address access and benefit-sharing issues. The European Virus Archive has had a crucial role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic by distributing EU-subsidised (free of charge) viral resources to users worldwide, providing non-monetary benefit sharing, implementing access and benefit-sharing compliance, and raising access and benefit-sharing awareness among members and users. All currently available SARS-CoV-2 material in the European Virus Archive catalogue, including variants of concern, are not access and benefit-sharing cases per se, but multilateral benefit-sharing has nevertheless occurred. We propose and discuss how a multilateral system enabling access and benefit-sharing from pathogen genetic resources, based on the European Virus Archive operational model, could help bridge the discrepancies between the current bilateral legal framework for pathogen genetic resources and actual pandemic response practices.

Access and benefit-sharing by the European Virus Archive in response to COVID-19

Bosses at the University of Bristol have announced that stuff and students must wear face masks inside all buildings on campus, as coronavirus case numbers in the city rise again. Everyone will have to wear a covering indoors from now on, unless they are medically exempt. According to bosses, the decision was made because of increasing infection rates in Bristol and "extreme pressure" on the NHS.

Bristol University makes indoor mask-wearing compulsory for staff and students

10.31235/osf.io/7e3fn

The COVID pandemic has intensified crime activity around the world. The article is devoted to the analysis of the impact of the pandemic on international crime. Particular attention is paid to strengthening the activities of cybercriminals, including in the transport industry. See more

The Impact of COVID-19 on Transport Crime

10.31234/osf.io/k9632

Intervention studies with developmental samples are difficult to implement, in particular when targeting demographically diverse communities. Online studies have the potential to examine the efficacy of highly scalable interventions aimed at enhancing development, and to address some of the barriers faced by underrepresented communities for participating in developmental research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we executed a fully remote randomized controlled trial (RCT) language intervention with third and fourth-grade students (N = 255; age range 8.19-10.72 years, mean = 9.41, SD = 0.52) from diverse backgrounds across the United States. Using this as a case study, we discuss both challenges and solutions to conducting an intensive online intervention through the various phases of the study, including recruitment, data collection, and fidelity of intervention implementation. We provide comprehensive suggestions and takeaways and conclude by summarizing some important tradeoffs for researchers interested in carrying out such studies.

Implementing Remote Developmental Research: A Case Study of an RCT Language Intervention During COVID-19

10.31234/osf.io/cxrmt

There is now a growing understanding that translational research must be co-created in collaboration with community partners and that solutions to real-world social problems require stepping outside the academic silo. Fewer than half of psychology programs in Canada, however, offer courses in community-based research or evaluation, leaving a gap in skill development amongst the next generation of scholars. In an effort to partially fill this learning gap, the current paper provides insights into lessons learned from the perspectives of researchers and community partners alike, who have been mutually engaging in community-based research over the last 25 years. Ultimately this paper seeks to provide a roadmap for conducting community-based research and illustrates why it should be a central component to research seeking to answer critical questions in psychological science. First, we provide a conceptual foundation of community-based research. Next, using three specific community-based research projects as examples, we share the challenges and benefits of conducting research in the community context. Finally, we highlight future directions for increasing the uptake of community-based research in Canada.

Community-Based Research: Perspectives of Psychology Researchers and Community Partners

10.31234/osf.io/gwxe4

Given that being misinformed can have negative ramifications, finding optimal corrective techniques has become a key focus of research. In recent years, several divergent correction formats have been proposed as superior corrective methods based on distinct theoretical frameworks. However, these correction formats have not been compared in controlled settings, so the suggested superiority of each format remains speculative. Across four experiments, the current paper investigated how altering the format of corrections influences peoples’ subsequent reliance on misinformation. We examined whether myth-first, fact-first, fact-only, or myth-only correction formats were most effective, using a range of different materials and participant pools. Experiments 1 and 2 focused on climate change misconceptions; participants were Qualtrics online panel members and students taking part in a massive open online course, respectively. Experiments 3 and 4 used misconceptions from a diverse set of topics, with Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdworkers and university student participants. We found that the impact of a correction on beliefs and inferential reasoning was largely independent of the specific format used. The clearest evidence for any potential relative superiority emerged in Experiment 4, which found that with a delayed retention interval, the myth-first format was more effective at myth correction than the fact-first format. However, in general it appeared that as long as the key ingredients of a correction were presented, format did not appear to make a considerable difference. This suggests that simply providing corrective information, regardless of format, is far more important than how the correction is presented.

