Development and Evaluation of an Index to Measure the Ability to Get Vaccinated for COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an historic challenge to public health, and to behavior change programs. There have been challenges in promoting vaccination in LMICs, including Nigeria. One important hypothesis deserving consideration is the ability to obtain vaccination as a potential barrier to vaccination uptake. The MOA (motivation, opportunity, and ability) framework, as illustrated by multiple theories such as COM-B, EAST, and the Fogg model, is a primary theoretical basis for the evaluation of this ability as a factor in vaccination uptake. There is little research on measuring the ability to get vaccinated in LMICs, including on the role of all of the MOA framework. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an ability factors index measured through social media-based data collected in Nigeria in late 2021 and early 2022. We present findings from an online survey of 8574 Nigerians and highlight new social media-based data collection techniques in this research. This study found that a new ability factors index comprising 12 items was associated with vaccine uptake independent of measures capturing other components of the MOA framework. This index may serve as a valuable research instrument for future studies. We conclude that a person's perceived ability to get vaccinated, measured by a newly validated index, is related to vaccination uptake and hesitancy, and that more research should be conducted in this area.

Sustained Infiltration of Neutrophils Into the CNS Results in Increased Demyelination in a Viral-Induced Model of Multiple Sclerosis.

Intracranial inoculation of the neuroadapted JHM strain of mouse hepatitis virus (JHMV) into susceptible strains of mice results in acute encephalomyelitis followed by a cimmune-mediated demyelination similar to the human demyelinating disease multiple sclerosis (MS). JHMV infection of transgenic mice in which expression of the neutrophil chemoattractant chemokine CXCL1 is under the control of a tetracycline-inducible promoter active within GFAP-positive cells results in sustained neutrophil infiltration in the central nervous system (CNS) that correlates with an increase in spinal cord demyelination. We used single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) and flow cytometry to characterize molecular and cellular changes within the CNS associated with increased demyelination in transgenic mice compared to control animals. These approaches revealed the presence of activated neutrophils as determined by expression of mRNA transcripts associated with neutrophil effector functions, including CD63, MMP9, S100a8, S100a9, and ASPRV1, as well as altered neutrophil morphology and protein expression. Collectively, these findings reveal insight into changes in the profile of neutrophils associated with increased white matter damage in mice persistently infected with a neurotropic coronavirus.