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| Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society (PIPPS) Organization1 #701758 The Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society is a new provincial research institute based at Simon Fraser University's (SFU) Burnaby campus. The Institute focuses on understanding the emergence and spread of new pathogens and responding to infectious disease events with pandemic potential that pose potentially severe risks to the health and well-being of populations. | 
Our visionTo convene, generate and share critical knowledge that strengthens British Columbia’s capacities to prevent, prepare for, respond to, recover from and be resilient to major infectious disease events that threaten to severely disrupt health and well-being in the province.
Our mission - Generate interdisciplinary knowledge for evidence-informed decision making
- Support improved preparedness and response to major infectious disease threats
- Support robust multi-sectoral responses, learning from current/previous pandemics
- Offer rapid response analytical services for policy and practice
PIPPS is a research and training platform that brings together B.C. scientists, educators, trainees and public health institutions with leading national and international experts. The Institute’s interdisciplinary and population-level focus provides the opportunity to support whole-of-society and planetary health understandings of the wide-ranging determinants and impacts of major infectious disease events, and the multi-sectoral responses needed to enhance and maintain societal resilience.
Research themes include: the evolving nature of pathogens and the potential for future infectious disease threats; estimating risk of future pandemics from emerging pathogens and other infectious disease threats; the health and social inequities arising from pandemic events and responses to them; and effective health and risk communication during major infectious disease events. |
+Citations (3) - CitationsAdd new citationList by: CiterankMapLink[2] The Role of Vaccine Status Homophily in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey with Modeling
Author: Elisha B. Are, Kiffer G. Card, Caroline Colijn
Publication date: 10 June 2023
Publication info: medRxiv 2023.06.06.23291056
Cited by: David Price 10:52 PM 12 November 2023 GMT
Citerank: (4) 679761Caroline ColijnDr. Caroline Colijn works at the interface of mathematics, evolution, infection and public health, and leads the MAGPIE research group. She joined SFU's Mathematics Department in 2018 as a Canada 150 Research Chair in Mathematics for Infection, Evolution and Public Health. She has broad interests in applications of mathematics to questions in evolution and public health, and was a founding member of Imperial College London's Centre for the Mathematics of Precision Healthcare.10019D3ABAB, 701020CANMOD – PublicationsPublications by CANMOD Members144B5ACA0, 704041Vaccination859FDEF6, 704045Covid-19859FDEF6
URL:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.06.23291056
| | Excerpt / Summary [medRxiv, 10 June 2023]
Background: Vaccine homophily describes non-heterogeneous vaccine uptake within contact networks. This study was performed to determine observable patterns of vaccine homophily, associations between vaccine homophily, self-reported vaccination, COVID-19 prevention behaviours, contact network size, and self-reported COVID-19, as well as the impact of vaccine homophily on disease transmission within and between vaccination groups under conditions of high and low vaccine efficacy.
Methods: Residents of British Columbia, Canada, aged ≥16 years, were recruited via online advertisements between February and March 2022, and provided information about vaccination status, perceived vaccination status of household and non-household contacts, compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines, and history of COVID-19. A deterministic mathematical model was used to assess transmission dynamics between vaccine status groups under conditions of high and low vaccine efficacy.
Results: Vaccine homophily was observed among the 1304 respondents, but was lower among those with fewer doses (p<0.0001). Unvaccinated individuals had larger contact networks (p<0.0001), were more likely to report prior COVID-19 (p<0.0001), and reported lower compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines (p<0.0001). Mathematical modelling showed that vaccine homophily plays a considerable role in epidemic growth under conditions of high and low vaccine efficacy. Further, vaccine homophily contributes to a high force of infection among unvaccinated individuals under conditions of high vaccine efficacy, as well as elevated force of infection from unvaccinated to vaccinated individuals under conditions of low vaccine efficacy.
Interpretation: The uneven uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and the nature of the contact network in the population play important roles in shaping COVID-19 transmission dynamics. |
Link[3] Social Media for Health and Emergency Preparedness in British Columbia: Findings from a Meeting of Provincial Practitioners
Author: Julia Lukacs, Anne-Marie Nicol, Kaylee Byers
Publication date: 1 September 2023
Publication info: Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society, Workshop Report, September 2023
Cited by: David Price 11:10 PM 12 November 2023 GMT
URL:
| | Excerpt / Summary [Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society Workshop Report, September 2023]
Social media plays a significant role in public health communication. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the public turned to government and allied government groups for health guidance, much of which was provided and amplified using social media-based strategies. As the pandemic wore on, a small but increasingly vocal proportion of the public became distrustful of and frustrated with government groups and pandemic measures (Lukacs et al., in preparation). Social media has since served as an outlet for sharing dissent, distrust, misinformation, and animosity (Statistics Canada, 2023; Suarez-Lledo & Alvarez-Galvez, 2021).
In 2022 the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society (PIPPS) initiated a multidisciplinary program of research to study the experiences and challenges of employees of government and allied-government organizations who created and deployed social media content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three interconnected projects were undertaken—a knowledge synthesis of peer-reviewed literature on government social media use, a survey and interviews with health-related social media practitioners in British Columbia, and an in-person workshop, hosted in Vancouver, that brought practitioners together to connect, share experiences and brainstorm new ways of working together. Output from the first two phases include a briefing note and a peer-reviewed paper (Lukacs et al., in preparation). It is noted that as a part of our process, this report was provided to meeting attendees for their feedback.
This report details the findings from the April 2023 in-person workshop. Four key recommendations emerged from our work that are directly relevant to organizations promoting public health and emergency messaging via social media. These include:
• Providing more opportunities for social media skills-based training
• Improving intra-organizational communication and engagement
• Increasing supports around the mental health of staff on the front line of social media work
• Supporting the creation of a formal Community of Practice for social media professionals across a spectrum of agencies to foster research collaboration, documentation and sharing amongst social media staff within and between agencies.
By investing time and resources in training, employee networks and occupational mental health, employers have the potential to strengthen social media capacity, meet organizational aims and improve communication efforts for target audiences. |
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