Resources Repository
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ReviewPublication 2016Decision Support for Infectious Disease Control
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to …
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to infectious disease prevention, detection, and response and aligns these tools with real-world policy questions that the tools can help address. This overview is designed to help modelers and other technical experts understand the questions that policymakers will raise and the decisions they must make. The report also presents policymakers with the capabilities and limitations of the different tools that may…
Dynamic Simulation | Microsimulation | Global Governance | Infectious Diseases | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Global -
ArticlePublication 2021Measuring the Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation on Vaccination Intent in the U.K. and U.S.
Widespread acceptance of a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 will be the next major step to fight …
Widespread acceptance of a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 will be the next major step to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, but high uptake achievement will be a challenge and may be impeded by online misinformation. This article is a randomized controlled trial in the U.K. and the U.S. with the objective to quantify how exposure to online misinformation around COVID-19 vaccines affects intent to vaccinate to protect oneself or others. The authors report that in both countries…
Preferences/Values | Child/Nutrition | Infectious Diseases | Decision Psychology | Social Determinants | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America | Europe -
ArticlePublication 2017Misinformation Lingers in Memory: Failure of Three Pro-Vaccination Strategies
People's inability to update their memories in light of corrective information may have important public …
People's inability to update their memories in light of corrective information may have important public health consequences, as in the case of vaccination choice. The authors compare three potentially effective strategies in vaccine promotion: (1) one contrasting myths vs. facts, (2) one employing fact and icon boxes, and (3) one showing images of non-vaccinated sick children. Beliefs in the autism/vaccines link and in vaccines side effects, along with intention to vaccinate a future child, were…
Preferences/Values | Child/Nutrition | Infectious Diseases | Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
ArticlePublication 2017Increasing Vaccination: Putting Psychological Science into Action
Vaccination is one of the great achievements of the 20th century, yet persistent public health …
Vaccination is one of the great achievements of the 20th century, yet persistent public health problems include inadequate, delayed, and unstable vaccination uptake. Psychology offers three general propositions for understanding and intervening to increase uptake where vaccines are available and affordable. The first proposition is that thoughts and feelings can motivate getting vaccinated. Hundreds of studies have shown that risk beliefs and anticipated regret about infectious disease correlate reliably with getting vaccinated; low confidence in…
Preferences/Values | Global Governance | Infectious Diseases | Decision Psychology | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Culture/Society | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | North America -
ArticlePublication 2019Countering Misinformation with Lessons from Public Health
The internet is often praised as a tool for freedom of speech, democracy, and truth. …
The internet is often praised as a tool for freedom of speech, democracy, and truth. However, the internet increasingly has become polluted by misinformation – the inadvertent spread of misleading and false information – and disinformation – the deliberate and coordinated spread of misleading and false information. Individuals online knowingly and unknowingly spread dangerous rumors and propaganda at an alarming rate, which can mislead or manipulate the worldview of those who encounter it. False information…
Preferences/Values | Child/Nutrition | Infectious Diseases | Decision Psychology | Social Determinants | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | North America -
ArticlePublication 2021Correct COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation: Lancet Commission on COVID-19 Vaccines & Therapeutics Task Force Members
This brief “primer” assists healthcare providers in correcting a growing body of misinformation surrounding COVID-19 …
This brief “primer” assists healthcare providers in correcting a growing body of misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. In 2020, up to one-third or more of people surveyed both globally and in the U.S. indicated they might refuse the first COVID-19 vaccines when released through emergency use authorization (EUA). Their rationale included questions about vaccine efficacy, potential side effects, or speeding through regulatory approval processes. Even among healthcare workers, high rates of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy were noted.…
Preferences/Values | Global Governance | Infectious Diseases | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global -
ArticlePublication 2017Estimated Economic Impact of Vaccinations in 73 LMIC, 2001-2020
This analysis estimates the economic impact likely to be achieved by efforts to vaccinate against 10 …
This analysis estimates the economic impact likely to be achieved by efforts to vaccinate against 10 vaccine-preventable diseases between 2001 and 2020 in 73 low- and middle-income countries largely supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The authors used health impact models to estimate the economic impact of achieving forecasted coverages for vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b, hepatitis B, human papillomavirus, Japanese encephalitis, measles, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, rotavirus, rubella, Streptococcus pneumoniae and yellow fever. In…
Microsimulation | Child/Nutrition | Infectious Diseases | Health Outcomes | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health Systems | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Middle East & North Africa | Latin America & Caribbean | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2017Using Data-Driven Agent-Based Models to Forecast Emerging Infectious Diseases
This paper describes an agent-based model framework developed to forecast the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic, which …
This paper describes an agent-based model framework developed to forecast the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic, which was subsequently used in the Ebola forecasting challenge. Producing timely and reliable forecasts for an epidemic of an emerging infectious disease is a challenge. Epidemiologists and policy makers have to deal with poor data quality, limited understanding of the disease dynamics, a rapidly changing social environment and the uncertainty around the effects of various interventions in place. In this setting,…
Dynamic Simulation | Microsimulation | Infectious Diseases | Calibration/Validation | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ArticlePublication 2016Cost-Effectiveness of Diagnosing HIV Infection During Early Infancy in South Africa
In this study the clinical impact and cost-effectiveness of four different early infant HIV diagnosis …
In this study the clinical impact and cost-effectiveness of four different early infant HIV diagnosis (EID) testing strategies for HIV-exposed infants in South Africa were compared using a microsimulation model. The strategies included (1) no EID (diagnosis only after illness), (2) and (3) testing once (at birth alone or at 6 weeks of age alone), and (4) testing twice (at birth and 6 weeks of age). Findings showed that the testing at birth alone strategy…
Microsimulation | Child/Nutrition | Infectious Diseases | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa