Questions tagged [public-health]
Questions about policies aimed at protecting public health. For questions about policy aimed at medical care, use the [healthcare] tag
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What level of data anonymisation is the NHS federated data platform/Palantir using?
It is in the news that UK NHS patients will not be given the option of whether their medical data is processed by US spy tech firm Palantir. This is being justified by because their data will be ...
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Have any governments attempted to provide dosing guidelines for illegal drugs?
In the United States, almost 110,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2022, apparently driven largely by fentanyl.
I don't know the biology of it, but it occurs to me that surely something helpful ...
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Why does France public health system seem to have so many problems despite its rather big financing?
According to this article, France public health system problems became so big that French President Emmanuel Macron addressed to France’s health workers about them:
French President Emmanuel Macron ...
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What is the equivalent of the "President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition" in other G20 countries such as China?
The President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition (PCSFN) is a
federal advisory committee that aims to promote healthy eating and
physical activity for all Americans, regardless of background ...
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What are the possible benefits of the Chinese government continuing to pursue a zero covid policy?
China seems to had done really well during the pandemic and has had far lower deaths than Europe and United states.
However as countries around the world vaccinate their population and learn to live ...
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Countries with Fat Tax on people
Which countries have implemented a "fat tax" on people with obesity, or high body fat percentage? I am talking about the human person themselves, and not a tax on food like sugar, oil, dairy ...
user39733
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Prior to COVID-19, had any country fiscally targeted unvaccinated individuals?
Upon reading that Quebec may impose a health tax on unvaccinated Canadians, I wondered the following: Prior to COVID-19, had any country fiscally targeted unvaccinated individuals?
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Is there any public health system that registers both biological sex and gender in the medical records?
This response to an article raises some concerns related to how the attribute "sex" is used within the NHS:
Healthcare providers and the NHS should hold accurate, reliable
information about ...
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Why do parts of the community object to mandatory vaccination, when practically all of them were vaccinated as children? [closed]
For what reasons do such a noticeable percentage of the community object to mandatory vaccination for COVID-19, when practically all of them were vaccinated for things like measles, chicken pox, when ...
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Why do countries like India donate so many covid-19 vaccines when they have such a large population?
India has a population of more than 1.3 billion people, with about 42% of its population vaccinated. Considering it still, has a long way to go in vaccinations and the potential requirement of a ...
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How is the UK government addressing the shortage of doctors problem on the short to medium term?
I have recently found out the UK has one of the lowest number of doctors per 1000 inhabitants in Europe:
The UK has 2.8 doctors per 1,000 population, which puts it well below
the European Union (EU) ...
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0
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Has any society ever successfully reduced obesity?
Weight loss can be achieved through a variety of modalities, but long-term maintenance of lost weight is much more challenging. Obesity interventions typically result in early rapid weight loss ...
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Why do some governments completely remove COVID-19 restrictions instead of keeping minimum ones?
This might happen in multiple countries, but I keep the question focused by considering Denmark's case.
Denmark removed all restrictions in September and was considering adding some restrictions at ...
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Is it still impossible to quarantine asymptomatic people in Portugal?
News from last year was that an appeals court in Lisbon had ruled that it was illegal to quarantine people based solely on a (SARS-CoV-2) PCR test result. (Apparently, their ruling only applied ...
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Why is there strong opposition against vaccination and COVID-19 measures in Greece?
In Greece there is strong opposition against vaccines and any COVID-19 measures. Also, there's strong opposition against mandatory vaccination for health workers.
But I do not understand why there's ...
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Why has the Greek goverment removed unvaccinated doctors from their positions until vaccinated?
According to a recent law, the Greek Government now mandates vaccination against Covid-19 for doctors and workers in elderly-care homes and medical staff. If they are not vaccinated they are removed ...
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Has Russia offered an official explanation for dropping vaccination QR-code checks?