Correction Format has a Limited Role when Debunking Misinformation

There have been warnings from doctors and the UK's Health Security Agency that waning immunity is leading to deaths even of people who have had two doses of a Covid vaccine. So how much protection are we left with?

Covid vaccine ‘waning immunity’: How worried should I be?

2 Abstract Background In September 2021, the UK Government introduced a booster programme targeting individuals over 50 and those in a clinical risk group. Individuals were offered either a full dose of the BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine or a half dose of the mRNA-1273 (Spikevax, Moderna) vaccine, irrespective of the vaccine received as the primary course. Methods We used a test-negative case-control design to estimate the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of the booster dose BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) in those aged over 50 against symptomatic disease in post booster time intervals compared to individuals at least 140 days post a second dose with no booster dose recorded. In a secondary analysis, we also compared to unvaccinated individuals and to the 2 to 6 day period after a booster dose was received. Analyses were stratified by which primary doses had been received and any mixed primary courses were excluded. Results The relative VE estimate in the 14 days after the BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) booster dose, compared to individuals that received a 2-dose primary course, was 87.4 (95% confidence interval 84.9-89.4) in those individuals who received 2 doses ChAdOx1-S (Vaxzevria, AstraZeneca) as a primary course and 84.4 (95% confidence interval 82.8-85.8) in those individuals who received 2 doses of BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) as a primary course. Using the 2 to 6 day period post the booster dose as the baseline gave similar results. The absolute VE from 14 days after the booster, using the unvaccinated baseline, was 93.1(95% confidence interval 91.7-94.3) in those with ChAdOx1-S (Vaxzevria, AstraZeneca) as their primary course and 94.0 (93.4-94.6) for BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) as their primary course. Conclusions Our study provides real world evidence of significant increased protection from the booster vaccine dose against symptomatic disease in those aged over 50 year of age irrespective of which primary course was received.

Effectiveness of BNT162b2 (Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech) COVID-19 booster vaccine against COVID-19 related symptoms in England: test negative case-control study

Characteristics of people testing positive for COVID-19 from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey. This survey is being delivered in partnership with University of Oxford, University of Manchester, UK Health Security Agency and Wellcome Trust. This study is jointly led by the ONS and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) working with the University of Oxford and Lighthouse Laboratory to collect and test samples. 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, characteristics of people testing positive for COVID-19, UK: 3 November 2021

Die 7-Tage-Inzidenz in Bayern: Ungeimpfte: 537,1 Geimpfte: 60,1

One Thursday in October, the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee gathered to discuss booster shots for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccines. Yet one of the first presentations wasn’t given by Americans — it featured scientists from Israel’s Ministry of Health and Weizmann Institute. And the presentation wasn’t about Moderna or Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines — the Israelis shared their findings from the country’s Pfizer booster shot campaign.

The U.S. Is Relying On Other Countries’ Data To Make Its Booster Shot Decisions

If there's one thing we've learned since March 2020, it's that pandemics are all about hard decisions. It's hard to keep track of the information that helps us make those choices — let alone notice or remember when new science and expert recommendations come along. At FiveThirtyEight, we want to help. We’ve read the science and have come up with broad assumptions you can make based on where the evidence is. When the science changes, so will the assumptions: We’ll be updating this page regularly as new research is published.

All The Science You Need To Make Your COVID-19 Decisions

Brazil’s total deaths rise to 610,036; Russia reports 1,239 fatalities to take official death toll to 250,454 UK figures slightly higher than previous day Hesitancy, inequity: is US making the same mistakes with kids’ vaccines? German Christmas markets face second year of closures as cases soar ‘Tens of thousands’ of NHS and care home staff could quit over jabs Pet dog contracts coronavirus in first confirmed case in UK At a glance: Covid vaccine mandates around the world

Covid live: Brazil reports 12,273 new cases with daily deaths down to 240; Russia’s death toll passes 250,000

Researchers are still puzzling over what this drug does at the molecular level to help COVID patients

Investigating Antidepressants’ Surprising Effect on COVID Deaths

Mandatory vaccinations have been with us for centuries, quietly saving lives – and they're often largely unopposed until something changes.

