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Hackensack Meridian Health announced this week that it would do a complete transition towards Google Workspace and Chrome OS devices, one of the first health systems taking this path. It will also be expanding its collaboration with Google Cloud to enable deployment of more Artificial Intelligence Tools clinical decision support and enhanced care delivery. This expansion in terms of workspace and Chrome OS, Chromebook, and Chromeboxes aims to better the quality of cyber security and boost provider’s productivity and users experience, said Hackensack Meridian Leaders. While Hackensack meridian health will work with Google Cloud to apply the AI-enabled lookout for specific clinical use cases, such as screening and detection. Hackensack Meridian Health recently hired its new chief information and digital engagement officer, Kash Patel. The company has been using chrome enterprise over the past year, with 3,000 Citrix-approved chrome books deployed to give its remote workforce secure access towards its core application. Source: HealthcareITNews.com

Till date, the country accounted 98.55 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines given to the public. On Monday, 83.30 lakh doses were accounted till 7.15 PM. With this speed of vaccination in such a short period, the country is set to reach the 100-crore vaccination mark in the next few days. Among these doses, the maximum contribution of vaccines has come from the serum Institute of India (SII), which is nearly 88 % of the total vaccine doses given so far. Apart from that, almost 6.7 crore vaccines have been exported by the Serum Institute of India to other countries. Vaccination has been the most powerful tool to handle the pandemic so far. Till now, nearly 75 % of the population has got its first dose, whereas 30% of the population is now fully vaccinated. Along with that, more than 10.72 crore doses are still available with states and union territories. Serum Institute of India delivered more than it had committed and was a significant player in helping the government to run vaccination drives so effectively. Source: finacialexpress.com

COVID -19 was made responsible for millions of deaths worldwide, but that’s not the only loss the pandemic has done to humanity. The Lancet Regional Health-Americas published a study report on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected people’s mental health. The study has highlighted, the pandemic not just increased the rate of depression but the rise in number of cases is worse compared to other traumatic events like; weather, terror attack, or earlier pandemics. During this study, the author of the investigation by the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) used the data collected on depression before and after the pandemic to compare the study. Participants filled a survey form to determine if they were suffering from any depression or not. In 2021, the survey showed that 32.8% of respondents had depression symptoms in 2021, which was 27.8% in 2020. Source: medicalnewstoday.com

As per new research findings, people with diabetes and stroke may maintain an ideal sugar level to avoid the risk of different vascular diseases like a stroke or a heart attack later on. Findings of this research were published in the medical journey ‘Neurology.’ The study author Moon-Ku Han, MD, Ph.D., of Seoul National University College of Medicine in Korea, said, “Suffering from diabetes may lead to a higher risk of a heart attack. But as per our studies, optimum blood sugar level maylower the risk of getting another stroke, a heart attack or other vascular problems. This study involved 18,567 diabetic patients with an average age of 70. All the participants were admitted to the hospitals for an ischemic stroke caused by a blood clot. After admission, the researcher used a test called hemoglobin A1C to determine people’s blood sugar levels for the past two or three months. Participants had an average A1C of 7.5 percent. After observation of one year, it was found that there is an association between A1C level with risk of having another stroke, a heart attack or dying from these vascular causes. Source: Healthworld.com

A new research study from the centre for disease control and Prevention (CDC) has found that a mandate of wearing masks in schools plays a significant role in preventing COVID-19 cases among students. As per the CDC study, cases in children increased at a significant rate. The CDC studies pediatric COVID-19 rates from 520 counties where wearing a mask was consistent in all schools; it was applied to all schools consistently or to none of them. The CDC adjusted findings for controlling child vaccination rates for teachers and school testing data. In areas where the wearing mask was not mandatory, on average, there were 35 new pediatric cases per 100,000 children each day over two weeks of span. Source: healthline.com

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given a Thumbs up for some special people to get the booster shots. Under this, people who have taken Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine atleast six months agoand those above the age of 65 or those at a higher risk of infection due to their previous medical reasons. Or elsethe ones suffering fromthe severe disease are eligible for getting this booster dose of vaccine. The news came in public a day after the FDA panel recommended that boosters be given to older adults and those at a high risk of infection. As per the research, protection provided by COVID-19 vaccines appears to wane over time, especially for people above the age of 65 and older. Source: healthline.com

During this pandemic time, it was anticipated that around one-third of Executive Directorsof Nifty 100 companies had taken a cut in remuneration in 2020-21. The data compiled by primeinfobase.com on the compensation of executive directorsof Nifty 100 companiesshows that around 59 such people took a slash in their pay during the last fiscal year compared to 2019-20. The data available was for about 200 Executive directors of these firms. Some of them were either appointed in the middle of the year or ceased in the middle of the year. On the same note, around 17 of the 65 Nifty 100 companies for which data on median salaries got collected, there was a reduction in wages in the year 2020-21 compared to 2019-20. On average, most of Nifty 100 companies and top management saw an improvement in their remuneration last fiscal year despite being a pandemic hit a year, which brought the economy towards stability at least for the first four months of the year. Source: thehindubusinessline.com

According to two sources who claim to have direct knowledge about the situation told Reuters that India is likely to start the vaccination process for children aged 12 years and above from mid-October 2021 when drugmaker Cadila Healthcare launches its ZyCoV-D product.   The world’s first DNA-based Covid-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D won emergency authorisation from Indian regulators last month. From October, the company, better known as Zydus Cadila, will produce 10 million doses a month.   The Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sources sought anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The vaccine is the only one approved for children in India, which has given a total of 825.9 million doses to adults among its population of nearly 1.4 billion.   If the vaccination for children begins in October, quite a lot of things will change in the country. If the student population receives a vaccination, schools will likely reopen for all in a hybrid or an in-person model. In some states, opening schools for children before vaccination has resulted in widespread COVID-19 infections amongst students. Therefore, the spread of the COVID-19 virus will lessen further if vaccinations are given to students below the age of 18 years.   Source: The article has been published by Reuters with additional inputs by the ArdorComm News Network team.