According to the Moscow Times (which is financed by a Dutch press conglomerate whose Russian-language publications Russia declares to be "foreign agents")
As the highly transmissible Delta ...
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COVID-19: Why did the J & J vaccine disappeared in the U.S? [closed]
Update:
My significant other finally was able to get the J&J vaccine on October 15th, which is at least a partial answer here.
But in discussing it with a pharmacist, who had told me that they had ...
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Why doesn't Canada recognize the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine? [closed]
According to cbc.ca:
The government of Canada's website lists which vaccines are recognized
for the purposes of travel — Pfizer-BioNtech, Moderna,
AstraZeneca-Oxford, and Johnson and Johnson — and ...
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What is China's plan for COVID now that their vaccination program is close to completion?
According to the Bloomberg dashboard, China has now fully vaccinated 75% of their population:
I'm assuming they're eventually aiming for ~95% coverage given that they've already approved the vaccine ...
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Afghan refugee vetting in addition to security concerns
The Biden administration has promised that Afghan refugees being lifted out will be vetted and backgrounds checked against biometric data.
Though this is not necessary isolated to only Afghan refugees,...
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Macron has made Covid vaccination hard to avoid in France but not mandatory. What accommodations exist for those who medically can't get vaccinated?
After months of slowing uptake on low overall vaccination rates, French President Macron has made the covid vaccine very hard to avoid, without making it mandatory:
In an address to the nation, ...
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Why are Democrats fighting so hard to vaccinate the reluctant?
Even though safe and effective COVID vaccines have been given emergency use authorization in the US, some people are still reluctant to receive them, over safety concerns, preference for "natural ...
user14221
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Do any world leaders have their image featured on vaccination certificates?
Prime minister Modi of India's image is featured on most (if not all) vaccination certificates.
Do any other world leaders print their own image on such certificates? Failing that, do other leaders ...
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UK Health Secretary on Today: I will sometimes use a mask when not required by law. Is he the first minister to announce this choice?
The requirement to wear face coverings in law will be lifted.
However, the Government expects and recommends that people wear face coverings in crowded areas such as public transport.
[...] As COVID-...
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Use of different epidemiological metrics in COVID policy communications
Many governments used different metrics to set and communicate their policies during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. To list just a few:
The reproduction number (R).
The incidence rate, ...
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Why is there so much reluctance to make the COVID vaccine mandatory for adults?
For all the talk on how its important for everyone to get vaccinated, not a single country has so far made the COVID vaccine mandatory for adults. Some states are making it mandatory for college ...
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Has any high official promoted reaching herd immunity through getting sick for a disease other than COVID-19?
I know this is quite old, but the question struck me only recently during a discussion.
Applying the herd-immunity concept to humans is about 100 years old, so clearly it made sense to come into the ...
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What's the rationale of EU Covid passports when EU seems to be near herd immunity level?
Judging from plummeting cases in spite of slowly lifted restrictions EU reached herd immunity somewhere (guesstimate) around late April. Simultaneously, EU wants to implement Covid passports from 1st ...
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Are there studies of murder rates that correct for the average health of the community? [closed]
In World War 1, they found head injuries increased after handing out helmets. This was a selection bias issue; before helmets, soldiers hit in the head would die and not be counted. I would think a ...
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Can the US government mandate what people are allowed to eat?
Can the government have a food mandate, which decides what we can or cannot eat to "keep us healthy"?
Considering that 2/3 of Americans are either obese or overweight, a food mandate sounds ...
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Why are Scandinavian countries promoting wearing masks so little compared to the rest of Europe?
Living in a Scandinavian country, I have been surprised to see how little people wear masks, both in public transports (no more than 10% wear one there), supermarkets and offices. I know that the ...
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Is there any country whose laws would explicitly allow or disallow mandatory vaccinations for adults
After reading this question about the possibility to impose mandatory vaccinations in the US I wondered what is the situation around the world apart from the US.