Why mandatory vaccination is nothing new

Ah yes, "randomization" From an RCT of vitamin D that was recently preprinted

More than 50 #COVID19 cases in Parliament. U.K. still highest infection, hospitalisation & death rates in Western Europe. Still virtually no mask discipline among Tory MPs. Dwindling on public transport too. #Covid19UK

Current estimates about the Covid-19 fatality rate may be too high by orders of magnitude.

Is the Coronavirus as Deadly as They Say?

Researchers question why watchdog passed decision on vaccinating 12-17s to UK’s chief medical officers

JCVI failed to back youth Covid jabs despite favourable modelling

A C.D.C. panel recommended Covid shots for 5- to 11-year-olds, which could begin in days. The Biden administration has enlisted 20,000 health workers and shipped 15 million doses ahead of the decision.

Covid News: Virus Is Surging on Navajo Nation, Despite High Vaccination Rates

10.1056/NEJMp2113403

After a period of falling Covid-19 illness rates, the recent spread of the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 was a major disappointment and necessitated a reexamination of some previous assumptions. This reconsideration may, at least in part, be a correction to overly optimistic views of what highly effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccines could accomplish. Some observers had hoped the vaccines could eliminate transmission of the virus, the ultimate goal of reaching herd immunity.1 A more likely picture of our future with this virus comes into focus if we examine the well-known infection patterns of another respiratory virus, influenza, both in and outside pandemics. That experience can help us reset expectations and modify goals for dealing with SARS-CoV-2 as it further adapts in global spread.

The Future of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination — Lessons from Influenza

Decision-making in a pandemic can never be perfect, but it can be timely

UK dithering over Covid jabs for young must not happen again

Pediatricians in the Austrian capital will authorize the off-label use of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine for children starting next Friday.

Vienna will start to vaccinate young children without E.U. approval.

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 to include children 5 through 11 years of age. The authorization was based on the FDA’s thorough and transparent evaluation of the data that included input from independent advisory committee experts who overwhelmingly voted in favor of making the vaccine available to children in this age group.

FDA Authorizes Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for Emergency Use in Children 5 through 11 Years of Age

A position paper of the International Science Council

Science as a Global Public Good

10.31234/osf.io/v78c6

COVID-19 pandemic has had a big impact on both adults' and children's everyday lives. The conversations about biological processes such as virus, illness, health have started to occur more frequently in daily interactions. Although there are many guidelines for parents about how to talk to their children about coronavirus, only a few studies examine what children are actually curious about coronavirus and how they make sense of the changes in their everyday lives. This study addresses this need by examining children's questions and parents' responses about the Covid-19 Pandemic in Turkey. Using an online survey, we asked 183 parents of 3 to 12-year-olds to report their children's questions about coronavirus and their answers to these questions. We analyzed children's questions and parents' responses using several content categories (Menendez et al., 2020). The majority of children's questions were about the nature of the virus (34%), followed by lifestyle changes (20%). Older children were more likely to ask about school/work and less likely to ask about lifestyle changes than younger children. Parents responded to children's questions by providing realistic explanations (48%) and reassurance (20%). Only 18% of children's questions were explanation-seeking "why" and "how" questions. Parents were more likely to provide explanations if children's questions were explanation-seeking. Family activities such as playing games and cooking were the most common coping strategies reported by parents (69.2%). The findings have important implications for children's learning about coronavirus and how adults can support children's understanding and help them develop coping strategies during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Examining Children's Questions and Parents' Responses about Covid-19 Pandemic in Turkey

The COVID-19 pandemic created heightened concern over SARS-CoV-2 transmission during athletic competitions and necessitated innovative mitigation solutions for protecting athletes, staff, and attendees.1,2 During sporting events, efforts like contact tracing pose unique challenges; namely, contact between athletes during play may be brief but recurring, while also challenging to track and triage, especially with interstate competitions. When the National Collegiate Athletic Association declared football a high-risk transmission sport, the Southeastern Conference (SEC), an intercollegiate athletic conference of 14 universities in 11 southern US states, responded with protocols aligned with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance to monitor, manage, and mitigate SARS-CoV-2 exposure.3,4 In part, traditional contact tracing was augmented using wearable, remote proximity loggers to document interpersonal contacts. In this cohort study, we analyzed SARS-CoV-2 contact exposures and transmission among opposing team players during college football games as the COVID-19 pandemic surged.

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.35566

Contact and SARS-CoV-2 Infections Among College Football Athletes in the Southeastern Conference During the COVID-19 Pandemic

It’s possible that a good deal of the difference in the shots’ performance can be summed up with a simple phrase: More is better.

Is Moderna Really Better Than Pfizer—Or Is It Just a Higher Dose?

Vaccination efforts around the world are being restrained by a shortage of doses. Jane Feinmann looks at what is holding up the process

10.1136/bmj.n2375

Covid-19: global vaccine production is a mess and shortages are down to more than just hoarding

Only 26% of pregnant people have received at least one dose of the vaccine. We surveyed 500 pregnant people in the U.S. to understand why.

With Only 26% of Pregnant People in the United States Vaccinated Against COVID-19, New Survey Sheds Light on the Reasons Why

ODNI reject bioweapons claims but says origins of virus may never be known, barring dramatic breakthrough in Chinese cooperation

Covid bioweapon claims ‘scientifically invalid’, US intelligence reports

Facebook will also remind users that the vaccine is now available for kids

Facebook puts tighter restrictions on vaccine misinformation targeted at children

Our daily estimate of excess deaths around the world

The pandemic’s true death toll

Background A cluster of over a thousand infections with the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant was identified in a predominantly fully vaccinated population in Provincetown, Massachusetts in July 2021. Immune responses in breakthrough infections with the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant remain to be defined.Methods Humoral and cellular immune responses were assessed in 35 vaccinated individuals who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health outbreak investigation.Results Vaccinated individuals who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated substantially higher antibody responses than vaccinated individuals who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, including 28-fold higher binding antibody titers and 34-fold higher neutralizing antibody titers against the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant. Vaccinated individuals who tested positive also showed 4.4-fold higher Spike-specific CD8+ T cell responses against the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant than vaccinated individuals who tested negative.Conclusions Fully vaccinated individuals developed robust anamnestic antibody and T cell responses following infection with the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant. These data suggest important immunologic benefits of vaccination in the context of breakthrough infections.

10.1101/2021.10.18.21265113

Immune Responses in Fully Vaccinated Individuals Following Breakthrough Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in Provincetown, Massachusetts

Community volunteer demands inquiry into impact of mistakes by privately-run Immensa lab after huge spike in COVID cases

I raised an early alarm on PCR test scandal but authorities ignored me

10.31234/osf.io/tg7xr

Vaccine hesitancy among the general population has become a primary concern for contending with the COVID pandemic as policymakers continue to exhaust options to incentivize individuals and vaccination uptake begins stagnating. The current study explores the relative contributions of several potential predictors of vaccine hesitancy. In an online cross-sectional survey study, 917 individuals from the U.S. were assessed on general and COVID-specific vaccine attitudes, COVID conspiracy and pseudoscientific beliefs, trust in various sources of information about COVID, and health and safety concerns surrounding the COVID vaccination. COVID vaccine attitudes, as well as general vaccine attitudes and behaviors, explained a substantial amount of variance, with trust in various information sources being moderately predictive of COVID vaccine attitudes. The data indicated a weak relationship between conspiracy and pseudoscientific beliefs, which disappeared altogether upon controlling for other variables. These findings suggest that efforts to confront vaccine hesitancy should go beyond confronting misinformation and consider initiatives aimed at trust enhancement and attitude change in vaccine-hesitant individuals.

Do Attitudes, Trust, and Acceptance of Pseudoscience and Conspiracy Theories Predict COVID-19 Vaccination Status?

