Articles: pandemics.
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Immunocompromised patients may be at higher risk of mortality if hospitalised with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) compared with immunocompetent patients. However, previous studies have been contradictory. We aimed to determine whether immunocompromised patients were at greater risk of in-hospital death and how this risk changed over the pandemic. ⋯ Immunocompromised patients remain at elevated risk of death from COVID-19. Targeted measures such as additional vaccine doses, monoclonal antibodies, and nonpharmaceutical preventive interventions should be continually encouraged for this patient group.
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Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the vaccination of large numbers of people across the United States, mobilizing public health resources on a massive scale. The purpose of this study is to determine how emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians and agencies in North Carolina have been utilized in these vaccination efforts. Methods: This retrospective survey was sent to EMS medical directors and EMS system administrators for all 100 county EMS systems in North Carolina. ⋯ Conclusion: This study demonstrates the large role that EMS clinicians and systems have played and continue to play in COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the state of North Carolina, including planning and logistics, patient screening and observation, vaccine preparation and administration, and home vaccination. Furthermore, it supports the expanded use of EMTs as a potential vaccination workforce. As the public health response to this pandemic continues, EMS clinicians and systems are a valuable resource to their communities and states.