American journal of preventive medicine
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The goal of the paper is to characterize the geographic and sociodemographic patterns of policies prohibiting tobacco sales to people aged <21 years (i.e., Tobacco 21) at the local, county, and state levels in the U.S. before the national law. ⋯ The national Tobacco 21 law may address disparities in coverage by SES, race/ethnicity, and region that could have lasting implications with regard to health equity.
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Some Muslim religious councils in Indonesia have ruled that measles vaccines contain haram (i.e., forbidden materials). This study evaluates the changes in measles vaccination coverage between 1991 and 2017 and compares vaccination coverage between Muslims and non-Muslims in Indonesia. ⋯ This article is part of a supplement entitled Global Vaccination Equity, which is sponsored by the Global Institute for Vaccine Equity at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
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Vaccination coverage has improved in the past decade, but inequalities persist: the poorest, least educated, and rural communities are left behind. Programming has focused on increasing coverage and reaching the hardest-to-reach children, but vaccination timeliness is equally important because delays leave children vulnerable to infections. This study examines the levels and inequities of on-time vaccination in the Sub-Saharan African region. ⋯ This article is part of a supplement entitled Global Vaccination Equity, which is sponsored by the Global Institute for Vaccine Equity at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
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As an emerging infectious disease, the clinical and virologic course of COVID-19 requires better investigation. The aim of this study is to identify the potential risk factors associated with persistent positive nasopharyngeal swab real-time reverse transcription‒polymerase chain reaction tests in a large sample of patients who recovered from COVID-19. ⋯ This study is the first to provide a given rate of patients (16.7%) who test positive on RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid after recovering from COVID-19. These findings suggest that a significant proportion of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 still could be potential carriers of the virus. In particular, if patients continue to have symptoms related to COVID-19, such as sore throat and rhinitis, it is reasonable to be cautious by avoiding close contact, wearing a face mask, and possibly repeating a nasopharyngeal swab.
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Coverage of health interventions usually shows social gradients with higher levels among wealthy than among poor individuals. Owing to the upsurge of vaccine hesitancy in high-income countries, the authors hypothesized that the social gradient may also be changing over time in the low- and middle-income countries and set out to test this hypothesis. ⋯ This article is part of a supplement entitled Global Vaccination Equity, which is sponsored by the Global Institute for Vaccine Equity at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.