10.31234/osf.io/tpnkw

How do people reason in response to ambiguous messages shared by admirable individuals? Using behavioral markers and self-report questionnaires, in two experiments (N = 571) we examined the influence of speakers’ admirability on meaning-seeking and wise reasoning in response to pseudo-profound bullshit. In both studies, statements that sounded superficially impressive but lacked intent to communicate meaning generated meaning-seeking, but only when delivered by high admirability speakers (e.g., the Dalai Lama) as compared to low admirability speakers (e.g., Kim Kardashian). The effect of speakers’ admirability on meaning-seeking was unique to pseudo-profound bullshit statements and was absent for mundane (Study 1) and motivational (Study 2) statements. In Study 2, participants also engaged in wiser reasoning for pseudo-profound bullshit (vs. motivational) statements and did more so when speakers were high in admirability. These effects occurred independently of the amount of time spent on statements or the complexity of participants’ reflections. It appears that pseudo-profound bullshit can promote epistemic reflection and certain aspects of wisdom, when associated with an admirable speaker.

Hidden wisdom or pseudo-profound bullshit? The effect of speaker admirability

These measures have clear downsides and little proven value

Why Are Highly Vaxxed Colleges Implementing Strict COVID Policies?

Physical, psychological and cognitive symptoms have been reported as post-acute sequelae for COVID-19 patients but are also common in the general, uninfected population. We aimed to calculate the excess risk and identify patterns of 22 symptoms up to 12 months after COVID-19 infection. We followed more than 70,000 participants in an ongoing cohort study, the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Infected and non-infected cohort participants registered presence of 22 different symptoms in March 2021. One year after the initial infection, 13 of 22 symptoms were associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, based on relative risks between infected and uninfected subjects. For instance, 17.4% of SARS-CoV-2 infected cohort participants reported fatigue that persist 12 months after infection, compared to new occurrence of fatigue that had lasted less than 12 months in 3.8% of non-infected subjects (excess risk 13.6%). The adjusted relative risk for fatigue was 4.8 (95 % CI 3.5 to 6.7). Two main underlying factors explained 50% of the variance in the 13 symptoms. Brain fog, poor memory, dizziness, heart palpitations, and fatigue had high loadings on the first factor, while shortness-of breath and cough had high loadings on the second factor. Lack of taste and smell showed low to moderate correlation to other symptoms. Anxiety, depression and mood swings were not strongly related to COVID-19. Our results suggest that there are clusters of symptoms after COVID-19 due to different mechanisms and question whether it is meaningful to describe long COVID as one syndrome.

10.1101/2021.10.15.21265038

Excess risk and clusters of symptoms after COVID-19 in a large Norwegian cohort

Instead of sending doses to poor countries in short supply, we’re holding them past their point of expiration.

Why Is the U.S. Hoarding Hundreds of Millions of COVID Vaccines?

10.1038/s41586-021-04120-y

Following severe adverse reactions to the AstraZeneca ChAdOx1-S-nCoV-19 vaccine1,2, European health authorities have recommended that patients under the age of 55 who received one dose of ChAdOx1-S-nCoV-19 vaccine receive a second dose of Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine as a booster. However, the effectiveness and the immunogenicity of this vaccination regimen have not been formally tested. Here, we show that the heterologous ChAdOx1-S-nCoV-19/BNT162b2 combination confers better protection against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection than the homologous BNT162b2/BNT162b2 combination in a real-world observational study of healthcare workers (n=13121). To understand the underlying mechanism, we conducted a longitudinal survey of the anti-spike immunity conferred by each vaccine combination. Both combinations induced strong anti-spike antibody (Ab) responses but sera from heterologous vaccinated individuals displayed a stronger neutralizing activity, regardless of the SARS-CoV-2 variant. This enhanced neutralizing potential was correlated with increased frequencies of switched and activated memory B cells recognizing the SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Binding Domain (RBD). The ChAdOx1-S-nCoV-19 vaccine induced a weaker IgG response but a stronger T cell response than the BNT162b2 vaccine after the priming dose, which could explain the complementarity of both vaccines when used in combination. The heterologous vaccination regimen could therefore be particularly suitable for immune compromised individuals.

Immunogenicity and efficacy of heterologous ChadOx1/BNT162b2 vaccination

Deceit aside, it is challenging enough to decide when a strongly held view counts as ‘religious.’

People lie about their ‘religious’ objections to vaccines. Proving it is hard.