Mandatory treatment is forbidden by ...
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Can the federal government mandate vaccinations?
Would a federal vaccine mandate violate the rights of the states, or would it be within the scope of the federal government?
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Does the Japanese government not have the authority to cancel the Olympics?
An article talks about how Japan recently declared a third state of emergency due to the pandemic, most people in Japan don't want the 2020 Olympics to take place, and how their health care system is ...
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Why doesn't India mass-produce COVID-19 vaccines?
I read (mirror):
[January 5, 2021] India has one of the largest vaccine manufacturing capacities in the world (including the largest vaccine producer - Serum Institute of India) and has secured ...
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What political factors led to the slow rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in Canada?
Among the G7, Canada ranks second to last in terms of COVID-19 Vaccine rollout, only ahead of Japan (where Vaccine rollout only began in March). Additionally, Canada was the only G7 member to tap into ...
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Have any anti lockdown protests been successful?
Over the past year, there have been numerous protests against Covid related lockdowns in various countries around the world. But did any of them manage to achieve their goal of convincing the ...
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Privacy-wise what are risks of Israel-type deal to share anonymized vaccine data IF a country is using nationalized health plan?
Israel has one of the fastest Covid vaccine rollouts in the world right now.
To get it so many doses they signed a sweetheart deal with Pfizer to share anonymized, but highly detailed data with Pfizer ...
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2
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What did the Trump White House have as written rules regarding mask wearing on WH premises?
I'm aware of photos like these:
(Source: BBC --more photos therein. That event had been criticized by Fauci as a "superspreader".)
But it's also been said in a comment to another q that ...
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Difference between Chief Medical Advisor and Surgeon General
This morning Joe Biden announced that he's offered the position of Chief Medical Advisor to Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the cabinet position Surgeon General to Dr. Vivek Murthy, who served in the same ...
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Which governments have carried out programmes of forcible vaccination and when?
In 1904, some 16 years after the law abolishing slavery, the government of Brazil ordered "sanitary brigades" accompanied by police units to enter homes in Rio de Janeiro and vaccinate ...
user28710
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What is the reasoning behind nighttime restrictions during pandemic?
Many countries apply different forms of nighttime restrictions during pandemic: curfews, early restaurant closings. What is the reasoning behind that? Intuitively it seems to me that people are less ...
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What's the point of legalising dangerous drugs in some states in the US? [closed]
4 American states - New Jersey, Arizona, South Dakota and Montana- recently agreed to lift their ban on marijuana. And Oregon became the first state in the history of the USA to descriminalize ...
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Is Michigan the only US state without a State of Emergency (or similar type of order)?
On October 2, 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court (MSC) released an opinion regarding the Governor's state of emergency renewals. The syllabus of the opinion states that:
The Governor did not have ...
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Can I confirm my identity at the polling station without taking off the mask?
My country has an upcoming elections soon.
On the polling station I will need to confirm my identity with photo ID; this implies taking off the mask in a crowded place.
I take social-distancing ...
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In the UK, what is the meaning of declaring something a "public health emergency"?
On September 29th, SNP MP Tommy Sheppard presented a 10 Minute Rule bill in the House of Commons which, according to Sheppard, "aims to help tackle the drug crisis by decriminalising the ...
CDJB♦
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What reasons have been given for 'breaking up' Public Health England?
ITV reported on August 15th that Health Secretary Matt Hancock was set to announce that Public Health England was to be 'broken up', and in particular pointed to comments by ministers about the ...
CDJB♦
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Why do many countries ban the sale of one's own blood?
According to this article, (in Spanish) blood from people recovered from covid-19 is a millionaire's business, laboratories in the US were paying up to thousands of dollars for blood from people who ...
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What is the Victorian government's long-term COVID-19 strategy for reopening borders?
The Victorian (Australia) government is enforcing strict quarantining rules to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases. The short-term strategy detailed in the daily press release, published on YouTube, ...
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