COVID-19 Vaccination, Peltzman Effect and Possible Increase in Highrisk Behaviors: A Growing Concern Related to Risk Compensation and Reduced Compliance to Public Health Protective Measures after Vaccines Rollout

Abstract

World is still struggling with widespread dissemination and many unanswered questions about Coronavirus disease-19(COVID-19). Global efforts introduced several candidate vaccines against causing COVID-19, mostly requires require 2 doses of injections and some with about 90-95% efficacy. All strategies against the spread of infection are placed on breaking the chain of virus transmission though protective public health measures and mass vaccination, as yet. The current situation emphasis on the global need for carefully designed policies to maximize vaccine access and uptake. The risk compensation theory states that a drop in perceived risk caused by access to prevention measures may lead to an increase in risky behaviors. The current pandemic has faced people to the sense of risk compensation and behavior change in response to a perceived risk level. Risk compensation phenomenon may significantly defeat the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination, especially if the vaccine is not very effective in real life or in high-risk populations. Acknowledging and be conscious of Peltzman risk compensation has crucial importance in counteracting and neutralizing the false complacency of community also lend more weight to public health efforts. The public health messages and practices should be clearly expressed, straightforward, reliable and applicable. It is important that as efforts made to encourage mass vaccination of population other NPIs needs to be re-established and implemented to ensuring strike the balance of learning to live with COVID-19 in parallel with daily activities and job tasks.

Maternal COVID-19 infection and the fetus: Immunological and neurological perspectives

“…In the COVID-19 pandemic, pregnancy has been recognized as a risk factor for infection severity and mortality [ 11 ]. In one study, admission to an intensive care unit and mechanical ventilation in pregnant women with COVID-19 were five and four times higher than in non-pregnant women [ 12 , 13 ]. Additionally, an increase in adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth in women with COVID-19 compared to uninfected pregnant women, has been reported [ 11 , 14 , 15 ].…”

Real‐time impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on cutaneous leishmaniasis case finding and strategic planning, preventive interventions, control and epidemiology in a region with a high burden of cutaneous leishmaniasis and COVID‐19: A cross‐sectional descriptive study based on registry data in Ilam‐Iran

“…Consequently, preventive measures and control programs for infectious diseases were interrupted, including national Leishmaniasis control efforts. [22][23][24][25] At a global scale, affected countries maximized health care services to decrease the chance of transmission, while they should confront the exponentially increasing number of COVID-19 patients as a significant challenge. [26][27][28][29][30] Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of communicable diseases affecting 149 countries and billions of people in tropical areas.…”

“…16,17,19,29,34,35 Nevertheless, the effect of anti-COVID-19 measures performed in primary healthcare stations should be emphasized in detecting chronic parasitic infections, mainly in those regions where several NTDs co-existed. 29,36,37 For some NTDs, delays in active case detection will increase the incidence of new infections. 38 During the COVID-19 pandemic, coexistence with other diseases is not unusual, and misdiagnoses may be inevitable.…”

“…[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] Iran is one of the regions severely affected by the current pandemic, and the emergence of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases worldwide as well as in Iran. [15][16][17]19,20,28,35,37,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] Many infectious diseases directly or indirectly impact each other and can impact clinical features or epidemiological picture of another infection. 16,24,[50][51][52] The World Health Organization (WHO) published a guideline on maintaining essential healthcare services during the viral pandemic.…”

“…[15][16][17]19,20,28,35,37,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] Many infectious diseases directly or indirectly impact each other and can impact clinical features or epidemiological picture of another infection. 16,24,[50][51][52] The World Health Organization (WHO) published a guideline on maintaining essential healthcare services during the viral pandemic. 57 However, it is not entirely possible to evaluate the true impact of COVID-19 on the global burden, detection strategies, and control measures of several parasitic diseases, but the negative consequences will undoubtedly be profound.…”