Prior COVID-19 Infection, Mental Health, Food and Financial Insecurity, and Association With COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage and Intent Among College-Aged Young Adults, US, 2021.

INTRODUCTION: More than 700,000 COVID-19 cases have been linked to American colleges and universities since the beginning of the pandemic. However, studies are limited on the effects of the pandemic on college-aged young adults and its association with their COVID-19 vaccination status and intent. METHODS: Using the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey (HPS), a large, nationally representative survey fielded from April 14 through May 24, 2021, we assessed the effects of the pandemic (COVID-19 infection, mental health, food and financial security) on COVID-19 vaccination coverage (≥1 dose) and intentions toward vaccination among college-aged young adults in the United States (N = 6,758). We examined factors associated with vaccination coverage and intent, and reasons for not getting vaccinated. RESULTS: Approximately one-fifth (19.6%) of college-aged young adults had a previous diagnosis of COVID-19, 43.5% and 39.1% reported having anxiety or depression, respectively, 10.9% reported that they sometimes or often did not have enough food to eat, and 22.6% and 12.3% found it somewhat or very difficult, respectively, to pay for household expenses. Of college-aged young adults, 63.1% had received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 15.4% probably would be vaccinated or were unsure about getting the vaccine, and 14.0% probably will not or definitely will not get vaccinated. Adults who were non-Hispanic Black (vs non-Hispanic White) or had food or financial insecurities (vs did not) were less likely to be vaccinated or intend to be vaccinated. Among adults who probably will not or definitely will not be vaccinated, more than one-third said that they did not believe a vaccine was needed. CONCLUSION: Ensuring high and equitable vaccination coverage among college-aged young adults is critical for safely reopening in-person learning and resuming prepandemic activities.

Prevalence of Previous COVID-19 Infection, COVID-19 Vaccination Receipt, and Intent to Vaccinate Among the US Workforce.

OBJECTIVE: As COVID-19 vaccines become more accessible to all people in the United States, more employees are returning to the workforce or switching to in-person work. However, limited information is available on vaccination coverage and intent among the US workforce. METHODS: We used data from the US Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, fielded during April 14-May 24, 2021 (N = 218 787), to examine the prevalence of previous COVID-19 infection, vaccination receipt, and intent to vaccinate by essential worker status and employment type. In addition, we analyzed factors associated with vaccination receipt and reasons for not getting vaccinated. RESULTS: More than 15% of the US workforce had a previous diagnosis of COVID-19, and 73.6% received ≥1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine; however, 12.4% reported that they probably will not or definitely will not get vaccinated. Vaccination coverage (range, 63.8%-78.3%) was lowest and non-intent to get vaccinated (12.9%-21.7%) was highest among self-employed adults across all essential and nonessential worker groups. Factors associated with receipt of vaccination were age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, educational attainment, annual household income, health insurance status, and previous COVID-19 diagnosis. The main reasons for not getting vaccinated were concerns about possible side effects and waiting and seeing if the vaccine is safe. CONCLUSION: Identifying and addressing disparities in COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the US workforce can protect groups with low vaccine coverage and increase understanding of reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Educating employees about the vaccine and its potential side effects, promoting a culture of health and safety in the workplace, and building social norms around vaccination can help create a safe work environment for all employees and their families.

Trait variation in extreme thermal environments under constant and fluctuating temperatures.

Climate change is increasingly exposing populations to rare and novel environmental conditions. Theory suggests that extreme conditions will expose cryptic phenotypes, with a concomitant increase in trait variation. Although some empirical support for this exists, it is also well established that physiological mechanisms (e.g. heat shock protein expression) change when organisms are exposed to constant versus fluctuating temperatures. To determine the effect of common, rare and novel temperatures on the release of hidden variation, we exposed fathead minnows, Pimephales promelas, to five fluctuating and four constant temperature regimes (constant treatments: 23.5, 25, 28.5 and 31°C; all fluctuating treatments shared a minimum temperature of 22°C at 00.00 and a maximum of 25, 28, 31, 34 or 37°C at 12.00). We measured each individual's length weekly over 60 days, critical thermal maximum (CTmax), five morphometric traits (eye anterior-posterior distance, pelvic fin length, pectoral fin length, pelvic fin ray count and pectoral fin ray count) and fluctuating asymmetry (FA, absolute difference between left and right morphometric measurements; FA is typically associated with stress). Length-at-age in both constant and fluctuating conditions decreased with temperature, and this trait's variance decreased with temperature under fluctuating conditions but increased and then decreased in constant temperatures. CTmax in both treatments increased with increasing water temperature, while its variance decreased in warmer waters. No consistent pattern in mean or variance was found across morphometric traits or FA. Our results suggest that, for fathead minnows, variance can decrease in important traits (e.g. length-at-age and CTmax) as the environment becomes more stressful, so it may be difficult to establish comprehensive rules for the effects of rarer or stressful environments on trait variation. This article is part of the theme issue 'The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change'.