From Syringes to Dishes: Improving Food Security through Vaccination

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on food insecurity in the United States, using data from the Household Pulse Survey. Our primary research design exploits variation in vaccine eligibility across states over time as an instrumental variable to address the endogeneity of vaccination decision. We find that vaccination had a substantial impact on food hardship by reducing the likelihood of food insecurity by 24%, with even stronger effects among minority and financially disadvantaged populations. Our results are robust to alternative specifications and the use of regression discontinuity as an alternative identification strategy. We also show that vaccine eligibility had a positive spillover impact on food assistance programs, specifically by reducing participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which suggests that vaccination policy can be effective in alleviating the fiscal burden of the pandemic on the government. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that vaccinated individuals exhibit increased financial optimism, as measured by expectations about future loss of employment and income as well as ability to make mortgage and debt payments. Based on the point estimates, the implied elasticity of food insecurity with respect to financial optimism is between -0.57 and -0.86. Our findings suggest that the COVID-19 vaccination program has implications that extend beyond the direct health benefits. Taken together, our results underscore the critical role of medical innovations and health interventions in improving economic optimism and food security, especially among vulnerable populations, during public health crises

Anticoagulation strategy in patients with atrial fibrillation after carotid endarterectomy

Aim: Carotid artery stenosis and atrial fibrillation are diseases of the aging patient population. Literature lacks precise anticoagulation treatment protocols for patients with atrial fibrillation following carotid endarterectomy. We present our experiences with anticoagulation strategy in this particular patient population.Patients and methods: Between June 2001-September 2017, 165 patients with chronic or paroxysmal atrial fibrillation out of 1594 cases from three different institutions whom received Coumadin and aspirin and required carotid endarterectomy were reviewed, respectively. Mean age was 63.47.9 years. Male/female ratio was 102/63. There were 67 diabetic and 138 hypertensive cases.Results: Patients are followed a mean of 64.4 +/- 16.9 months. Early mortality occurred in two patients due to intracranial bleeding and heart failure. Another patient was lost due to intracerebral hemorrhage and 16 other patients died due to various causes in the late follow-up. Three patients required exploration against bleeding.Conclusion: Combination of warfarin with an aim to keep the INR value between 2 and 3, and aspirin at a dosage of 100mg per day seemed feasible and in our modest patient cohort. Further studies including multicenter larger data are warranted in order to establish a precise anticoagulation treatment protocol for patients with atrial fibrillation after carotid endarterectomy