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Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
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Peer Review Study
This case study is on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine distribution via mobile vans to residents/staff of 47,907 long-term care facilities (LTCFs) across the United States that relied on algorithms to optimize vaccine distribution. The authors developed a modeling framework for vaccine distribution to high-risk populations in a supply-constrained environment. The framework decomposed this challenge as two separate problems: an assignment problem, where they optimally mapped each LTCF to select CVS stores responsible for vaccines; and a scheduling problem, where they developed an algorithm to assign available resources efficiently. The learning and this framework may be of use to other organizations, including communities where mobile clinics can be established to efficiently distribute vaccines and other healthcare resources in a variety of scenarios.
Novel Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and are in the process of generating evidence of effectiveness or may not yet be tested.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This commentary describes the challenges faced by rural communities in addressing COVID-19, with a focus on the issues faced by southeastern US states. It also addresses how the COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI) may be used as a tool to identify communities at heightened risk for COVID-19 on the basis of 6 clearly defined indicators. The CCVI can help decision makers target resources where they are most needed. Stakeholders, including hospitals, health care centers, insurance providers, policy makers, community-based organizations, and faith-based organizations, should be included in planning and enlisted to help reach disadvantaged and marginalized communities. The coordination would be valuable in planning emergency response, identifying areas of greatest needs, developing culturally appropriate messaging, and disseminating information throughout the community.