Risk communication on vaccines during the COVID19 pandemic: is there room for small size or private initiatives? An Israeli experience.

The scientific communication landscape has undergone a significant disruption since the COVID-19 pandemic: a huge number of publications, ample use of preprint publications, a fast-spreading digitalized information. This reflected the unprecedented speed of the research on disease and vaccines. Two kinds of infodemic blew up very soon: a scientific and a tabloid one. With knowledge evolving continuously, governments and institutions deployed their communication campaigns very quickly to explain the different measures, including the vaccination strategies and to fight against infodemics. The need for a more focused population, the French-speaking community, arose spontaneously in Israel, leading to the creation of a Vaccine Task Force, independent, multidisciplinary, and composed of 20 high-level volunteers, physicians, pharmacists, and scientists, which provides evidence-based information, open and free, to healthcare professionals and the public, both most in demand, and then the experts' meetings in Israel and abroad. Current resources: 40 webinars, all recorded and accessible on the association website, questions and answers, press and scientific literature review, and hotline; communication through the website, social media, and audio-visual media. In French, English, and Hebrew. The team undertook to explain the role of Israel in vaccine rollout and real-world data provision to the international community, both in Israel and abroad. Performance indicators are as follow: attendees' number (~3000), website frequentation (7200 +) social media followers. In conclusion, this information campaign requires no budget; relies on volunteers who expressed their willingness to contribute to the global effort, as seen all over the world; and uses simple, cheap, and ubiquitous IT platforms. The Task Force created ERANIM, the Israel Society for Medication and Vaccines Safety. This scheme could easily apply for minorities or for medium/low-income countries, using the resources available in WHO, Vaccine Safety Net, health agencies, and academies. Key factors are multidisciplinary, influencers belonging to communities, and a network of partnerships. Plain Language Summary: Risk communication on vaccines during the COVID19 pandemic: is there room for small size or private initiatives? An Israeli experience Background: The scientific communication landscape has undergone a significant disruption since the COVID-19 pandemic: a huge number of publications, ample use of preprint publications, a fast-spreading digitalized information. This reflected the unprecedented speed of the research on disease and vaccines. Two kinds of infodemic blew up very soon: a scientific and a tabloid one. With knowledge evolving continuously, governments and institutions deployed their communication campaigns very quickly to explain the different measures, including the vaccination strategies and to fight against infodemics.An Israelian initiative: method: The need for a more focused population, the French-speaking community, arose spontaneously in Israel, leading to the creation of a Vaccine Task Force, independent, multidisciplinary, and composed of 20 high-level volunteers, physicians, pharmacists, and scientists, which provides science-based information, open and free, to healthcare professionals and the public, both most in demand, and then the experts' meetings in Israel and abroad.Results: Current resources: More than 40 webinars, recorded, questions and answers, press and scientific literature review, and hotline, through the website, social media, and audio-visual media. In French, English, and Hebrew. The team undertook to explain the role of Israel in vaccine rollout and real-world data provision to the international community, both in Israel and abroad. Performance indicators are as follow: attendees number (~3000), website frequentation (7200 +) social media followers.In conclusion: This information campaign requires no budget; relies on volunteers who expressed their willingness to contribute to the global effort, as seen all over the world; and uses simple, cheap, and ubiquitous IT platforms. The Task Force created ERANIM, the Israel Society for Medication and Vaccines Safety. This scheme could easily apply for minorities or for medium/low-income countries, using the resources available in WHO, Vaccine Safety Net, health agencies, and academies. Key factors are multidisciplinary, influencers belonging to communities, and a network of partnerships.

Lessons from applied large-scale pooling of 133,816 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests.

Pooling multiple swab samples before RNA extraction and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis has been proposed as a strategy to reduce costs and increase throughput of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tests. However, reports on practical large-scale group testing for SARS-CoV-2 have been scant. Key open questions concern reduced sensitivity due to sample dilution, the rate of false positives, the actual efficiency (number of tests saved by pooling), and the impact of infection rate in the population on assay performance. Here, we report an analysis of 133,816 samples collected between April and September 2020 and tested by Dorfman pooling for the presence of SARS-CoV-2. We spared 76% of RNA extraction and RT-PCR tests, despite the frequently changing prevalence (0.5 to 6%). We observed pooling efficiency and sensitivity that exceeded theoretical predictions, which resulted from the nonrandom distribution of positive samples in pools. Overall, our findings support the use of pooling for efficient large-scale SARS-CoV-2 testing.

The Epidemiology and Susceptibility of Candidemia in Jerusalem, Israel.

Objectives: Invasive Candida infections pose a major public health problem worldwide and is a major cause of nosocomial bloodstream infection. Our aim was to assess dynamics in incidence, species distribution and antifungal susceptibility of candidemia episodes in Jerusalem, to better understand the epidemiology of invasive isolates and to better direct therapy. Methods: We analyzed the incidence dynamics, species distribution and susceptibility pattern of 899 candidemia episodes during 2005-2016 in Jerusalem. Results: The overall incidence of candidemia was relatively low of 0.62 per 1,000 admissions. Candida albicans was the leading pathogen (39.4%); however, there was a shift toward non-albicans species, with Candida glabrata predominating among them (40%). As expected, more than one-third of candidemias occurred in intensive care units. However, the distribution between species varied and Candida tropicalis was the leading pathogen in hematology-oncology patients. The susceptibility of isolates to antifungals remained stable throughout the years. Only a minority of Candida albicans isolates were non-susceptible to fluconazole (3.3%), however, an unexpectedly high resistance rate (37.8%) was observed in Candida parapsilosis isolates. We found an alarming rate of caspofungin resistance in Candida glabrata (33.6%) and Candida krusei (67%); this may reflect misclassification of resistance by the E-test method. Conclusions: This is the first comprehensive candidemia analysis in the Jerusalem area that should serve as a basis for decision-making regarding appropriate antifungal treatment in the hospital setting. The exceptional high resistance rate amongst Candida parapsilosis emphasizes the importance of antifungal susceptibility monitoring in medical centers serving large urban areas to better direct appropriate treatment.