Deciding paths, making decisions

Situation: There is a shortage of yellow fever vaccines on the local level, no medicine available. There is vaccination hesitancy.

The local 10-bed general hospital is at full capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Small general hospitals in the region are not equipped for ICU care.

However, the reference state capital hospital, 200 km away by boat, has 200 beds and 50 beds in the ICU, which has attended to patients referred.

The surveillance service noticed an increase in the number of other zoonoses cases in the affected area.

The lethality of the disease was higher than expected in the literature.

Also, a big university research group is planning a study on Yellow Fever in the area and has reached out to you.

Questions to consider

• What are the hypotheses and actions to investigate the increased lethality? How to investigate the deaths?
• What would be the strategies to guarantee an effective vaccination, hospital beds and intensive care for patients, and the logistics of all these actions?
• What information could contribute to a better monitoring of the vaccination and future impacts? How to deal with vaccine hesitancy and vaccine logistics in the area?
• Which other prevention measures could be implemented to lower the risk of transmission in the future?
• Which questions would you want to be answered in partnership with the university group?

What is expected of the group on day 4

Propose paths and responses based on a broader and more critical knowledge of the facts that arise during the health crisis.